When indoor malls were a thing, we used to walk through the food court and smell the pretzels. The wafting, yeasty, pretzel smell was too much to walk by and ignore, so we always indulged on a pretzel (or two), often taking extra home for later.

It seems like forever since we enjoyed this simple pleasure, so when we were introduced to Eastern Standard Provisions Co., we were excited to try their soft pretzels.

Eastern Standard Provisions (eProvisions) advertises their pretzels as “light, airy qualities of brioche inside and the traditional Bavarian-style pretzel crust outside”.

The ingredients were straight forward, though soybean oil is used, which gave us pause, but we ordered anyway: two bags of “one-timer soft pretzel bites” with approximately 25 pretzel bites per bag. At $15.99, it seemed reasonable, then we had to pay for shipping, which cost us nearly as much as the pretzels ($9.99). But, yes, in a moment of weakness we purchased anyway.

We received the pretzels frozen, thus the high cost of shipping, with anticipation for pulling them out during our family annual birthday gathering. The event was a hit, but the pretzels met with ho-hum results and lots of leftovers. That was a sign they didn’t make a great first impression. #SadFace

The pretzels were good, but they didn’t score the high marks of the pretzels we had loved during our mall visits. Something was missing. They tasted like a pretzel, but lacked the soda flavor that brings a pretzel to life. The texture of eProvision pretzels was good— they were soft, but they lacked the pretzel skin that crackles just slightly as you take a bite.

The mall pretzels were always baked from fresh dough. eProvision pretzels come to you pre-baked. This is the main difference and this proves that fresh is always best.

Some of our taste testers who tried the pretzels (outside of our family party) did enjoy them, so it’s not a clear-cut decision here. Our IMBHO-maybe allows you to decide for yourself, if you don’t mind paying the shipping.

Beyond the pretzel bites, eProvisions also sells topknot, wheelhouse, turnbuckle and fourseam soft pretzels. You can get a mixture of pretzel types by ordering one of their gift boxes. They also have a line of sauces (mustard, truffle mustard, and truffle hot sauce) as well as salts (chili lime, lemon rosemary, everything spice, white truffle and regular pretzel salt). Beyond that you can also order French, raspberry lime or chocolate espresso sugar, so it covers the gamut of fun pretzel choices.

eProvisions pretzels were developed by a Boston-based team who were committed to creating “the best soft pretzels on the planet”. Led by Baker and Chief Product Officer, Lauren Moran, they concluded they had done just that. Boston Magazine agreed, and placed eProvisions on the list of “The 12 Best Pretzels in Boston”.

We still give eProvisions an IMBHO-maybe, but this company and its pretzels continue to shine in the opinion of others, landing on Oprah’s Favorite Things list, featured on WCVB Channel 5 (ABC), as well as being featured on the Strahan Sara and Keke show. #StrahanSaraKeke

If you want to know how these pretzels are made, watch the video. If you want to order, visit the eProvisions website.