Cold Stone Creamery Ice Cream

[Beachfan]

There were two within 3 miles of my house (one went out of business). I tried it once and I blissfully don't remember why I vowed Never Again. But I"ve kept my vows. Not as good as Haagen-Danz, Ben&Jerry's, Huntz and Halls, Abblot and Costello's. Clinton and Gores bor Nixon and Agnews.

[KNorthrup]

Still haven't made it back. Keep thinking about it on the weekend but the memory doesn't quite seem worth the trip.

Newsday has an article on this trend. They discuss Coldstone, Marble Slab, and Maggie Moo's. The last is one I don't recall anyone mentioning yet on these threads.

[LEdlund]

I just saw a sign announcing the opening of a CSC in the Medical/Dental Building in downtown Seattle. I'll have to check it out as soon as they are open.

[ballast_regime]

Cold Stone: Eh.

[melkor]

There is one near my house, I've been there once, nothing to write home about. Don't think I'll go back, though it was much better than the Carls Jr visit.

[ballast_regime]

Melkor:

I'm a-guessin' that Cold Stone could make better burgers than Carl's Jr. and Carl's Jr. better ice cream than Cold Stone. What do you think?

IML

b/r

[melkor]

Melkor:

I'm a-guessin' that Cold Stone could make better burgers than Carl's Jr. and Carl's Jr. better ice cream than Cold Stone.  What do you think?

IML

b/r

Given that the Carl's Jr is attached to a Baskin Robbins here, I'm not sure what their ice cream is like having not eaten at once since I was a kid, but I suspect you could get a burger at Carl's and a cone at Baskin Robbins and mix them to create your own stomach churning version of what Cold Stone offers. Chevron I'm sure could provide the nuts and chocolate that would be required to complete the dish. One stop shopping at its finest.

[tobism]

Farrell's was a great place... and I had my 10th birthday party at that one in Landover Mall, MD.

Cold Stone Creamery... not so good. Ice cream is inferior, the mix-ins are a fad, and service is sloppy. I take it they mix the toppings in there to disguise the bad ice cream. The ice cream itself is very airy and artificially flavored-tasting. I don't know what they do to it, but it's horrible. I don't like the whole mix-in thing to begin with... altho my fiance and I do frequent Maggie Moo's every now and then, which is a mix-in ice cream shop. It's just another shop to go to, nothing special. We go there because I know the owner is local, and I like supporting the small businesses.

On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the best, Cold Stone gets a 5. I don't know if there's anything they can do to fix it. It was a bad idea to begin with.

[Malawry]

I think Maggie Moo's is better than Cold Stone Creamery. Not by a huge margin or anything, but it is better. I like that the price includes a waffle cone. Their sorbets taste like they include real fruit although they are way too sweet. And all their ice creams are made in-store too. I've eaten at the one in Shirlington, VA a couple times.

I have never heard of this Farrell's place, and I've lived in the DC area for over 5 years.

[tobism]

Malawry,

Farrel's closed down years ago (maybe 10?), and where it used to be is now an open-air drug market. JK...

Hey, what have you been up to since your externship? I followed your posts on L'Academie religiously. Great work and excellent reading!

[Malawry]

You may be right about the market.

I'm up to no good since my externship. Seriously, trying to write and see what I can sell for now.

obColdStone: I am heading there tomorrow night with my 12-year-old first cousin, who is a big fan of their ice cream and mix-ins. There's a store around the corner from my parents' place, where I am visiting for now. I'll report back.

[cakewalk]

Every time I pass by the new Cold Stone Creamery place that recently opened near Times Square the line is so long I can't bear the thought of waiting, even for ice cream. I suppose I should try it though, in the name of important scientific research.

[plax]

Went to the Cold Stone in Boca yesterday and got the peanut butter whatever... chocolate ice cream mixed with Reese's cups and chocolate syrup. It was pretty good.

A Farrell's at the Oxford Valley Mall in Langhorne, near where I grew up, opened when I was in high school. A girl I knew, Sharman, was a waitress there and she said if you said it was your birthday you got a free ice cream. So my friends Mary Lou and Karen and I went there and we all said it was our birthday, and Sharman brought us all free sundaes. But she hadn't told us that they rang bells, sounded sirens and sang for you (I think Farrell's was one of the first places that did this.) I still remember this clutch of waiters and waitresses standing around us singing, "Happy Birthday, Karen, Mary Lou and Neil."

Needless to say we were mortified, feeling that the whole restaurant knew we were scamming them.

Neil

[Jason Perlow]

I think Maggie Moo's is better than Cold Stone Creamery. Not by a huge margin or anything, but it is better.

Totally with you on Maggie Moo's. Great stuff.

In my opinion, the best "Mix in" ice cream place that ever existed was Steve's, which was a very small chain that originated in boston. I think they pioneered the whole mix in concept during the late 1970's.

EDIOT: Someone mentioned Steve's already. Friggin Google.

There used to be one in Dupont Circle in DC on the same block as Zorba's. Its long gone -- along with a great brand of soda they used to carry, called DC Cola.

Edited July 24, 2003 by Jason Perlow (log)

[Wendy DeBord]

The one near my home has at times had long lines out the door. So while waiting for a chinese take-out one evening my Hubby and I popped in to check out their store.

My first opinion inside the store was "wow is that over priced", way more $$ then other ice stores and I'd rather get a 1/2 gallon at the grocery store.

The reason for the huge lines, poor lay-out or they actually designed it this way to make them look packed. We won't be trying this place, I think it's designed for the under 20 crowd, nothing really appealed to us.

[Malawry]

We stopped in tonight. I had a raspberry sorbet with chocolate chips. Sorbet clearly had real raspberry in it, but it was too sweet and sloppy otherwise. They had a special promotion with Make-A-Wish foundation where they donated all tips for the night to M-A-W and there was a M-A-W flavor combination which they were giving away free. This flavor combination was invented by a M-A-W kid: cake batter flavored ice cream with M&Ms and something else, I think a fudge ripple. My aunt selected this flavor and tipped extra to offset it. She gave me a taste. The ice cream really did taste like cake batter, which is somewhere between cool and really nasty.

[duckduck]

I didn't care for it. Too sweet, too heavy. Not the best quality. I didn't even get half way through it and I'm a sugar junkie. Now that I bought an ice cream maker...mine's so much better, why bother going out for it?

[scubadoo97]

We have a place in our area called Marble Slab. Same concept and the ice cream is really not very good on its own. Not enough taste and texture is gluey. A gimmick that many people like as they oohh and ahhh the mixing of stuff which is needed because the ice cream can not stand on its own IMHO.

[jschyun]

I live in Irvine, CA and I tried to get them to sing by leaving a tip. They said thank you and helped the next customer. My friend put another dollar in, and they thanked us again. No songs.

The ice cream sucks, but people seem to go there for an amazing show starring minimum wage paid teenagers actually doing something besides talking on the phone.

The sorbets don't have fat in them, so they're okay. I had some sort of berry sorbet with blackberries mushed in, and it was edible. But most people do not go to CSC to get sorbet.

[Malawry]

Sorbet at CSC is like the BK Veggie at Burger King: It's offered so the dairy-intolerant/dieting/vegan person in the group doesn't make everybody go someplace else instead.