Lexington and University DQ - 2nd Chance!

University and Lexington --Revisited

As I mentioned the first time I reviewed this Lexington Ave Dairy Queen, it was one of my favorites.  I liked the owner who knew that on special occasions that I switched to the Chocolate Dip Cone.  We'd chat when times were slow.  It was a pleasant association.

I also predicted that the owner must have sold the place since the teenagers who were running the place were completely unfit for customer service.  Tonight, I went back to see if perhaps folks were having an off day.

I was encouraged to find that the owner that I knew from years ago was working the window.  Could it be that things were just like they were in the good ol' days?  

No!  These are not the good ol' days.  The owner gave me a floppy, over-marshmellowy, wussy cone.  I almost said to her, "Are you serious? What happened to you?"

I swear I saw that she recognized me from before and her expression seemed one of apology.  Apology accepted and I hope you can turn things around.

On the plus side, Pumpkin Blizzards!  I will try one before the month is out.

Rice Street -2 stores - By Phalen and by Arlington

Sorry about the lack of identifiers for this post, but it was kind of a drive by experience. My friend, Greg Page, said there were a couple DQs on Rice Street, that might be worth a look.  

The one closest to the Capital on Rice St, just south of Arlington is a cute little walk-up DQ.  Cute except for the packing tape over the cracks in the front window.  Not really the nicest DQ in the system, but it is the one closest to the Capital!  This must be where the Governor goes for his DQ.  I bet I know which White Castle he goes to as well.

Price:

Small cone - $1.39

Medium - $1.59

Large - $1.99

Peanut Buster Parfait - $3.29

The cone was overfluffed and had none of the awesome DQ consistency.  I ate it quickly in my car, disappointed, but not unexpectedly so--they didn't really take care of their DQ.  Points off for not respecting themselves.

I kept driving north on Rice St to the Phalen neighborhood.  This DQ was decked out with a nice drive thru, but I don't think it was a Grill and Chill.  Prices were slightly higher:

Small Cone - $1.39

Medium - $1.79...higher

Large - $1.99

Peanut Buster Parfait - $3.69...higher.

I don't know what their cones are like.  I just had one 4 minutes earlier and I was on my way to dinner in an hour or so. So they missed out.  I bet it would have been awesome.  They took much better care of their store.

Edina--An Unexpected Deal?

There is a Dairy Queen by the DQ headquarters in Edina, MN (77th and Hwy 100).  I'm usually not a big fan of this store since it is a training store and service is inconsistent.  My coworkers go there for breakfast, which I also think is weird, but their bacon and eggs look pretty good.

I went there twice this week.  I haven't been trying new DQs and had some withdrawal symptoms (crabbiness, weight loss), and needed my some soft serve.

On Monday there was a bit of a mix up with whether or not my medium cone was "for here or to go."  Since they were not going to put it in a bag, I didn't think there was any difference in my options. Anyway, blah, blah, blah--I get a large cone instead of a medium.  Saw-weeet!  

I figured this was because the trainee was giving me a hard time and the manager wanted to make things cool.  It worked.

Wednesday, still symptomatic, I stop by again, this time just for a small cone.  The same manager gives me a medium?  I know because I was watching which  cone dispenser she pulled from.

Is this a gem of a find, does someone there think I'm too cute to get only what I paid for, or does someone know I blog about my DQ experiences for the world.  I'm okay with any of these options.

Blaine DQ - sm cone still $1.19, still awesome

I went back to the DQ in Blaine on Hwy 65 this week.  They have the lowest prices of the DQs I have reviewed so far and I am going back frequently to see if they are still awesome.

They are.  Excellent cone.  Excellent service.  Excellent price.

But don't get a hot dog there.  They microwave the dog after you order it and microwave it pre-mustarded and pre-bunned.  That negates the reason why you have a bun in the first place--to be able to hold onto to something that is hot.

I suggest sticking with Frankie's on Broadway Ave in NE Mpls for your hot dog needs.  Or Super America.  I've had a good dog or two there as well.

Lake Josephine DQ - Lexington Ave $1.69 sm cone

The Dairy Queen on Lexington Ave across from Lake Josephine in Roseville is a destination DQ, like the DQ by Minnehaha Falls in Mpls.  You go there because it's right by where you are at anyways.

It's probably good that it is right across from this beautiful lake, because this DQ was not very good on this particular night.  I was not there because of the beach.  

I went there at about dusk, and it is only about 50 degrees, but there were other people at the beach this night.  There was a young couple walking and holding hands, and there was a pedophilish looking overweight adult on the swings, killing time.  There was even a few people fishing off the dock.

This DQ has a drive thru and an enormous parking lot and quite a bit of outdoor seating.  Nice place.

The boy who took my order seemed a bit rushed.  He tossed together a small, mis-shaped, over-marshmellowy mess of a small cone and practically dashed away to do something I couldn't see.  My guess is that it was an off day on many counts and that a visit this weekend would give me a perfectly normal cone.  But this is my blog and they only get one shot since they won't be in the running for best DQ.  

The prices break down like this:

Small Vanilla Cone: $1.69

Medium: $2.09

Large: $2.49

Peanut Buster Parfait: $4.09

Overall, prices are above average.  The aggregate cost for one each is over $10.00--less than 30% of the stores reviewed so far cost more than $10.00 for one each of the review items.

Just to compare: Blaine (Hwy 65) charges only $8.05 for three cones and a PBP.  Lake Josephine DQ charges $10.36.  

Shop wisely, and avoid panic buying.

Lakeville DQ - Kenwwod Tr - sm cone $1.59

After a lovely visit to Northfield for the day, I and my lovely wife, Sally, drove back home to the Twin Cities.  This was part of the anniversary fun we had planned for the weekend.  It is out 6 year anniversary and certainly must include DQ.

Saw, the DQ sign from Hwy 35 and made my stop.  I liked this DQ.  It had a sun room, kinda like the old Rax restaurants used to have.  In the display case against one wall, I saw little plastic cones and dilly bars.  I don't know if this stuff is in kid's meals, but if it is, I may soon be pretending I have a screaming little one in the car demanding a bit of DQ for the road.

Service here was good.  The cashiers joked around with each other as they did some prep work.  People seemed happy.  (Is anyone at DQ not happy?  It is hard for me, as an outsider, to image so).

Prices were average to a bit expensive.

Small Vanilla Cone: $1.59

Medium: $2.09

Large: $2.49

Peanut Buster Parfait: $3.79

The cone was standard in regards to size but had the perfect flavor.  Long after I was done eating did I comment to my brain, "Damn, that was a fiiiiine cone!"

White Bear Lake: Cup and Cone

Why did I not know about this place?  The Cup and Cone is located on 4th St, West of Hwy 61 in the Center of DT White Bear Lake.  It is a DQ rival that really gives DQ a proper challenge.

The White Bear Lake Dairy Queen, has the cheapest small cone that I have found so far--$1.09--and now I know why: A small cone at Cup N Cone is $.94!

Cup and Cone Stats:

small vanilla/choc/lemon cone: $.94

Medium: $1.41

Large: $1.71

In addition to these fabulous prices, they will blend Oreos, Butterfingers, and other typical Blizzard toppings right into your soft serve and make you a cone.  I think this costs an additional $.25 for a small cone.

I ordered two items on my trip there this weekend (for the sake of research). First, I tasted the lemon soft serve.  It tastes a bit off, but children might like it for its novelty.  Then I ordered a plain vanilla cone.  It was a huge cone, at least the size of a typical medium DQ.  Texture and consistency was excellent, but the flavor was not quite as good as a DQ cone when DQ is on it's game (see previous posts about cones being too icy or too marshmellowy).  Overall, though it was an excellent cone.

Wife Sally, ordered a chocolate ice cream with carmel sauce.  The carmel is better than DQ--not as sweet--and the chocolate ice cream tastes more chocolately.  Too bad for DQ.

Third, from the previous paragraph, I went back and ordered a vanilla Oreo dipped sundae.  The Oreos were whipped into the vanilla ice cream and then dipped into a chocolate like a DQ dipped cone, but the chocolate froze and was actually a bit hard to eat.  Points off for the chocolate dip which was nowhere near the excellent quality of the DQ dipped cone, but plus points for the Oreo whipped into the ice cream without my having to order a Blizzard.  It was a fun experience.

What also made it a fun experience was the fact that all of the people who waited on me were some of the friendliest and helpful people I have ever met getting a cone.  Server #1 gave me recommendations and promised things would be better than DQ.  Everyone else seemed equally happy to be there.  I felt good being there myself.

Weirdly enough, I then went back to the order window to order a submarine sandwich. It was okay.  They used sub-par bread.  Jimmy John's still rules in this category.

In conclusion, White Bear Lake is the place to go for ice cream.  It has an inexpensive DQ (The Robbinsdale DQ is still the most expensive small cone in the system at $1.89), and it also has the wonderful Cup and Cone which I highly recommend.  The town is cute and on the weekends seems very shopper friendly--lots of restaurants and non-chain clothing stores.  Check it out for yourself. 

Blaine DQ Follow up and New Coon Rapids Review

I went back to the Blaine DQ on HWY 65 because it is in the running for best DQ in the Twin Cities Metro Area.  The small cone is $1.19, which is more expensive than the White Bear Lake DQ at $1.09, but the aggregate cost is still less.

My cone was a bit mal-formed, but delicious, just the right blend of icy and marshmellowy.  


The small cone was average sized, so, no points lost or gained.

Later in the day I went to the DQ on Coon Rapids Blvd in Coon Rapids with my parents.  Small cones here are Free!  Actually, my dad paid, which is very cool.

Small vanilla cone: $1.59

Medium: $1.99

Large: $2.39

Peanut Buster Parfait: $3.79 (Though they are on sale this month for $2.49!)

My cone was on the small-to average size, not very impressive.  My mom ordered a chocolate dipped cone, but got a chocolate ice cream cone instead--there may have been some confusion in the ordering--but they made everything right by giving her a new cone and not charging her the increase in price.

My dad had a banana cream pie Blizzard and was a bit surprised that it came with whipped cream.  Both said their ice cream delights were good.  Mine was good, too.  I just was not impressed with the volume of ice cream in a small cone.

The Coon Rapids Dairy Queen is one of those old barn-style DQ's, which I totally dig for my Brazier stores. The interior had those really tacky duck paintings on the  wall, which I really think is inexcusable for any type of decor.  Anywhere.

Blaine DQ

Coon Rapids DQ

An interesting thing to note is that both the Blaine and Coon Rapids DQs have  similar signs.  One point goes out farther than the other.  There are differences, as you can see--one is a solid color, and one has a white edge--but they are similar enough that I think it is an exciting coincidence.

Also, if you have not seen your local DQ reviewed here, please let me know,  I want to review your DQ, but have hit almost all the ones I find and I go about my life.  I also welcome quest reviews--just be sure to get the prices for sm/med/large cones and a PBP.  Thanks for your continued interest and support. - Mike

Forest Lake DQ - Hwy 61 - Sm Cone $1.49

Forest Lake DQ

My grandparents lived in Forest Lake, so there was no extended visit that took place without a trip to the DQ about a mile south of their home.  I remember this being a tiny DQ that had a wooden porch or something in from of it.  Perhaps it did 35 years ago, or I am combining this memory with the porch in front of the house where Navin Johnson lived before he made his way in the world in The Jerk.

This was a big DQ, large enough to accommodate a softball team or two.  It's a Brazier store, which I like more than Grill and Chills.  Grill and Chills seem too much like a Burger King to me.

My done was a good size, a bit taller than average.  It was icey, but well within the acceptable range of the Icey/Marshmellow Continuum.  

My wife, Sally, is a bit sick of DQ, and she requested some non-DQ ice cream before we left town.  There was a tiny, fancy looking ice cream shop a bit closer to DT Forest Lake, but it was closed.  Also, the relatively new and fancy ice cream shop next to the lake in the center of town is out of business--making way for a Snap Fitness of all things.  I only hope that it was put out of business by DQ.  This other ice cream shop was the site of Skateland, the roller rink my grandparents owed.

Anyways, please keep ice cream alive in Forest Lake and shop at the DQ.

Small Vanilla Cone: $1.49

Medium: $1.99

Large: $2.39

Peanut Buster Parfait: $3.79

(And for the family who might be reading...the grandparents' home, cottage, and even GG's home is gone and landscaped over.  There is no sign of the old place.  It's rather sad).

White Bear Lake DQ - Hwy 61- Small Cone $1.09

Can anyone beat a $1.09 Small Dairy Queen Cone?

That's right!  $1.09 for a small DQ cone.  And look at the size of that cone.  It looks as big as their sign.  It's not really, but it is easily as tall as some medium or even large cones in the Twin Cities metro area.  It was a bit overly fluffed, not quite the right moisture content, but if the 2nd and 3rd visits give me a cone that has a bit more ice content, then this is a good contender for best cone in the DQ system for the price.

Small Vanilla Cone: $1.09

Medium: $1.59

Large: $1.99

Peanut Buster Parfait: $3.79

(Did you know that during August, the PBP is only $2.49 at all stores?)

I like this store, in part, because when you drive up is it surrounded by tall white tanks used for some unknown purpose.  You'll see what I mean when you go there.

The White Bear Lake Dairy Queen also offers an individual sized DQ Cake which they call a cupcake.  $2.99 for this one and is the same as their full sized cake, but to scale.

If this is your DQ of choice, I'd be interested in your feedback as to whether or not this should be the best DQ in the system,  Was it just an off day that my cone was too fluffy?