Dairy Queen

Update Review, October 2024

I finally visited a Dairy Queen!

Yes, I, the girl who eats ice cream (or some kind of other frozen ice cream adjacent dessert component) at least once a day, had never actually visited a Dairy Queen before.  I simply have never lived where one is located, and thus, the opportunity has never been there for me.

The astute reader will remember that I did have my first ever Dairy Queen about a year ago when I ordered quasi-failed delivery while on a business trip in Virginia (review below), but that was my first DQ experience, and it wasn't the same as visiting in person, actually getting what I ordered, and not having it be a melty mess.

Behold, Dairy Queen!

The location I visited was in Tucson, Arizona, where I was for a short business trip.  It was located just a 10-15 min walk away from my hotel, and I'm not going to say it was the reason fro choosing my hotel exactly, um, but it certainly did weigh into my decision making process.

Cakes

Dairy Queen carries pre-made full size cakes in the classic chocolate/vanilla/crunchies/fudge form or Oreo Blizzard style, but you can also customize sheet or round cakes (with advance order) at most stores, to include all sorts of designs on top, or your Blizzard of choice made into a cake.  They also make heart shaped ones at Valentine's day, and log cakes, if that is more your style.  And they also make an off-menu "cupcake".  Many people do not know this exists, but despite having only having Dairy Queen once in my life, and never actually visiting one, I of course knew about them.  And thus, I sought one out, particularly as the one I ordered for delivery last year came as just plain vanilla ice cream (sadness!).

As expected, the cupcake is not listed on the menu anywhere.  I tentatively asked about it, and the staff member had to check to see if they had any.  I was in luck.  She plucked the undecorated cup from a freezer (just the ice cream/crunchies/fudge layers were in it), and asked what toppings I'd like.  I was like a deer in headlights.  I didn't know I could add toppings!  I asked her recommendation, and she said Oreo or sprinkles.  Since I don't care for Oreo, that was easy, sprinkles it was (but in the future, I'd do M&Ms ...).  She then went to go add the frosting and my topping of choice.

"Cupcake".

"The personal version of our famous cake, our cupcakes have the same irresistible fudge and crunch center surrounded by vanilla and chocolate soft serve, colorfully decorated."

Behold, the "cupcake", or large sundae size ice cream cake.  I was pretty excited to dig in.

My understanding is that usually these are topped with colorful frosting (all assorted colors), but mine came with white frosting (which was applied to order).  At first I thought that was just very stable whipped cream, but one bite and I realized nope, that was frosting!  A LOT of very sweet, very creamy, very smooth frosting.  I love this kind of ridiculous frosting, and I do think it is essential on an ice cream cake, but served in this form, and this quantity, it actually was a bit too much sweet, and it was hard to get any bites of chocolate layer with it.  **** frosting, but I need to dock them a little for the form factor, while looking great, wasn't really practical, and the balance was off.

Once I scooped off some frosting (don't worry, I saved it!), I got to the ice cream.  It was more firm than fresh soft serve, since it had been pre-made and was in the freezer.  But otherwise, it was standard Dairy Queen ice cream.  The vanilla I enjoyed, the chocolate was a bit too chocolate for me (in general, I'm not one for chocolate ice cream).  I was also a bit sad that mine was about 70% chocolate and only 30% vanilla (recall that whole white top part is frosting).  It made me realize that if I was getting a fresh treat in person, the cupcake didn't really make sense. The glory of fresh soft serve was lost this way.  *** ice cream, great flavor and creaminess, but, not actually soft serve at this point really.

Fudge Layer.

But wait, what about the layers in-between the ice cream?  Those are an essential part of ice cream cake after all.  

Here you can see what was under the top layer of vanilla ice cream.  Thick, rich, chocolate fudge.  It was excellent fudge, but fully frozen.  There was almost too much of it, given the sweet frosting and sweet style of ice cream, it all ended up being kinda a lot.  It was very hard to get a plastic spoon through, another element that just wasn't successful in terms of practicality of eating. I am not sure if this is different from the hot fudge you can order on a sundae/mixed in?  **** flavor, *** overall though due to difficulty of eating. 

Under the fudge, the crunchies.  Great chocolate crunchies.  **** for the crunchies.

So overall, I had mixed feelings about this creation.  As a fresh item to get when visiting a DQ store in person, I wouldn't recommend it.  You lose the experience of actual soft serve and it isn't actually a very practical item to eat as served.  In the future, I'd go in person for a sundae, cone, or Blizzard instead, and get a cupcake to go to stash in the freezer, as it is far more stable, and I'd likely then serve it up as a half portion, and even out the distribution of the frosting to make the bites more balanced.  I do like the concept though, and as an ice cream cake, compared to other grocery store options like Carvel or Friendly's, it is dramatically better, as it is fresher than those, and the inclusion of fudge is pretty awesome, and it is great to have the ability to buy a 1-2 serving portion, and not just the full size cake.  

Treats

The next day, I returned, and went for a freshly made treat.  I was definitely tempted to get my first ever in-person Blizzard, to witness the whole turn it upside down thing, but it was crazy hot out, and I really just wanted a cone to eat in the sun.

Kid's Cone, Vanilla, Cherry Dip.

Yes, I decided I just wanted a simple cone but of course, I needed to add *something* so I went for dip.  Dairy Queen always has chocolate dip available, and they used to have cherry, but it was discontinued, there was much outrage, they brought it back for a limited time, yadda yadda.  This location also had butterscotch dip.  All 3 dip choices sounded good to me, so I asked the staff member to pick for me.  She went with cherry, her favorite.

The cone was nicely twirled, the dip very evenly and fully applied.  Kid's size was perfect for me, just right after a reasonably large lunch.  The soft serve was perfectly creamy and lightly melty, really quite ideal and perfect consistency.  The flavor was a bit sweet, and a bit plain, it had that "fast food soft serve" taste to it that wasn't quite as wholesome as local dairy soft serve.  But the texture really made up for the mediocre taste.  **** creaminess, *** taste, ***+ overall.

The cone part was fresh and not stale, no issues there.  The cherry dip was good - sweet and white-chocolately, not waxy, strong cherry flavor.  I liked it, but found it got to be a bit much, the ratio of dip to ice cream meant I had a lot of dip (I suspect a bigger size cone doesn't have this issue).  *** dip, but I'd try another flavor next time.

Overall, a quite enjoyable cone.  ***+.

Original Review, November 2023

My first ever Dairy Queen.  Yes, you read that right, me, the girl who eats ice cream at least once a day, never had Dairy Queen until now.  I've certainly known about Dairy Queen, but never actually had their ice cream before.  

Why?  Well that is pretty simple.  It isn't snobbery or anything like that. I've simply never lived anywhere near one.  I grew up in a land of soft serve (New Hampshire), but, we didn't have Dairy Queen, it was all small local businesses (and only open seasonally).  I went to college in a tiny town that didn't really have, uh, anything, save a single pizza place and grocery store.  I think there might have been one where I went to grad school, but, I had absolutely no disposable income then, and thus no restaurants really were on my radar (except IHOP, because they had a great student discount on Thurs nights, and I do adore their pancakes).  San Francisco definitely doesn't have a Dairy Queen.  And thus, I reached XX years old, as an avid ice cream, and in particular soft serve, fan, without having Dairy Queen.

If you aren't aware of DQ, Diary Queen has been around since 1940.  They quickly franchised within the US and Canada, and now have locations in nearly 30 countries.  Some locations carry a variety of savory, hot food, in addition to their signature ice cream treats.  Amazingly, the Blizzard wasn't added to the menu until 1985 (at least in my mind, that is what DQ is supposed to be all about?  And even more confusingly, they used to have an item named the Blizzard in the 1960s, that was just a thick shake). 

Anyway, when I was recently on a business trip in the suburbs of Virginia, I used the opportunity to order up my very first Dairy Queen.  Since I had no car, and Dairy Queen wasn't within walking distance, I ordered via Door Dash, which ... was wrought with issues.  First, my Dasher batched my order along with several other stops, so it took 50 minutes from the time he picked up my ice cream, until he arrived near my hotel.  You can guess how melty it was by then, as he certainly didn't have it in a freezer container.  Second, my Dasher got very lost, and couldn't find the hotel, and called me angrily, took some calming down, and eventually I was able to get him to me.  But that added at least another 15 minutes to the delivery time.  Third, well, one of my items was incorrect.  And fourth, the prices on the DoorDash site were totally incorrect in some places (not just DoorDash premiums).

So, was it a good experience?  Well, no.  I had an agonizingly long wait, had to deal with a very upset Dasher, had very melted ice cream, was missing one item I ordered, AND paid some major premiums.  But was I still glad I tried it?  Absolutely.  I'd like to try again sometime when I can just visit in person.

My First Ever DQ!

I'll admit, I was pretty giddy when my order arrived, even though it took forever, my Dasher got lost, and I suspected it would be quite melted.  It was MY FIRST DAIRY QUEEN!

Even seeing the slogan on the bag, "Happy tastes good", made me smile.  I was ready to dig in.

$12.98.

Well, my first item was a fail.  It was a small cup of vanilla ice cream.  Just vanilla ice cream.  Not particularly full.  No toppings, no mix-ins.  For ... $12.98.  Um, what?

For context, this isn't just crazy Door Dash pricing - a small sundae is supposed to be $3.79, parfaits and loaded creations are upwards of $6.99.  And yet this ... was double that.  It also is not what I ordered.

What I ordered ...

Here you can see what I ordered.  The DQ "cupcake", or basically, their version of a personal size ice cream cake.  They describe it as: "Single serving of our regular ice cream cakes. Layers of Vanilla AND Chocolate Soft Serve, separated by mouth watering layers of DQ Fudge and Cookie Crunch in the center."  As someone who grew up with ice cream cake (Carvel!), I was quite eager to try this.

The image on the Door Dash ordering page showed the layers of multiple types of ice cream, layer of crunch, and topping.  That is what I thought I was ordering.  Not just vanilla ice cream.  So, fail #1: the wrong item.

Fail #2: the price.  The crazy price was somewhat my fault, but also theirs ... the base item was marked at $4.99, which seems reasonably correct, but, then you must select a size (small, medium, large) that adds on an additional $7.99, $1, or $2.  Yes, in that order.  So, a small is $12.98 but a medium is $5.99, a large is $6.99.  Clearly, that pricing was totally broken, and I just failed to notice it when ordering, as I ordered the smallest one.

But, like I said, the crazy price was only part of the problem.

Yup, just vanilla ice cream.

The other problem, is that even when I dug through, yup, it was just vanilla ice cream.  No layer of chocolate ice cream, no cake, no crunchies, no frosting.  So even if the pricing wasn't wonky, it still was not the correct item.  And, due to the extensive delivery time, it was obviously quite melted.

It was reasonably creamy, beautifully soft and melty ice cream, sweet but not cloying.  Better than generic fast food soft serve, but it did taste more fake and lower quality than a fancy local soft serve shop that makes their own, or even is known for using more premium dairy.

Probably good with dip, and it does make a great base for Blizzards.  *** for a cup of ice cream, and, gah, the pricing and wrong item made me pretty sad.

Peanut Butter Puppy Chow Blizzard. Small. $10.99. 

"The NEW Peanut Butter Puppy Chow Blizzard® Treat is here to transform your summer. Imagine you’re at a summer gathering, surrounded by friends and family and somebody brought their secret recipe—the crispy, chocolatey, peanut butter-y sensation known as puppy chow. Well the secret’s out now and it’s officially in a DQ® treat.

The NEW Peanut Butter Puppy Chow Blizzard® Treat delivers the irresistible sensation of puppy chow taken to another level. This Blizzard® Treat will satisfy all your flavor cravings and more because it is packed with crispy puppy chow pieces, peanut butter topping, choco chunks, and is blended with our world-famous soft serve to Blizzard perfection. And the best part? Every red spoonful of your NEW Peanut Butter Puppy Chow Blizzard® Treat is all for you. No sharing required. Head down to your favorite DQ® restaurant and chow down today."

As excited as I was for the personal ice cream cake, the real reason I was excited for Dairy Queen was my first ever Blizzard.  I've had many Blizzard-adjacent creations from other places, and wanted to try the original (at least, in my head, they are the ones that really popularized these kinds of blended treats?).  Not only was I excited to try my first Blizzard, of which my choices were plentiful, I was overjoyed to try a particular one, although I was pretty tempted by some of the newer "Royal" Blizzards with a core too.

You see, in May, Dairy Queen introduced a new Blizzard, featuring something I really, really adore: puppy chow.  ZOMG.  Not only would I get to try my first Blizzard, it was going to be based around one of my favorite and most addicting snack foods ever.  For the unfamiliar, "Puppy Chow" (or "Muddy Buddies", depending where you are from), is chocolate and peanut butter coated Chex (or generic brand) cereal rolled in powdered sugar.  It is sweet, it is salty, it is savory, it is chocolatey, it is decadent, and it is addicting.  At least for me.  And here it was, in Blizzard form.

Along with the puppy chow pieces, the Blizzard incorporates additional peanut butter topping and chocolate chunks to amp up the chocolate peanut butter vibes.  Like the cup of plain vanilla, it came in a dish with a special lid that also fit the spoon within.  The price was high, $10.99, but that was the Door Dash premium, it is normally a more reasonable $5.49 in store.

Peanut Butter Puppy Chow Blizzard: Top View.

I dug in, although it was very clear that this was far more melty than it should be for ideal eating conditions.  

It was a mixed bag for me.  I loved the ribbons of peanut butter.  They were swirled in nicely, were thick, strong peanut butter flavor.  Definitely a fantastic component, and one that shows up in many other Blizzards as well.  The chocolate bits were successful too, decent quality chocolate, well distributed throughout.  Chocolate and peanut butter are always a good combination, so, this was all great.

So where this fell down sadly was the bits of puppy chow.  Described as "crispy", these were anything but.  They were soft and soggy.  It reminded me of Ben & Jerry's Americone Dream, where I always want to love the chocolate covered waffle cone pieces, but they turn out too soft for me.  Yes, they were bit of puppy chow, but the texture didn't work in here for me.

The ice cream base was good, nice and creamy, albeit far too melted.  My only other qualm is that overall it was really quite sweet.  I love sweets, but, this trended a bit too sweet to imagine eating more than a small size of (which is probably a good thing, as even the small is 720 calories, the medium puts you over 1000 already).

Overall, I'm still glad I picked it, and I did love the peanut butter ribbons.  I would try another kind next time.  ***+.