Mister Softee. An iconic brand you'd think I would have experienced before now, given that I adore soft serve
ice cream. And yet, although I had great brand awareness, I hadn't ever actually visited a Mister Softee truck before now.
"Mister Softee was founded by William Conway and James Conway in 1956 in Philadelphia and is one of the largest franchisers of soft ice cream in the United States, with about 350 franchisees operating 625 trucks in 18 states. The headquarters have been in Runnemede, New Jersey since 1958. It is still run by the Conway family, co-owned by cousins Jim Conway Jr. and John Conway."
Mister Softee trucks are ~everywhere in NYC, but the city also has so much actual premium high end specialty soft serve I've just never prioritize it, although I've walked by the trucks many, many times. Also, I'll admit I've always thought they were overpriced for what is pretty basic ice cream at the end of the day. They do NOT post their prices on the trucks (hello, tourist tax), but when I've stopped by to ask a few times I recall a basic cone being $6-8, which seems crazy to me. They have just the basics: vanilla and chocolate soft serve (or twist), cup or cone (or double cone), and standard generic chocolate or cherry dip, sprinkles, and simple sauces for sundaes. I think they only do a single size. That is it. Iconic, yes, premium, no.
But ... they also do catering, and I attended an event with the Mister Softee truck for all attendees, so I seized the moment to finally get to try it.
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| Small Vanilla with Rainbow Sprinkles. |
This was such a basic cone! It wasn't made with any particular care, it was kinda small (although really the size was fine with me), the sprinkles weren't particularly well applied. Basically, generic, you can get it anywhere, in terms of looks.
The taste was good, but again, pretty generic you can get it anywhere. The base flavor was perhaps a bit vanilla, not too fake tasting, not too sweet, but definitely more akin to frosting flavor than a deep rich vanilla. It was very creamy, perfect temperature and consistency, and melted beautifully. Their machine is clearly well calibrated. The sprinkles were standard sugar sprinkles, the cone a triangle shape cake cone (which is actually my favorite style - I grew out of sugar cones for the most part, but I get annoyed by the flat bases of standard cake cones). Both were fresh though, no staleness detected.
I see this as what is probably a very reliable, basic cone. It is good, there is nothing at all wrong with it, but it is not an interesting, unique, or premium product. Certainly many steps above a fast food cone though. High 3/5, maybe 3.5/5.
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