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| - I dabbled between three and four stars on this one, but had to go with three.
My boyfriend and I decided to go here for ice cream on one of the gruesome 115 degree Arizona afternoons that we Scottsdale natives know to be so draining. After seeing countless Culver's commercials about their signature concrete mixers, ice cream sundaes and several other frozen treats, we decided to go here instead of venturing down Shea to the local Dairy Queen.
Now. I was a little taken back, because I never knew Culver's was a walk-up-and-order fast food kind of joint. Silly me, I thought it was an actual place where you sit down to get burgers and ice cream. But hey. I was wrong. Nothing wrong with that. So we ventured in, ordered, and then found a seat in the dining area (that looks somewhat similar to the inside of the local Wildflower Bread Co.-- decorated with hand-blown glass flowers fake plants and whatnot).
The one thing that kind of rubbed me the wrong way about this restaurant was that the dining area was completely silent. There were about five other seated parties and with no ambient music or noise from the muted television screens that hang above, it makes the atmosphere a little weird. Everyone, including us, felt obligated to have whispering conversations so that it didn't disturb the silence. It was so quiet that I could almost hear the couple in the booth behind us licking the ice cream off their spoons.
Anyhow, we ordered two concrete mixers. Mine: vanilla custard with brownie chunks and snickers and his: chocolate custard with hot fudge and some other chocolate add in. (Each mixer comes with two mix-ins, each additional one after that is .50c) They were both REALLY good. Not the best I've ever eaten, but they definitely beat a Blizzard that you would get from DQ. The custard was smooth in texture, and had a really nice and pure flavor. The employees add a bunch of your mix-ins and are far from skimpy. For the custard to mix-in ratio I'd say about 1/4 of your dessert is mix-ins (which is a great ratio in my opinion). For the two 'short' mixers and a medium drink it was around $10, which really wasn't bad.
The employees were helpful and seemed knowledgeable on their products. Would have been a four star if the ambiance was a little better and a lot less awkward. Quality custard, though!
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