Yeah I get it. A lot of people are in love with Mitchell's. It's probably one of the largest local ice cream chains in the Greater Cleveland area. Some claim it's better than Jeni's in C-Bus. (Which it's not btw). To me, Mitchell's didn't exactly knock my socks off like I thought it would.
Mitchell's has branches scattered throughout several upper class suburban safe-zones including Rocky River, Westlake, Solon and Beachwood. I recently visited the Beachwood location following a birthday dinner. It's located on the 2nd floor of the LaPlace shopping center, which is basically a miniature indoor mall that never seems busy. As a matter of fact, when we went in to LaPlace, it was a ghost town. It felt cold, sterile and creepy as we made our way to the second floor to discover the only thing with any sign of life, Mitchell's Homemade.
Inside the store, Mitchell's is bright and cheery. Menu items range from the various hard packed flavors, sorbets, yogurts, sundays, shakes, malts, soda, and other signature treats. Nothing too crazy or inventive though. Just the basics. This place seems to fit what a good majority of consumers probably want out of an ice cream joint and that's fine. But me? I kind of like the old rickety ice cream joints off a beaten country road path. The ones with gravel or dirt road parking lots. The ones with picnic benches outside. The ones with charm and without pretension. The ones that don't strive to be something other than what they are. A rinky-dink, no frills ice cream joint. Mitchell's isn't one of them. But that doesn't mean it isn't good. It just doesn't have that extra personal charm that the other joints do.