I scream: Mix, Cold Stone, or Marble Top?
A late-night run to Mix on the Ave yesterday spurred the following debate, as we lounged on the somewhat-ratty-yet-full-of-soul couches: who reigns supreme amongst Seattle’s add-in-toppings-while-you-wait ice cream purveyors? Opinion was split between the funky indie cred of Mix and the soulless corporate anonymity of the Cold Stone, with Marble Top thrown in as a dark horse. (By the way: who knew the business of cold countertops was so vicious?)
The tie-breaker might have been the rumor that giving a tip to a worker at Cold Stone forces the employee to “sing so that the whole store can hear,” which seems like something out of a sequel to Office Space. Despite preferring the ambiance at CSC, I fear I will never set foot inside one again on the off chance somebody leaves a tip. But who cares about me? To whom do MB readers give the honor of their cold-counter dollar?
Mix! (Green Lake)
The Mix, for sure. (The one at Green Lake is a little less ratty, a little more anonymous. You might like that better.) I’ve heard that if you bring bacon, they will mix it into your ice cream. I have not tried this myself — the recent trend for bacon ice cream is already played out, IMO.
Yeah, I remember the Greenlake branch being a bit more Greenlakey than Aveish. It seems a bit more like a small-town ice cream parlor. The ave one could easily be a hookah lounge, with just a kitchen equipment swap.
I’m lactose intolerant :(
the Mix forever. especially the ratty one on the Ave!
(p.s. to mooman – they have sorbet, too.)
At least at the stores downtown, they no longer sing for their tips at Cold Stone. I believe customer complaints forced this. The singing wasn’t at all “cute” like the corp. intended; nearly everyone I know (including myself) would request “no singing” when dropping a tip in the tip jar.
Mooman, I feel your pain. Who the hell wants sorbet when you have a hankering for ice cream? Here’s a tip from someone else who is LI, eat some yogurt before eating the ice cream and eat one spoonful in the middle of your ice cream serving. It may make you make your ice cream portions smaller so your stomach can fit all that food, but the bacteria in yogurt will digest the lactose in the ice cream for you and not make your guts hurt the next day.