As much as I love fall, the end of summer came a little too quickly for me.
Like someone after a sudden break-up, I was feeling like I needed some
closure. The only solution, obviously, was to eat as much ice cream as
possible, and this article’s deadline gave me the perfect excuse to do just
that. I wrangled up two of my housemates, Becca and Devin, and decided on
four of the most well-known ice cream places on campus to try out and
review (giving each place a rating in ice cream scoops out of 5). We headed
to Stucchi’s first, then its neighbor, Ben & Jerry’s, followed by Kilwin’s,
and finished up at Washtenaw Dairy. Here are the results:
Stucchi’s
We all agreed that Stucchi’s smelled the most like an ice cream parlor,
which gave it major points in our books. On the corner of State and
Liberty, it’s really close to campus and with it’s awesome mural on the
wall of different Ann Arbor spots, it’s very much a University staple.
Their ice cream is awesome and they have original flavors like Green Apple
Pie (which tasted exactly like caramel apple lollipops), Scottish Pride,
and Peanut Butter Truffle Shuffle (cheesecake ice cream with a peanut
butter swirlI highly recommend it). Oh, and they have a sprinkle station
that is free to add to your ice cream when it’s raining or snowing out,
which is most of the time. Although it was a little pricey, Stucchi’s
killed it, overall.
Becca’s Rating: 4 ice cream scoops
Ainsley’s Rating: 4.5 ice cream scoops.
Devin’s Rating: 4.5 ice cream scoops
Ben & Jerry’s
Right next door to Stucchi’s on State Street, Ben & Jerry’s also has a
great location. We all know their ice cream flavors are pretty original,
like Late Night Snack with chocolate covered potato chip clusters, but
we’ve also tried most of them before because they sell them at the grocery
store. They have a couple in-store only flavors, but none that were too
exciting. They claimed Becca’s favorite ice cream of the day, Triple
Caramel Chunk, but other than that we weren’t too impressed by the ice
cream. Maybe it just wasn’t enough Ann Arbor pride for us or maybe it was
the giant cows staring at us on the walls, but this one wasn’t our
favorite.
Becca’s Rating: 3.5 ice cream scoops
Ainsley’s Rating: 2.5 ice cream scoops
Devin’s Rating: 3.5 ice cream scoops
Kilwin’s
I, personally, love the atmosphere at Kilwin’s. It looks like an
old-fashioned shop with wood and wallpaper everywhere. Super cozy. However,
the salsa music that was playing threw us off a little bit. We tried
Pumpkin, Mackinac Island Fudge, and Cake Batter (which actually had
crumbled pieces of cake in it and chocolate flakes). All of their flavors
were pretty potent, especially Pumpkin. When I tried it, the woman working
told me, “It’s definitely an acquired taste.” I think that’s a good way to
describe their ice cream over all. They had a flavor called Ann Arbor Mud,
so they get some points for that, but it was vanilla with caramel and
chocolate pieces, so nothing too original. Good atmosphere, so-so ice
cream.
Becca’s Rating: 3 ice cream scoops
Ainsley’s rating: 3 ice cream scoops
Devin’s Rating: 3 ice cream scoops
Washtenaw Dairy
I had pretty high expectations for this one, because it had gotten some
stellar reviews. It lived up to them for the most part. The location was a
little bit off campus, and the shop looked more like a convenient store
inside, so those were its downsides. All of the flavors we tried were
amazing, but we settled on ordering a kids Snickerdoodle to split, because
we were busting out of our pants at that point. Turns out their “kids” is
more like an adult medium. Their portions are huge and their prices are
tiny, which is great for a college spot. I loved the Snickerdoodle ice
cream – it tasted exactly like the cookie and even had chunks of cookie
dough in it. Becca thought it was a little too sweet, so if you don’t have
a massive sweet tooth like I do, you probably won’t enjoy it as much as I
did. But more than likely, you also wouldn’t have read this far into an
article about ice cream.
Becca’s Rating: 2.5 ice cream scoops
Ainsley’s Rating: 4 ice cream scoops
Devin’s Rating: 4.25 ice cream scoops
Totals:
1. Stucchi’s: 13 scoops
2. Washtenaw Dairy: 10.75 scoops
3. Ben & Jerry’s: 9.5 scoops
4. Kilwin’s: 9 scoops