Dairy Queen

«A Tale of Two Dairy Queens»
Ann Arbor is truly a city divided. There are two dairy queens: this one on the east side, and another over on West Stadium. They could not be more different.
Reasons this dairy queen is far inferior (I’ve been to both, most recently tried the W Stadium location and was blown away with how much better it was):
1) This DQ location puts less «stuff» in its blizzards. It’s consistently the stingiest blizzard I’ve ever had, always too much soft serve in the soft serve-​to-​stuff ratio. The oreo chunks are about as rare as a decoder ring in a box of cracker jacks.
2) Ever peek behind the counter to see them soaking the metal blizzard collar things in that clogged sink of dirty water? Yum.
3) This location is actually more expensive. $ 4.00 for a small blizzard, vs. $ 3.69 at the Stadium location. You can basically get a Medium there for the same price as a Small here ($ 4.19).
4) This location always has the second window closed, leading to heavy lines. The Stadium location, at least when I went, had both windows open and fully operational to minimize wait.
This is clearly a franchised location with crummy owners, as they don’t participate in promos like the «serve upside down or its free.» In fact they tape blank paper over parts of the banners to blot it out. Nothing but the best.
This location is fine in a pinch, but if you live in the middle of the two, it’s worth heading west for a far more pleasant and objectively tasty experience. For me, it’s a few extra minutes to the west location but I’ll never go back.

Went here at 9:43 on a Tuesday. They close at 10. Kid said his manager told them to close early and they «are out of ice cream.» Would never have called you guys out if not for the «out of ice cream» remark.

I used to go to this DQ more when my fiancé lived off Packard. Now that we’re under one roof on the west side we tend to go to the one on Stadium but sometimes I still find myself at this location, particularly if I’m jonesing later in the evening. See, I like this DQ because it’s open until 10 during the spring whereas the one closer to me closes at 9. Sometimes I’m doing yard work outside I need all the daylight I can get. But then when it gets dark and I’ve washed off the dirt I want a reward ice cream. So 10pm is all right by me. (This scenario has happened twice just this week).
In general it’s your standard DQ. Nothing too noteworthy about it but it gets the job perfectly done. The service is competent, the ice cream tastes good, there are some picnic tables in the back if you want to eat there (although there are no lights back there so it feels a little sketch after sundown). The parking lot is small and kind of hard to maneuver in but it’s bigger than the Stadium location and I’ve never had trouble parking even when they’re at their busiest.
It can be a bit slow so plan for that. You may have to wait in line a bit. But the treat at the end of that stretch is worth it!

Does not honor free blizzard if not served upside down. Advertises promo in front window but refused to give coupon for free blizzard after serving it right side up. Franchise owner not sympathetic.

It’s not a big boxy DQ, but rather the little neighborhood ice cream place. There’s parking, but often it’s easier to walk there. There’s no gelato or custard (though there may be yogurt, I don’t recall). But sometimes a cherry-​dipped vanilla soft-​serve ice cream cone really hits the spot.

The quintessential summer evening activity. It gets packed with Little Leaguers, but commit to standing in line and listening to them decide which type of blizzard they’re going to get and how much change they need to have. It’s pretty cute.
The venue is your typical Dairy Queen. The staff are local high schoolers, and the whole thing just feels perfectly community based.

Never thought I’d go here, despite living 500 meters away at most. Tasty little treat! And the best part was that my little puppy LOVED her vanilla cone – doggie size.

nom nom nom … yesterday was the first day of spring and this convenient location was participating in giving away free cones to celebrate !! you betcha that i took advantage of this !! even added sum sparkle to the cone with havin it been dipped in sprinkles !!
this DQ is in a great location — there is parking available, and there is a weird drive around the DQ to get to the parking spaces. it seems like it would be a drive thru but there isn’t

This place is always wonderful and I love it. Today is 12÷12÷12, the last day of Dairy Queen. The sign says 8:00 pm close and at 7:30 this evening, I was hoping to get the last taste for the season.
Nope. Closed. The fat, lazy kid working today turned the sign off and was cleaning up. God forbid a long-​time customer gets 2 minutes of your time, sir, so he get one last round for him and his wife.
I love this DQ. I’ll always come back. But managers, make sure your employees aren’t cheating your loyal customer base.
Damned lazy fat kid working today.
Otherwise, it’s always perfect.

I love that this DQ has more options as far as Blizzards go!

If you’re in the mood for a cool treat, as I sometime am, then this a good place to. But don’t be in a hurry. The lines are often long just at those times that you would want a cool treat… because everyone else will too. And as far as Dairy Queens go this is certainly one of the smallest, dirtiest, most run down shacks in the armada. If you’ve got a choice, make it over to the one on Stadium road (across the street from the Kroger plaza).

Don’t go there just when the kids or adults are getting out of their softball games in nearby parks — the lines will be too long, and everyone will be yelling at each other and ordering things that are sort of complicated, and maybe needing to borrow some change from a teammate or somebody’s mother.
But on a summer night, you can sit at a picnic table facing the firehouse and slowly spoon up your blizzard or lick the softly melting surface of your ice cream cone and you might feel better about world politics or your job or the housing bubble. And the people at the next table, and the people pulling their cars into the lot, and the ones at the table in front might all feel better too.