MaggieMudd

Oh my gawd, vegan sundaes, for reals? While I had heard of Maggie Mudd’s before and had tried some of their ice cream at Herbivore, I had no clue about what Bernal Heights was like, so when i got an invitation from a CouchSurfer visiting from Australia to get some vegan ice cream, it was an adventure. It turned out Bernal Heights was extremely charming, has a great view, and a few blocks down from Maggie Mudd’s is a vegan bakery (which has always been closed the few times i trekked up there so the jury is still out on that one.)
The Messy Marcie is either the best thing on earth or the death of me or both. Amazing death by sugar. They have vegan versions of everything, including fudge and marshmallows and whipped cream, which is hard to come by. I was really excited when one of those coupon daily dealies had a huge discount, so i could share this with my friends.
It does smell sickeningly sweet in there though.

These guys know how to do ice cream.
I got a deal on one of their photo ice cream cakes, and they went above and beyond.
I ordered the birthday cake online a week or so in advance, sending in a picture featuring my boyfriend in his Satan halloween costume on Muni with beer can in hand. An epic photo deserves to be on an epic cake, with the caption: Hail Satan!
And Maggie Mudd Delivered. Quite literally, and figuratively. The cake was brought to my house right on time and the cake itself was a huge hit among everyone at the surprise birthday party. It was deliciously coffee-​flavored and couldn’t have looked any better. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to go the extra mile for somebody’s birthday.

I was at Maggie Mudd twice last month and while my first visit was pretty good, my last visit was very disappointing.
After a nice hearty meal of Filipino comfort food, I thought I’d top my day off with a milkshake from Maggie Mudd, since it was on the way back to the city. I got the Tarmac — a milkshake mix of chocolate ice cream, peanut butter and Oreo cookies. It was a rich and tasty treat — sweetness from Oreo cookies, with some nice bitterness from the cocoa and a slight hint of salty from the peanut butter.
Last weekend I was there and wanted another milkshake — by the way, if you’ve never been to Maggie Mudd, milkshakes consist of basically half of their menu offerings. Their blender was broken (weird!!!) so no milkshakes; instead I went for a sundae. Unfortunately they had no chocolate ice cream, no brownies and no chocolate chips… really strange… what does that leave you with??? I mean it’s a Sunday afternoon, really cold outside and the place was not busy. I settled for a random sundae that was sloppily put together and honestly didn’t taste all that great… it was okay.
While I still enjoyed an ice cream cake I got there last year and really enjoyed my milkshake a few weeks ago, all-​in-​all the ice cream isn’t all that great. With Mitchell’s, Bi-​Rite, Swensen’s and Mr. & Mrs. Miscellaneous, there really isn’t a need to go here. If you’re vegan or prefer dairy-​free ice cream, then this is definitely a place to visit since they have a ton of options… if you like good, old-​fashioned ice cream, you can get better quality elsewhere.
Also, this place is dingy and messy and not really a «fun» ice cream parlor, so be prepared.

As a surprise at my birthday dinner, a few of my great friends planned to have a cake delivered from MaggieMudd. They chose the Banana Split cake (description below) and it was DELICIOUS! The bits of waffle cone inside were particularly great! The cake was cute too but not a work of art and my name was mis-​spelled on it which I would guess is a MaggieMudd issue and not my friends’ spelling… I’d definitely recommend their ice cream cakes though!
From their website– «Waffle Banana Split: The Grandaddy of them all! Vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate ice cream stuffed with fresh banana slices, cherries, fudge and caramel swirls, and waffle bowl pieces on white cake.»

Green tea ice cream was a hit at the work pot-​luck, so I appreciate Maggie’s help in making me not feel badly about not actually making something. To my taste, the texture was gorgeously creamy, but lacking the strong green tea flavor that you can sometimes find (usually at good Japanese restaurants).
And also, I could only have one teeny-​tiny bite. This is because all of their ice creams (including vegan options) contain corn syrup. Since I’ve learned that all corn products cause me migraines, I could not partake the way I gluttonously normally would.
So.
One star for the creamy texture
One star for the super friendly and helpful afternoon employee (who double-​checked the ingredients for me)
One star for offering vegan options
Minus a star for a sticky, dirty sort of ambiance
Minus a star for no corn syrup-​free options
Altogether 3 stars for a solid ice cream option, though I won’t be back unless I develop some sort of twisted fetish for some serious migraine action. (Something tells me that’s not a big one in the sex-​club world. .. yet.)

I’ve never been to the actual storefront, but my sister got a Townhog deal worth $ 50 for an ice cream cake that was expiring at the end of January so she gave it to me to use for my birthday cake. First of all, it is super duper easy to order a cake online. There are so many options though. What size? What design? What flavor? Yikes!
I finally decided on a Princess Aurora 6″ hand stuffed cake. I believe we went with the Goodie Noogie which had vanilla ice cream, chocolate-​hazelnut swirls, chocolate chips, and almonds on chocolate cake. I asked for the cake to be delivered between 9:00am — 9:30am on the day of my birthday. My mom and I were anxiously awaiting and were super excited when the doorbell rang at 9:31am. Yes, a minute late!!! But well worth the wait.
When we brought the cake out after dinner, it was a huge hit! Of course, our big problem was how to cut the cake. Seriously, big dilemma. But the cake was delicious. I’d order the Goodie Noogie again.

Ummm… Serious?
The look of this small place DOES match the taste of their products.
…Pretty muddy indeed! Actually, messy is more like it.
One star goes to their vegan-​friendly menu. Sadly their menu was very very limited.
Their Soy-​based green tea lacked the green tea flavor.
Peach was too tart for me.
The Tar Mack was a peanut butter mess!
I expected their shakes to be a little more thick.
Monkey Jitters… with vanilla ice cream, bananas, and a double shot of expresso… sounds better than how it tasted.
When we got there after lunch, they were running out of ice cream. Selection was minimal across the board. Thanks to a friend, we used groupons. Now I wish we didn’t even use them.
Humphry, here I come!

–1 star for stale cone –0.5 star for limited soy flavors = 3.5 stars for my most recent experience
I’ve been craving Maggie Mudds and was so excited to visit them again. However, I was pretty disappointed in my most recent visit. They only had 3 soy flavors that night: bubble gum (gross!), chocolate, and mexican chocolate. I tried the mexican chocolate and it wasn’t great so by default, I picked the chocolate which was good.
I raved about the waffle cone during my first visit but was thoroughly disappointed that the waffle cone was super stale this time. I even gave it another chance and bought a second cone, requesting for a «fresh» one. I ended up with another stale cone… which ruined my ice cream experience. However, the taste of the soy waffle cone was still delicious and I still give them props for making a non-​dairy waffle cone!
Even though my last experience wasn’t great, I’ll probably still come back. Hopefully, they’ll have more soy flavors next time and they’ll actually make the waffle cone fresh!

Groupon reminded me that I hadn’t been to Maggie Mudd’s in a while. I forgot how much I liked them!
I intended on getting just ONE scoop, but their sundae menu sparked my interest. I like that their sundaes are not massive or overdone with toppings, so you can actually enjoy each ingredient. I had the Banana Mambo — banana nut ice cream (two scoops), in an eco-​friendly reusable flower shaped cup, crowned with banana slices, topped with whipped cream, caramel, walnuts and a cherry. You actually get to choose your own ice cream and sauce but I love the banana and caramel mix. The banana nut ice crea was soy-​based but you’d never know the difference :)
My husband had the Isha’s sundae: cookies and cream ice cream, topped with two oreo cookies, chocolate sauce, whipped cream and a cherry… served in a chocolate-​lined waffle bowl. I tried a bit of his and the chocolate was a bit too overwhelming — I would have probably swapped the cookies and cream ice cream for vanilla since it’s already topped with two oreos. But then again, I don’t go ga-​ga over chocolate, either. But since you get to choose your own ice cream and sauce, you get to tone up or tone down the flavors in the sundaes so that you can personalize it the way you like.
Maggie Mudd’s is able to give you this personalized service because they’re not overcrowded. In fact, wen we arrived, a small group was leaving and we were in the only ones in the shop for a while. So we had the luxury of muddling over our choices while they patiently waited.
Other things to note:
They have a bathroom and it’s clean.
Parking is tough on weekends, but on weekdays it’s fairly easy.
They sell ice cream cakes.
They have a large selection of lactose free ice creams
Maggie’s definitely has a personality all it’s own — bright, fun, unique. It’s definitely worth a try. It’s a refreshing departure from the crowded ice cream shops we’re probably all used to.

Going to MaggieMudd was to do something I have never done before: taste ice cream that isn’t made with dairy. I picked one that’s coconut milk based: coconut with lychee, and one that’s soy milk based: black tea.
You can definitely taste the distinctive flavor of coconut milk in coconut with lychee ice cream. But it didn’t taste so much like ice cream, but more like some sort of very cold Asian dessert. The black tea one was fairly disappointing for me. It was more like ice foam than ice cream. I was kinda glad that I couldn’t really taste the soy, but then it was like licking frozen black tea.
I see why MaggieMudd serves a purpose for those who are vegan, or those who actually don’t enjoy the dairy flavor, but for someone like me who enjoy ice cream for the «cream», I should have just gotten normal dairy based ice cream.

Maggie Mudd — Messy Marcy — 3 scoops of ice cream (Vanilla, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Tarmack — Chocolate Peanut Butter with chocolate cookies, and peanut butter swirls), ½ Marshmellow sauce, ½ chocolate fudge sauce, toppings (peanuts, chocolate chips, and cookie pieces), and crumbled waffle pieces on top of a warm brownie. Don’t forget the whipped cream and cherry.
Astonishing! — The best vegan sundae ever! Every single aspect of the sundae was rich and authentic. I challenge any meat-​eater to tell the difference! The whipped cream was thick, fluffy and creamy. The waffle cone chips were a welcomed addition considering most places never have vegan cones. The ice cream was great. The only minor flaw I found was that the brownie wasn’t quite as sweet as it could be.

I think my expectations for the vegan ice cream options were a bit too high here. I didn’t realize they’d even HAVE non-​vegan options, which is nice I suppose, but when we went there, there were more non-​vegan options than vegan, which was sort of disappointing. I’d also been excited to see tons of flavors online, and there was only a subset available that day — understandable, but I’d had my sights set on certain flavors and was disappointed. If you want really «ice creamy» options as opposed to opting for dairy free options like sorbet at a traditional ice cream shop, then this is the place to be, I guess.
There was only one employee working when we went on a hot Saturday afternoon, leaving the shop under equipped to deal with herds of indecisive children (nothing wrong with that group of customers in an ice cream shop). The employee also seemed pretty irritated about dealing with the children, and I don’t blame her, but I also don’t work at an ice cream shop. Anyway, she was also irritated at getting us 2 samples to try. The ice cream was good, but not worth a trip across town. I would go back for something big that could be ordered ahead, like a vegan ice cream cake, though. Given the high prices, that might not be any time soon.

We had vegan, gluten-​free ice cream cake from MaggieMudd for granddaughter’s first b’day. Very tasty and everyone could enjoy.
Had no idea the store is very, very tiny and hard to locate on Cortland. Metered street parking. Did I mention how tiny the store is (?) and the sign is hidden by a tree.

I feel bad for vegans who have to eat alternatives like this.
I noticed that there is some poster on the wall that says «do you know where your whipped cream comes from?» and there’s a picture of a cow hanging upside down. But honestly, ABSTAINING from anything cow-​related is not the answer… it’s about getting the milk from cows that are happy (free range, treated well, have friends, etc.).
I decided to try the Coco Loco which is chocolate ice cream with oreo bits and rum. In place of cow milk, this one has coconut milk. I expected it to taste different which it did. But it also ended up tasting just strange. I couldn’t really pinpoint the coconut milk because the chocolate claimed all the power.
Something that I noticed is that service is slow even with two workers and not that many employees. I was trying to see if it just so happened to be that every single individual in front of me ordered a sundae but no, even scoops took a while. And I’m only saying «slow» in comparison to well, all the other ice cream shops I’ve been to. You just have to scoop and go, scoop and go.

this place is no joke.
my dear dr. braved waiting in the line that snaked out the door so i could fulfill my fantasy of scarfing down a vegan sundae in record time.
the closer we got to the cash register the higher my blood pressure rose. this was freaking stressful. it’s not everyday a vegan has ice cream options that aren’t lemon gelato or strawberry sorbet.
by the time I had to open my mouth and order i was ready to crap myself silly. choices. so many choices. my head was going to explode.
and then…
miniwafflesundaeapplepieicecreamwithveganwhippedcr­eamchocolatesauceandsprinkles
please. thank you. yes. rainbow sprinkles. yes. thank you. please.
thank you.
the dr. got a cone of pepermint and chocolate marmalade.
we sat outside. i managed to take a couple of pictures of my prized sundae before i broke and housed that shit like i was on day 34 of Survivor.
I need to forget how easy it is to hop on the 24 to get here or my ass is gonna eat up another zip code.

OK, Maggie Mudd, I love you. I really really truly love you. You are a top destination when I’m in the city, because ice cream is my favourite food and you do it like no other. Even when I think I’ve eaten enough food to not have to eat for another week or so, I still can find room in my heart and stomach to accommodate you.
But in spite of all of this, I’ve still got a bone to pick. First off, I’ve come to hang out with you TWICE in the past week and your soy and coconut milk flavours have been severely lacking. What’s up with that? No Peanut Butter and Jelly? No Chocolate Orange? Huh? Where did the plethora of delicious dairy-​free options go??? I will admit the seasonal Pumpkin and Peppermint flavours are fairly top-​notch. But when I only have 15 (instead of 30) to choose from (and those 15 aren’t terribly adventurous in nature either), I get kind of bummed out.
And then there is the issue of your employees. I’m certain you don’t hire morons, but how come every time I’m there, the person (s) working is always taking FOREVER, or getting my order completely wrong, or too busy CHATTING WITH HIS OR HER BUDDIES IN THE STORE instead of taking five quick minutes to help me out when I’m the only customer in the store? Seriously?
I’ll never desert you (haha!) as long as you keep producing mouth-​watering, innovative treats, but please please please re-​think who you’re hiring, or re-​train them, or something, anything, because I can currently get better and more personal service from some 16-​year-​old retail worker at the mall.

This place is gooooood. It’s ice cream, I mean really good ice cream. They have Dairy, Soy and Coconut Milk Ice cream thats bound to make you happy.
Did you know they have ice cream for a buck on Wednesdays? Yes, $ 1.00. That’s unbelievable. Did I mention it’s really good?
They also stay open late, which is an awesome after dinner dessert. There are also a lot of really great restaurants around there too. Cortland is perfect for a dinner date, ice cream and a nice little stroll down the block.

Keepin’ this short, it’s all been said before, but I needed to toss my 5 stars on top of the pile.
Best vegan ice cream I’ve ever had, ever. Not into soy? Lucky you, the vegan options made with coconut milk are amazing.
Where else could I possibly get a vegan ice cream birthday cake, with vegan brownie crust? No where. Not to mention at no added cost they added a photo on top of the cake.
I love you Maggie Mudd, and if I lived closer to you I’d certainly be a happily indulged 750 pound vegan.

It was worth the walk up the hill.
I had the Mudslide and my wifey had the Memphis Mudd Pie. Truly hard to believe it was dairy free. We each had one scoop and it was so good we debated about going back for a second one right after we were done (we were good and didn’t; even though it’s dairy free, it’s not exactly good for you).
The long list of flavors the make (they are not all available at one time) looked so good… yum yum.
And the guy that worked there was really nice and friendly.

i was intrigued by ice cream made with soy, so I tried the ginger soy cream. WOW! intense ginger flavor and dense like gelato. chunks of crystalized ginger. oh so good!
the storefront is a dump, so negative one star, but they serve a unique quality product. gotta come back soon to try the vanilla ice cream. served in a chilled plastic cup — great idea.
JYW says check it out!