Many wonderful things have come to us Canadians from our neighbours south of the border.Cold Stone Creamery is not one of them.
I'd place it on the list of nasty things we've inherited from the States—perhaps somewhere between Dr. Phil and childhood obesity.
They've recently put Cold Stone Creamery outlets inside select Tim Hortons in the HRM and people won't shut up about it. Like a lemming, I followed the crowd to satisfy my curiosity.
You pick an ice cream, you pick some "mix ins," like cookies, gummy worms and pie crust, and they paddle it all together into a nauseating mound. And in true American chain-style gluttonous fashion, the portions will decrease your lifespan by a solid decade.
I only had a fiver with me, so I couldn't afford a mix-in and settled for a small peanut butter ice cream in a cup. It was mealy and left a greasy film on the roof of my mouth after each bite. Feeling a little queasy yet? Good, I shouldn't suffer alone.
The strangest thing happened too. The guy ahead of me threw a quarter in the tip jar and the staff simultaneously burst into a song. I looked around at the people in Tim Hortons just trying to enjoy a nice double double and an old fashioned plain on a Monday night and they looked equally confused.
"What just happened?" I politely inquired.
"Oh, we sing every time we get a tip," the cashier responded.
I jokingly-but-pretty-seriously suggested they might get more tips if they didn't tell the customers that. She didn't seem amused and I felt a bit like a bitch. After all, I was probably pouring salt into her wounds. You can bet she didn't sign up for a summer of coffee pouring and ice cream paddling.
If all this talk of ice cream and paddling and mix ins sounds familiar, it's because there's already a place like it. It's called Sugah! and it's made and served right here in Halifax. And all the add ins (their name for mix ins) are homemade. And it's been around long before Cold Stone Creamery budged its way in and set up shop in one of our national treasures.
The bottom line: Leave ice cream to the local pros and let the poor students at the Quinpool Road Tim Hortons surrender their paddles.
3 comments:
How can the portions be "measly" and yet lifespan decreasing at the same time?
The song thing might be annoying, but the ice-cream is actually quite good compared to most commercial ice cream chains (Baskin Robbins, Haagen Dazs, Ben and Jerry's, Dairy Queen)
I said it was mealy, not measly.
I would prefer Baskin Robbins, Haagen Dazs, Ben and Jerry's and Dairy Queen to Coldstone.
I guess we will have to respectfully disagree. = )
Just visited tonight after friends raved about it. I didn't realize that it is was a part of Timmies and only takes cash. After spending 4 dollars at the atm at the gas station to get cash I finally bought some ice cream.
The ice cream itself wasn't bad but the fact that they don't take debit leaves a sour taste in my mouth.
I don't plan on making more family trips there unless there's cash in my pocket, and there are easier places to spend cash than there.
In a word. Get Interac folks.
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