Carvel Ice Cream, if this topic has been

Carvel Ice Cream, I would like to know about it! If this topic has been discussed before, I am sorry! I read their webpage and they make a lot of big claims about their proudcts. Is it that good?

Thanks,
Garry

YES YES YES it is AWESOME...... unfortunately i don't think that there are too many carvel stores in the midwest-- at least i haven't found any near me yet (and you know where i am )
we go to carvel when we are at my moms-- my kids LOVE it.. the cones are HUGE and they smother them in sprinkles ( or whatever you call them- i've always called them sprinkles)and their cakes are the BEST........
if you find any around here PLEASE let me know.. my kids would love ya forever too!!:)

There are tons of carvels by me and every single one of them is over-priced. $3 for a small cone! Their ice cream is okay but not the best, although their cakes are pretty good but expensive ($12 for a small cake that serves about 4 people).

I have seen one on Hurstborne Lane near I-64 in Louisville. Haven't made the effort to check it out. It just opened a short time ago.
Is this the same company that had a gazillion soft-serve stands in the Northeast 40 years ago or have they "re-issued" the name on a new franchise chain?

quote:

Originally posted by jerseygirl127

YES YES YES it is AWESOME...... unfortunately i don't think that there are too many carvel stores in the midwest-- at least i haven't found any near me yet (and you know where i am )
we go to carvel when we are at my moms-- my kids LOVE it.. the cones are HUGE and they smother them in sprinkles ( or whatever you call them- i've always called them sprinkles)and their cakes are the BEST........
if you find any around here PLEASE let me know.. my kids would love ya forever too!!:)

Good Morning, Jersey!

I just checked Carel's website, I found out the following about locations near You and me.

Illinois 1 in Geneva and 1 to open soon in Skokie

Indiana 0

Michigan 1 on the east side of the state, 10 to open soon on the
east side of the state. And 1 to open soon, in Shelby
Townsihip, I think Shebly Township is in the Grand Traverse
area of Michigan.

Well, so far one vote on this topic is:

1 awesome

1 not good

I love Carvel! I have been eating it since I was a kid. Growing up they were the only place that had Ice cream Cakes. I must say nearly all on my birthday cakes came from there - love those crunchy chocolate things! Nowadays I must admit I like Dairy Queen Ice Cream cakes better because they had fudge and crunchy chocolate things between the layers. If I remember correctly, Carvel Cakes come in more flavors than DQ cakes.

Carvel, oh my! Back in the 60's, nothing finer! This NY/NJ/CT franchise chain made their own ice cream mix, and even patented and manufactured their own soft serve machines. The founder, Tom Carvel (Karvellas, I think) was an absolute tyrant on quality - he personally visited each and every franchise several times a year and checked the products and services. It was, as they said then, super premium, no air injected, soft serve. He even flirted with a hamburger franchise, called "Hubie Burgers", burgers similar to another NY chain, Wetson's. Good 'burgers but they never caught on. After Tom Carvel passed on, the company changed hands several times, and did some foolish things - the worst of which was they stopped manufacturing their own mix and are now using a mix made for them by a conglomerate somewhere in the midwest. The franchises were threatened by the company placing their products in supermarkets, and the overall quality seems to have suffered.
They are doing a bit better now - the product is very good again, but it is not, nor will it ever be, what it was during the glory days of Tom Carvel. Still, given my choice between Carvel and most of the other stuff out there (dairy queen, for example), I'll take the Carvel each time and think a thought of Tom!

[SO FAR]:

3 GREATS OR AWESOME

1 NOT GOOD

I have many fond memories of Carvel growing up.

Add my vote to the Great/Awesome list.

Good ice cream and yes there are not cheap--but every cone i ever got there was HUGE.

Deal me in on Great/Awesome.
I grew up thinking that Carvel WAS ice cream.
It was always a great summer night when the old man would say "lets go to Brewster and get some frozen custard".
I didn't know they got as far as the midwest. I always thought of them as a metro NY thing.
Top

I get the individual choc/vani with cookie crumble cups at the grocery in Chcago. When i'm in SC i'll go to their Carvel/Quizno's store. IMO it has a bitter aftertaste.

Sorry folks but Milwaukee has always had great frozen custard stands; Kalts, Kip's, Kopp's, Culver, Town Pride, Gille's. Carvel was here and couldn't make a go of that thin ice milk tasting product. Count me as a strong nay! There's a Dairy Queen here and there but they are mostly a sandwich stop in this area. Even most Baskin-Robbins (if not all) are gone.

quote:

Originally posted by MilwFoodlovers

Sorry folks but Milwaukee has always had great frozen custard stands; Kalts, Kip's, Kopp's, Culver, Town Pride, Gille's. Carvel was here and couldn't make a go of that thin ice milk tasting product. Count me as a strong nay! There's a Dairy Queen here and there but they are mostly a sandwich stop in this area. Even most Baskin-Robbins (if not all) are gone.

Culver's taste like thin ice milk, comapred to Ritter's Frozen Custard!!!!!!!

http://www.ritters.com/aboutus/history.html

Did I mention that I think Carvel is AWESOME?? my kids do too.. they about flipped out when we were home (bricktown, new jersey) 2 yrs ago and my brother took them to carvel and they got cones COVERED in sprinkles.. they thought they were in ice cream heaven!!!
so i guess that's another one for GOOD! :)

Like Carvel but will drive the extra 15 minutes for Sheridans

quote:

Originally posted by garryd451

Carvel Ice Cream, I would like to know about it! If this topic has been discussed before, I am sorry! I read their webpage and they make a lot of big claims about their proudcts. Is it that good?

Thanks,
Garry

Good, but only #3 on my list. #1 is a place called Snowflake Ice Cream in Riverhead NY (eastern Long Island) which is outstanding and has some of the most original flavors ever.

#2 is Mister Softee. I was cutting my lawn and he drove past today and I had a peanut cone...soft vanilla dipped or rolled in peanuts. Heaven!!

#3 is Carvel. They are good, but not great. I only stop there if options #1 and 2 aren't going to happen. I do like their ice cream cakes with those chocolate crumbs on the bottom...yum.

quote:

Originally posted by Tony Bad

quote:

Originally posted by garryd451

Carvel Ice Cream, I would like to know about it! If this topic has been discussed before, I am sorry! I read their webpage and they make a lot of big claims about their proudcts. Is it that good?

Thanks,
Garry

Good, but only #3 on my list. #1 is a place called Snowflake Ice Cream in Riverhead NY (eastern Long Island) which is outstanding and has some of the most original flavors ever.

#2 is Mister Softee. I was cutting my lawn and he drove past today and I had a peanut cone...soft vanilla dipped or rolled in peanuts. Heaven!!

#3 is Carvel. They are good, but not great. I only stop there if options #1 and 2 aren't going to happen. I do like their ice cream cakes with those chocolate crumbs on the bottom...yum.

OMG!!! You're right about Mister Softee being good. I didn't know that Mister Softee were still in business, Mister Softee left this area, that I live in, over 40 years ago!

Here are the 2 topics I found by my search:

http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1013&SearchTerms=mister,softee


http://roadfood.com/Forums/post.asp?method=Edit&REPLY_ID=125093&TOPIC_ID=7380&FORUM_ID=17

Also I found the following webpage for Mister Softee:

http://www.mistersoftee.com/about.asp

Mister Softee That's too funny!

#1-Kopp's in Milwaukee-especially the nut varieties. The butter pecan with those massive amounts of butter roasted and salted pecans mixed throughout the custard and clinging to the sides (or the pistacio with the roasted nuts) are like nothing I've ever tasted in any of the other 48 states I've visited (haven't made it to Alaska yet).
#2-Sheridan's in Overland Park, Kansas-the mocha almond concrete made with 2 shots of expresso mixed in.
#3-Ritter's in Indiana
#4-Ted Drewes in St. Louis
#5-Tony's in Gastonia, NC
#6-Culver's
#7-Carvel
#8-Moose Track's
#9-just about any variety of Blue Bell at the grocery store

I had Carvel once. I prefer ice cream.

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Hoffman

I had Carvel once. I prefer ice cream.

When I was a kid they called carvel and similar stuff frozen custard, now it seems there is no distinction in the marketing and they call it ice cream even though it is very different from real ice cream. Most of the time I prefer the frozen custard to ice cream, sometimes I'll have one of each! Lately I have been on a custard kick...especially since we are on Mister Softee's route!! Had a vanilla shake today...damn that was good!!

Sheridan's Serves Frozen Custard & it is outstanding!

http://www.sheridansfrozencustard.com/index.php

quote:

Originally posted by qwerty79

There are tons of carvels by me and every single one of them is over-priced. $3 for a small cone!

Are you kidding me? I paid that yesterday for a Ben & Jerry's cone.

The Carvel around here isn't all that great. I don't what they're selling, they call it ice cream, I'm not so sure. The prices for their cakes are ridiculous.

quote:

Originally posted by Tony Bad

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Hoffman

I had Carvel once. I prefer ice cream.

When I was a kid they called carvel and similar stuff frozen custard, now it seems there is no distinction in the marketing and they call it ice cream even though it is very different from real ice cream. Most of the time I prefer the frozen custard to ice cream, sometimes I'll have one of each! Lately I have been on a custard kick...especially since we are on Mister Softee's route!! Had a vanilla shake today...damn that was good!!

When I was growing up there was frozen custard, and the best I ever had was at a place called Peter Franke's in West Haven, Connecticut's Savin Rock. But the places like Carvel served something called ice milk. There was a difference, but it's been so long I can't remember what that difference was.

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Hoffman

quote:

Originally posted by Tony Bad

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Hoffman

I had Carvel once. I prefer ice cream.

When I was a kid they called carvel and similar stuff frozen custard, now it seems there is no distinction in the marketing and they call it ice cream even though it is very different from real ice cream. Most of the time I prefer the frozen custard to ice cream, sometimes I'll have one of each! Lately I have been on a custard kick...especially since we are on Mister Softee's route!! Had a vanilla shake today...damn that was good!!

When I was growing up there was frozen custard, and the best I ever had was at a place called Peter Franke's in West Haven, Connecticut's Savin Rock. But the places like Carvel served something called ice milk. There was a difference, but it's been so long I can't remember what that difference was.

Ritter's Frozen Custard is rich tasting, very very smooth and creamy!
According to Ritter's webpage, their product is Frozen Custard. There webpage says the diffrence between Frozen Custard and Ice Cream is, that Frozen Custard has eggs and Ice Cream don't!

http://www.ritters.com/aboutus/history.html

quote:

Originally posted by garryd451

Carvel Ice Cream, I would like to know about it! If this topic has been discussed before, I am sorry! I read their webpage and they make a lot of big claims about their proudcts. Is it that good?

Thanks,
Garry

Went to Carvel tonight and was very pleasantly surprised. What they are doing these days is offering a bunch of flavors made from their regular soft ice cream product right in the store. The flavors are made with the soft stuff, then flash frozen in some special gizmo they got back there, and served scooped like a hard ice cream. Tastes good and has a texture between regular soft serve and "hard" ice cream.

They also had quite a variety of sundae toppings. If you haven't been in a while check it out!

My daughter had a lemon sherbet, which was also quite good. Strangely MY daughter doesn't like ice cream. I may need to have some genetic testing done to see if she is related to the milkman!