Dip N Dots Flavors Views

General Goods

We are not going to attempt to glorify a twenty-year-old culinary invention that, when snarkily summarized, consists of turning big vats of cheap ice cream into small, expensive balls of ice cream. We can't even tell you that we prefer Dippin' Dots on taste alone to other ice creams we could buy at similarly inflated single-serving prices, complete with tons of creamy fat content and broken up pieces of our favorite candy bars mixed in. However, for reasons that could be summarized scientifically, we still find ourselves enjoying this novel form of ice cream anyway - the best local venues are kiosks at the Walden Galleria Mall in Cheektowaga and the Boulevard Mall in Amherst.

These Dippin' Dots shops are franchises and don't offer a huge array of different food; they are there to serve you their namesake treat in various forms. We generally order a simple mix of Chocolate and Mint Chocolate Dots, but have also tried other flavors such as the Strawberry version shown in pink here; Cookie 'n Cream, Java Delight, Root Beer Float, and Peanut Butter Chip are amongst a number of different options.

Several cup sizes are available, starting with a 4-ounce small ($3); we normally go for the 8-ounce large ($5) despite the added price since the cups always look tiny. Employing a common marketing trick, Dippin' Dots gives you a relatively small spoon, which extends the longevity of any sized cup by preventing you from shoveling the whole thing down your throat in seconds.

Unusually, this spoon turns out to be the key to Dippin' Dots' magic. The small servings force you to actually think about what's hitting your tongue, making you recognize not only the individual pieces of ice cream, but their unusual shapes, textures, and coolness. Each of the dots is the size of a small ball bearing, smooth to your tongue's touch, and initially feels surprisingly but not unpleasantly cold. Dippin' Dots are formed in a deep freeze at -320 degrees Fahrenheit, then maintained at -40 degrees; by the time they are served, they're at a still chilly -20 degrees, and you may still think you can vaguely taste the liquid nitrogen used to freeze them.