REVIEW: Friendly's Sundae Xtreme Mint Cookie Collision

The last time I visited one of my favorite grocery stores, Ingles Markets, I noticed that they had started to carry some products from Friendly’s. Although I hadn’t heard or seen very much about any of the available flavors, I found the one that seemed most appealing and threw it in my cart. I had jumped at the opportunity to try the Mint Cookie Collision from their Sundae Xtremes lineup, but it wasn’t until I arrived home and took a longer look that I realized my mistake. While Friendly’s offers a standard rich & creamy ice cream, a smooth churned, lighter ice cream and frozen yogurt, their Sundae Xtreme flavors happened to feature something that I detest: frozen dairy dessert. Even with the assistance of crushed chocolate crème cookies, semi sweet chocolate chips and a fudge swirl, I was skeptical that they could cover up the mint frozen dairy dessert that was being used as the foundation.

The 170 calories per serving that Mint Cookie Collision contains is right in line with other frozen dairy desserts, even with the influx of chocolate mix-ins involved. As I scooped out some in a bowl, I was met with the same soft, pliable texture that I’ve complained about so many times in some of my Breyers reviews. Much like Breyers, Friendly’s tries to hide the fact they’re using frozen dairy dessert by including a high concentration of other ingredients, which makes it nearly impossible to sample the mint base by itself. My first bite of the mint frozen dairy dessert failed to last very long as it melted down almost immediately upon entering my mouth. The only positive part of this mild, mint base breaking down so quickly was that I was left with a mouth full of chocolate chips, cookies and fudge sauce.

The three different mix-ins were able to give each bite a rich, chocolate finish and a variety of textures along the way. Despite the fact that there were a ton of chocolate chips and large concentrations of fudge sauce along the way, the soft, flaky chocolate crème cookies were by far my favorite part of this carton. The end result of this wasn’t bad by any means, but left so much room for improvement in the actual ice cream department. If Friendly’s had opted to use their standard rich & creamy ice cream in this flavor, this could have easily achieved an A, but with this mediocre base, a C was all it could muster.

Where I Found It: Ingles Markets
Grade: C

REVIEW: Friendly's Red Velvet Cake Sundae Xtreme

Friendly's isn't a brand we frequently see in North Carolina. There aren't any Friendly's restaurants anywhere near our location and only recently did we start seeing their products show up on shelves. Upon first spotting this brand, we made the mistake (or so we assumed at the time) of scooping up their Mint Cookie Collision as part of their Sundae Xtreme lineup. It wasn't until we closer analyzed the carton did we realize we were dealing with a frozen dairy dessert. Since then, we've tried many of their standard ice cream flavors and enjoyed nearly all of them. What we can't understand is why they exile all their great flavor ideas to end up as frozen dairy desserts, especially this delicious sounding Red Velvet Cake version.

This red velvet frozen dairy dessert with red velvet pieces and cream cheese swirl only contains 150 calories per serving, but we know the trade off comes with the subpar consistency of the base. Regardless, we consider ourselves red velvet junkies, so we still scooped some into a bowl for science. As expected, the frozen dairy dessert melted down at a fast pace starting immediately, but the sweetness of the large, moist red velvet cake pieces and thick stripes of cream cheese frosting sure helped distract our taste buds. If you love red velvet and are looking for a sweet treat without a ton of calories (like we were), this might be a decent option, but go for a super-premium option for the best overall experience.

Where I Found It: Ingles Markets
Grade: B

REVIEW: Friendly's Black Raspberry

Despite Friendly's inability to obtain anything over an average rating with their Coconut and Black Cherry Chocolate Chunk flavors, they had served as sensational bases to add in our own mix-ins. Keeping that in mind, it wasn't long before we were tempted enough to try their Black Raspberry as well. Graeter's Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip had shown us how amazing this purple-colored ice cream could be, so we were hoping Friendly's version could at least come in close taste-wise. Our first bite brought on that familiar flavor we yearned for, but the consistency was far inferior to that of the French pot process used by Graeter's.



Where I Found It: Ingles Markets
Grade: C

Fortunately for us, we had plenty of accoutrements to help assist Friendly's Black Raspberry. Feast your eyes on our sundae containing five scoops of Friendly's Black Raspberry, a freshly baked dark chocolate brownie, some chocolate Teddy Grahams, and a Hershey's chocolate syrup drizzle. The result was an ice cream eating experience worthy of an A.

REVIEW: Friendly's Black Cherry Chocolate Chunk

After our run-in with Friendly's Coconut just last week, the yellow "New!" tagline had us ready to revisit yet another flavor from this chain restaurant's pre-packaged products. Their new Black Cherry Chocolate Chunk is described as black cherry flavored ice cream with bordeaux cherries and chocolate chunks and comes in at 160 calories per serving.

While the description sounds similar to that of Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia, a flavor that we've always thought to be a bit overrated, Friendly's version is quite a bit lighter than its super-premium comparison. Our first bite of the black cherry ice cream is easy-going, full of sweet cherry flavor, and doesn't melt down as quick as some other sub-200 calorie per serving ice creams. Although they aren't found too often, the bits of bordeaux cherries and chocolate chunks certainly help out the slightly above average base, however their infrequency led us to give Friendly's new flavor an average rating.

Where I Found It: Ingles Markets
Grade: C

REVIEW: Friendly's Coconut

When the warmer months are in full swing, sometimes we found ourselves seeking out a more refreshing flavor instead of the most indulgent. That, coupled with the fact that we just recently gained access to some of Friendly's premium ice cream flavors, led us to our review of their Coconut flavor. At only 120 calories, this is friendly on the waistline as well. This coconut base, free of mix-ins, melted down rather quickly, so we were hoping the taste could help to counteract the super soft consistency. Unfortunately, this lacked the real coconut pulp we were longing for and didn't include nearly enough flavoring to really set this apart from a standard sweet cream or mild vanilla. Regardless, our midday craving subsided enough to keep this from slipping down past an average grade and would be a great candidate to add to cake, cookies or brownies.

Where I Found It: Ingles Markets
Grade: C

REVIEW: Friendly's Party Cake

Back in August, we discovered a few cartons of Friendly’s had been introduced at one of our local grocery stores. In our excitement, we completely overlooked the fact that Mint Cookie Collision was indeed a frozen dairy dessert. You can imagine our disappointment, even though the flavor managed to score a C. This time though, we were able to get our hands on some of Friendly’s actual ice cream, and a new flavor at that.

Party Cake combines cake flavored ice cream with rainbow sprinkles and swirls of blue icing and comes in at 190 calories per serving. It’s rare that you find the product inside the container looks better than it does on the outside illustration, but this was absolutely the case here. Full sized rainbow sprinkles and a large concentration of the icing were immediately visible upon popping off the lid (along with the sweet smell of birthday cake).

We’ve had plenty of cake flavored ice cream, but the rich, authentic flavor Friendly’s was able to capture certainly caught our attention. The bright blue icing smelled of buttercream and paired perfectly with the base ice cream. The sugary, multicolored sprinkles were able to add texture, even more color, and when combined in a bite with the other two ingredients, achieved an A with ease.

Where I Found It: Ingles Markets
Grade: A