Dining Out: Dairy Queen (Forest Park, Kokomo, IN)

Aw! I feel so welcome!

 

Exterior: 4/5

As Dairy Queen facades go, that's a pretty nice one.

The restaurant is built into a medical plaza across from the Catholic hospital in town, which I'm assuming is convenient for people who want to treat themselves after a stressful medical encounter. I really liked that it was part of a strip instead of being a free-standing contributor to urban sprawl. Even though the dining room itself isn't two stories, the double-decker look from the outside is pretty classy.

Ambience: 4/5

My 4YO was very concerned that they had cut the rest of these signs out of the photos.

View from a booth.

The dining room itself is well-maintained and clean. The "Grill & Chill" decor gives it a more sit-down restaurant feel than some other DQs I've been in. The area around the counter feels less classy, but you're not there for long. This seemed to be a popular joint - the line stayed hoppin' the whole time we were in there. Some people just grabbed stuff to go, but more folks than I expected sat down and had a nice meal with their families. 

Variety: 4/5

All the ice creams.

And Blizzards!

And some savory stuff too if you're into that kind of thing.

Let's be serious: You come to DQ for the ice cream. But they do have burgers and chicken and other fast food standards as well. My favorite not-sweeet thing is the pretzel sticks with cheese, pictured above. The rest of my family is really into chicken tenders and so they're quite happy with the real-food offerings here.

Quality: 2/5

Blech.

Better?

When I opened the little thing of cheese that came with my pretzel sticks I was kind of grossed out to see that there was some kind of crust around the edges. (The sticks themselves were also greasy and limp.) My husband thought his chicken was pretty great, and he should know since he sometimes gets cravings for DQ chicken strips. Personally, however, I think the chicken/fries/toast are kind of flavorless and spongy. But again, I'm not the expert. My chocolate-dipped strawberry blizzard was great, though, and yes they did turn it upside down. 

Kid-Friendly: 5/5

It's a nice balance, being able to enjoy decorated comfort but also not being super-embarrassed when your kid does things like this. Plus, ice cream and chicken strips.

Would Eat Again?: Yellow Light

This is a cool-lookin' Dairy Queen and if all I wanted was a Blizzard I'd be happy to come back. If I wanted an actual meal, not so much. If my kid wanted an actual meal, maybe.