Advertisement

Yes, fast-food soft serve is still the best soft serve. These are the top 7 brands, ranked

Graphic of many fast food soft serve cones

We’re rapidly approaching the official end of summer, but there’s nothing saying you have to roll back your summertime habits. Keep going to the beach. Keep up the picnicking and outdoor movie-ing. And keep enjoying one of the finest of all hot weather treats: soft serve.

If you’ve read our recently published soft serve guide, part of our larger Summer of Ice Cream package, then you already know that soft serve ice cream is the lightest, airiest way to navigate the sultry weather. Between the first drips that form when your cone hits the sunlight and the last bite of frozen sweetness lodged into the bottom recesses of the cone is a metaphor for life itself: messy, delicious and gone far too soon.

Cool off this season with our ongoing guide to the best frozen treats in Los Angeles.

And while there’s lots of good soft serve out there, let’s be real here: The best soft serve is fast-food soft serve.

Maybe it’s the sexy-sounding emulsifiers like propylene glycol monoesters and stabilizers like guar gum, which helps keep your favorite soft serve creamy instead of icy. Maybe it’s the fact that Dairy Queen goes as far to explain on its website that its soft serve doesn’t meet the legal definition of ice cream. Or the fact that Chick-fil-A made up an entirely new word — Icedream — to describe its soft serve.

Advertisement

From burger joints to artisan ice cream parlors, where to find the best soft serve in Los Angeles, whether new or nostalgic.

Whatever it is, and regardless of how many syllables the ingredients have, it’s delicious. Nobody is claiming fast-food soft serve is good for you. But if you’re baking in your apartment in a tough year, don’t feel bad about indulging your inner child in a nice little treat from a fast-food chain.

You deserve a treat.

Below are seven of the top fast-food soft serves, ranked from my favorite to least. Please note that my definition of soft serve does not include milkshakes or treats like the Wendy’s Frosty, as much as I love them. Soft serve should be eaten in a cone, ideally a cake cone.

Tastee-Freez

Graphic of Tastee Freez soft serve

The iconic Tastee-Freez brand is something of a classic boom-and-bust story: Founded in 1950 in Illinois, it rapidly expanded to more than 1,700 stores by early 1957. Today, there are just four standalone Tastee-Freez stores left, including one in Anchorage, of all places. The good news is, you can still get Tastee-Freez — it can be found at Wienerschnitzel (yes, the hot dog place), whose parent company bought Tastee-Freez in 2003.

It could be tickling the Midwesterner in me, but I loved this cone. There’s a smooth texture with minimal iciness and a flavor that resembles frozen whipped cream. The fact that you can get a dipped cone — a dying art — adds to the allure. Tastee-Freez’s chocolate shell shatters appealingly and has a slight saltiness as it dissolves on your tongue. Dipping your cone in chocolate melts the soft serve all the more quickly, of course, so plan accordingly. There’s another flavor for the dipped cones, Froot Loops, which is good if you happen to like the taste of waxy floor cleaner.

惭肠顿辞苍补濒诲’蝉

Graphic of McDonalds soft serve
(Lucas Kwan Peterson / Los Angeles Times)
Advertisement

It’s hard to believe this corporate behemoth was once a humble little burger stand, founded in San Bernardino in 1940. 惭肠顿辞苍补濒诲’蝉 ranks a close second, but the occasional inconsistency of their soft serve availability (Have you checked out the site Mcbroken? It keeps track of whether a given location’s ice cream machine is working, based on live data from the 惭肠顿辞苍补濒诲’蝉 app) knocks it down a peg, as does the lack of uniformity of cone sizes. Sometimes you get a decent amount of soft serve for your $2.19, but sometimes you get an uneven smear that barely extends over the lip of the cone.

From ice cream and soft serve, to paletas and shaved ice, cool off this summer with our guide to the best frozen treats around Los Angeles.

But 惭肠顿辞苍补濒诲’蝉 soft serve is like its French fries (which happen to go well eaten together, as you likely know). When it’s hitting on all cylinders, there’s little that’s better. The texture is light and silky, one of the best you’ll try, and the vanilla flavor of the soft serve itself is almost buttery.

Dairy Queen

Graphic of Dairy Queen soft serve
(Lucas Kwan Peterson / Los Angeles Times)

More Midwestern bias! I grew up going to Dairy Queen and have a spot in my heart that’s as soft as their ice cream — sorry, soft serve. The texture is very good, a bit firmer than average, and the vanilla flavor is assertive without overpowering. What I like most about coming here is the shape of their cones. Unlike most soft serve cones, which resemble something like a cathedral spire, Dairy Queen’s cones sit like the dome on top of the Taj Mahal: like a plump onion waiting to be plucked out of the ground.

The dipped cone is a classic DQ feature that is, unfortunately, shared by few. Who doesn’t like a waxy “magic shell” of chocolate covering their ice cream? If anyone wants to start a petition to make this a permanent fixture everywhere frozen treats are sold, I’ll sign it. These were the most expensive cones I tried — $11 for two small cones, one of which was dipped.

Burger King

Graphic of Burger King soft serve
(Lucas Kwan Peterson / Los Angeles Times)
Advertisement

While I’m not a huge fan of their burgers, Burger King does soft serve right. The texture is good, with a few noticeable ice crystals here and there, and conspicuous, pleasant creaminess. The flavor of vanilla is strong — maybe a little too strong, as it comes across as a bit artificial tasting.

Sonic

Graphic of Sonic soft serve
(Lucas Kwan Peterson / Los Angeles Times)

God bless Sonic, where the carhop experience lives on: You can still order at a kiosk from the comfort of your own automobile and someone will bring your food out to you. When ordering soft serve the other day, I expected a typical cone, with a typical amount of vanilla soft serve. Instead, I got a truly mammoth quantity of the stuff in a giant chocolate waffle cone, which was then placed in a big soda cup and given to me. The person who gave me my order explained that they “usually have” cake cones but didn’t today, for whatever reason.

Sonic’s soft serve is perfectly fine, but I have to dock points for the lack of cake cones. Here’s why: Cake cones are, unequivocally, the best vessel for ice cream and soft serve. It comes down to two things: the texture of the cone and its nooks and crannies dotted throughout.

A good cake cone has all the best qualities of — and I say this lovingly — a Styrofoam peanut: a perfect blend of snap and chew. The best cake cones will have a bit of tapioca flour in them, which gives a little bit of plasticity that can almost come across as staleness. Sugar cones and waffle cones are inferior because they stamp their own authority on the treat. Notice me, they seem to say.

But a cake cone is Switzerland — a neutral vessel. It does this by way of the small dimples on the edge of each cone, which capture ice cream in their recesses, and by the large indentations at the bottom of the cone. The final bite of a cake cone is one of the single best bites of food in all of humankind.

Advertisement

This has been a long-winded way of saying: Sonic, please don’t run out of cake cones again.

搁补濒濒测’蝉

Graphic of Rally's soft serve

搁补濒濒测’蝉, or Checkers, as you may know it, makes a decent-tasting soft serve that is unfortunately undone by its sloppy texture. The light and ethereal quality of soft serve is part of what makes it great, but here it’s too loose, too casual. It doesn’t take itself seriously. It’s showing up to a black-tie affair in jeans and a sport coat and hoping no one notices. The soft serve sits on the cone like a slouchy cotton beanie, instead of upright in a confident twist.

The good news? At a mere $1.29, these cones were the best bargain of those I tried. The vanilla flavor performs as expected but a strawberry option, which comes in a slightly unappealing salmon color, is notably inferior.

Chick-fil-A

Graphic of Chick-Fil-A soft serve

Chick-fil-A, which has perhaps the nicest employees on the planet, does a soft serve that is decent but doesn’t quite measure up to the competition. To its credit, Chick-fil-A does not even purport to call what it serves ice cream. Instead, it calls their soft serve “Icedream,” one word (which they’ve trademarked), to accompany their various chicken products.

Advertisement

The Icedream texture is a little too icy and stiff. That texture is good for holding the cone’s corkscrew shape, which it handles nicely, but is less pleasing to the tongue. The taste is less creamy than some of the others and more akin to an iced milk. It’s not bad — just not my favorite.

From classic creameries to regional styles, Los Angeles and Orange County stand out with a surplus of ice cream shops worth exploring.

Advertisement
universo-virtual.com
buytrendz.net
thisforall.net
benchpressgains.com
qthzb.com
mindhunter9.com
dwjqp1.com
secure-signup.net
ahaayy.com
soxtry.com
tressesindia.com
puresybian.com
krpano-chs.com
cre8workshop.com
hdkino.org
peixun021.com
qz786.com
utahperformingartscenter.org
maw-pr.com
zaaksen.com
ypxsptbfd7.com
worldqrmconference.com
shangyuwh.com
eejssdfsdfdfjsd.com
playminecraftfreeonline.com
trekvietnamtour.com
your-business-articles.com
essaywritingservice10.com
hindusamaaj.com
joggingvideo.com
wandercoups.com
onlinenewsofindia.com
worldgraphic-team.com
bnsrz.com
wormblaster.net
tongchengchuyange0004.com
internetknowing.com
breachurch.com
peachesnginburlesque.com
dataarchitectoo.com
clientfunnelformula.com
30pps.com
cherylroll.com
ks2252.com
webmanicura.com
osostore.com
softsmob.com
sofietsshotel.com
facetorch.com
nylawyerreview.com
apapromotions.com
shareparelli.com
goeaglepointe.com
thegreenmanpubphuket.com
karotorossian.com
publicsensor.com
taiwandefence.com
epcsur.com
odskc.com
inzziln.info
leaiiln.info
cq-oa.com
dqtianshun.com
southstills.com
tvtv98.com
thewellington-hotel.com
bccaipiao.com
colectoresindustrialesgs.com
shenanddcg.com
capriartfilmfestival.com
replicabreitlingsale.com
thaiamarinnewtoncorner.com
gkmcww.com
mbnkbj.com
andrewbrennandesign.com
cod54.com
luobinzhang.com
bartoysdirect.com
taquerialoscompadresdc.com
aaoodln.info
amcckln.info
drvrnln.info
dwabmln.info
fcsjoln.info
hlonxln.info
kcmeiln.info
kplrrln.info
fatcatoons.com
91guoys.com
signupforfreehosting.com
faithfirst.net
zjyc28.com
tongchengjinyeyouyue0004.com
nhuan6.com
oldgardensflowers.com
lightupthefloor.com
bahamamamas-stjohns.com
ly2818.com
905onthebay.com
fonemenu.com
notanothermovie.com
ukrainehighclassescort.com
meincmagazine.com
av-5858.com
yallerdawg.com
donkeythemovie.com
corporatehospitalitygroup.com
boboyy88.com
miteinander-lernen.com
dannayconsulting.com
officialtomsshoesoutletstore.com
forsale-amoxil-amoxicillin.net
generictadalafil-canada.net
guitarlessonseastlondon.com
lesliesrestaurants.com
mattyno9.com
nri-homeloans.com
rtgvisas-qatar.com
salbutamolventolinonline.net
sportsinjuries.info
topsedu.xyz
xmxm7.com
x332.xyz
sportstrainingblog.com
autopartspares.com
readguy.net
soniasegreto.com
bobbygdavis.com
wedsna.com
rgkntk.com
bkkmarketplace.com
zxqcwx.com
breakupprogram.com
boxcardc.com
unblockyoutubeindonesia.com
fabulousbookmark.com
beat-the.com
guatemala-sailfishing-vacations-charters.com
magie-marketing.com
kingstonliteracy.com
guitaraffinity.com
eurelookinggoodapparel.com
howtolosecheekfat.net
marioncma.org
oliviadavismusic.com
shantelcampbellrealestate.com
shopleborn13.com
topindiafree.com
v-visitors.net
qazwsxedcokmijn.com
parabis.net
terriesandelin.com
luxuryhomme.com
studyexpanse.com
ronoom.com
djjky.com
053hh.com
originbluei.com
baucishotel.com
33kkn.com
intrinsiqresearch.com
mariaescort-kiev.com
mymaguk.com
sponsored4u.com
crimsonclass.com
bataillenavale.com
searchtile.com
ze-stribrnych-struh.com
zenithalhype.com
modalpkv.com
bouisset-lafforgue.com
useupload.com
37r.net
autoankauf-muenster.com
bantinbongda.net
bilgius.com
brabustermagazine.com
indigrow.org
miicrosofts.net
mysmiletravel.com
selinasims.com
spellcubesapp.com
usa-faction.com
snn01.com
hope-kelley.com
bancodeprofissionais.com
zjccp99.com
liturgycreator.com
weedsmj.com
majorelenco.com
colcollect.com
androidnews-jp.com
hypoallergenicdogsnames.com
dailyupdatez.com
foodphotographyreviews.com
cricutcom-setup.com
chprowebdesign.com
katyrealty-kanepa.com
tasramar.com
bilgipinari.org
four-am.com
indiarepublicday.com
inquick-enbooks.com
iracmpi.com
kakaschoenen.com
lsm99flash.com
nana1255.com
ngen-niagara.com
technwzs.com
virtualonlinecasino1345.com
wallpapertop.net
nova-click.com
abeautifulcrazylife.com
diggmobile.com
denochemexicana.com
eventhalfkg.com
medcon-taiwan.com
life-himawari.com
myriamshomes.com
nightmarevue.com
allstarsru.com
bestofthebuckeyestate.com
bestofthefirststate.com
bestwireless7.com
declarationintermittent.com
findhereall.com
jingyou888.com
lsm99deal.com
lsm99galaxy.com
moozatech.com
nuagh.com
patliyo.com
philomenamagikz.net
rckouba.net
saturnunipessoallda.com
tallahasseefrolics.com
thematurehardcore.net
totalenvironment-inthatquietearth.com
velislavakaymakanova.com
vermontenergetic.com
sizam-design.com
kakakpintar.com
begorgeouslady.com
1800birks4u.com
2wheelstogo.com
6strip4you.com
bigdata-world.net
emailandco.net
gacapal.com
jharpost.com
krishnaastro.com
lsm99credit.com
mascalzonicampani.com
sitemapxml.org
thecityslums.net
topagh.com
flairnetwebdesign.com
bangkaeair.com
beneventocoupon.com
noternet.org
oqtive.com
smilebrightrx.com
decollage-etiquette.com
1millionbestdownloads.com
7658.info
bidbass.com
devlopworldtech.com
digitalmarketingrajkot.com
fluginfo.net
naqlafshk.com
passion-decouverte.com
playsirius.com
spacceleratorintl.com
stikyballs.com
top10way.com
yokidsyogurt.com
zszyhl.com
16firthcrescent.com
abogadolaboralistamd.com
apk2wap.com
aromacremeria.com
banparacard.com
bosmanraws.com
businessproviderblog.com
caltonosa.com
calvaryrevivalchurch.org
chastenedsoulwithabrokenheart.com
cheminotsgardcevennes.com
cooksspot.com
cqxzpt.com
deesywig.com
deltacartoonmaps.com
despixelsetdeshommes.com
duocoracaobrasileiro.com
fareshopbd.com
goodpainspills.com
kobisitecdn.com
makaigoods.com
mgs1454.com
piccadillyresidences.com
radiolaondafresca.com
rubendorf.com
searchengineimprov.com
sellmyhrvahome.com
shugahouseessentials.com
sonihullquad.com
subtractkilos.com
valeriekelmansky.com
vipasdigitalmarketing.com
voolivrerj.com
zeelonggroup.com
1015southrockhill.com
10x10b.com
111-online-casinos.com
191cb.com
3665arpentunitd.com
aitesonics.com
bag-shokunin.com
brightotech.com
communication-digitale-services.com
covoakland.org
dariaprimapack.com
freefortniteaccountss.com
gatebizglobal.com
global1entertainmentnews.com
greatytene.com
hiroshiwakita.com
iktodaypk.com
jahatsakong.com
meadowbrookgolfgroup.com
newsbharati.net
platinumstudiosdesign.com
slotxogamesplay.com
strikestaruk.com
trucosdefortnite.com
ufabetrune.com
weddedtowhitmore.com
12940brycecanyonunitb.com
1311dietrichoaks.com
2monarchtraceunit303.com
601legendhill.com
850elaine.com
adieusolasomade.com
andora-ke.com
bestslotxogames.com
cannagomcallen.com
endlesslyhot.com
iestpjva.com
ouqprint.com
pwmaplefest.com
qtylmr.com
rb88betting.com
buscadogues.com
1007macfm.com
born-wild.com
growthinvests.com
promocode-casino.com
proyectogalgoargentina.com
wbthompson-art.com
whitemountainwheels.com
7thavehvl.com
developmethis.com
funkydogbowties.com
travelodgegrandjunction.com
gao-town.com
globalmarketsuite.com
blogshippo.com
hdbka.com
proboards67.com
outletonline-michaelkors.com
kalkis-research.com
thuthuatit.net
buckcash.com
hollistercanada.com
docterror.com
asadart.com
vmayke.org
erwincomputers.com
dirimart.org
okkii.com
loteriasdecehegin.com
mountanalog.com
healingtaobritain.com
ttxmonitor.com
bamthemes.com
nwordpress.com
11bolabonanza.com
avgo.top