Molly Moon ice cream in Wallingford (SEA)

[thevioletpear]

Stopped by this new place today. Been waiting for a real ice cream place to open in Seattle. It was the first day they were open, the interior is nice, modern, open - still finishing up some things, but their grand opening is tomorrow. Overall I thought the flavor selection was good, the ice cream was all good, maybe on the sweet side. Tried:
maple walnut - not very maple-y, more like vanilla with walnuts, but nice and creamy
salted carmel - very salty, but I liked it, out of 3 of us, 1 loved it, 1 did not like it and I thought it was good.
cardamon - nice, very cardamon-y
vanilla bean - a good creamy vanilla, with lots of bean
honey lavender - not my taste, but it was ok
thai iced tea - again not my thing, but my sister liked it
Next time I'd like to try the coffee, ginger, and lemon... she also said they would have a chocolate orange sorbet tomorrow, which sounds good.
http://mollymoonicecream.com/flavors....

[TripChick]

After hearing all the hype about the new ice cream place in town, we decided to give it a try. My dad loves ice cream, so we ventured over to Molly Moon's for lunch.

The moment I looked up at the flavor board, I knew my diet was out the window and I decided to try for the most flavor impact possible within two scoops of ice cream. I tried the salted caramel (wonderful, but just a hint too salty for my taste) and the honey lavender. The honey lavender was the star of the bowl. A gorgeous, meltingly decadent mix of creamy honey and tickle-the-tongue lavender bits. Each bite conjured the amazing endless lavender fields in Sequim.

Next time, I'll try the cardamon and balsamic strawberry.

[enylia]

not sure if anyone here tried it before.. but salted caramel and hot fudge topping.. YUM!

[jenn]

We hit Molly Moon for the first time on Saturday. Due to indecision on my part, 4 people tried 5 flavors: strawberry, vanilla, bubble gum, lavender/honey and salted caramel. FYI, our personal standard for unusual ice cream flavors is Scoops in SilverLake/Hollywood/LA whcih probably puts the bar quite high.

Portion wise, I went with standard for all though a pup's scoop is offered. For the price, I thought the pups' scoop was really a lot smaller and not worth it. Each of the 3 pups had their ice cream in cones, I had my double in a dish. I got the impression that the dish portion was bigger per scoop but maybe that was an illusion. I was pleased to learn that you can get organic ice cream cones.

The pup who ordered bubble gum was once again disappointed but I attribute that to the mere ordering of bubble gum ice cream. He orders it once everytime he sees it, optimistic to the end that somewhere out there is good bubble gum ice cream. So far, he's wrong. Having long ago concluded bubble gum ice cream was just wrong, I didn't try his.

The other pups order vanilla and strawberry. They both liked their ice cream just fine. I found it smooth and flavorful. I suppose it was a little sweet, but hey, its icecream and ice cream is sweet. I liked the fact that there was LOTS of real vanilla in the vanilla.

I ordered the honey lavender/lavender honey and the salted caramel. I was able to taste both before I ordered and found the tastes very generous. I ordered both because I liked them. I have to agree that the salted caramel was just a tad too salty---Scoops makes a white chocolate black sea salt combination that has just the right amount of salt--tickles the tastebuds but not overwhelming, an accent as opposed to the main course. While I liked the Molly Moons version on Saturday, I suspect that had I not been out in the sun for a few hours before eatting it, I might have been put off by the amount of saltiness. I did like the honey lavender.

None of the pups were fond of the honey lavender on first taste though oldest pup--he of bubble gum ice cream optimism--did a retaste and thought the honey lavender was okay though he liked his youngest sibling's strawberry best.

Last thought, oldest and middle pup thought there was a funny, off putting smell from the compost bin in the store. Personally, I was a bit confused as to what items went into which bin--labeling would have been nice.

We will go again if we are in the neighborhood and craving ice cream but I don't think I'd drive up from Columbia City just for that. [Contrast Scoops in LA which I would definitely drive across town for....]

We would go again though I suspect with the price, we might be inclined to agree on a single flavor and grab a pint and some spoons.

[winemd]

I love Molly Moons - thank her for a great ice cream joint in Seattle! Balsy considering the weather here. I'm really surprised by the critiques. The Salted Caramel is salty - by hey! isn't it supposed to be? Yes I have had Bertillion and this is a close second, but I was in Paris and doesn't everything taste better there? I think the textures are lovely and the flavors are not too sweet which I really love. The Maple Walnut may be my personal favorite, and the Scout Mint is really refreshing. Try the Honey Lavender also - delicious. Five bucks for a pint - get it before they figure out they could charge a lot more!

[sagarwal]

I went during the opening party last weekend. Am I the only one who thought that for $3.50 I got a really tiny single scoop?

[jaydeflix]

No, you aren't. It was really really good ice cream, tho. And the pint prices seem much, much better. I think we heard $5 for a pint, which does seem odd compared to the price of the single scoop in a bowl.

[WrightEats]

I agree - the scoops are tiny! (photo of our double scoop cone: http://www.wrightangle.com/food/blog/...) I saw how small they were before we ordered, so two of us each got two scoops, plus one topping, and afterwards I think my husband said it was $12! I'm willing to pay more for quality ingredients and supporting green practices (like using compostable bowls and spoons), but I expected a bigger scoop. It did give me a good excuse to get two flavors, though. ;) It sounds like a pint is the better deal.

[WrightEats]

I'm happy to report that the scoops that we had today were much larger than opening day, so it seems like the portion size has been sorted out. I got a single scoop of Scout Mint with hot fudge and was quite happy. It's still cheaper to get a pint than a triple scoop, however.

[Earl of Sandwich]

We went last night. The ice cream was pretty darn good. I had vanilla (outstanding flavor and texture) and salted caramel (a little tooooo salty, I thought). My wife had coffee (outstanding) and chocolate (pretty good).

These guys are still figuring things out--when we arrived around 9 pm they didn't have any spoons! (How can an ice cream shop run out of spoons?) But the product was very strong, and we will definitely be going back.

[lollybird]

they aren't restricting number of samples. I don't know about you but hub and I had 4 each. That's 8 spoons right there. Then we bought 3 pints. Sorry. :)

[landguy]

Sounds like its worth a visit. I hope they last. If Ben and Jerry's can't make it at U Village have to wonder about these guys.

[WrightEats]

landguy, Ben and Jerry's is moving, not completely closing. They'll be reopening at 7900 E. Green Lake Drive N

[Lauren]

That's not really U Village but I get your point.

So they're moving to somewhere near both Baskin and Robbins and Mix? That seems odd to me.

[HCGirl]

Mix closed down a few months ago, so that area could probably use a new ice cream place.

[jaydeflix]

Aw, man, the Mix on Green Lake closed too? I thought it was just the one on the Ave?

And, while that Ben and Jerry's might be moving, the one in Ballard closed as well.

[Lauren]

Mix closed? Then it's a good thing that Molly Moon opened!

[HCGirl]

They both closed, much to my dismay. That was my favorite ice cream spot! I just heard over the weekend that the owner skipped town rather unexpectedly. Must have been having some financial troubles.

[landguy]

Interesting. Thanks for the heads up.

[landguy]

Is this store open yet? Have to say I still prefer it to anything else in town.

[lemiller610]

The rents at UVillage Shopping Center are phenominally and dizzyingly high. Not only do you pay rent but a pretty good cut of your sales, too. If you don't have strong year-round sales, then you're screwed (my best guess). Not sure how B&J did in the winter months.

[Lauren]

I can't believe I didn't know about this! It's blocks from my house. I'm heading there today. Thanks!

[Lauren]

I forgot to post back after I went. I thought the place was okay, not great. It's odd that you can't see the ice cream before you order. We tried thai iced tea which was weakly flavored. I liked the salted caramel but I've had much better elsewhere. I'll give it another try (and get the coffee as recommended below) but, after that, if it's not great, it will be "off the list".

[Snapdragon]

After reading the phenomenal buzz on this place, I had high expectations, and made a trip there last week. It's a fine addition to the Wallingford strip, but the ice cream itself wasn't exceptional, in my opinion. Seemed to me that the salted caramel wasn't very balanced--it was certainly salty, but otherwise? Bleh. The balsamic strawberry was better, but I wouldn't order it again. Will definitely go there when I'm in the neighborhood and jonesing for an ice cream cone, but I wouldn't drive across town for Molly Moon's ice cream.

[akq]

I agree. Went there last weekend and stood in the long line. Got up to the front planning to buy two pints, but left with only the thai iced tea due to some miscommunication with my SO (I thought he liked it, he thought I liked it, turned out we both didn't care for it...oops). We tried the salted caramel and the scoop I had was too salty. Also tried the strawberry balsamic and did not care for it. Neither of those flavors were balanced at all. Also, I dislike the texture of the ice cream - best I can describe is that it's too "fluffy" for premium ice cream.

[not the bad Steve]

I have similar complaints about flavor balance and texture.

I'm a huge, fan, though, of their sorbet: texture is perfect, and I've never had a sorbet as full of fruit.

[jaydeflix]

The coffee was *excellent*. And I hate coffee ice cream. But now I know why.

Normal coffee ice cream tastes like "coffee flavor".
The Vivace Coffee Ice Cream tasted like *coffee*.

The balsamic strawberry was also amazing. Odd, but amazing.

[christy319]

Salted caramel!! I've only had that at Bertillion in Paris and it was out of this world. Thanks for the review.

[dagoose]

I had salted caramel at Harvest Vine some months ago and it was amazing. I tried to make it myself, and while good, it didn't hold a candle. I'll have to check out Molly Moon to see what they have!

[WrightEats]

I tried Molly Moon's yesterday, and we had strawberry balsamic, Vivace coffee, cardamom, and lavender honey. The strawberry balsamic was my favorite, and the rhubarb orange sauce was great.

Christy & Dagoose, I know what you mean about salted caramel. I agree that Harvest Vine's version is great. I found an awesome recipe for salted butter caramel ice cream on David Lebovitz's blog. http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives...

I haven't had the ice cream at Bertillion, but David claims his is better than theirs. ;) All I can say is that it's the best ice cream I've ever had. I didn't try Molly Moon's version while I was there, but it's on my list for next time I'm in.

[christy319]

I'll have to make the Lebowitz recipe. I finally tried Molly Moon's and wasn't that impressed. The Baracky Road was really scarce on marshmallows and nuts, too.

I still think Fran's makes the best ice cream in town.

[TravelHound]

Can you still get Fran's ice cream in Seattle? Last time I went by their shop in UVillage they said they didn't sell it there any more.

[lemiller610]

I work at Fran's and can confirm that we no longer make ice cream for any of our locations. A few things, including health dept. regulations and a change in management at Fran's, spurred this decision.
I wish we still had it too!!!