Peppermint Stick

Placed right in the midst of Historic Long Grove, the Peppermint Stick certainly blends into this old, quaint setting that has survived all these years. Granted, its slight pink colors and red accents do somewhat add a little more flair than the rustic shops that surround it but through it all, the Peppermint Stick maintains a nice, old-town feel that is hard to find in ice cream parlors these days. And once you step inside, be ready for a pink overload.

Back in the 90s (when I was but a wee little boy), this is where I discovered, learned, and refined my love for eating ice cream. It is the pièce de résistance of my elementary years so giving it three stars is not a simple matter for me. However, when it comes to ice cream and value, the Peppermint Stick simply does not stand up.

The ice cream itself is decent/above average. I had three scoops of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Butter Pecan, and Cake Batter:

1) Cookie Dough: Nothing really special about this one. The dough was kind of hard already and tasted a little bland but the ice cream they used was pretty rich with some nice doughy flavor.

2) Butter Pecan: This one surprised me, owing to the fact that it is sugar free. It has a very rich taste and the pecans weren't too firm but still had a nice bite to them. Altogether my favorite scoop.

3) Cake Batter: This was fairly decent as well but again, nothing that really got me going. It looked like a birthday cake sort of ice cream and I believe (not sure though) they simply used vanilla ice cream and mashed in some cake pieces.

To be clear, I thoroughly enjoyed all three scoops but the main issue comes with the price tag of $6.50. The scoops were definitely more on the normal/smaller side and the quality of the ice cream isn't enough to compensate. Any way you slice it, $6.50 is too expensive.

My mother ordered a sundae with cookies n' cream and coffee. They both definitely tasted pretty good but my issue with the sundae was how it was constructed. Maybe I just haven't had my fair share of sundaes but they put all the hot fudge at the very bottom of the cup, where the bottom slowly converges into a small point; the two ice cream scoops were then placed straight on top. Normally, I would've assumed the hot fudge should be placed either on top or dispersed throughout the middle since digging towards the dingy little bottom with a full sized spoon is not only annoying but makes things quite difficult and messy.

As for the service, the waitstaff certainly is friendly but rather disorganized. We only had three tables present and yet, she just seemed so lost sometimes. She forgot part of my order, forgot to pick up our check, forgot to ask if we wanted nuts on the sundae, gave me some sort of Gatorade/lemonade tasting water . . . honestly, it's not a big deal but just a constant that I started noting. On the flip side, she was very friendly and extremely helpful in answering our questions so that's got to count for something. And as a side note, they only take cash so leave your cards at home.

All in all, I don't want the take away from this review to be bad because I truly do love the Peppermint Stick. Maybe it's my adolescent attachment but it is hard to find that small town feel in any ice cream parlor these days and as with any meal, your surroundings and the feelings that are conjured up are just as much a part of the experience as the food itself. Eating ice cream at Peppermint Stick truly brings out those childhood years when the prospect of having a nice frozen treat was all that mattered and sufficient enough to motivate anyone to complete any household chore; it's a reminiscent feeling that most ice cream places have all but lost.

So while the ice cream itself is not the top of the top, the holistic experience is truly something rare and special in this commercialized frenzy of an ice cream market we have today. So when you're feeling down or decide that you need to reward yourself, give the Peppermint Stick a shot.

I've actually eaten at Peppermint Stick a few times for various visits to Long Grove over the last decade, typically during their great festivals. It was pretty decent. Recently, I dined there with my family (a group of 6).

I'm sorry, y'all, but I'm going to have to keep it real. Actually, this is more of my siblings' review than mine, since I don't eat burgers...

1) There was no other group there and it took way too long for us to get our food. We could have gotten the fries and onion rings sometime before we received the burgers. By the time we got our burgers, the baskets of onions and fries were cold. This was at least a 40-minute ordeal.

2) While we were waiting, we noticed that the decor was extremely sun-faded. The ice cream models looked more like mold growth. It looked disgusting. It made us not want to order any ice cream. Everything looked a little dingy. We know it's historic Long Grove, but you can make something look old-fashioned without it being old and grimy.

3) By the time the burgers arrived, of the 3 people who ordered burgers (mind you, these are burgers that cost $7 with no sides) only 2 people received any. Regarding the two burgers that they brought out, one of the orders was wrong (i.e. missing bacon) AND it was undercooked. All the burgers were supposed to be well done.

4) The missing burger order came to the table burnt on the outside and red on the inside, after everyone had finished eating what they could.

In the end, we ate baskets of cold onion rings, fries, and one burger after waiting for more than hour to eat. Even so, the waitress did all that she could to help the situation.

While the two undercooked burgers were removed from the bill and the cook came out to apologize, we really felt that they should have comped the entire table (about $24) for a total fiasco of a dining experience.

Classic small town america location in the middle of not-so-small-town america.  If you've never been to Long Grove, you're missing out.  I mostly go when there's festivals (Chocolate, Strawberry, Apple Fest), but even for a quick lunch here and there it's great.  We were just at Chocolate Fest last Sunday (before the HUGE storm).  The Peppermint Stick doesn't disappoint.  You are immediately transported back in time to when your grandparents mowed the lawn and earned a nickel to by a milkshake.  No promises on the nickel milkshake today.