Graeter’s Ice Cream (Dublin)
6255 Frantz RoadWe walked around the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium for about five and a half hours and every Dippin’ Dots stand we passed was closed. We kept telling L that we would get her some if we ever found one open….but we never did.
She handled not getting ice cream pretty well so I told her we’d get some after dinner and after we swam at the hotel for a while. I spotted a sign for an ice cream shop on our way to the hotel so I was pretty confident I could promise her some before bedtime.
Graeter’s Ice Cream is a chain of ice cream shops based out of Cincinatti. They have about 50 retail outlets in five states. Michigan is not one of the five.
Graeter’s is unique because they use the “french pot” method to making ice cream. What makes this so unique is that they can only make two gallons at a time, so it’s a slow process that produces rich, creamy, dense ice cream.
The Graeter’s store in Dublin is kind of in a weird spot. The address is on Frantz Road near Metro Place North. The entrance is actually off Metro Place North off an access road. There’s not a lot of retail in this area other than a Max & Erma’s restaurant next door. The building is very generic looking and from the street, it’s pretty difficult to spot as an ice cream joint. 
I mentioned a few times in my Columbus Zoo post how dang hot it was the weekend we were in town so it’s no surprise that the ice cream store was pretty busy. The line was pretty short when we walked in, but by the time we got our ice cream, it was out the door.
The ice cream is displayed in a case near the back of the store. They have enough flavors that there are two long cases with two rows of ice cream. There are multiple cone options as well as the much less messy “in a dish” way to go. They have a small menu of sundaes and shakes as well.
There’s a pretty large eat-in dining room that kind of has the feel of an old timey soda shop. The floors are white tile, the chairs are white metal with red seat cushions and the whole place has really clean lines. There is a small outdoor space as well but the only real seating is on the brick retaining walls around the building.
Need ice cream to go? They got that covered. There’s a large freezer stocked of dozens of different flavors.
L really wanted the blue ice cream, which was Cotton Candy, in a Sprinkle Waffle Cone. L picks her ice cream based on color, not flavor so you never know what she’s going to get with blue. The sprinkle waffle cone is dipped in chocolate a couple inches at the top and rolled in sprinkles. L didn’t really eat the cone after having to have it. She loved the ice cream though….but it’s really really messy when you don’t know how to eat a cone.
J ordered one of the specialty Sundaes. Her pick was the Cookie Monster. This sundae is Cookie Dough Chip and Cookies and Cream Ice cream with hot fudge, whipped cream, chocolate sprinkles and a cherry. Both of the cookie based ice creams were delicious and only some crushed cookies would have made this sundae better than it was.
I also picked a sundae but I kept it a little simpler. I got the brownie sundae which begins with a warm brownie that is topped with Vanilla Bean ice cream, hot fudge, pecans, whipped cream and a cherry. The brownie on the bottom just sort of melted everything into a semi-soft, gooey pile of delicious. I’m not a huge whipped cream fan so I pushed a lot that out of the way just to get to the good stuff underneath.
Our bill for the three treats was just under $20. We only got the three because we just feed B from ours. He gets his own spoon and just kind of jams it in to one of our bowls to get what he wants.
Graeter’s Ice Cream was a great end to our long, hot day in Columbus. The location seemed odd to me, but the place was packed so it’s a place that is well known in the community. The ice cream was delicious and super refreshing as our before bed time snack.
SW Michigan Dining 