The ‘Zoo Scoop
3262 Stadium DriveIce cream for dinner was a thing I used to do quite a bit with a co-worker 10-12 years ago. We would end up in Holland a lot and she loved Captain Sundae. Instead of hitting fast food, we’d just grab ice cream and sit there on our dinner breaks.
I don’t really do ice cream for dinner anymore. I’m sure the kids would love…at least B would…if we did it more often.
This past Sunday, the kids were skating at Lawson Ice Arena. There was a MyWay wrestling tournament going on at Wings Event Center so we had to find ice somewhere else.
They got done at 3:00 and we had no plans the rest of the day.
As we got in the car, J asked if I was hungry. I’m always hungry. She suggested stopping at an ice cream place on the way home. I didn’t want ice cream but they also have sandwiches so I was on board.
The ‘Zoo Scoop is on Stadium Drive west of Rambling Road in the Stadium Shoppes plaza on the north side of the road. The small ice cream shop has been an ice cream shop before. It was the original home of Rollup Ice Cream and Tea back in 2020. Before that, it was a couple of pizza joints. It was Jasper’s for a while and a Gumby’s Pizza before that. It became The ‘Zoo Scoop on Black Friday last year.
The shop is set up like a typical ice cream shop. When you walk in, there’s long ice cream cooler with Hershey’s ice cream. There are menu boards on the wall that have the sandwich and drink options and you do the ordering at one end of the counter. There was only one person working the day we were in there so he was pretty much doing it all.
There aren’t a lot of places in Kalamazoo that do Hershey’s ice cream but they have a pretty big selection. B was the only one interested in ice cream so he went to work right away figuring out what flavors he was going to get.
He picked two scoops of ice cream. The first was Orange Sherbet. The second was Cotton Candy. We offered him actual lunch too but he took the ice cream for lunch/dinner route.
He didn’t want food but he did want something to drink. They had fresh squeezed lemonade on sale so he got one of those. He picked watermelon flavoring for the very big drink. It was a really tasty drink. It’s what J said she wants when she pays $12 for a lemonade at a fair. B was kind of turned off by the lemon seeds that had sunk to the bottom. He drank some of it but J ended up taking it home and finishing it later. It was a really massive drink.
The rest of us got actual lunch and skipped the ice cream. J and L both got the Romstadt Mac Attack Panini. I got the Stadium Stack panini. The sandwich comes with chips and a drink. I just grabbed a Coke out of the cooler while J and L both upgraded to dirty Alani’s. The sandwiches were going to take a bit to assemble so we headed over the dining room where and grabbed a table. This seating arrangement is a little different from when this place was Rollup. The booths anchored to the wall are gone and now seating is metal patio furniture. There are about half a dozen tables in the small space.
It took about ten minutes or so for our sandwiches to come out then the employee turned his addition to the girls’ drinks which took another five to ten minutes.
The Stadium Stack Panini was my choice. This sandwich is layered salami, pepperoni, provolone, banana peppers, and Italian dressing. It’s a classic panini pressed to a really crispy texture. There is quite a bit of meat in every bite and the banana peppers and Italian dressing give it a tanginess. The sandwich was really good and not something I expected from an ice cream shop.
The Romstadt Grilled Cheese sandwiches L and J had were a really big hit. These paninis are filled with Mac & Cheese and Bacon. J likes her bacon really crispy and that’s hard to do with pre-cooked bacon and a panini press. She said the sandwich was still really good but would have been amazing with crispier bacon bits. L, on the other hand, loved this sandwich and called it the best sandwich she’s ever had. It was so gooey and cheesy. L ate all of hers and J brought half of hers home for later. She ended up the rest of it a few hours later at home.
Dirty drinks are all the rage right now and The ‘Zoo Scoop is capitalizing on that trend as well. Both J and L got dirty Alani’s. I believe J’s was some kind of lemon lime.
I don’t know what L’s was. I didn’t hear them order and Alani’s aren’t on the Door Dash menu.
We were never charged for any of the food so I went up the cash register to pay. The guy asked if we wanted any ice cream before cashing out but we were all pretty stuffed. The cost for all of our food and drinks was right around $55 before tip.
The ‘Zoo Scoop is set up for big things this summer. They opened right as winter was beginning so they haven’t totally hit their stride yet but they will. There’s a lack of ice cream places in Kalamazoo. We don’t have the traditional Memorial Day to Labor Day ice cream joints that so many communities have. With Treat Street closing, this place will pick up that slack as it’s now really the only ice cream place on the west side of town. The thing I want to point out is that this place is more than ice cream. It’s also got delicious food and shouldn’t be overlooked when you’re looking for lunch.
SW Michigan Dining 