Melting Moments in downtown East Lansing.
Ice cream is always a guaranteed way to make everything better. After a not so great meal at The Small Planet (review HERE), I needed something to make J feel better. As we were leaving Small Planet, she asked how far Melting Moments was from where we were. An intern at J’s work told her about Melting Moments months ago, but we never thought of it until a few weeks ago when we tried to go to the MSU Dairy Store on my lunch break. The line at the Dairy Store was too long and I was starting to run out of time when J said something about Melting Moments.
Melting Moments is situated right on Grand River Avenue and it shares space with a Backyard BBQ store. We found a parking space on MAC Avenue and walked a block to the store. The inside is the typical ice cream shop set up. We found a case with a variety of delicious flavors. They also had fresh gelato and other handmade goodies.
I was really tempted to try the gelato, but I got annoyed with a couple standing in front of the case unable to make up their mind. I couldn’t read the flavors, so I just gave up and joined J back at the ice cream case. She had asked for a sample of the Snickers ice cream which she shared with me. It was really tasty. She ended up getting one scoop of the Snickers ice cream in a waffle cone. She loved it. The ice cream fixed all the bad mojo she was carrying from dinner. The waffle cones are made fresh daily and she loves waffle cones.
I went with what I usually end up getting. Oreo ice cream. I got one scoop in a cup. It was good, but to me, ice cream is ice cream. I don’t really taste a difference between premium ice cream and the stuff you pay two bucks a gallon for at Meijer.
The total for two scoops of ice cream was over eight bucks. Seems a little high, but it made J happy and that makes me happy. I’ve heard MSU students rave about Melting Moments and it’s in a great location right on the Michigan State University campus. Besides the main store, you can find Melting Moments at all MSU arenas, Oldsmobile Park, Fifth Third Park, and in your grocers freezer.
Mid-Michigan Dining 
Much like Coldstone Creamery, I never had the urge to head back into Melting moments after my first experiences. Both MM and CSC seemed to have an almost sickeningly sweet odor to them, and MM was dirty and sticky when I was in there.
I much prefer the MSU Dairy Store to any others around. Guess it reminds me more of the wholesome dairy farms that made their own ice cream from back in PA…
Right up with MSU Dairy store is the Chocolate Moose in downtown Portland.
All freshly made ice cream, big servings, low price, a bookstore next door and the Cheeky Monkey coffee shop around the corner all wrapped up in a pleasant small town.
Can’t ask for more.
I’ve been to Melting Moments once and frankly can’t understand why it gets such rave reviews from people.
Cool. We’ll check that out one night. There was another restaurant recommended to me in Portland, so maybe we can hit two birds with one stone.
I love the MSU Dairy Store. It’s ridiculously cheap and ridiculously good. Do you know the urban legend among students is that the fat content is too high to be sold in stores? No idea if it’s true but I think it’s a great story. I haven’t been to Melting Moments, but some of my friends love it. I have been to Stucchi’s though and I prefer the Dairy Store–for price and flavor choices.
In my experience, the point of going to Melting Moments was to get an ice cream sandwich. I tried to stop at the store in East Lansing with my two youngest sons today (August 2011), only to discover that it shut down last year. They are still selling ice cream sandwiches in some grocery stores and from trucks at festivals and events, but the retail store is closed. (I was searchign the web to learn more about the situation when I discovered this blog post / review.)
We went to the MSU Dairy Store instead, and I was not impressed. Many of the ice creams had colors not found in nature, and the majority of the flavors were not unique. I got a vanilla with raspberry swirl and chocolate raspberry chunks (even though I can get similar in grocery stores) – the ‘inclusions’ were meager and the flavor was not all that great. Disappointing.