La La Homemade Ice Cream – Minneapolis, MN

Who doesn’t love ice cream? Idiots, I guess. Everyone has strong feelings about their favorite ice cream place and we’ve had some friends recommend various places in the Twin Cities (and abroad, really). Oddly, none of our friends have mentioned La La, and it’s been around for a little while (like 1993, according to the website). We were in Uptown and figured we’d better stop by.

D got a couple of scoops in a cone and I really wasn’t impressed by any of the ice cream flavors – weird for me. I ended up going with a strawberry soda. We didn’t take any photos, so I apologize. Both of the scoops of ice cream were near-flavorless. I tried a couple of bites of each flavor and couldn’t tell them apart. Disappointed. My soda had less flavor than a La Croix sparkling water, and I’m not really a fan of those. Again, disappointed.

This is probably why none of our friends are really talking about this place. I hate to give negative reviews, but sometimes, you’ve got to call it like you see it. (That being said, the place is pretty adorable on the inside and the staff working there were SUPER nice, for what it’s worth.)

www.lalahomemadeicecream.com

The Tilted Tiki - Stillwater, MN

D.Rough and I have a certain passion for tiki bars. So when we heard one had opened up in nearby Stillwater, we knew we had to check it out. We popped over after dinner and found what looked like a former Irish pub that had been converted to a sort-of island feel. There were bright lights and dark wood and some stained glass dividers – so a little less tiki than we’re used to.

We read the story of the bar on the back of the menu, and were amused to see that the inspiration for this specific tiki bar was a recent trip to Florida (which is pretty far from French Polynesia, if you’re wondering). They had also gone to Hawaii, in all fairness at some point, but the original inspiration was Florida. Which means this place is a little more “island” than “tiki” – in our humble opinion.

We ordered a couple of drinks and after about 20 minutes the server came over and apologized for how long the drinks were taking (we heard another server doing the same thing to a couple of other tables). We waited a while longer before one of them came out, then waited a little longer until the second one came out.

They weren’t good. I remember seeing “mystery ingredients” somewhere on the menu, which I’m sure is built into every tiki drink ever made. But whatever that mystery was, made what should have been various rums and various fruit juices, taste really bad. We drank most of our drinks and left.

Not one of our favorite tiki bars, in case you’re wondering.

www.thetiltedtiki.com