#77: Cold Stone Creamery

Date Visited: 13 August 2009

Meal: Dessert

Diners: 5 - Me, Wendy, Andy, Eric, & Alicia

Experience: As I've written before, I not much of an ice cream man, but it seems everybody I know loves the stuff. Wendy had a $15.00 gift card for Cold Stone Creamery, and the whole family was home, so off we went in search of ice cream adventure. Besides Cold Stone Creamery, the other primary ice cream places in Leesburg are Milwaukee Frozen Custard (reviewed 21 February 2009), Razzle Dairy Bar (reviewed 13 June 2009), and Baskin-Robbins (colocated with Dunkin' Donuts - not yet reviewed). Cold Stone Creamery is situated in between Starbucks and Quiznos in a building in the middle of Battlefield Shopping Center, and aims for the high end of the ice cream spectrum.

I got a "small" (i.e., big) scoop of Coffee Lovers Only ("Coffee Ice Cream, Roasted Almonds, Heath Bar, Caramel") in a cup. This flavor is part of their Signature Creations, which are hand-mixed to order; from the web site: "By mixing nuts, fruits and candy into our smooth and creamy ice cream on a frozen granite stone (around here, we call it “the stone”) we're actually more like ice cream artists." Well, it was extremely good!

Wendy got a medium-size Mint Mint Chocolate Chocolate Chip ("Mint Ice Cream, Chocolate Chips, Brownie, and Fudge"). In her words, it was "delish", but so sad, it was more than she could finish - boo hoo!

Alicia got a scoop of Strawberry Banana Rendezvous ("Strawberry Ice Cream, Graham Cracker Pie Crust, White Chocolate Chips, Strawberries, and Banana") in a waffle cone. In her words, it was "utterly amazing". Now that's high praise, coming from a very discerning ice cream palate.

I don't remember what the boys got, but they were equally amazing selections.

Our experience seems to prove that Cold Stone Creamery is in fact "the place to indulge your ice cream dreams."

Location: 1013 Edwards Ferry Rd., Leesburg, VA, 20176

Web site: http://www.coldstonecreamery.com/

Total bill: $32.46 - $15.00 gift card = $17.46

#76: Pizza Hut

Date Visited: 26 July 2009

Meal: Dinner

Diners: 2 - Me & Wendy

Experience: Finally we come to Pizza Hut's "mother ship". I've already written about Pizza Hut Express (reviewed 9 November 2008) and Pizza Hut WingStreet (reviewed 26 June 2009), so now I'll finish with the original Pizza Hut in Leesburg. There's not that much to say; it's a national chain restaurant, and the quality is pretty consistent wherever you go. But I have to visit EVERY restaurant in Leesburg, so here we go...

I got an order of 10 Medium Buffalo Wings, bone-in style. They're not bad at all, in fact, I'm starting to really like them when I'm in the mood for wings. Wendy got a Medium Super Supreme, which is sort of our favorite kind of pizza anyway. It was all good.

The only thing that bugged me was that they were offering a $14.99 + $2.00 delivery online special for the combination that we ordered, but I really wanted to go pick it up instead of have it delivered (too often there are problems). I was frustrated to find that there was no way to choose pickup instead of delivery when ordering online. So I abandoned the online order and just called it in. I was surprised to find it was so much more without the special; I could have paid $9.00 less by going ahead with delivery and giving the same amount of tip. Oh well.

Pizza Hut - for when you want, um, pizza.

Location: 505A E. Market St., Leesburg, VA, 20176

Web site: http://pizzahut.com/

Total bill: $26.01 + $5.00 tip = $31.01

#75: Tropical Smoothie Cafe

Date Visited: 26 July 2009

Meal: Lunch

Diners: 1 - Me

Experience: I was on my own for lunch on this Sunday afternoon, and tired from getting up early to play bass with our church's worship team. I was pretty hungry too. I had been meaning to give the Tropical Smoothie Cafe a try, so I went for it. It's one of the newer restaurants in Leesburg and shares a building with Tenderjacks (reviewed on 29 August 2008). It turns out that Tropical Smoothie Cafe is a national chain, and according to their web site (very Flash-y), they currently have 275 restaurants open and 80 more in development in 34 states.

On this visit i got a Buffalo Chicken Wrap ("Chicken Breast Strips, Romaine Lettuce, Diced Tomatoes, Low-Fat Mozzarella Cheese, Hot Buffalo Sauce & Light Ranch Dressing. Wrapped in a White Tortilla.") It was good but not great. Of course I had to try a smoothie, so I got a Blimey Limey ("Strawberries, Pineapples, Orange, & Lime"). It was very good; I could really appreciate and taste all the fresh fruit, freshly prepared. All this came as a combo, which included some chips (Nachos Doritos).

Tropical Smoothie Cafe's food is OK, but if you've got a hankerin' for a big fruity smoothie, give they're the place to go.

Location: 505A E. Market St., Leesburg, VA, 20176

Web site: http://tropicalsmoothiecafe.com/

Total bill: $10.84

UPDATED 29 August 2010: Corrected the comment about sharing a building with Pei Wei; Tropical Smoothies actually shares the building with Tenderjack's.