Dairy Castle

After work, Kristen and I checked out the Dairy Castle in South Park. I drove by it a few weeks ago at night. It was completely lit up and looked like a legitimate castle. For lack of a better phrase, it's probably the closest thing Morgantown has to a Chuck E. Cheese. Located at a precarious area, "Hogback Turn," in South Park (beside Buck's Corner Pub) you could easily miss this place if you're driving too fast. But if you're on the lookout, you will easily notice the small bouncy castle and bright yellow picnic benches outside.

The building has a walk-up area to order at, so you can then go bounce in the castle or eat at a picnic bench. It also seems they have a drive-thru, but a truck was blocking that area when we went. We opted to go inside and sit down. When you go inside, there's one large menu plastered on the wall behind the counter, so you have to stand there and read the menu as all the workers stare at you. I actually felt a little overwhelmed as five people were staring back at me and made eye contact with all of them. They kind of got the hint after that and scattered. As I was figuring out what I wanted, I Saw that there was also a coffee bar to the right of the regular counter. It was just a small coffee area that offered cappuccinos, frappuccinos, etc.

The menu was mostly void of any food - there were a couple hot dogs and one burger. I ordered the burger, "Double Stacker Burger" for $2. I also got a "Castle Cruncher" in Snickers - essentially a Blizzard or Sonic Blast or McFlurry, etc. Kristen opted for a "Coney Island Dog" and a "Castle Cruncher" in strawberry cheesecake. We then took a seat on one of the three giant yellow picnic benches inside.

That's when it dawned on me that I was way above the legal age limit at this place. Everything was brightly colored, and there were even cartoon characters on the walls. The bathrooms were the "Queen's Chamber" and the "King's Chamber." And, nearly everybody inside was either a parent or a kid. Not your typical college kid hangout. Though toward the end of our trip, a group of college guys came in.

 I received my food fairly quickly. The medium-sized ice cream was a good size, and the peanut buttery, caramely, chocolately pieces were mixed all throughout the ice cream. This is a good change from Sonic or sometimes Dairy Queen. The soft serve was ... vanilla, and it was overall tasty. Slightly generic, but not bad. The food was less impressive. I'm not sure where to put it because the actual taste wasn't bad. The burger was a little salty, but the garlic balanced it out. However, the burger was so unbelievably slopped together, I had a difficult time eating it. I had ketchup, mustard and onions on it. The condiments were everywhere, on top of the bun, underneath the bun, and there was a nice glob of mustard on the bottom of my sandwich with onions in it, that when I picked it up, mustard was everywhere. It was also fairly small. For $2, though, I guess that's what I should've expected.

Kristen's hotdog was pretty small, too. About the same size as a one you'd pick up in a bundle at the grocery store, slapped on a bun with a little chili sauce and some ketchup.

The service is not the greatest. They're young kids who probably don't care about the job. When I ordered my hamburger, she asked what I wanted on it. I asked what it came with. She said she didn't know, then called back to the kitchen to ask them. It's just basic stuff that I'd think if you'd been there more than a month you should know. All in all, average.

Grade: C