3 out of 5 stars

Dairy Queen is delicious 99 percent of the time. Whenever I make the trip, I know I will be nothing short of satisfied if I buy my usual combo: the Brownie Batter Blizzard with the chicken strip basket. Really, I am never disappointed.

Most of the time if I actually decide to switch up my options a little bit, I thoroughly enjoy my meal.

For example, last month I tried one of the new hot bakes with the artisan chicken sandwich. The chocolate fudge, vanilla ice cream and fudge-stuffed cookie was to die for, and the sandwich was mouthwatering.

However, after I tried the Pumpkin Pie Blizzard this fall, my disappointment could not be more apparent.

The Pumpkin Pie Blizzard is everything you would expect it to be. Creamy vanilla soft serve ice cream is stacked to the top and upside down thick. Spiced with nutmeg and topped with whipped cream, the treat is definitely an all-around favorite. But here’s the catch. There are no pumpkin pie pieces. Yep. I said it. It’s an utter lie.

Last year, I absolutely loved the Blizzard because there were legitimate chunks of pumpkin pie. It honestly tasted like someone baked a pumpkin pie, cut it up into miniature pieces and swirled them in with the ice cream. I was in heaven. This year, I expected to have the same, pleasant experience.

Instead, I was graced with the most boring Blizzard on the face of the earth. There was not a single taste of pumpkin pie. The employee who created this disaster of a treat threw in some graham cracker chunks with pumpkin pie spices, and that was about it.

Seriously? You cannot trick customers into thinking their Blizzard will taste like Thanksgiving when the ingredients do not even consist of actual pumpkin pie.

First of all, graham cracker is not equivalent to pie crust. Second of all, tossing in some graham cracker does not make up for the lack of pumpkin pie. I’m not sure if this catastrophe occurred elsewhere this fall, but I sure hope the Dairy Queens in Grand Forkswill get their ingredients together.

I truly do enjoy this fast food chain, though, my rant sounds like I hate Dairy Queen’s guts. This is actually not the case at all.

In my opinion, there are several benefits to this restaurant. Most importantly, there are dozens of treat and meal options to choose from at a reasonable price. There are also “meal deals” available if you are trying to save money.

For example, I can purchase a “Five Buck Lunch” which consists of a cheeseburger, fries, pop and a sundae. If I were to buy the same thing at McDonald’s, the price would increase by $2.50.

Overall, I give Dairy Queen three stars out of five. As you can see, I find nothing wrong with Dairy Queen’s food or prices. In fact, if there was no risk of me stacking on the extra pounds, I would probably go there at least three times a week.

However, I will never buy the Pumpkin Pie Blizzard in Grand Forks again. Otherwise, I will face pure disappointment instead of enjoying myself like I should.

Kassidi Andres is a something for The Dakota Student.

She can be reached at [email protected]