Eat Random

The idea for this blog is to blog about everything I think about food and food culture. I'll tell you what I like to eat, where I like to eat it and if I thought it was good or if I thought it was crap. My thoughts about food could go anywhere. Hey if you don't like it go blog at methodicaldudereallythinksalotaboutthefoodhesgoingtoeat.blogspot.com

Random Dude Eats Random Food Indianapolis restaurants

Monday, May 30, 2011

Sweet Treat: Yogi Self-Serve Frozen Yogurt

One of the things we love and sometimes love to hate here at RDERF (I'm tryin' it out) are food trends especially those involving dessert.  If you have been eating your way around the greater Indianapolis area you might have noticed one of the newest burgeoning trends, self-serve frozen yogurt shops.  The idea is pretty ingenious from a business model perspective.  You let your customers select their flavor from a bank of various soft serve machines, they fill their own yogurt cup, they add their own toppings and pay a single cashier according to the weight of the yogurt+toppings.  It minimizes the labor and equipment required, but is there a sacrifice in taste or flavor?

When I went to Yogi the first thing I noticed, other than the barebones setup, is that the place was fairly new and certainly popular.  The amount of Fishers trophy wives soccer moms with their herds of children was certainly staggering.  It was almost like I didn't belong.  Nonetheless I soldiered on and got a cup of the cake batter flavored frozen yogurt.  When it came to toppings I thought things went a bit haywire.  The amount of topping choices was a bit overwhelming.  I didn't know what to chose between the various types of dry fruity cereal, chocolate chips, fresh fruit and sauces.  I ended up with fresh blueberries, cheesecake pieces and white chocolate chips.  These were all things I liked, but the flavor combination didn't really work.  Of course that is no one's fault but my own, but it would have been nice to have at least some suggested flavor combinations available.  Also, I found the blueberries really lacking in sweetness.  As far as the yogurt itself was concerned I didn't enjoy it at all.  While allegedly flavored like cake batter I couldn't discern any noticeable flavor whatsoever when I got a bite that didn't include any of my topping choices.  I found this particularly disappointing because I have really enjoyed froyo at other places in the past such as Incredible Yogurt in Muncie, IN.

Yogi's isn't on UrbanSpoon yet so if you want to check it out for yourself it's located at 12660 E 116th St Fishers, IN.

Taste 4/10  Decidedly meh.  It may be worth another shot with a different froyo flavor than cake batter, but I don't see myself rushing back.  People have told me Huddles is a better similar yogurt shop so I may try that.

Value 4/10  I didn't find it particularly expensive, but I would have much rather spent a similar amount on some other ice cream, froyo or dessert.

2 comments:

IndianapolisEater said...

Dude, you have been reading my mind lately and going to the same places as me. I just went to Yogi for the first time this past Saturday and my sentiments pretty much echo yours. The selection of toppings was impressive and fun, but the flavor of the yogurt was essentially not there (I had the cake batter and peanut butter). Much like you, I'll go back again to try a different flavor frozen yogurt, but I'm in no rush. On a side note, I was told that I made the second or third biggest sundae they had ever seen. LOL.

As for your Huddles comments, I can attest that Huddles is a hundred times better. I went to Huddles the previous week and their yogurt (cake batter flavor) somehow had a "creamy" type taste and it was OUTSTANDING. They didn't have as many toppings available as Yogi, but it was still more than sufficient.

Jordan said...

Guess I'll have to try this out for myself. Thanks for the insight.