Murray's Shaved Ice

Murray's Shaved Ice

Alright friends, here we are. My very first blog about a snocone stand. Or should I say "shack" in this case. Their word, not mine. I have gotten a lot of positive feedback on starting this blog and for that I am grateful. I hope my posts get read and I help STL snocone stands get a little more business this summer. I've always been a lover of the small business/startup world so anyway I can help, even in small ways, means a lot to me.

Some people have asked me why would I start such a thing? Or who likes snocones? To which I reply, I would be crazy not to start this blog. And, who are you not to like snocones? I digress. Even if no one were to read this blog I still love to talk about snocones and more than anything, taste them. I may have a hard time giving bad reviews but will do my best to be honest about my opinions. Which is just what this is really, a blog about my opinions and opinions of the few other people that go with me to get snocones. If you want your snocone opinion to matter join me on my next journey to a stand. Or shack. I will do my best to give heads up on social media. I'm hoping there are no snocone stalkers, just lovers that want to join in the festivities. Ok, let's get started.

Murray's Shaved Ice is located on Watson Road, 3407 to be exact. It is one of the few in south city that I know of, so one I frequent a lot now that I live in the area. Watson is definitely a busy street, so the first time you go there you may try to pass it up and realize you have to park on the street until you can remember to turn on the side street near the “shack”, make a quick left and take the alley to get into the shaved ice parking lot. I would say parking is relatively difficult on the first try. However the shack is relatively well marked, with huge snocone banners on either side of the shack. I will now get to the snocone breakdown.

I JUST FOUND OUT! Murray's just opened a new location on 8001 Mackenzie Rd just last week (June 2nd, 2015). Make sure you check this location out too!!!

• Quality of shaved ice- I would say that the ice was pretty thin, and fluffy. I will go ahead and give a star on this one. If stars is what I am giving, it gets one.

• Amount of juice- If anything I would say there was maybe too much juice in my snocone. Not way too much, but I definitely could not finish the whole thing which could have been because the syrup was too sweet.

• Selection- Murray's definitely has a pretty vast selection of flavors. Some of my favorites were missing, like blackberry and strawberry daiquiri, but I can't say they don't have the regular favorites. Also, I have to give this a point/star/whatever for having awesomely outdated snocone names like Pokemon, Scooby Doo and Power Puff Girl Way to make the experience nostalgic, Murray's. Smart move. Oh yeah, there is a bird poop flavor. Someone try that and get back to me, thanks!

• Flavor- I of course cannot possibly taste all of the flavors but I did get to sample the Scooby Doo (root beer and orange), Fuzzy Navel and mine was a mix of Tiger's blood and ice cream. The flavor, not actual ice cream. I would say the Fuzzy Navel was pretty okay, definitely the best of the three, but still not as strong as it could be. I'd have to dock this one. I may not have found just the right flavor there but these weren't hitting the spot for me.

• Toppings- This is an important note: No toppings!!! They do however do private parties, company picnics and even have a snocone truck. Which is cool, but not as cool as pop rocks.

• Seating- This place is different because it's not so much in a parking lot but in kind of a gravel area. They have three small tables with chairs, as well as awesome 80's ballads mixed with One Direction. Something for everyone really. They get full points for this.

• Friendliness- Really great. There was an older woman and younger man in high school/college that were very nice. Not annoying in your face nice, but acceptably nice. The service was a little slow, not sure what was going on, but it is the start of the season.

• Packaging- standard styrofoam cup equipped with straw and spoon. Totally fine. I don't think this goes under this but whatever, there's no rules here. They do fill the ice up pretty high above the cup, which made me wish I would have gotten a kiddie (they do have kiddie sizes) because the small was way bigger than I could handle. There is also a monster size???? Again, someone go get that, as well as doggie cups for one dollar.

• Location- Like I said, it is located on a busy street with a semi-hard parking lot to get into. But I love that it is more in the city than in south county. South county gets all the snocone love

• Price- Cheap as all get out! No complaints here. Refer to sign for pricing to make sure you've got the proper amount of change stored under your car seat.

Murray's is an awesome south city snocone stand, one I frequent often since it is so close to my house. Though there may be a few different things I prefer for my snocones I still love them and so will you!

ALSO just found they have social media!! Their website is http://www.murrayshavedice.com/, twitter: shavedicestl, facebook: Murray's Shaved Ice

Whatever my opinion may be, please go check out these places I blog about. Snocones are such a great way to support your neighborhood, hang with people you care about and perfect if your AC goes out this summer.

Happy snoconing everyone!