Randolph Dairy Barn – Randolph MA

No matter how you try, there just isn’t an easy path between Weston and Mattapan. After getting stuck in traffic beneath the city, swooping around 128 seemed a better option. Plotting ice cream just off that path led Jah Jah and I to Randolph and I ate a Creamsicle soft serve cone.

The Dairy Barn is a longtime Randolph institution. Located in an old strip mall, this has the feel of a classic 50’s style ice cream shack as reenvisioned in the early ’70s. Given the tiling on the building and the general state of things in this plaza, it’s easy to understand why many people’s expectations are low.

With only window service, the seating here is limited to some benches on the side of the complex. The walls over there are decorated with odd bovine graffiti. The benefits of graffiti are probably negated by the number of people who’ll drive past just because of it.

If you’re looking for frozen treats, there’s no reason to think that this place is in anywhere inferior. They serve everything from Richardson’s hard pack ice cream, to soft serve and slush and every option in between. Knowing what I’d get with Richardson’s, I figured this was a good time to look out for some soft serve and went with a creamsicle cone.

This is the right way to swirl a soft serve cone. Equal parts orange sherbet and vanilla ice cream, the flavors balance the right way in a aesthetically appealing fashion. After eating so much ice cream that needs to be scooped, it’s easy to forget how good simple soft serve can be as long as it isn’t inundated with chemicals that overtake the flavors. Sure I can tell this isn’t an all natural concoction, but this works just right.

Jah Jah worked his way through a small sundae while we sat at the picnic table nearby. In one of the most gratuitous moves, he made sure to call his friends who were still on the bus and brag about what he was doing. When I was his age, that would have been the perfect recipe for a morning wedgie.

Cone – small $2.25 medium $2.75 large $3.25

Sundae – small $3.55 medium $3.95 large $4.25

Frappe – small $3.95 large $4.45

Randolph Dairy Barn

892 North Main Street Randolph, MA 02368

781 986-4456

Open year round

Hours #a-#p

Dairy Barn on Yelp