Established in 1952 this particular DQ location is vintage at its best! The glow of the neon definitely catches your eye. Dedicated parking lot allows for easy access along with the bike path that runs right on the river behind the store. Dedicated crew took care of a massive amount of people and no time at all. Great product, great service, great atmosphere. Patio style seating along the river makes for a great respite. Historic photos are great. Check out this DQ for ice cream excellence read more

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Shout out to the most kind manager. We showed up right when they closed after the Iowa game, we started to walk away, but the manager came out the side door and asked what we would like and really took care of us. Loved the retro vibe of this awesome place!! read more

Dairy Queen Store - Great customer service - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Iowa City, Iowa

Our favorite DQ in Iowa City! They play oldies music, you can take a walk on the path nearby, and plenty of seating. read more

Dairy Queen Store - a car parked in front of the store - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Iowa City, Iowa

I love me some ice cream. And more so, I ADORE summer's sunshine. So this location does it for me. A historic DQ in a great location. What more could a girl ask for? Surprisingly, this stand has lived here since 1952. And isn't going anywhere anytime soon. (A tornado and flood has damaged it in recent years.) There's plenty of outdoor picnic benches and shade. All the staples the chain has you needing. Friendly-ish service, normal pricing, ok parking. It's all about the experience and ambiance. This little stand has it all, stop by! read more

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Hey, what year is this? Drive-in dairy? Not scary. Summer, please come quick! Whenever I'm sad I remember the bounce-back of this Dairy Queen. After the flood of 2008, certain things never really came back quite right-- Walgreens still smells kind of like the Iowa River, Hardees renovated and lost all its charm, and Peking Buffet...nope. Still bad. But this Dairy Queen? This place came back in full force. The nostalgic sign and menu lettering never wavered, and it took me years to fully appreciate everything it has to offer. First and foremost, this place has no indoor seating. Cue summer, you lick an ice cream cone as the humid Iowa air makes your skin shiny and your ice cream drip faster than you can help. Eating ice cream outside is just--better. Also, they have the best soft-serve. Not sure what it is, but they're generous and pour love into it. Maybe it's the retro vibes, or maybe it's real. You'll never know. This DQ is unlike most chains. It has character, charm, and damn good ice cream. read more

Have you ever gone to a DQ and left with blizzard that has barely any toppings or barely mixed? Well you won't have that problem here! This DQ is the fastest and gives the most generous servings!! My favorite is a peanut butter and Reese's blizzard with GRAHAM BASE (not even sure what it is but it makes all the difference) !!! read more

Dairy Queen Store - Peanut butter, Reese's, graham base blizzard - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Iowa City, Iowa

I had a question and I called 3 times, different times throughout the day and they wouldn't pick up. Terrible customer service.

This DQ has a classic, early 1960s look and feel to it. Which means it has warm yellow lights, antique architecture, washed out posters, and broken menu letters. But it's warm, homely, and right on the river. It's like going back in time. My main complaint is the lack of Snickers for blizzards. Are snickers more expensive than Reese's and Heath? But I recently rediscovered banana splits, which are totally amazing. read more

when you stand here in front of the sign, basking in its neon glow, you are transported back to a time when customer service with a friendly smile serving a sweet treat shared with family and friends in the coolness of evening was amongst the simple pleasures in life. read more

When you say Dairy Queen in Iowa City, this is the one you are talking about. This little gem has been there on and off for literally 100 years. (no it hasn't Andrew) at least 30 years. True story, when i was a kid my father found the one of the first cars he ever owned parked behind the building like 25 years later. Like seriously not the same model but the same car like 10 owners later. I think it was a 48 Ford. Well hopefully that car wasn't still parked back behind it a few years back because the poor DQ got sucked up by a tornado... actually destroyed by a tornado. But this DQ wouldn't let that stop it from delivering it's blizzard goodness to little boys and girls... They rebuilt, only to be washed away by the floods 2 years later... and they rebuilt again. I haven't been back since they rebuilt the second time but it looks the same. I'm sure it tastes the same too. And although they don't call Mr. Mistys Mr Misty anymore, I outgrew those and now can think of no better desert than sharing a banana pudding or mint chocolate chip blizzard with Wendy on a hot Iowa Day. Oh and when they're closed during the winter you can buy Christmas Trees there for most of november and december... at the DQ. read more

I love that this old spot reopened after the flood of 2008 & is still open!!! Places like this make me miss home :) There are always happy & friendly people that work here! Never a disappointment! read more

Classic place to go for a frozen treat! Really love the authentic feel of this location!

A classic treat in a classic spot - so amazed it survived the 2006 tornado and was restored to it's glory!

friendly staff always gives our puppy a little something to cool down with. location is right along the river, but the setting needs some clean up. still a great place that still has that hole in the wall feel. i guess during the winter, it shuts down and is replaced by a Christmas Tree lot. read more

I live extremely close to this Dairy Queen and I'm very impressed. It is a really fun summer treat to get after a workout. I really like this DQ and I hope it stays in business for a long time. I really recommend to go to this DQ if you are with your boyfriend or girlfriend. Really recommend to go here read more

My favorite place to go in the summer! I feel like I'm in the 60's. The staff is great and the blizzards are delicious. Its really cute, and if you've never been there, GO! read more

Showed up 15 minutes before close to find out that they are no longer serving blizzards, shakes, or malts because they "close in five minutes", even though the people in line right before us had ordered a shake. Then they informed us that they were out of chocolate ice cream and couldn't make icee's, so they didn't give us much of a choice for what we could order. When my friend did order, they brought out the wrong thing. Only good part of the visit is that they didn't charge us for the order they didn't get right. I would give 0 stars if it were possible, and will not be coming back to this location, nor recommending anyone else to do so either. read more

Guys, what's going on. You used to be a beloved staple of our neighborhood, a place we'd visit for our usual blizzards several times a month. Then last night, two terrible things happened. First, you no longer have graham cracker pie crust bits, but instead are using WHOLE wafer-style cookies?! These are not comparable, and the result is disheartening at best. Then, to make matters worse, you added coconut to a banana cream pie blizzard. What the what?? WHY, Dairy Queen, why must you crush our dreams and thumb your nose at our delicate taste buds? read more

Me and my friends would come here on a weekly basis to get some ice cream in the spring summer, and to be outside while enjoying it. That was, until our last visit to this location. We received lots of flack for paying for half of our purchase in change (only a couple dollars in change). Then the employee that was working messed up our order, and then claimed that we had said something else. We order the same thing every time so there is no possible way that we would have said it wrong, and even if we had, the employee shouldn't have called us liars and sighed. His demeanor the whole time was grossly inconsiderate. So we told the manager Tracy, and she was of no help to either of us and claimed that he wasn't mistreating us, and that we should go to the other Dairy queen location if we felt unsatisfied. Are you kidding me? What kind of a manager turns away paying customers and tells them to go to another Dairy Queen location? I was always under the impression that the customer is always right, but the employees and manager at this establishment seem to think otherwise. So I proceeded to ask the manager what her and the other employees names were. She said her name was Tracy, and then I asked what the other employees name was, and she would not give it out. I asked why, and she said that they are not required to do so, and that I needed to leave the property. Keep in mind, THIS IS THE MANAGER, and she is making us feel like we vandalized their establishment or something. I only asked because I felt like we were mistreated the entire time. So if you are looking for a place with great customer service and a friendly environment, please do yourself a favor and do not visit this Dairy Queen. The ice cream is sub-par, and the service is horrible. I sincerely hope they don't treat every customer this way, as my experience with the manager Tracy, and whoever the other employee working that day was, was horrible. I won't be going here for my ice cream every week any longer because of how they treat customers that have done absolutely nothing wrong. I would give 0 stars if I could. read more

I like this Dairy Queen in particular because it's locally-owned, and a nice place to sit outside and enjoy some ice cream on a hot summer day right by the river. Other DQ locations just seem too...Idunno, "big city/copycat" for me. read more

Wouldn't go here since they are unable to make any mixed in milkshakes! Something about safety issues. Maybe they need to update equipment in order to provide better customer service. read more