Soda Vine, one of many soda-specializing businesses that seem to thrive in non-drinking communities, prides itself as a go-to spot for many in Rexburg. In the times I’ve gone inside to take an order (rather than drive-thru, which is much preferred), I’ve seen a whole spectrum of crews: families with young children, boy’s nights, girl’s nights, and hoards of couples obviously on their first date.
What do these people get at Sodavine? Soda, obviously. However, that doesn’t stop them from diversifying on their menu. Relatively snacky items, they have pretzels, nachos, smoothies, hot chocolate, milkshakes, and, of course, sundaes. I order a chocolate sundae and wait patiently.
An employee walks out with the sundae. One of my friends, Katie, saw it and said, “who puts a lid on a fudge sundae?” Well, McDonald’s (blessed be their name) does, but for some reason, it was a turn-off this time. I assume it was because I didn’t have the option of taking off the lid without the risk of spilling whipped cream on my person.
Quality of Toppings:
The sundae is described on their menu as “vanilla soft-serve ice cream with your choice of topping and whipped cream.” The cream was a little airy, and really just acted as a barrier between me and the chocolate. I would go as far as to say it watered down the chocolate.
Quality of Fudge:
What initially worried me was their hot fudge option was simply written as “chocolate.”
This matters.
Hot fudge is rich and thick with its own agenda, while “chocolate” seems to imply a runny, loose syrup. I was given the latter, which was likely Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup.
From a visual perspective, their layering of chocolate and ice cream seems a nice touch. In reality, as one’s spoon penetrates the surface to get a scoop, the soft-serve slowly begins to mix with the chocolate. By about half-way through eating, I was left with chocolate ice cream.
Fudge would never do this to me.
Level of Comfort Only Ordering a Hot Fudge Sundae:
Soda Vine is a place that offers no real sustenance on their menu, so getting any non-nutritious snack seems acceptable in my mind. Unfortunately, it wasn’t good.
Would I rather have a McDonald’s sundae? Without question.
Final Rating: 2.3/10
Hot for Fudge 
The day I discovered that you could order hot fudge on both the bottom AND top of a McDonald’s sundae (for a few cents more) was the beginning of an intense dysfunctional friendship with my local food court.
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