Perhaps you first sampled Lazy Sundae’s delicious homemade ice cream at its Clarendon location where, until late last month, it existed as a popular community staple in all-day desserts. Offering hundreds of flavors of ice cream, complete with the traditional sundae fare, banana splits, and other assorted desserts, you were hard pressed to find a better scoop of ice cream in the Arlington area. Perhaps you were dismayed that such a quality ice cream joint was packing up shop and relocating to an unfamiliar location. However, luckily for us, Lazy Sundae still exists, standing strong at its new Falls Church site in all its sweet-toothed splendor and refreshingly lo-fi ambiance.
The ice cream at Lazy Sundae is magnificent, made in quart-sized buckets on the premises and in an array of kaleidoscopic flavors from Black Raspberry and Orange Dreamsicle to Rocky Road. A kid’s scoop, comparable to the size of an extra large golf, is $2.50 and served on a cone or a bright-colored plastic dish. The regular scoop, at an affordable $3.25, is likened to a tennis ball and is a worthwhile serving anywhere from noon to nine (or later). Double and triple scoops are no problem; all portions can be served on a sugar, cake, or waffle cone or in a glass or plastic dish to go. Toppings, ranging from peanut butter cups to cherries, are 50 cents a pop and free with the sundaes.
The restaurant also offers a selection of drinks and baked goods. Root beer floats are made with vanilla bean ice cream and root beer served on tap. The milkshakes come in customary flavors and are just as good as the ice cream, or the cookies, brownies, Rice Krispie treats or other sweet snacks made on location, for that matter. In addition to the cakes and other desserts baked and set on display in a wide glass case, Lazy Sundae is now offering breakfast sandwiches – egg and cheese, with or without sausage, served on fresh, homemade croissants.
Maybe, as you read this, you remain hesitant to break from your routine dessert diet of Baskin Robbins’ Pralines and Crème. If so, I would strongly recommend that you entertain a little deviation in your dessert and try one of the other flavors from Lazy Sundae’s freezer, such as the smooth Butter Pecan, Tropical Chocolate, or Dirt (crushed Oreos and Gummi Worms in a chocolate base), perhaps at once the most puzzling and gratifying flavor to be found in a local ice cream parlor.
The interior is like that of any respectable ice cream shop; tables arranged in a maneuverable grid throughout the room and a long, marble counter lined with black stools separates the kitchen and freezers from the rest of the restaurant. A blackboard indicates the available flavors, which cycle in and out daily, and is in hoisted high against the back wall. The walls are painted an azure blue and peppered with soft, white clouds to remind you why it’s great to be lazy in the first place, especially nowadays, deep in the dog days of summer. The employees, mostly high school and college students, are agreeable and obliging when probed for palatable recommendations, not to mention generous and quick to the scoop.
Lazy Sundae is owned by the sibling restaurateur team, David and Rebecca Tax, who have owned the business for over a decade. The eatery will celebrate its grand opening on August 19th with former American Pro Bowl defensive end, Charles Mann, along for the festivities and they welcome you to bear witness to their unbeatable combination of ice cream and neighborhood-friendly flair.
Lazy Sundae
110 N. West St., Falls Church
703-532-5299
11 a.m. – 10:30 p.m. Sun -Thu, 11 a.m. – 11:30 p.m. Fri – Sat
