Dug & Betty's Ice Creamery / Crèmerie de Glace — Restaurant in Winnipeg

It was a very busy Saturday night that we happened by this ice cream place - there were 4 of us out that evening. We went inside and they had several nice looking Gelato flavours in the display case. The girl behind the counter asked that we go outside to the takeaway window to order as the inside part was closed for the evening. So we went outside and joined the long line to order our ice cream and Gelatos. The line moved fairly quickly and they had a nice display board to look at your choices near the front of the line. There were between 12-15 people standing around by the pickup window waiting for their orders.

We ordered one single scoop of lemon lime sorbet - one in a cup and one in a dark chocolate waffle cone. Our friends ordered a pint of hard ice cream - the Ube flavour. Our order came to over $14 and our friends was $12 plus tax. The value for the money we spent wasn't great. Having a single scoop of sorbet or gelato shouldn't cost $6. $4 okay. The volume and flavour is not enough for the money you pay. So our friends had about double the volume of ice cream for a couple less dollars than us because they ordered it in a pint container and they ate from the same pint. Much better value - but really the prices should be more comparable - no matter if you order a cup, cone or pint.

So when we got to the waiting area - which still had 12-15 people waiting in groups (ranging between 2-4 people) we waited and watched as the orders were slowly brought to the window and called out. There was no order at all as to who got theirs first. 3 people that were ahead of us in the queue were still waiting for their ice cream after we were served - the dad and son had theirs in hand and the mom was waiting patiently. There was also a group of 4 people that were ahead of us that had 3 strawberry sundaes and a cone that came out scattered between multiple orders that were ordered long after them and us. Seeing as how my husband and I had ordered the same kind - lemon lime sorbet- one in a cone and one in a dish - you would think that they would be served at the same time or one right after the other. This didn't happen. My husband got his and then 5-7 minutes later - and only after approaching the window to see if my order was lost somewhere did I receive my sorbet. At this point our friends had their pint for several minutes. The flavours were good.

I can't really understand the system of how the orders go from the till to the many staff working in the back to get everyone's order. Also wonder why one person isn't assigned one groups orders and fills them all and then moves to the next groups so that when people who are out together receive it somewhat close together to enjoy it together. I have never worked an ice cream shop or pretend to know to inner workings of this type of business, but you would think that getting orders filled in the order they were placed (depending on the complexity of course - Specialty sundaes and Parfaits would take longer than single scoops) would be a reasonable thing to strive for. We won't be returning to this establishment for several reasons that I hope we conveyed in this...

April 2020: Went there on a Wednesday night at the end of April, still during the covid pandemic. The lineup was easy to understand and people were respectful of social distancing. Line took maybe 20 minutes, not so bad. My partner and I split a flight, which is 4 scoops. Great deal at $9 ($10.08 with tax). Flavours tried: cookie monster, dark chocolate and sour cherry, strawberry balsamic honey and black pepper, and ube (I believe it rhymes with lube).

Standouts for us were the chocolate/cherry and the ube. The cookie monster was a lot of fun and had chunks of peanut butter and chocolate in it. The strawberry etc was good, but to us both it tasted like strawberry and we could not detect the balsamic or pepper, which we were excited about. It was very good strawberry ice cream though, and had chunks of actual strawberries. The chocolate cherry was a slight disappointment in terms of flavour as well, but we didn't mind. It tasted of delicious cherry, and the jammy bits were slightly sour, but again a flavour was missing: chocolate. The ube was mild and tasted a bit like taro, if you've had, or slightly nutty for those who are less experienced with niche flavours.

The texture was spot on, not overly rich but still very smooth. It is a very dog friendly place (named after a couple dogs) and they have doggy cones. There was plenty of parking in a lot across the alley, just north of the establishment. Lots of space to stash a bike as well, and there were a few there.

We will definitely be back to try other flavours, hoping that they live up to their names.

Update July 2021 lunch: excellent food and service! The Rueben sandwich was outstanding. Pickled cabbage, candied lemon, tons of meat and cheese... Perfect! The caprese sandwich was also delicious...

I went to Dug & Betty’s on a Saturday for lunch, and it’s now my new favourite Saturday spot.

The kale caesar salad was top notch. Raw kale is often too dense and bitter imo, but this was by far the best kale caesar I’ve had. The tahini miso dressing and sumac croutons made the dish. The beet grilled cheese may have been my favourite - beets, whipped feta, pistachio honey spread👌For a sandwich, it’s a little on the sweet side, so if you’re looking for a really savoury sandwich, it might not be the one for you. But if you appreciate lighter flavours, then I highly recommend. The egg-bagel sandwich was also great. Very classic flavours and the texture of the bagel was perfect.

Of course, we had to try the ice-cream. I was weary of the strawberry balsamic honey black pepper ice cream because it easily could have just sounded good but not delivered. It was the best ice cream I’ve ever had. And I don’t really like ice cream.

The atmosphere was also lovely. Charming and comfortable without trying too hard. All in all, great place, food and super reasonable prices. If you’re thinking about trying Dug & Betty’s I highly suggest you do.

Shout out to the whole team, the service and food was exceptional. Can’t...