Morgenstern's BANANAS — Restaurant in New York

Either this is some bizarre research study demonstrating that human beings are feeble minded pawns, unable of overcoming their morbid curiosity of block-wrapping lines. Or an embittered student of Eliyahu Goldratt (author of The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement) set out to prove that you could create an highly profitable, product-centric business while maximizing inefficiency. Either way, I suggest you follow the sage wisdom of Damon Wayans, and when happening upon the Vatican-esque line in SoHo reply with a quick "Homey don't play that" and continue on your way.

It's not that I'm against lines, or even proprietors that have conjured up something so delectable that it requires a significant amount of waiting. However, when you finish waiting in the outside line (see attached photo) only to be met with yet another inside line entirely caused the fact that:

The man working the register has refused to abide by the rule "don't burn the entire bowl before you come into work"

Only one group can be served / helped a time by a single person. This means that while "High Guy" has taken off his shoes to ensure that your request for 8 samples doesn't exceed the limit of "2 samples per person" for your party of 4, the other 6 employees on staff at the time not only can't get samples for the other people in line (to leapfrog the business into 56K-modem speed) but need to make themselves look busy through such meaningless endeavors as examining and rebalancing the tower of sugar cones (yes, I actually saw that happen).

All in all, I'm not even going to comment about the ice cream. The fact of the matter is that it would have been more efficient to Uber into Brooklyn, grab an XL at Ample Hills, and then return to Morgenstern's to help these lost souls make their way out of the cruelest social experiment...

I don't get the hype, my girlfriend and I were walking around near her place and passed by here, she told me it's a very popular well known place, she had never tried it before and I love finding new ice cream shops so we both went in to try it out. The line was barely to the door which wasn't bad at all (until we walked in, then a massive line formed out the door behind us as whatever event was going on next door let out.) After ordering our ice cream we took the only available seats which were next to a massive dead roach (being native New Yorkers we both pretended it didn't exist.)

I ordered chocolate malted crunch and I expected rich chocolaty flavor with a hint of malt (like a malted milkshake just about anywhere), and crushed chocolate malted balls. The chocolate was disappointing, it tasted so thinly of chocolate, like they bought powdered cocoa and added water to it, and the malted balls were barely crushed centers so it was such a huge offset to the flavor of the ice cream. I want to give it another shot at some point, but I was so put off by the awful flavor of the chocolate that I don't even want to set foot in there again. I don't remember the flavor my girlfriend ordered, pretty sure it was green tea, but I do remember both of us threw out our expensive ice cream after 4 bites.

If you're in the area and you're craving ice cream, do yourself a huge favor and walk up a few blocks to OddFellows, the ice cream is so much better. It's a very small shop and they don't offer as many flavors, but the flavors they do offer are so much better than the flavors we tried at...

I had to check this place out to see if it lived up to a fraction of the hype and it didn't. My expectations were way too high because I was expecting my mind to be blown and it was not at all.

They have a lot of interesting flavors and I think that they probably have some unlikely combinations that pair really well together. The thing is, there isn't anything that helps you pair flavors and toppings. There are no recommended pairings or suggestions to help guide you to making your selections.

Also, I am an avid sampler. Sampling is how I get a feel for what I'm in the mood for but also how I can start to decide what would taste good together. The staff wasn't as enthused to help a first time customer experience all the flavors of Morgenstern's Finest Ice Cream. I mean I understand but who walks into a place KNOWING that they'll just love bourbon vanilla ice cream with toasted coconut and honeycomb bits? And it's not like it was that crowded since it was kind of a cold day. Anyway, I did get to sample all the vanillas (except for angel food cake), caramel pretzel and American egg.

I ended up going with the Madagascar Vanilla with honeycomb bits. It was OKAY. Their ice cream is less creamy and a little more icy than other ice creams. I also live next door to an ice cream place with great ice cream for a great value so um, I guess the bar was just set a little high to begin with. There's definitely better ice...