Vampire Penguin - Twin Hickory — Restaurant in Virginia

As things get more expensive, it's great to have an affordable (under $10) dessert place that not only values innovation and quality, but also highlights an enjoyable experience in the store. Vampire penguin is a treasure! Enjoying the delicious flavor of my favorite snow treats such as strawberry shortcake, the new lavender lemon pound cake or building my own dessert with snow Is certainly a highlight of my day whenever I find myself in Short pump after 2:00 p.m. It is fun to enjoy handcrafted and personalized treats made specifically for you in jiffy! They have an expanded menu that includes other treats and drinks that tickle your taste buds such as the strawberry lemonade. Nostalgic games are available to play on the tables and there are coloring pages available for little ones. During your brief wait, there is something for everyone to enjoy! I recommend signing up for special discounts and holiday events! They also love checking out the wall that has fun polaroids of patrons. Whether you are a first-time visitor or a regular such as myself, you will be treated like family by Ray and his staff. The vampire penguin franchise has a fun backstory with related merchandise and even books about the vampire penguin characters. I Iove Vampire penguin of twin Hickory shopping center! For me, it is a landmark destination where I have to take all of my out of town guests. Every time I go in, I have a wonderful experience seeing the decorations, checking out a game, or talking to the staff. At vampire penguin you are treated like family whether you come to celebrate a special event or a stop in for quick treat to go. This is the perfect added Joy to your day that...

My new favorite dessert shop! Stumbled upon this place back in January when I was out with a friend and we wanted a snack so we searched “desserts nearby” on Google Maps. Since then, I’ve probably been 6 times (and I don’t particularly live nearby lol). As you can see in the pictures I’ve attached here, these “shaved snow” creations (shaved snow reminds me of a very light and fluffy ice cream. Has the texture of shaved ice but not weighed down with syrup) are works of art. They have so many snow flavors, toppings, and drinks to choose from. For the snow, you can either choose one of their featured creations or conjure your own. I’m allergic to milk, so it’s very helpful that they already have a nondairy menu printed out and ready to go. The staff is always SO friendly and accommodating. They’ve gone to the back to check ingredients for me, offered to make nondairy versions of pretty much any menu item I like, and even given me a free Vampire Penguin Croc charm! Oh, and their prices are super affordable! I usually spend between $5-7.50 on my snow each time I go. I could not say anything enough good things about this place. As long as this place is around (which I hope is forever!), I will...

First time having shaved ice in this area, wasn't sure what to expect.

We got the Halo Halo, Itchy Mango, and the Banana Cream. Across the board, I would say the quality of the ice is decent. It's not quite as fluffy as I normally have, but still very good!

The halo halo was really good! I liked the ube flavoring a lot. It's hard to find good ube flavors in this area. This was probably the first one we finished really fast.

The Itchy Mango was a lychee(litchi) base with mango sorbet on the side and this was very good. It starts out a little too sweet with the drizzle, but eventually the flavor evens out as you make sure not to eat a concentrated piece of syrup.

The Banana Cream was honestly not amazing in my opinion, but was still decent. I feel banana flavoring can be a hit or miss with a lot of stuff. It was definitely an interesting experience to try this kind of shaved ice.

Overall, I would recommend getting multiple flavors and sharing so that none of flavors get "flavored out" in your mouth.

Seating and atmosphere is chill! They have some games which is nice. The staff were very nice and they brought our ice to our table. They got a...