When you think of Bend cuisine, your mind likely goes straight to family-friendly pub dining spots like Deschutes Brewery or 10 Barrel, but what’s often overlooked is Bend’s vast milkshake scene. With flavors ranging from fruity to chocolatey, milkshakes are the perfect accompaniment to your classic American meal of a burger and fries. While just grabbing a drive-through shake may seem easy, it’s worth it to find a local spot. However, the question remains, which one?
Through a combination of peer recommendations and Yelp reviews, I’ve narrowed down the five top shake spots in Bend: Mountain Burger, Bend Burger Company, Dandy’s Drive-In, Handel’s Ice Cream and Goody’s. At each spot, I asked the customers or cashiers for their most popular, or their personal favorite milkshake order. Then I (very specifically ) ranked the shakes on five key factors – flavor options, texture, taste, price and size –, to produce a final score out of five.
I’m a firm believer in the fact that milkshakes are a year round treat and the perfect way to end a day spent biking, skiing or just being a Bendite. So, if you want to know which spot to lend your patronage to, look no further.
Mountain Burger – 3/5
Nestled in Northwest Crossing, Mountain Burger has become a staple in the community. With plentiful outdoor seating and a family-friendly atmosphere, it’s become a popular spot. Since its grand opening in September 2022, they’ve offered creative shakes, pushing beyond your standard chocolate-vanilla-strawberry menu.
I tried a staff favorite: the s’mores shake. Served in an old-school style flute glass and topped with toasty marshmallow fluff, this treat just screams childhood summer. The actual shake itself is thick, ice-creamy chocolate that somehow tastes like a campfire. While only representing two thirds of the s’mores triumvirate (chocolate and marshmallow), this milkshake still hits all of the best parts of that camping classic.
Mountain Burger’s oh-so-aesthetic glass flutes serve a sinister purpose: effectively disguising the amount of shake in each glass. As it narrows down at the bottom, the glass thickens, making a 10 ounce shake look like sixteen. And while this wouldn’t be a big deal most of the time, the $10 price tag leaves you feeling overcharged.
Overall Mountain Burger presents a tasty, unique milkshake, but the size and price make it hard to justify this sweet treat.
Bend Burger – 5/5
A long-standing family favorite, Bend Burger is the quintessential “local” place. It’s where we go after sporting events and where we take visitors to get a sense of what Bend is. As a milkshake fan, this was one of my top picks early on.
Served in a tall metal cup, you can see the condensation freezing on the sides as the milkshake is brought to the table. While the menu options are humble, only offering the basic chocolate, strawberry and vanilla, they do have Oregon marionberry as well. At the suggestion of the host, I combined the chocolate and marionberry.
This shake strikes a perfect balance between fruity and chocolatey, while still staying thick and creamy. The size may have you asking for an extra straw though, as it’s well suited for sharing. On top of this, you may want to watch out when ordering ahead of time because the to-go portion is about two-thirds of the dine-in option.
Overall, Bend Burger serves up a tasty shake at a good price, but this isn’t the place for you if you’re looking for a wide variety of flavors.
Dandy’s Drive-In – 5/5
Dandy’s Drive-In is a relic of the past, but they are still serving up fresh, local shakes. The combination of roller skating waitresses and old school music provides a great atmosphere, making it a great casual spot.
Out of the many fruit flavors on the menu, most of them use natural, unprocessed fruits, some of which are grown here in our corner of the Pacific Northwest.
“Our strawberry shake is fresh, our banana shake is fresh, our two seasonal summer shakes, [and] some of our staple shakes, those are all fresh,” said a representative of Dandy’s.
She continued to discuss the focus on local ingredients, saying how all of the dairy products and machinery is sourced from Redmond company, Eberhard’s. Students may recognize that brand, as they source the cafeteria milks for the Bend-LaPine District.
At the recommendation of the roller-skating waitress, I tried the strawberry milkshake. And it was one of my favorite shakes I’ve had. It tasted fresh and bright and had little chunks of ripe strawberries peppered in every sip. Maybe it was the little gold flakes in the whipped cream, or the simple cherry on top, but I felt I had found a local gem.
I’ve always considered myself a bit of a milkshake connoisseur, making sure to try the local shakes wherever I go, whether I’m in a new state or even a new country. But even on a global stage, this took the cake. It was creamy and thick, but not so much that a spoon was necessary. Dandy’s isn’t just for nostalgic senior citizens, as the clientele may suggest. It is for anyone wanting a fun, old-school spot with fresh, tasty milkshakes.
Handel’s Ice Cream – 3/5
Neighbors with Walmart, Handel’s Ice Cream is the perfect place to bring a troupe of elementary school soccer players after a game. There’s no frou-frou decorations, the seating is majority outdoor picnic tables, and the menu spans the length of the 15-foot wide counter.
You can turn any combo of the 46 flavors into a shake, from vanilla caramel brownie to green tea. At the recommendation of the cashier, I tried the classic chocolate. It hit a good balance between thick and milky, though it did have some of the iciness you would more normally see in a cheaper shake from a fast food place. As well as this, it also carried some of the flavor (or lack thereof) from those cheap shakes. Unlike some of the other places I visited, the taste was nothing special.
But if you’re going here not for the fanciest, high quality ice cream in your shake, and are instead just looking for a fun treat that won’t break the bank, Handel’s is a good option for you.
Goody’s Bend – 4/5
Goody’s is in good company, stationed downtown along with other local icons such as Dudley’s Bookstore, Cravin’s Candy Emporium and Deschutes’ Brewery. It’s a perfect spot to stop when downtown, and Goody’s has a focus on old-school ice cream and shakes.
You can turn any of the 14 classic or two seasonal flavors into shakes, or even try a combo like I did, mixing chocolate brownie and marionberry. But when that cup was put on the 1950s-esque counter, it was so thick I had to eat it with a spoon. That may just be the cost of using homemade ice cream, which is much thicker than the typical soft serve.
Better ice cream is also more expensive than soft serve, and you pay for it. While you do get a substantial portion, you do need to shell out nine bucks for it. This could be due to many factors, such as cost of materials or cost of operating downtown. However, at the end of the day, Goody’s (and its prices) may be more appealing to a tourist than a local.
This downtown joint serves up tasty shakes with a wide variety of choices in a cute parlor, but it comes with a blow to your wallet.
Getting to sample and discover all of these local spots was so fun, but there does need to be a winner. The simple ratings put Bend Burger and Dandy’s at a tie with both scoring 5/5.
While Bend Burger holds a personal nostalgia for me, Dandy’s holds a nostalgia for an era I never got to experience, one of poodle skirts and Corvette’s and pure, undistilled americana. Despite its peeling paint and highway noise, Dandy’s feels like a place to revisit memories and create new ones, all over one of the freshest, brightest shakes I’ve ever sampled.
That said, Bend Burger hits a home run on classic Pacific Northwest vibes, with its marionberry shakes and local photographs on the walls. Not to mention the giant portions it comes in, perfect for sharing after a long day on the trails to slopes. The thick, flavorful shakes taste like comfort and traditions.
And with all that, the winner of this shake-off is Dandy’s Drive-In. They bring it home with fresh, local ingredients where you can taste the quality and what might be too many options to even choose from. The next time a milkshake craving hits me after a Friday night football game or a long day on the mountain, my recommendation will be Dandy’s.
