Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt

No complaints — reminds me of Orange Leaf, Cherry Berry, etc. Had no problems and prices were comparable.
Basically you goto machines, serve yourself yogurt (from a variety of flavors) and add your own toppings. Not much else to say. You pay based on weight.

Menchies is the place in Madison to find fro-​yo including the Pinkberry style original tart. The old mall location is gone and this new location in Middleton has popped up.
I’ve been twice now pretty late at night. They’re extremely poorly stocked towards close and clearly no interest in improving that. All I want is some fresh fruit to top off my frozen yogurt. Not sure if there are other options so I would recommend going earlier only.

Rating this was a struggle. I had been to the former Madison Menchie’s location several times and loved it, but this was my first visit to the Middleton location. I ended up with a mix of Vanilla Snow, Dulce de Leche, and Creamy Peanut Butter. They were all tasty — I think the peanut butter was my favorite of the bunch.
Reasons I can’t quite give it three stars:
1) At least three of the machines I tried were empty. This location is on the smaller side, so that’s a pretty significant number of machines to be out of yogurt. The two chocolate choices were included in the empty machines.
2) One machine was just grinding and growling away — really unpleasant to listen to while in the store.
3) No Dole Whip. I realize flavors rotate, but that was my main obsession at the other location and it was always there. Such a bummer.
4) There was a huge puddle of water under my chair, and another near the door — while walking out I slipped. Luckily I didn’t fall, but I got about halfway into the splits. I’m generally clumsy so I’m pretty good at not hurting myself when I have a physical mishap, but it easily could have been ugly. I let the guy working the counter know, and he said he’d get it cleaned up.
The upsides of Mechie’s are that you can sample before choosing your flavors (and are in charge of doing that yourself, so there’s no waiting), it’s a bright, colorful shop, and you can amass a fun spoon collection perfect for your lunch bag. I tend to use mine for eating yogurt.
I know the shop has potential, so I’ll be back. Fingers crossed it was just an off night.

It was alright. I had the cherry tart mixture and another person I was with had the mint raspberry. The froyo tasted extremely artificial but the topping choices were fun. It was cool to throw in the ‘swirl’ option were you can put two flavors together at once. I could see how kids could really enjoy it. It was fun to experience but I probably won’t go here a second time. I’d recommend adding more adult flavors that don’t taste so artificial.

This froyo place has quickly became my favorite froyo in Madison/​Middleton! They have so many flavors (and lots of them are tasty). The must try is mochi with froyo!

They always seem to have a peanut butter variety in stock, which is a total win in my book. Plus they have the best sampling policy in the city… and you can wander around Pottery Barn while you eat.

My kids and I decided to beat the heat earlier this week by stopping for a cold treat at Menchie’s. Here are some thoughts…
I always love a place that charges you by weight and lets you fill your own cup. I was able to get my kids a dish that I knew wouldn’t be too much, because their eyes are always bigger than their stomachs.
There are lots of fun toppings. I was hoping for a few more «fresh» fruit options. My kids were way excited about the extensive sprinkle and «gummy» selection!
The flavor (I got cake batter) was fine. I guess I go to these places assuming that you are going to drown your yogurt with tons of stuff anyway, so does it even really matter how great it tastes? :)
The restaurant was clean and the young girl working was very helpful. It was a little expensive, but maybe had my kids not shoveled a pound of sprinkles on theirs, we would have fared better in the cost department.
I do have one (probably silly) suggestion that they please offer different sized cups. Perhaps this is not the norm, but the day were were there they had only one size cup — which was basically size ginormous. It was HUGE. To fill a cup that much would be way more yogurt than one person would ever need — and it’s hard to explain to a 3 year old that he did indeed get a lot of yogurt when it looks like a sad little pile in the bottom of the giant cup. Kid size cups would be perfect. ;)
Overall it was a good experience, and we will definitely be back.

I love that you can make your own samples here. It makes the experience so much easier and makes for a quicker decision!
They also have a great assortment of flavors and toppings. You can either go healthy and fruity, or decadent!
And really cute spoons!

Desperately seeking flavor
As I mentioned in my review of Orange Leaf, I really dig the concept of a low cal dessert. But when you need to dump a ton of high calorie toppings on the fro-​yo to add flavor, it kind of defeats the purpose.
The things I like:
* Pour your own samples. Much better than the proctored approach employed by Orange Leaf.
* It’s located in a more residential setting than the Orange Leaf in Sun Prairie. You can go for a pleasant walk in the nearby Pheasant Branch Conservancy while eating your fro-​yo.
* They rotate their flavors more often then Orange Leaf, so you can experiment with something new during each visit.
* «Free» waffle cones (the are waiving the $ 1 extra charge for waffle bowls, but you still pay the per oz charge)
Things I don’t like:
* Despite being fairly new, this location is not as clean as other local fro-​yo options. The tables tends to be sticky and there were no paper towels in the rest room during my last two visits.
* I’ve sampled many of the flavors and haven’t found a flavor that really knocks my socks off. I’d still prefer to purchase a carton of Häagen-​Dazs Low-​Fat Frozen Yogurt from the grocery store over what I can get here.
* There are a plethora choices in toppings, but no toasted coconut.
The two star description of Meh, I’ve experienced better is a pretty good summation of how I feel. The search for the magical fro-​yo experience continues…

This Menchie’s location is AMAZING. The Wife and I live dangerously close to Menchies (10 minutes by foot, 5 minutes by bike, and less than 2 minutes by car unless we hit a red light), and so we’ve been about 5 times in the last month — don’t judge us!
The frozen yogurt is some of the best I’ve ever had (Campus Candy is the only other fro-​yo place in town that I’ve been to that can even compete), and they constantly change the flavors to keep life interesting. What’s that? You want barista blend coffee-​flavored fro-​yo. You’re in lucky. Oh, you’d like «pop-​arazzi popcorn”-flavored fro-​yo. Menchie’s has got you covered. Seriously, check out this HUGE list of flavors they offer on a rotating basis:
!
The toppings are more limited than Campus Candy, but do not leave The Wife or me wanting. In fact, all I need to do is throw some milk chocolate caramel turtles, mini m&m’s, and carob chips onto my fro-​yo, and my brain explodes, yo!
Oh, and they offer free samples — as many as you want as often as you want. Not sure if you want maple nut, rockin’ salted caramel, or cinnamon bun? Try ‘em all, and then mix ‘em into the same bowl (or not).
I highly recommend Menchie’s, especially this location!

Friendly atmosphere. Lots of flavors, add-​ins and toppings to choose from… the possibilities are endless!

Menchies is delicious! Great flavors and really interesting toppings. This is the first frozen yogurt place that I can actually convince my husband to go to! We will definitely be returning to menchies!

Came here on their grand opening, and was greeted by a bunch of smiling faces. The staff was extremely friendly and approachable. The inside has a vibrant and inviting atmosphere, with white toned walls that gives it a clean and comforting look.
You get to sample all of their delicious favors in small cups before you commit. Everything is self serve, and they charge per unit weight. It’s going to be cheaper than any froyo anywhere else.
They have the traditional flavors of chocolate and tart, fruit sorbets and of course, the specialties. Their red velvet, ice cream sandwich bar and dulce de leche were my favorite flavors. You can tell how fresh their yogurt is because of the rich and firm texture.
On top of the great flavors, they have some amazing toppings. You can find anything from fresh fruit to mochi bits, fudge brownies to peanut butter chunks, Heath bars to butterfingers.
Definitely the best froyo I’ve had in Madison so far. I got a loyalty card, so I know I’ll be coming back as often as I can.