Poll: New product review: Wendy’s Wild Berry Shake

Vote in our poll on who has the best milkshake.

Purchased at: Wendy's at 4018 Lemmon Avenue

The Wild Berry Frosty Shake is part of a trio of wild berry products at Wendy's that also includes a berry almond salad and a wildberry iced tea. The salad sounds interesting, with its "11 freshly-chopped greens," blueberries, strawberries, almonds, Asiago cheese, and chicken breast, with fat-free raspberry vinaigrette that includes "the nutrient-rich juice of the acai berry." Boy.

But the shake provided an opportunity not only to explore the difference between a shake and a Frosty, but also to mull who has good milkshakes.

The shake

Wendy's is the rare consumer company whose customer service line is not toll-free. So calling them to get the official word on "Wendy's shake vs. Frosty" might cost you. You have to admire a company with fiscal responsibility, but after five long-distance minutes of on-hold music ticked by (I mean, it wasn't even good music), I hung up and called a few local Wendy's instead. The nicest employee was at 1910 South Buckner, who explained that a Frosty comes in vanilla and chocolate only, and is basically like soft-serve; whereas, shakes are vanilla Frosty blended with flavoring.

The wild berry flavor was a purple syrup whose ingredients included strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries, which they squeezed from a bottle. They blended it right in the cup, which required one of those domed plastic lids, so there were no "please, no lid" requests. After blending, the shake came out a pretty mauve, with little pits from the fruit to reinforce their claim that they use real fruit. It also comes with whipped cream and drizzled syrup, both of which I skipped.

The flavor was intensely berry up front, instantly engaging, a strong hit of raspberry and some blackberry, the interplay between the berries making the flavor more complex, and heightened by the contrast of the lush cream. For the first 10 ounces, it was great. Then the berry brightness shifted to something mildly artificial, almost plastic. It wasn't unpleasant; I could've finished the drink, except that I knew it was 550 calories and didn't want to waste the calorie consumption on something I wasn't still loving, even though it meant wasting food.

Texturally, I prefer a Frosty, which seems more like ice cream/ice milk. The blending seemed to give the shake the homogenized texture of a typical fast-food shake.

Milkshake poll

Is a Frosty from Wendy's as good as it gets? Surely there are better milkshakes to be had. We have a handy poll to sort it out. Cast your vote, and we'll follow up with a best-milkshake story in August.