What exactly is frozen custard, and why does it taste so much better than ice cream? That’s the question most first-timers ask standing in line at Gillies, usually right before they order the wrong size and have to go back for more.
Gillies Frozen Custard sits on Redwood Road in West Valley City, the kind of strip-mall spot that doesn’t advertise its ambitions. The sign is small. The parking lot is shared. The building itself gives you nothing to work with aesthetically. And yet on a warm evening, there’s a steady line out the door, and people are driving in from Taylorsville and Kearns specifically for this.
The difference between frozen custard and ice cream comes down to egg yolks and slower churning. More yolks, less air. The result is denser, creamier, and—if Gillies is your first real exposure to it—a little embarrassing, because you’ll spend the drive home wondering why you ever settled for anything else. Gillies makes it fresh daily in vanilla and chocolate, with a rotating flavor that changes often enough to keep regulars checking back.
The concrete is the move. That’s their version of a blizzard-style thick shake—frozen custard blended with mix-ins until a spoon stands upright in it. The Turtle (vanilla custard, caramel, pecans, hot fudge) is the crowd favorite for a reason, though the Oreo concrete is what the teenagers are all ordering, which probably tells you something too. Waffle cones are made in-house. The smell hits you in the parking lot.
Sundaes are straightforward and well-executed. Floats work better than they should. If you’re bringing kids, get the small—they call it a junior—because the medium is legitimately large, and the large is an event. Prices run roughly $4–$7 depending on what you’re getting, which is fair for the portion and the quality.
The staff is fast and unhurried at the same time, which is a weird trick to pull off. Orders move quickly, but nobody’s rushing you to decide. It’s a small window operation in warmer months, with limited seating outside. This is not a linger-over-your-dessert kind of place. You get your custard, you find a curb or a car hood, you eat it before it softens too much. That’s the whole experience, and it doesn’t need to be more than that.
Go between May and September for the best version of this outing—Gillies operates seasonally, so checking that they’re open before making the drive is worth the thirty seconds. Evenings after 7 p.m. tend to have the longest lines, but they move. Weekday afternoons are quieter if you’re bringing small children who have no patience for standing still, which describes all small children.
West Valley doesn’t lack for dessert options, but most of them are chain operations running the same soft-serve program as everywhere else in the country. Gillies is local, specific, and doing something that takes actual effort to get right. That’s worth knowing about.
