Photo courtesy Sugar Rush Bar
A new dessert restaurant — Sugar Rush — has become the talk of the town.
Sugar Rush likes to keep things chilled, colorful and fun. Its confections are unique in their design and taste. A thick, velvety serving of your favorite ice cream flavors, combined with a giant, edible and beautifully decorated cup makes up the signature style of this fine-dining milkshake parlor.
Aside from its wide variety of milkshakes, it also offers a diverse selection of sundaes, cakes and brownies and frozen smoothies. Located between FSU and FAMU, this place is always open to a fresh and friendly environment.
Centered around a child’s dairy fantasy, Sugar Rush adds a bit of color to its small block on All Saints Street. It’s hard to miss the restaurant due to its array of soft pastels and oversized furniture pieces that resemble dessert snacks. Although still considered a “hole-in-the-wall” establishment, Sugar Rush is said to live up to its hype.
Upon the first step inside, you will be greeted by a novelty of sugary delights. Thus, many times customers will find that this business is a reminder of their inner child.
Just as many other things, the journey to this shop took time, perseverance, and lots of love. Sugar Rush owner, Tiffany McNabb knows this all too well. This place was simply a figure of her childhood imagination and an expressive outlet for her creative nature. She likes to reminisce of the beginning stages of the restaurant and applauds herself for the progress she’s made as a business owner.
“I’ve always been a creative person and I love sweets,” McNabb said. “I worked at a candy store in Panama City before I worked here, so I have always been drawn to desserts and stuff. When it came to creating new items and desserts I started off with what the people wanted. I saw what they liked and from there I worked my way up from trainee to general manager and owner. You wouldn’t believe it but when I first started out these walls were bare white. Now we have a system and this beautiful artwork around the bar on display.”
Indeed, Sugar Rush likes to present its customers with options starting with an assortment of foreign, fan-favorite, and classical ice creams. With wacky, amusing nicknames such as Chocolate Wasted, Poop in the Snow, and Cereal Killer the shakes possess a bit of their own personality. Depending on the choice of treat you select, you can experience the salty-sweet crunch of M&Ms and Skittles or the plushness of marshmallows and gummy bears.
Notably, many of the people who step into this milkshake bar are familiar faces of the surrounding schools, universities and neighborhoods. And they have no problem returning to the shop and bringing their friends for some sweet relaxation. FSU basketball player Malik Osborne let it be known that this is his favorite place to visit after a good win.
“My favorite drink here is the Oreology and I am always telling my teammates about it after each game win. I feel like it’s the best reward after putting in all that work,” he said. “I think it’s a top tier way to cool down.”
Confection assembler and team member, Duanna Williams says she loves when customers pull out their phones to snap a picture of their “designer”milkshakes and sundaes. “I absolutely love Sugar [Rush] and working here. Each time I bring out someone’s order their face just lights up,” Williams said. “It’s the sweetest thing to see people happy and it’s refreshing too. I understand the excitement people have because that was also my very reaction when I had my first shake here, it’s like is this real life? Our Instagram is our most active social media site too, people love us.”