It was too hot to cook tonight, so my family decided to try Hagen’s Orange Freeze in Carmichael.
I’m pretty sure this used to be the original Merlino’s restaurant, and the new owners apparently are sticking closely to the Merlino’s freeze recipe! We’ve tried several flavors of their fruit freezes, and even the “worst” one isn’t bad:
- pineapple — the adults’ favorite, the kids both like it
- orange — Caitlin’s favorite, a close second for the adults, Caira likes it too
- strawberry — Caira’s favorite, everybody else likes it
- lemon — like frozen, tart lemonade, good, but not in the top 3
- lime — add some rum and this would be awesome, good without rum but not in the top 3
The next flavors up in the tasting order are grapefruit and watermelon. FYI, the small freeze looks pretty tiny to today’s “super-sized” eyes, but you’d be amazed how long it takes to finish!
The food’s okay–not great, not bad. We came back for the freezes, and incidentally got some food. They have a selection of hot sandwiches, but the burgers are the best things we’ve tried so far. Four burgers, four small freezes, and two large fries (which are pretty good) cost us about $25 tonight.
Hagen’s is located at 2520 Walnut Ave, just north of El Camino Ave, in Carmichael. Phone 916-489-7842. As far as I can tell, they’re not on the web, but they have a “yellowbook” ad.
the owners of what is now the hagen’s original orange freeze, used to work for the merlino family. the recipe is exactly the same as the old merlino’s. the Merlino that you see today is the name bought by the river cats, not the recipe. that’s why it’s called the original orange freeze
Thats incorrect. Merlino’s does use the original recipe. It would be against the law for anyone else to clone the Merlino’s original recipes. Maybe you haven’t had a Merlino’s Freeze in so long you forgot what it tasted like???? Merlino’s “When it’s HOT!!! We’re Frezzin!!!) Not Just a FREEZE…But TRADITION IN A CUP!