At Dallas’ brand-new Sugar Factory, ice cream sundaes come studded with flaming sparklers and cocktails arrive foaming with dry ice. Singer and TV host Nick Cannon DJ’d to a packed house at the flashy opening on Friday, Nov. 5, 2021.
That’s not what you’d expect from a dessert shop, is it?
That’s because Sugar Factory isn’t really a dessert shop. It’s an over-the-top experience, shipped to Dallas straight from Las Vegas.
The full name is Sugar Factory American Brasserie, and despite all the sweets, it’s also a restaurant.
Maybe you start with a snack, like fried macaroni and cheese ($15) or the restaurant’s signature rainbow-colored beef sliders ($25 for five).
Diners then get a sense for Sugar Factory’s oversized entrees long before dessert, with the order of a “monster burger” in seven varieties. Sure, you could go for the Big Cheesy, a $19 burger with macaroni and cheese piled on top, but shouldn’t you go bigger (and hotter), with the $21 Flamin’ Hot Cheetos burger?
The priciest burger, at $25, is the South Beach: a beef patty with a surprising mix of shrimp, bacon, plantains, crispy onions, chipotle mayo, chimichurri sauce and more.
Other entrees include chicken and waffles for $28, lobster tail with fries for $45, or surf and turf for $78.
But you really came for dessert, and Sugar Factory is ready to candy-crush those cravings.
The menu starts small, with traditional milkshakes, $12 to $14, in flavors like vanilla, strawberry and Butterfinger. Then there are the “insane milkshakes,” a calorie bomb of ice creams, whipped creams, sprinkles, cheesecake, candy and more.
The Princess Make-a-Wish shake, $21, is a birthday girl’s dream, with vanilla ice cream, marshmallows, a white-chocolate Kit Kat, a pink cupcake and a birthday candle.
The restaurant sells one boozy milkshake, for $33. The Campfire Spiked S’mores Milkshake is jazzed up with toasted marshmallow whiskey, espresso, two flavors of ice cream and a seven layer s’mores cookie. Better get a photo of that one.
But you came all the way here, and calories don’t count when there’s fire and booze, which is why I expect the $99 King Kong Sundae to get ordered more than it probably should. This is a bowl — no, more like a basin — with 12 to 24 scoops of ice cream and nearly every sweet thing imaginable on top. Among the candy necklaces, crushed Oreos, sprinkles and waffle cones are several sparklers, lit and carried through the dining room as if the customer were ordering bottle service.
Sugar Factory takes the place of Ruth’s Chris Steak House in Uptown Dallas and there’s something symbolic there: In a city known for its steakhouses, a bougie dessert shop took its place, delivering a celebrity-filled, Instagrammable evening with a high price tag.
Put it that way, and Sugar Factory feels right on time.
Sugar Factory is at 1900 Cedar Springs Road, Dallas. It opened Nov. 5, 2021.
