MTA Shaved Ice

African American customers BEWARE, the owner talks negatively about blacks and the black community constantly.” How blacks always come here and never have enough money, how blacks are always on welfare/​Medicaid.” She made me swipe African American customers cards before starting on the snowcone/​food to make sure the card wasn’t declined, whereas other customers got the benefit of the doubt. Trust me I know, I worked here for less than 3 months. During my time there, I was constantly harassed and joked about for my lifestyle choices (which had no impact on their business). Thought I was doing a favor for a friend until I realized how racist they truly were towards blacks. You have been warned.

I live less than 5 minutes away and it’s a summer staple. The menu includes fair type food (nachos, funnel cake, hot dogs, elotes) and snow cones. Tons of snow cone flavors and they give you a lot — filled and a small pyramid of ice on top. The type of ice is not soft like Bahama bucks, which is like snow. MTA is more chunkier, ice chips but I like that more, anyways. My favorite are the crinkly cut fries — good amount and always hot.

I live a block away from MTA, for almost 20 yr now, I never try that place before or even take a glance at it. I pass by ever single day, but never swing by what they have. One day my niece she came to my place got some shaved ice or snow cone, that she bought it for me, I ask her where she got it from she said MTA. When I tired, man. it’s the boom. Since then I started to loved. swing by couple of time bring the kiddo along. So I don’t have to waste my gas, drove all the way to Wylie to get some Bahamas Buck.

The shaved ice was great at this location. The ice just melt away with plenty of flavor and the portion was large!!!

Wow wow wow!!! Loved the shaved ice at this place. the ice just melts away in my mouth!!!

Iconic sno-​cones that everyone in Garland knows about.
Decided to get some sno cones with my bud Hugo G. Ended up getting the cantaloupe. It was doused with a lot of syrup, which i don’t mind. Had good cantaloupe flavor and was very refreshing.
Grab some sno cones and some banh mi from Quoc Bao nearby. Solid meal my ninjas

MTA Shaved Ice is like eating clean and delicious snow in a cup. There are so many flavors to choose from a long list. The small is not that small. There are two windows for drive thru, and one window for walk-​up. The price is cheap. $ 2 for a small cup. The shaved ice does not melt fast like some other shaved ice joints. They cover the shaved ice with enough syrup. My favorite flavor is peach.

With a lot of options on the menu, I was clueless of where to begin. So when in doubt, I just order my favorite flavor, pina colado. For a size small, it was a lot of shaved ice, but too bad it wasn’t good enough for me to take more than a few bite. It was way too sweet (trying to avoid diabetes, know what I’m saying?), the flavor tasted too artificial, and the ice wasn’t fine enough.
For many years, I didn’t bother coming back even though I drive past this place everyday on my way home from work. But one day, I decided to give it another try because I heard they have chamoy con chile. Being a big fan of Mexican’s candy and Lucas (spicy chile powder in candies), I couldn’t resist. It was better than the piña colada one, but I felt sick after eating only ¾ of the cone. The champoy was spicy and it didn’t sit in my tummy well. There’s nothing wrong with spicy but there’s something wrong with spicy chile mixed with shaved ice, I guess. Unfortunately, I don’t like their shaved ice when I really want to like it, because it would be so good for summer time.
I heard the tamarind chamoy is better. Will go back to try that. Hopefully, it won’t disappoint.
$ 2 for a small snow cone. $ 0.40 for a sprinkle of chile on top of my chamoy.

First off, Mary, this is not shaved ice it is a snow cone. Meaning that shaved ice is very fine powder unlike a snow cone and this is not a very fine powder ice, so MTA cannot say shaved ice, it’s a snow cone. Please let’s makes this clear for everyone else out there as you are mis-​informing others that might not get snow cones or shaved ice that often, so they will know what it is they will be getting before they go there.
I am very disappointed at this «snow cone», not shaved ice location. First off don’t waste your time and money. IT’S A SNOW CONE… meaning small ice chips that do not hold flavor as well as a shaved ice, or snow ball. I ordered a lemon lime and got a green colored snow cone that tasted more like water than anything else.
I went back after getting home and asked for my money back. The girl there asked what the problem is and I explained to her that it tasted like water. She had the audacity to tell me it’s because the ice melted some and if I wanted more syrup. I told her that the few bites I had that had plenty of syrup made no difference. So I asked for my money back, the manager is who handed me my money back. Wait let me rephrase that, she slammed my money back into my hand, and then slammed the window closed. I called up there to get the phone number for the owner, but didn’t get that before I had the same manager tell me that I back-​lashed at her which was not the case. She also proceeded to tell me that everyone that asks for their money back always back-​lashes, which I then proceeded to tell her that it’s probably the way she handles herself as a manager. When she gave me my money back I did not get a «sorry about the inconvenience», or a simple apology.
This is another place that I went to that was highly recommended by many «ELITE ’12» members and yet again I’m disappointed. I cannot and will not ever go to another place that comes highly recommended by people that call themselves elitists. Do you guys really know what you are talking about or are you just spitting out recommendations on things you don’t really know. Thanks to you «elite» I’ve made another bad decision.

I know I am going out on a limb here, but I prefer MTA over TC. MTA has been at their current location for over a decade now, tough they used to be on Garland Avenue a few spots down from their rival. I find the grind of their ice to be more consistent than TC, and they use more syrup. Yes shaved ice is not the same as a snow cone, shaved ice is very fine almost a powder and the syrup sticks to the ice. MTA has tons of flavors, they also have sour flavors and cream varieties. They have been my favorite shaved ice place since they opened over 15 years ago. The price are dirt cheap, so its a win in all categories.

Who doesn’t love Sno-​cones? I mean, if nothing else, the nostalgia feeling one gets remembering the ice mound drenched in flavors from our childhoods. My mouth waters every time I hear the music of an old-​time ice cream truck. That is the same sensation I get when thinking about MTA Shaved Ice. They have the old time flavors that draw that nostalgic feeling, but then a brand new list to create new memories with.
I am a lover of the cream drinks, so I have become hooked on the Pirates Delight. It is not just delightful for the pirates, but for anyone that likes rum, cream and almond! The prices aren’t too bad either. $ 2.00 for a small– $ 4.00 for a large (w/​an extra charge for cream or multiple flavors).
The large is a 32 oz cup and all are topped of with a tall pyramid towering above the cup, and the flavoring is drenched over ice layered over flavor until the cone and its added flavor tops it off. BEAUTIFUL creations to beat the Texas heat! :)

Why do I so love shaved ice? Is it because it hearkens back to a simpler time? Maybe because of the simplicity-​just ice and syrup? Maybe because they are just so damn good? I guess the reason doesn’t really matter– I just know I love me some shaved ice and MTA delivers.
This was a family fave when we lived closer-​and I still try to stop by whenever possible. They have as large a variety of flavors as I have seen and the syrups always seem fresh unlike some stands.
Treat yourself right and get a Texas Jumbo size Pirates Delight. You’re welcome.

My son came home from school today wanting shaved ice. They were selling them at the pep rally and he didn’t get to buy any. So off we go to MTA Shaved Ice on Jupiter and Walnut. It’s in the same shopping center as Troung Nguyen Supermarket, Viet Tofu, and Saigon Kitchen. This is the second time I’ve taken my son here.
My son ordered the blue raspberry shaved ice in a small cup ($ 2). He couldn’t finish it. He basically ate the cone and when he got to the top of the cup, he had to stop. So for my child, a small is too big. I watched the girl make it through the small drive-​thru window. She packed the cup to the rim with shaved ice and then poured a very generous amount of the syrup into the cup. Then she packed on more shaved ice to make it into the shape of a cone and added another generous amount of syrup. The shaved ice was soft and melts in your mouth. As expected, the blue syrup made my son’s tongue and lips blue.
While waiting I took a look at the menu on the left and saw that they had elote en vaso (corn in a cup) and decided I should try it. It was also $ 2 for a small. I’ve never had it here but remembered a friend of mine made some at home and it was good. The girl asked if I wanted everything in it. I should have asked what everything entailed because «everything» is a lot of stuff. From what I saw from the window, she put in butter, parmesan cheese, cayenne pepper, sour cream, and poured in a milky concoction from a large bottle that said «fat free». Hmmm, made me wonder why they went «fat free» when there is butter and sour cream in the cup already. Why not go all the way? From what I remember about my friend’s recipe is that there was mayonnaise in it. I didn’t see the girl put any mayo in the cup but then I wasn’t watching her the whole time. The elote en vaso had a very tangy taste. Probably from the sour cream. Not enough caynne pepper if you ask me. I had my husband take a taste and he was surprised by the tangyness of it. Suffice it to say, he didn’t ask for another bite.
This is my go-​to place for shaved ice for my son. Next time, we’ll experiment with two maybe three flavors. For 40 cents each additional syrup we might stick to two flavors. I’m cheap.