Dels Lemonade of Warwick

Another of those RI institutions that unfortunately, I left a bit underwhelmed. I feel the same way about hot weiners. Anyway, that is for a different conversation.
This Del’s location is off the main road going through Warwick, a very unassuming hut. They sell a handful of food items along with the famous, lemonades. I was interested in grabbing a corn dog after seeing, wow! Only $ 1! I asked if they had any available and the lady working told me, «it won’t take long, I just need to pop it in the microwave». Gross, I cancelled that order. I was semi interested in a soft pretzel instead but didn’t see any on display in the machine so I didn’t inquire further.
We decided that we would stick with what we came for, two frozen lemonades. One of the lemon and the other, strawberry varieties. I guess I am just spoiled by Richies and the tang impact from their lemon flavor. Dels was severely lacking in any of this, it was more ice than actual tart. I was beyond disappointed with how little flavor it packed into the paper cup. The strawberry was the same way. Bad batch? I don’t know.
So knowing corn dogs are microwaved, the fact that they were out of all pretzels around 7:00 at night and any serious flavor in either of the icee offerings we had, I can’t say I’ll be racing back to any of these RI stands. I’m sure the locals love it but I don’t see what the huge draw is. An added star because they are so well known in these parts of the country and for the cute, roadside stand but nothing else here to write home about.

What is the favorite drink in Rhode Island? Well it’s a tough choice between coffee milk and Dels Lemonade. Coffee milk you make yourself at home with your bottle of coffee syrup and milk, for Dels you have to find a store, truck, or stand that sells it. (They do sell a powdered version, but the flavor is nothing like what you get from the truck)
Dels is a frozen lemonade and lemon is the favorite flavor, the one that started it all and the only flavor I will have. The experience is as good as the drink. It’s frozen (kinda slushy) so it begins to melt and you can’t wait to slurp up its goodness! Then, OMG, you get a little piece of frozen lemon peel in your mouth, yummy. Love chewing up those bits, it makes the flavor even better. A cherished site at the beach is a Dels truck. Just can’t pass it up! Wish we could get it outside of RI.
They do offer other flavors like watermelon, peach-​mango, blueberry, cherry, grapefruit and pomegranate. Sizes are from the tiny child’s cup ($.95) to the large at $ 4.
So if you see that big green truck with the yellow lemons on it, go for it, it’s wicked awesome!

Sadly the store in SoCal closed and the truck and I are never in the same place at the same time. I turned a friend onto this and she bought a gallon for a party and was making some of the drink recipes made by Del’s. Normally I take to alcohol like an alcoholic locked alone in a liquor store… but this time was different. I sort of felt like my Del’s had been drugged and raped by a biker gang. It’s purity was gone and I wanted it back. That said, I’ve gone to pet fairs, food fests and even (shudder) fun runs here in SoCal to get my meaty paws wrapped around a Del’s.
When I visit my folks back in the Ocean State I get Del’s a minimum of twice a day. Just like an alkie I usually go to different locations, I don’t want to creep people out or make them think I have a problem… but I do. I am a total junky for those wax cups filled with icy bits of lemony (and cherry and grapefruity) bits of awesomeness.