Grand Opening day for Full Tilt Ice Cream (and pinball!)

The first pinball (note the circa-1981 Mr. and Mrs. Pac-Man game at right) and video games are in … the ice cream is up at the counter …

… and Full Tilt Ice Cream on 16th SW (detailed WSB preview here with flavors, hours, etc.) is open for business as of a couple hours ago. Co-owner Justin Cline says the party really gets going tonight, with The Blank-Its playing from 9 till about midnight, but you can wander in any time before then and try the ice cream, paletas, and/or pinball. We’ll add a couple video clips in a bit with a closer look at the games; just wanted to post this reminder that they’re officially open.

(video no longer available due to blip.tv shutdown)

AReader June 20, 2008 (2:35 pm)

Now in our politically-correct day…and my memory does serve me well…Was there ever a “Mrs. PacMan”…or was it simply “Ms. PacMan”? Please advise.

credmond June 20, 2008 (2:51 pm)

It was Ms. PacMan. I was at Full Tilt about 2 pm and had their homemade chocolate chip-blackberry ice cream. Awesome experience – fresh blackberries frozen are amazing in the mouth and the chocolate chips were just the right size and crunch. The vanilla ice cream they were embedded in was very smooth and quite flavorful. I’m impressed and will be back often. There were lots of folks on the pinball machines, too.

WSB June 20, 2008 (3:02 pm)

No, Mr. and Mrs. Pac-Man. Saw it with my own eyes (and video to come, just takes a while longer to process). And here’s the online database entry to back me up.
We’re talking pinball now, not video game.
http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?gid=1639
closeup photo from that site here
http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=1639&picno=6876

matthew darling June 20, 2008 (4:27 pm)

oh my word!!!the vegan coconut coffee ice cream was amazing! yay for full tilt…welcome to the ‘hood!

credmond June 20, 2008 (5:03 pm)

Ms. Pac-Man from wikipedia. Apparently there were many localized versions of the game but the localized version in the US was MS.

DG June 20, 2008 (5:12 pm)

The owners need to work on their social skills. I went in but had to wait at the door because they were there in discussion with someone (construction guy? city inspector?). They make room, I go in and survey and pinball machines. They don’t look like they’ve changed much in 40 yrs. I survey the ice cream list. Noting what they’re out of; I wonder whether they make all the flavors and the base or just some. I wait and ponder and finally decide to leave. Owners still in deep dicussion with guy at door. Access is blocked. I have to tap a shoulder to get through. No “thanks for stopping”, no “hey we hanve’t met”, not one word. Perhaps they should hire a wallmart greeter. It’s not sincere but it’s better than nothing.

pigeonmom June 20, 2008 (5:28 pm)

Went with matthew, had a bite of his, he ain’t lyin’.
My blackberry cinnamon paleta was refreshing and delicious.

full tilt June 20, 2008 (5:41 pm)

Wow thanks everyone. WE are running out of ice cream. I had no idea it would be so busy. I am hoping to make more tonight. Mint chip and Mexican chocolate. And more Black Berry.

Sarah June 20, 2008 (7:02 pm)

Hey Dg lets give ’em another try-my own rule is 3x and then I’ll make my final ruling. Besides if it was a ‘city’ guy they can be pretty heavy and need your full and immediate attention!
I just love the idea of it (an ice cream/pinball parlor)and will do all I can to support a local ‘healthy’ business-I take my own social skills where ever I go anyway :)
Had the Birthday Cake in a fresh waffle cone…..SOOOOOOOOOOO yummy.

kmw June 20, 2008 (7:31 pm)

Just stopped by and had the blackberry cinnamon paleta; very good. Husband had the mango chili ice cream, also great. Pinball was fun, too. We’ll be back!

MargL June 20, 2008 (8:17 pm)

We stopped by after a McLendon’s run. Plain chocolate in a waffle cone. I thought the cone was a little chewy and the chocolate could have been chocolatier (I’m more a dark chocolate lover :-) but it was still very good, cold and creamy. I’d stop by again. Spotted Patrick-the-sales-guy and I assume the Jr. WSB team member as well.

Sad bit is I had no urge to walk around the neighborhood and see what other stores are close because of the uncomfortable vibe on that street. My 2 year old was oblivious and was all set to walk into Stan’s Adult Superstore when we went past their wide open doors. Whoa, kiddo!

WSB June 20, 2008 (8:21 pm)

Back on the pinball thing, I wasn’t saying there wasn’t a Ms. Pac-Man video game, played it myself many a time (they still have one at the arcade on the waterfront). This is just a particular artifact “Mr. and Mrs. Pac-Man” pinball game. Which I’d never even heard of before. Perhaps if there is a pinball aficionados’ club in Seattle somewhere, they will make this a destination based on that alone!

RS June 20, 2008 (9:11 pm)

YAY!! This place is a great addition to our neighborhood! The mango chile and swiss chocolate were fabulous and the owners were delightful! It was about 400 degrees inside so we didn’t try out the pinball. After verifying that there will indeed be a Doctor Who game at some point, we hung out outside with our beagle and thoroughly enjoyed our ice cream. The waffle cones are particularly good. Horray for Full Tilt!

roguedelux June 20, 2008 (9:46 pm)

Nice folks, allowed us to pay the next time we visit, and they are super excited to be in White Center. I think they were a bit caught off guard about the turn out, as they had almost sold out by 9pm.
Thanks WSB for including White Center as part of the West Seattle neighborhood. We like the positive attention in our part of the hood.

WSB June 20, 2008 (9:50 pm)

Rogue, we were kind of blinkered for a while, thinking, well, White Center is probably covered some other way. Then we started hearing from folks who read WSB even though they live “over the line” … and as south West Seattle residents ourselves, we certainly do business there .. so bottom line, yes, we’ll be paying more attention to what goes on “over the line.” Which is most of the reason why we went to the King County Sheriff’s meeting tonight (full writeup to come; the White Center storefront could ultimately be in jeopardy because of all this).

Also glad to hear Justin and Ann got a good turnout. I was there around 12:10 pm and they hadn’t had their first customer yet in those first 10 minutes, but I suspected with the warm weather that would change quickly enough!

HighlandParkster June 20, 2008 (11:05 pm)

I stopped by Full Tilt earlier this evening, and it seems like a great addition to the neighborhood (the ever-blurring line between White Center and Highland Park/Delridge). I’ll definitely be back. The staff/owners did seem hopelessly understaffed and over-stressed. I was surprised by their discourteous attitude. I hope calmer days will allow them to be more welcoming and friendly to their patrons. I hope they expand their dairy-free options as well. But, I’ll definitely give them a couple more tries or just sneak in to play a few games of pinball.

full tilt June 21, 2008 (12:09 am)

Wow. we did not mean to be discourteous. I think Ann and I were just both in shock. I had no idea there would be such a crowd. We ended up selling out of all the ice cream. Even the ice cream that I had made for the next day. Yikes. There wasn’t an inspector, but an electrician that need my attention to get one of my freezers back on line. So i hope you give us a try again.

Thanks

Justin

mike June 21, 2008 (9:28 am)

WSB, thanks for the white center coverage!! I can’t wait to go to full tilt. I love the idea of ice cream within walking distance!

lmiller June 21, 2008 (10:19 am)

We stopped by yesterday early evening. Though they both seemed a little overwhelmed, they were nice and courteous to us. I imagine as they get all of the kinks worked out and more of a system going everything will go a lot faster and more smoothly for them. I am SO glad to have them in the WC — we need more stuff like that over there. Welcome and hooray Full Tilt! Oh yes, and importantly, the ice cream was DELCIOUS!!I’ll definitely be back! One suggestion- a change machine would be really nice so we can play more pinball!

DigginIt June 21, 2008 (11:50 am)

Hey! Great place! Yummmm! Welcome to the hood. When will the Dig Dug machine be working? I was psyched to see it in the pic on the WSB, but the game wasn’t working when I was there. I played a couple games of pinball regardless. Very fun!

rraehpnal June 21, 2008 (3:43 pm)

Awesome! I had the vegan coconut coffee ice cream (and it wasn’t soy based!) what a treat! Service was good and VERY generous portions, Keep it up, I loved it and will be back for more–I’ll be patient as you work everything out–there is no one else in the area serving up delicious locally made vegan ice cream, lucky us!! Thanks much!!

WSB June 21, 2008 (6:29 pm)

Digginit – I just accidentally deleted a comment by Full Tilt and can’t get it back – but it said in effect:
–Dig Dug fixed
–Change machine just installed
–Thanks to everyone for their support.

(Sorry, Justin, for some reason the spam filter is catching your comments and instead of “unspamming” that last one, I hit “delete all spam”) — TR

john June 23, 2008 (1:15 am)

As a frequent westseattleblog visitor and resident of Highland Park community for the past three years, I was tremendously excited for this new addition to the neighborhood.

My partner and I walked in very excited, both of us trying to at least catch an eye with one of the two owners. The lady was sitting at the table looking up at us and not giving us the time of the day. The guy, who looked tired was much more friendly, asking us if we’d like to sample their offerings. We had a seat and enjoyed the tasty ice cream…

As we were leaving, I again tried to catch the lady’s attention to thank her and welcome her to the neighborhood but she didn’t look up.

Since she was enthusiastic and extremely nice to the next three parties who came in and left after us, I couldn’t help but feel that I was treated differently because of my race. It was truly a disappointment to me and I truly hope this was a miscommunication.

FullTilt June 23, 2008 (10:05 am)

Hey,
sorry about that. If you are the couple I am think of yesterday, it was a timing thing. Ann’s wrist has been bothering her to the point that she can’t scoop ice cream. That is an issue when you own a scoop shop. I assure you it has nothing to do with you personally.

As a side note, it would be fun to know who some of you are on the blog. So if you feel like it, let us know your screen name next time your in the store.

Bayou June 23, 2008 (11:31 am)

I stopped by yesterday for a cinnamon waffle cone and it was killer! I look forward to trying the paletas when they are back in stock. It looks like all the WSB readers snapped them up on Friday.

I would like to also send thanks out to WSB for having more White Center coverage. We’ve lived in both West Seattle and now White Center for almost 4 years. I adore WSB and local places like Full Tilt that continue to bring our communities together.

WSB June 23, 2008 (12:01 pm)

Speaking of which, another note from that area – Music Nights return this Friday night with Children of the Revolution at Cafe Rozella. It’s on our Events calendar and will be in the next Weekend Lineup, but make plans now — COTR is quite the amazing group. 7 pm.
http://caferozella.blogspot.com

OP June 23, 2008 (4:02 pm)

Hot weekend ahead, FTIC. Better start crankin’! :-) BTW, being an ice cream maker was my first job in college. And yup, we made all of our flavors from scratch. We used 15% milk, too, so our flavors were good and rich tasting. I marbled all the marble fudges by hand, crushed up the cookies for Cookies and Cream, etc. Pralines with Carmel was a bugger to make. Anyway, we’ll definitely be stopping by soon! (I’d offer my ice cream making services, but I’m a bit rusty.) ;-)

Bart June 24, 2008 (11:44 am)

Hey john–I went in and was greeted immediately so I guess you had bad timing or the owner did the bad timing. Ice cream was amazing and we’ll be back for more.