Cruisers Snow Cones

Pros: Nice, fluffy shaved ice with lots of flavors and toppings to choose from, served out of a cute tiki-​style hut.
Little con: Located in the parking lot of a gas station, not somewhere you want to sit and enjoy a snow cone.

Stopped off at Cruisers (located in the parking lot of the Balcones Exxon station — at the Y where Balcones and Parkcrest diverge just south of 2222) to get a snow cone with my 5 year old son after abacus class. It was about 100 degrees, so how could a snow cone not go down good? Sadly, it was a bit disappointing.
First of all, the snow cones were very small — the «small» comes in an 8 ounce cup and isn’t piled high. By comparison, the small at our usual snow cone place (Sno Beach on Guadalupe at 34^th) comes in a 16 ounce up and is mounded up so high you think the top is going to slide off. (Both sell their small size for $ 1.50.) Second, the servers put in waaaaaay too much syrup. Mine was so sweet I threw most of it away. I had even asked the servers to put very little syrup on mine, to no avail. Even my son tossed his before he finished because it was too sweet. This from a 5 year old whose favorite flavors are cotton candy and bubble gum and who at any restaurant will eat sugar directly from the packets until physically restrained.
Plus, it took a really long time for the servers to make each cone. Slow ice shaving machine, I think. Good thing they weren’t busy, or it would have been quite a wait.
I’m giving them three stars anyway because the servers were really nice young hardworking lads, they had a cool Tiki-​themed windchime, and there was a picnic table under a tree for sitting, although sticky from past snow cones — they need to clean it once and awhile. They also seem to have sidewalk chalk available for kids to draw — I saw evidence of kid activity everywhere, but there wasn’t any chalk available when we were there.
I may stop by again for a snow cone for my kids if in the immediate neighborhood, but more likely, I’ll just head over to Sno Beach for my snow cone fixes.