Dessert shops in the campus area seem to be getting more and more complicated by offering a plethora of ice cream and frozen yogurt flavors, coffees and more.

Cuzzins Yogurt, at 1629 W. Lane Ave., bucks the trend by offering a refreshingly simplistic menu.

Frozen yogurt, plain and simple. Well, sort of. The first half of your experience at this self-serve establishment is deciding what flavor, or flavors, of yogurt to choose. They provide tiny paper cups, similar to those used for ketchup in a fast-food restaurant, along with tiny spoons for sampling.

Cuzzins offers 10 types of frozen yogurt. Mixing any two flavors proves easy in the large cups provided for your final selections. Cuzzins offers yogurt flavors that are gluten-free, nonfat and sugar-free.

Healthy eaters will be glad to know Cuzzins offers an avenue for those not looking to overindulge. There are no serving sizes; patrons are charged purely by the ounce, allowing for tiny servings, huge servings and everything in between. Cuzzins charges 44 cents for an ounce, which translates to $7.04 a pound.

Cuzzins is an establishment best enjoyed with friends, with whom you can discuss your many options.

One flavor that stands out among others is the peanut butter frozen yogurt, which has a deep peanut-butter flavor, without being overly heavy or sugary. Augmenting this flavor with hot fudge makes for a delicious combination.

After going through the painstaking process of selecting a flavor (or flavors), one must choose toppings. Cuzzins offers more than 30 toppings, from strawberries and blackberries to crushed Oreos and Crunch bars to chocolate-covered espresso beans. Toppings are included as part of the final weight and price.

If Cuzzins has a shortcoming, it would be the location. According to Google Maps, Cuzzins is 2.4 miles west of the intersection of High Street and Lane Avenue. It would be a better-known staple of the OSU campus if it were actually on campus.

On a weekday evening in the midst of a snowstorm, the store had enough patrons to keep the sole cashier busy. A campus location would likely have the same result, while requiring a bigger store or additional cashier.

The Lane Avenue store can actually be tricky to find. A small sign facing Lane Avenue marks the location, but once you find the Rusty Bucket Corner Tavern, Cuzzins isn’t far.

The store interior employs pastel colors that in any other setting would evoke thoughts of a Taco Bell that had its last renovation in 1987. The mood of the store, similar to that of a child’s tea party, somehow makes the motif work well.

The layout of the store isn’t ideal for crowds. In order to reach the yogurt machines, one must snake past the line for the register and the seating area. Seating can fill quickly, and crowding around the yogurt machines for samples can make can make maneuvering difficult.  

Cuzzins keeps its machines spotless, with what appeared to be an employee dedicated to handling any needed clean-up and keeping the machines from getting sticky.

Cuzzins has a solid model for delivering a high-quality product. The atmosphere is a social one, inviting to students, who seem to make up the majority of patrons. A High Street location would cement Cuzzins into the mosaic of famous OSU campus eateries, but for now, the trek west to Lane Avenue is well worth it.