New to downtown Macon, this restaurant is known for its signature summertime treat

A locally owned restaurant known for a Philadelphia summertime treat recently opened in its new downtown location with a new menu.

Macon Water Ice now also serves up “chopped cheese”— cut-up hamburger with melted cheese, mayo, ketchup, fried onions, lettuce and tomato on a 6-inch roll — as well as other new food choices.

Additionally, this restaurant new to downtown at 490 Cherry St. is open into the wee hours Friday and Saturday, hoping to appeal to customers who want a late bite when most places are closed or are no longer serving food, said co-owner Andre Roberts.

Roberts, along with friends and co-owners Jesse Ussery, Antwan Andrews and Delvin Montford, first started selling water ice at festivals and events. Their first festival was the Pan African Festival in downtown Macon.

April 3, 2021, the friends opened their first storefront for Macon Water Ice in The Shoppes at River Crossing.

A better fit

While they did a pretty good business at their former location, which is now closed, Roberts said he expects their relocation to downtown will prove to be a better fit.

“A lot of our core followers are closer to downtown, and I have another business downtown, so it kind of makes it easier for me to be right around the corner,” said Roberts, who owns Recess, a bar at 469 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

Roberts also expects more foot traffic at the downtown spot, which is at the corner of Cherry and Third streets in the former Bossa Novas location.

“We did all right at the mall,” Roberts said. “There wasn’t any problem with that. But downtown, with all the parades and different holiday events coming up and with more people being downtown, I definitely think we’ll have a little bit more flow of traffic coming through.”

On a recent visit to the new spot, Ashley Doolin, co-owner of Pearl Passionate Cuisine & Cocktails in downtown Macon, was spotted enjoying a water ice treat while waiting for a to-go order.

“It’s my first one,” Doolin said. “I’ll be back.”

What is water ice anyway?

Roberts, a native of Philadelphia, grew up on water ice.

One way to describe water ice is by describing what it’s not.

Water ice is not a slushy, sorbet or granita. It’s also not a snow cone, which is shaved ice with flavored syrup poured on top.

Water ice has the flavor mixed in before it’s frozen and is made from a mix of water, sugar and flavoring. Also, it’s creamy like ice cream. Water ice is gluten free and dairy free but has lots of sugar.

The water ice comes in three sizes: small with three scoops, medium with five scoops and large with seven scoops. The flavors are posted daily.

On a recent visit, the flavors offered were Tiger’s Blood, Sour Cherry, Mystery, Orange Cream, Strawberry Kiwi and Grape.

The food

In addition to chopped cheese, the menu includes cheesesteaks, hot dogs, wings and loaded fries. Cheesesteak choices include The Get Down with steak, cheese, mayo, onions, sweet peppers and ketchup. Loaded fries include cheesesteak fries.

Wings may be ordered in pieces of six, 10, 20 or 50. Sauces include buffalo, sweet chili, lemon pepper, jerk, teriyaki, honey BBQ, mild, honey hot and buffalo lemon pepper.

Macon Water Ice also has its own lemonade in a variety of flavors.

For lunch specials or special off-menu offerings such as waffles, periodically check the restaurant’s Facebook page.

After opening for a few hours on soft opening days announced on Facebook, Macon Water Ice had its first full day in its new spot Dec. 1.

“So far so good,” Roberts said.

Hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday, and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.

This story was originally published December 8, 2022 at 1:48 PM.