I ordered a combo lunch meal at A&W and was handed a frosted mug. I choose Root Beer. Is ice supposed to be added to a frosted mug or is no ice the way to experience frosted mug of root beer?

I got some drive-thru A&W last week and on the side of the paper cup it said that A&W doesn't put ice in the glasses because it waters down the soda as it melts. They would rather frost the glass and chill the soda rather than water it down. I hate when other fast food places put ice in the glass because they always put like 40% ice and in all honesty, who waits that long to drink an entire soda that you would need that much ice. I think they are just being cheap.

thats exactly the idea..mostly ice means they are tricking you..but at the same time it prevents you from drinking a ton of empty calories too :P.

No ice in a frosted mug. Ice just waters down the pop. There aren't many things that taste better than an A&W out of an ice cold frosty mug!! YUM! Like someone else already mentioned, it's served that way to keep cold instead of using ice.

I hate how restaurants use so much ice. I went through the drive-thru at Taco Bell a couple weeks ago and got a Baja Blast. After I got done drinking all the pop, I took off the lid and the cup was 3/4 of the way filled up with ice! It's so stupid. I mean, they already rip us off by charging us $1.50 for a drink when the pop, cup, lid, straw altogether probably costs 5-10 cents. Then they go and fill the cup up with ice so they can give us less pop. Usually, I just order and tell them I don't want ice. I would rather get a lot of pop that will be warm in 20 minutes (which I drink it in less time) than a cup full of ice and a little pop. Sure, it will be cold but in 5 minutes it tastes like water with a little flavor in it. Restaurants already make enough money off of us, they should at least give us something (more pop and much less ice). Well that's my opinion at least.

Well, there's my rant for the day lol.

Ditto!!!!
If I may continue on your rant.
I ask and repeat my "easy ice" request 2 or 3 times
when I place my fast food order. I then ask if my
drink is easy ice when they hand it to me. Before I drive
away I check it to make sure it tastes ok and is not loaded with
ice.

To my knowledge McD's is one of the only fast food
chains that uses an automated beverage fountain.
When your order is placed and "lite Ice" is selected by
the order taker, you are assured that your drink will have lite ice.
For that reason and the consitant high qualty of their fountain drinks
(taste and carbonation), McD's IMHO has the best fast food beverages.
**Wendy's is also as good as McD's.**