Today was my friends birthday. So me, him and another friend all came here to get some ice cream. I get what I want with no issues, our other friend gets the most perfectly twisted soft-serve ice cream cone I've ever seen. We both got exactly what we asked for with no issues. The birthday boy goes up and tries to get a chocolate dipped strawberry cone, only to find out there was no more strawberry. Then he tries to get a chocolate cone with butterfingers on it just to find out he can't get butterfingers on a cone. Then he gets a soft-serve chocolate cone with M&M's and the chocolate machine breaks. So then he gets hard ice cream and it falls off the cone, so they dipped it in a cup. He literally had the worst possible experience he could've possibly had. It was incredibly entertaining... best birthday ever. 5 out of 5, I hope this happens to him again read more

Carl's Ice Cream Factory - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Normal, Illinois

Amazing ice cream! I love supporting local and all of the flavors that they have! Service has been good the last three times I have went. The ambiance is nice. Very family friendly! Also the serving sizes are BIG! Perfect for an ice cream lover like me! read more

if I could give ZERO stars, I would. Went in for a quick meal. After 40 minutes our burgers were still not ready. We questioned what was up and were told they would pack it up for us. In addition our order was completely wrong. How do you mess up "no cheese, please"? No apology whatsoever. We would have asked for our money back but I don't think the teenagers behind the counter would know how to do that. read more

The soft serve was yummy, HOWEVER! $1.65 to add sprinkles?!?!? My friend ordered fries, and we waited 15-20 minutes for a singular basket. When I asked for no sprinkles because of the price the lady who checked me out rolled her eyes because she had already printed the receipt. The atmosphere is littered with children, makes it a very loud and stuffy environment. With that said not everyone's cup of tea. So if you like rude servers, lots of kids, over priced add ons, and long long waits this is the place for you! Update! It's been 50minutes since we've ordered. Still no fries. read more

Disappointed. Not much about our experience was worth repeating. The burgers were burnt, badly. It took over 20 minutes to get our food and then they missed part of the table's order. The frozen yogurt tasted of chemicals. read more

We killed some time looking at Route 66 things in our tour book. They have homemade ice cream. I sampled peach, pumpkin and almond joy coconut. I chose a small dish of coconut. Spouse had a cheeseburger. It was a neat place. read more

Carl's Ice Cream Factory - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Normal, Illinois

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I had never been to this location of Carl's until recently! I didn't know what I had been missing. It's a cool place. Very clean, cool decor, with a lot of seating. Their menu is expansive with a variety of options. I ended up with a double cheeseburger and fries. The burger was cooked while we waited and the tomato was ripe, and the lettuce was fresh. It had a great grilled taste! The fries were thick and well-cooked. I got a pint of soft-serve peppermint ice cream to go, along with a pint of hard-serve rum raisin and both were gone quicker than I should admit! The prices are very affordable making this a new go-to place for me! read more

When I pulled into the drive-thru, I waited about 2 minutes to be greeted or acknowledged. I have worked in food service before so I wanted to be patient. After 5 minutes of radio silence I finally said, "hello" and then a full minute later a rude, disgruntled voice replied, "what". Like I was inconveniencing this woman to do her job. This was the older middle aged lady with short wavy brown hair. I placed my order, receiving curt, annoyed responses while ordering. Then I noticed how gross that kitchen was. Dirt and dust everywhere, the candy eyes were sitting in a plastic hardware container above the register - uncovered, looking so dusty. A second older woman was working too, just as rude and annoyed at the woman who took my initial order. Keep in mind, it wasn't busy at all. Both of the ladies hands were noticeably dirty and gross. I saw one wipe her forehead where sweat was and then package my burger to go. Vomit. Just nasty. I've heard horror stories about the cleanliness of this place but today I saw first hand the quality of the employees and the cleanliness of those said employees and the cleanliness of the kitchen. Unacceptable. I threw away the food. This establishment should be embarrassed. Never going back. read more

Carl's Ice Cream Factory - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Normal, Illinois

Great place to stop for a snack / treat! Expansive menu with diverse options. My mom got a chocolate soda which she really enjoyed! My dad got the chili cheese dog which he liked as well. I got the BBQ sandwich, fries, baked beans and Cole slaw - I'm pretty picky and like to try a variety anytime I'm at a new place. The BBQ was fantastic (reminded me of the BBQ sandwich at Dairy Queen in the early 2000s of anyone else misses those - RIP). The fries and beans were really good, but the Cole slaw is vinegar based and none of us cared for it. The restaurant is in a pretty random area, but there is plenty of parking, even for larger vehicles like our RV. Historic Route 66 is nearby, and the ice cream muffler man out front here fits in well! Nothing spectacular but worth a stop if in the area in need of a snack! read more

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Great ice cream desserts at a reasonable price. Lots of options between ice cream, soft serve, and frozen yogurt. People that work there are nice and very helpful. "Regular" food is good but not great. Wonderful place to get ice cream treats, especially during summer. Also love the 70s music playing instead of the current garbage. read more

Had the 1/4 lb cheeseburger with fries, and 2 scoops of their home made ice cream after. Food was made to order. Tasty, and maybe prefrozen fries. I was impressed by the ice cream. Husband had the same, and the kids enjoyed the kids meals - which were smaller portions. The young lady who took my order was very thorough and patient with my questions. read more

Great food and ice cream. Nice place to take the kids when I'm in town visiting. Service is good too.

Wanted a picture of the muffler man outside on our Route 66 trip! Stopped in and got a soft serve vanilla cone. So good. One of the best soft serves we have had in a long time. Delish ...and 3 weeks later we are still talking about it!!! read more

Tried the soft serve (raspberry) and it was delicious! They LOADED my cone up! My fiancé got their "blizzard" equivalent and it was also good! Lots of flavors to choose from. We haven't eaten any food from here but their menu is HUGE so many options! read more

Carl's Ice Cream Factory - Raspberry soft serve in a cone - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Normal, Illinois

Love the classic food and nice, clean atmosphere. Service was great. Milkshakes are the best in town.

Line was really long but the woman running the counter was doing great and keeping her cool. Can't beat ice cream on a hot summer day!

Ice cream is delicious! We got strawberry lemon soft served. It very different texture, more like whipped ice creams. read more

Carl's Ice Cream Factory - Strawberry lemon soft served- delicious! - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Normal, Illinois

Like Dairy Queen but with a drive thru. Like DQ, I got sick from the ice cream. I ate the toppings and tossed the rest in the garbage.

My FAVORITEEEEE IN TOWN!!!!!!!!!!!! Love love love When they give big scoops. I crave them weekly read more

Do not have good customer service. Drive through takes forever. They close their kitchen sometimes up to an hour early.

This is a great place especially in the summer to get some good ice cream and food. They sell for a good price and ice cream is always great for anytime of the year really, but especially during the warm weather. This is a great place just to grab a quick bite or a meet up place with friends and family. I highly recommend stopping by especially in the summer. If you need a place to meet up Carl's is the place and is unique to blono for sure. read more

Carl's Ice Cream Factory - Strawberry soft serve on a cone - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Normal, Illinois

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Amazing quality goodies in both food and treats. Huge portions, great for carry out or dine in.

Real ice cream or yogurt, great selection. A Family friendly, established neighborhood business I look forward to visiting when I visit from my Arizona home. read more

With the weather finally warming up we came here for an after dinner treat. Their menu is huge. Not only do they have a lot of food options (hamburger, hot dogs ect), they also have an extensive ice cream menu. They have a lot of fun flavors that I can't wait to try. I loved the maple walnut ice cream and the turtle sundae wasn't bad either. Workers seem like they're not happy to be there but whatever. Looking forward to trying all the fun flavors. read more

Carl's Ice Cream Factory - Turtle sundae - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Normal, Illinois

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Unique flavors. Great taste. Huge ice cream portions. 50's diner atmosphere. Highly recommend.

Just waited 30 minutes in the drive-through for ice cream. While I watched multiple people inside get served ice cream prior, and watched the staff dancing, texting, laughing, and messing around. The cashier never opened the window the whole time I was waiting, finally opened the window after 30 minutes, and tried giving me the wrong item. I explained I did not order that, and she interrupted me while I was explaining what I ordered .Then as I was talking she closed the window on me, she then gave my ice cream and all she said was "Sorry". What is the point of having a drive-through if you are hiring people who have zero customer service and time management skills? read more

Carl's Ice Cream is the best in town!! Great family friend space with indoor and outdoor seating.

Love this local stop! We went a lot in college here for an affordable meal and sweet treat. The ice cream is still top notch and there are so many unique flavors. However, food wasn't as high quality and flavorful as it once was. The chicken salad used to be my favorite, but this time the chicken was dry and flavorless. Glad they still had great ice cream though! read more

Went there for ice cream. Used drive-through. Half dozen cars in front of us and it still took more than 30 minutes. When ice cream was finally given to us, our cups were both warm to the touch. We moved to a parking spot to eat quickly. Apparently the chocolate and caramel sauces were HOT. Ice cream promptly melted. Ugh. We are just passing through. Don't expect to be in Normal, Illinois, again. Wouldn't visit this place again if I did. I expected something a step up from Dairy Queen, but got something several steps down. read more

Wish they would be more specific with their hours. Website, Facebook, door of restaurant all say closes at 10pm on Saturday but we get there at 9:15 and all doors are locked. Nowhere does If sag lobby closes at 9pm. DQ bound read more

My favorite ice cream place in Normal (especially once Emack & Bolio's closed). Wonderful prices for their sizes and the ice cream is amazing! You can't go wrong with anything you get. Hubby got a soft serve mixed with nerds and I had a sundae. So delicious that I forgot to take a picture! Creamy and smooth. A must have when you're in the area. read more

Ice cream is great and food is pretty good. Very overpriced. Staff is extremely rude. Almost everytime I go here they mess up my order. After correcting them that my order was wrong they insisted it wasn't and rudely closed the drive window. Poor service is not worth good food. Do not go here unless you want to experience very poor service and then hear the staff talk bad about you. Extremely disappointed, this business does not deserve your time or money. read more

Food is average. This place is 1.5 miles from our house. Took an hour -from our door back to our door- for 2 shakes with 5 cars in front of us at the drive-thru. 5 people getting paid for working- 1 taking and filling orders, 1 cleaning the grill, and the other 3 cleaning the restaurant so they could get out as close to closing as possible. Turned away several cars even though they were in line before closing. Don't think we'll be back. Maybe DQ or Culver's next time. read more

It's a great place for ice cream and the burgers are absolutely delicious. Hubby loves the buffalo burgers. I'd tell you about the brownies but I don't want them to run out before I get there! Don't walk, run to get your favorite ice cream! read more

Most people familiar with Bloomington know of Carl's Ice Cream on Locust and Oak. It's the old shed-style seasonal ice cream place with zilch for indoor seating and little outdoor seating. This new location now serves grill food in addition to their famous ice cream. The burgers are Steak n Shake style (thin patties=double isn't obnoxiously large) and they are made to order. The fries are thin and crisply battered. There's another restaurant that has fries very similar to these - help me out if you can think of where. In addition to food, the Carl's on College has added seating. There's room for maybe 50 people indoors and about the same outdoors. This building used to be a bank but turns out it works well for serving up ice cream as well. There's even a drive through (though oddly no ATM). The ice cream is the same goodness as the original Carl's. There are plenty of reviews of that spot so check out those reviews if you're looking for ice cream suggestions. read more

Carl's Ice Cream Factory - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Normal, Illinois

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Great hamburgers cooked to perfection! Chocolate ice cream sodas are the best made with premium "hard" vanilla ice cream.

The worst experience I have probably ever had. Waited in the drive through for half an hour for not a single car to move, it was only after three cars behind me reversed out that I was able to leave, only to go inside instead and then have the cashier mess up my order. Fucking horrible. If my sugar wasn't low I would've went anywhere else. read more

I visited the Carl's Ice Cream on west College Ave. tonight. Was looking forward to the ham 'n bean soup. When i got home, to my surprise, i took the lid off the "bowl" of soup and noticed it was just a little over half full. When i called i was told that was normal for a "bowl" of soup. In my opinion a bowl of soup is a bowl of soup and NOT a half bowl of soup. In addition I was told that was normal. Boggus excuse for customer service. Needless to say they have lost a frequent customer. But I seriously, by their attitude, that they most likely could care less. Gonna give my future business to Shannons Five Star!!! read more

I visited Carl's on College last night (7/11/23) for a burger and fries. As I was standing next to the counter awaiting my order, I was watching the food prep take place. The man preparing the food had long hair and a full beard, not wearing any kind of hair/beard net. He wore a ball cap that was filthy sweaty, and his shirt/shorts were disgusting filthy. Not a uniform - just plain street clothes. He wore no protective food prep gloves and was touching everything around him: the order screen, the cooler handles, his filthy clothing, scratching his head underneath and on top of the sweaty hat, wiping his hands on his shorts, and then bare handling the food. I watched him prepare food on top of a sliding cooler - NOT a food prep area. And at no time did i see him attempt to wash his hands. After 10 minutes of this and even another customer complaining about him touching her food, I had my order refunded and I left. I will not return under any circumstances. read more

Chunky shake was more like soup. All melted and way too much Carmel sauce added to the turtle shake. Stick with genes and don't forget your cash. read more