I was Cold Stone addict back when I lived in Florida for a while. Count of me to order the biggest serving of "Cookie Doughn't You Want Some?" on each visit. It was a big reason to why I ballooned after living in the US. I still found myself visiting the US once in a while after moving back to Metro Manila, and a trip to any Cold Stone branch was a must. I felt it was only a matter of time until the ice cream parlor franchise would make it to Philippine shores, and alas, to my initial delight, it did.
After a few visits though, I felt that the local Cold Stone branches haven't been able to replicate the US experience. There always seemed to be a problem with my order after a few early visits, whether it was everything being too sweet (I rarely say that as a sweet tooth), or the cookie dough not being mixed in properly. I had this "overwhelmed" feeling after each visit, which was very unfortunate. To make matters worse, I felt that the staffs at each store were too "showy" with the ice cream scoop tricks. I know it's part of Cold Stone's vibe to be fun and lively, but I've always felt that the branches in Metro Manila went over the top, to the point of being unprofessional. I've seen a handful of customers splattered with ice cream all over the face, and even my significant other once had a bit of ice cream drip on her hair. All these times, not a single staff member was apologetic. That's one thing Cold Stone Philippines clearly has to work on.
A few more visits later and the ice cream still seems a bit too sweet, but to Cold Stone Philippines' credit, the quality of the overall servings has gotten tolerably better (cookie dough mixed in properly, the ratio of ingredients being more proportionate, etc). Any Cold Stone branch has really yet to wow me, but I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't be back. It's still tolerable enough for me when I really need my cookie dough ice cream fix when there aren't any ice cream places around. read more