Review is only for atmosphere and service; I was unable to actually try the food because of, well,…read moreservice. Only reason this is a 2 star instead of a 1 -- it's possible the ice cream is good, but I sure didn't get to try it.
Located off the main drag of highway in Madison, this is a small chain offering rolled ice cream, milkshakes, cookies, and liege waffles with decadent toppings. It's been here a little while and so I thought I'd stop by for an afternoon treat while waiting to attend an event nearby.
I entered into the smallish, narrow space and was immediately struck by how...dead it felt. There was one other customer (or perhaps an owner/manager, though if it was, that's kind of disappointing given my experience). It was kind of dark inside and it smelled weird -- not noxious or anything but a little musty and certainly not a yummy, sweet, ice cream, cookie, or waffle scent like you might expect.
I wasn't greeted but I wandered up to the register where an employee was listlessly -- and I mean LISTLESSLY - pushing around a few sad ice cream rolls. Every other time I've watched ice cream get rolled the worker has almost been like a hibachi chef, rapidly cutting, dicing, rolling, and flipping. This reminded me of picking a scab.
I said hello; I don't remember if the young female employee said anything back, she might've muttered an acknowledgement but it definitely wasn't a warm welcome. Having never been here before, I was a little unclear on the process (eg, what are mix-ins vs toppings; what's available; are there pre-made creations, etc), but she never offered to answer any questions or render assistance, even as I stood for several minutes gazing up at the menu. All I heard from her for a while - as she continued to listlessly scrape the ice cream around - were several very loud, gnarly-sounding sniffles. They were bad enough that I started to feel concerned she was sick. These concerns were further worsened by the fact she wasn't wearing gloves.
While that thought flickered through my mind, I abruptly heard her say, "I'm sorry." I assumed she was talking to me since I'd been waiting for a while, and so I reflexively said, "You're fine!" I quickly realized she wasn't speaking to me at all and was instead having a conversation on the phone through the headphones she was wearing. Nice. This went on for another minute or two -- it was a fairly personal conversation and she seemed to be consoling someone on the other end -- and I just decided it wasn't worth the hassle and frustration.
Y'all know I try my best to be very forgiving of service and such but this was a bridge too far for me. I had read reviews prior to coming here about service being bad and I thought surely people were overreacting or being entitled but now I don't think so. Perhaps the product is good, but you'll be hard-pressed to sell much of it if employees aren't even willing to make it for customers.
