I work downtown near Ice, so we go as a group of 3 to 5 people about twice a month. At this point, we only go on days when they have French Onion soup. To find these days yourself, you could check their website....but that would require them updating it once in a while. When I call to confirm the soup of the day and special, it almost never matches what their outdated site says.
Back to the French Onion soup...this is amazing. Maybe not the best French Onion soup I have ever had, but close. I would enthusiastically recommend it to anyone going on the one day a week it is served.
Other than the French Onion, most menu items are good and fairly priced. The lunch menu is diverse - there are a lot of wraps and sandwiches, but also some knife-and-fork lunch meals. The "Yesterday's Wrap" is always a safe choice.
Now on to my problem...
I have been in Ice over 10 times, and in not one of those trips did I receive even adequate customer service. The poor service is spread throughout all facets of the meal. The host or hostess is fine, the show starts once you get your seat.
Once you are seated, expect to wait at least 3-4 minutes before anyone comes to ask what you'd like to drink. Our group is usually all getting water, which typically takes another 3-4 minutes to bring back. Then, if you are all ready to order, I urge you to get your order in ASAP. This has been a continuous issue - if you do not order when they first ask you, no one will come back to your table for a good 10 minutes.
You might be thinking "well I would just gesture them over"....good thought, but it won't work. Their wait staff has gone through an extensive training on how to avoid making eye contact with anyone. The waitresses speed walk through the floor, each acting like they are late for a flight, boarding in the kitchen.
A quick suggestion on any questions over the menu - keep them to yourself. The wait staff does not want to hear them, will not know the answer, and will most likely talk to you with the attitude of an angsty teen, embarrassed by the presence of their father at a school dance.
A recent encounter saw two of us order the French Onion soup. One of them came out quickly, so that person was going to wait for the other person's soup to come. About 10 minutes later, the waitress showed up and exasperatedly dropped off the plates for the meal. When the soup was mentioned, she said "sorry, did you still want that?". This was puzzling for all involved, except the waitress of course, who acted as if this all somehow made sense.
When it comes to paying your bill, expect more of the same. You will wait a few minutes for them to come get your card, then another few minutes while they process payment.
Looking back, this review is really only useful for those going for lunch, and even then might be more of a personal venting session than helpful. If you take anything away from my good-humored rant, its that you need to be quick ordering at Ice if you need to get back to work within the standard one hour lunch break. read more