Handel's Homemade Ice Cream- Tempe Marketplace — Attraction in Tempe

Don't get me wrong. The ice cream is great. They have several vegan options which are delicious. I had a horrid experience there last night. I placed my order medium vegan chocolate in a regular cone. As I waited, I looked at my receipt, and noticed I had been charged for a waffle cone. As I was questioning it, I saw a staff person with a waffle cone and two flavors. I said that's not mine. The staff person started to argue with me. Said there were two flavors with a medium (why didn't the person taking my order say that?). Said it was brownie (who made that decision? Worse they were insensitive to the fact that brownie is not vegan). Continued by asking "You don't want the brownie?" Said the waffle cone was the same price as the regular (bold face lie according to their posted sign). I got so frustrated I demanded an immediate refund and walked away with nothing but a thorn in what should have been a fun experience. The staff did not make the slightest movement towards making their mistakes right. Instead of trying to push this more expensive, not vegan cone in their hands on me, they should have started the order over and adjusted my bill accordingly. What in the world inspired them to attempt forcing this incorrect order on me? Poor, poor customer service shame...

I’ve been to the Handel’s location on Guadalupe in Gilbert and have loved it, and this location is no different!

It’s interesting that this one is a walk-up when every other food place in Tempe Marketplace has an inside component. Nonetheless, it makes the ordering and picking up process smoother.

Can I start by saying: this place always has someone in line! Luckily, when me and a couple of friends went on a Friday night, they had a lot of staff working, so it never took that long to get orders out.

The selection of ice cream flavors is quite impeccable if I do say so myself. Anyone can find something they like. I ordered a single scoop of their lemon bar flavor in a bowl and when the guy at the window handed it to me (not even a minute after I ordered, love that) it was massive. I’d say at least two medium-sized scoops. So, in this economy, you get what you pay for. The quality is there, the quantity is there, what’s not to love?

Anyway, the lemon bar flavor was delicious. So refreshing and decadent at the same time. The chunks of pie crust throughout had a perfect dense, yet light texture. I’m glad I ordered it it in a bowl because the thing melted in the 100 degree heat so fast lol.

Giving this a 5 star-review because the service was super quick and my selection of ice...

If I had gone by myself, it would have been at 3 stars all around. The Oree Dough was flavorless and the ice cream had a watered down taste. The Strawberry Shortcake was pretty good however. The waffle cones were tasty, just highly disappointing that one of the ice creams lacked flavor and “mix-ins” in all honesty. I think there were 4 small chunks of dough in the albeit huge scoop. 5 employees were at the location, but only 2 of them were actually working. One kid was leaning on a counter, texting/playing on his phone the entire time we stood in line & after we ordered. One girl was taking orders, while the other girl stood there and talked to the girl taking orders, and one kid was scooping ice cream while the other was standing there watching (maybe those situations were training!? Benefit of the doubt, but didn’t look like training was happening.) When it’s Friday night and you’ve got a line/are somewhat busy, not a good look when 3 people are standing around doing nothing. I was not “wowed” by any part of the experience, including the ice cream, so it’s safe to say I...