Piccolina Gelateria — Local services in Melbourne

I was surprised by the “not willing to help” attitude here, which made me feel very uncomfortable. It’s been a long time since I’ve encountered such arrogance in service. Regardless of the ice cream — which honestly wasn’t that special in flavour — I left feeling disappointed.

My daughter was having a playdate across the street from this shop, and her friend’s mum actually recommended it to me. I needed to take away three separate cups for the kids, who weren’t with me. I told the owner I needed some kind of tray to carry them. He couldn’t find anything except a small two-cup coffee tray, which obviously didn’t work for three cups. Then, he told me takeaway would be a different price. I explained I wasn’t asking for a full takeaway tray of ice cream, just something to carry the cups — even a simple paper tray would do.

Instead of offering a solution, he dismissed the idea, saying, “No one uses paper trays” and becoming increasingly impatient and unhappy. If the only option was an expensive foam tray, that’s fine — but blaming me for needing it was unreasonable. Is it wrong to order three separate cups of ice cream to take away?

This could have been an opportunity to recognise a common need and improve the customer experience, but instead, it was treated as an inconvenience. Honestly, I’d rather walk across the road to Coles, choose any ice cream I want, and avoid the unprofessional attitude. I have no interest...

I had ordered and paid for an ice cream cake to collect at 6pm last Sunday night on the way to a family dinner. I thought the selected pick up time would be a guide not a locked in pick up time, but when I arrived at 6.15pm the shop was CLOSED while the only staff member was having a meal break and they wouldn't be back till 6.30pm! I realise staff need a meal break, but if someone has selected a time to collect a cake and they haven't arrived yet wouldn't you think they might be on their way and not take a break just yet? A simple phone call from the staff member to find out how far away I was could have saved me a lot of anger and frustration. While I stood outside waiting in the cold for 15 minutes to be able to collect my cake quite a few people came to the door, looked at the closed notice and walked off again. It seems like this company would rather loose customers than pay for a second staff member that could cover breaks, which seems like a strange choice considering it's competitor Messina is just a short walk up the road. The ice cream cake itself was quite nice, but for the $95 price tag I would have thought the service would be much better. Obviously once they have your money that is not a...

ORDERED: 🍦 Two scoops of the stracciatella & pistachio ($8.50)

We paid $4.89pp because we shared this scoop between 2, including the 15% public holiday surcharge.

REVIEW: ✅ I appreciate that Piccolina is consistent across their chain. No matter where I go, I have my comfort picks (stracciatella / honeycomb / pistachio) and it's a guaranteed to be a great smooth consistency. 🤤 Stracciatella is vanilla based, with little chunks of shaved chocolate scattered throughout. I like this because it adds pizzazz to a classic flavour. 🍫 Piccolina's pistachio is subtle in its sweetness and nuttiness. It doesn't go overboard with its flavours, so it's a nice clean way to wrap up a dinner session with friends. 🥜

At this Richmond location, there's a table inside and some outdoor chairs so you can hang out with friends. There's no pressure to leave which is much appreciated! 💺

🎅 During the week, they'll have specials on rotation. Right now, it's Christmas Pudding and Candy Cane. There's no harm in stopping by for these limited edition treats and if you don't fancy them, it's always easy to fall back on to the...