Jims Dairy Delites Hamilton — Local services in Newcastle-Maitland

We went into Jim’s Milkbar for a couple of milkshakes on Friday morning the 17/7/20 in the school holidays.

I tried to order a ‘caramel’ milkshake with the young girl. Apparently there was none of the more popular topping available. It wasn’t long opened and it was out of stock I was informed.

I bought a golden rough chocolate also which was old, discoloured and tasteless and out of its expiry date when I opened it and checked. They all should be thrown out so customers don’t have to pay “full price” for non fresh goods. The other lollies ~ jersey caramels were really Hard, so I didn’t buy them which I assume they were out of date too as I didn’t want to break my tooth. These can make people ill as you can’t expect to sell these products to your customers.

What I was most upset about was, I paid for a full banana milkshake being the second choice and when I checked when I got home it was only half filled !!! I rang back to talk to the girl and her response was silence at first as she didn’t know what to say. I asked for an explanation as to why I was ripped off. All she could say was, the milk sinks down after you make it, well she needed to top it up again and check which should have been obvious ~ poor training. You can’t just expect customers to put up with that paying good money and to just accept it as being ok as it was very average to say the least. I took a photo of it to show others as I just couldn’t believe it. I’m not the only one that has experienced some of these issues reading some of the other similar reviews.

I also left a message for management to call me back later to discuss, but unfortunately they never did bother to be interested.

The store was dirty and in need of a very good clean and a change or renovation as it’s looking old and unappealing to the eye now if you look around. It wasn’t well managed and we observed it to be poorly run down.

No management were present to see how their business was being run. (We were told they were in Sydney) and couldn’t be contacted ? just an inexperienced, immature staff member who served me. There was no customer service and she couldn’t have cared less with my concerns that I expressed to her as she had no idea how to manage an issue or even make a proper milkshake as she was just minding the store.

The straws were left in the open in the middle of the floor in the store on a table away from the counter nearest the front entrance to the street without them even being covered up for hygiene purposes with germs which I felt was a bad practise. My son experienced a sore throat afterwards which could have contributed.

The eftpos transaction took forever as well.

When my son tried his milkshake it wasn’t even enjoyable or pleasant tasting he said. Probably the milk was being left out and not refrigerated at all times which can result in making people feel unwell.

We have also been going to Jim’s milk bar for 40 years now, I don’t know if it has changed hands recently or maybe closing down ? but something is obviously going on with this business of late.. It is now just trading on the good name from the past. This place surely isn’t what it used to be like in the good old days where family management took pride in running it and they cared about their customers returning and the quality of the products they served as they offered good service back then.

All round it was just a bad experience as none of it was fair or reasonable for us or any customer to accept. We will never be returning again to this place. It was very disappointing and we were disgusted. You can get better elsewhere as there are better places now to go than driving all the way in there as it isn’t worth your time and money and I could make a better milkshake...

Picture this, it's any year from 1957 until 2023: you've just spent the day at Newcastle beach, roasting under the summer sun, eating Pluto pups, swimming; and you feel like you could use a sweet, creamy, cold treat at the end of the day. And so you make your way to Jim's dairy delites, for an icy cold milkshake made with barreled milk, Jim's trademark chocolate sauce and a scoop of real ice cream straight from the tub. It is a good day, quintessentially novocastrian and a wonderful memory for many families. That was from 1957 until 2023. Unfortunately, as of December 2024, this is just a memory. The new Jim's milkshake features BOTTLED milk sitting on the countertop (!), oversweetened syrup a far cry from the original recipe (!!), and only soft serve ice cream from the machine (!!!). When asking for ice cream from the tub, we were informed that it's not possible as their mixers apparently cannot handle a harder ice cream (!!!!). The ultimate milkshake sin has been committed, and what I would give to walk into a wall of lollies, old melted chocolates, and questionable pies just to have a milkshake that would blow my mind every time I tasted it. I agree with previous reviews, give the people of Newcastle...

Disgusting Hygiene Standards Have been going to Jims since I was a child but over the last 6 months the condition and cleanliness has deteriorated to a disgusting level. The areas where food is prepared are covered in filth and it appears there has been no attempt to clean any of it. The floors are dirty, there is sticky residue from spilt food down the walls, there is dust on all surfaces, the pie warmer had a layer of grease down the front of it and the pies within looked like they had been in there for 12 months. This isn't just an isolated occasion as this state of filth has been present on the 5 or so occasions I have visited over the last 6 months. The service has been appalling and downright rude. On my most recent trip (20/5/23) there were multiple tubs of ice cream just sitting on the counter unrefridgerated and when I asked for a milkshake the kid behind the counter attempted to use them for my drink to which I declined and subsequently left. I have reported this to the Council and to the NSW Food Authority as it is only a matter of time before someone is made very sick from these poor...