Marble Slab Creamery — Local services in Brampton

TL;DR I felt racially discriminated against by the the person I believe is the store manger (middle aged brown lady) when claiming my birthday coupon (free small cone). I hope it was just very poor customer service and being cheap, but her being rude to only me instead of the other South Asian customers made me think that it may be racially motivated.

Full Story I signed up for the birthday promotion to get a free small cone in the afternoon. There were about 5 people in front of me (all South Asian), and the service for them seemed fine. A man in front of me got a small cone and I was delighted at the size. I was the last person to be served and the lady was incredibly rude and rushing me. I asked for a small cone because of the birthday promotion and she audibly sighed and kept saying 'get your ID out, I need to verify at the register'. Since I was the last person, I thought she'd be relieved, but she was rushing me unlike the other customers before me. It was early in the afternoon as well, so I was confused by her behavior and rudeness. She gave me a very small amount of ice cream which she didn't weigh. I know what a small cone looks like because I've gotten it before and had seen a man in front of me get one as well. I thought she may be skimping out on me because it's free. I asked for 3 toppings and she barely put any inside. She also barely mixed them in. I didn't want to say anything because she already seemed to be in a bad mood. I asked for a cup instead of a cone because the ice cream was already melting and I'd be driving home. She said it couldn't be done. I asked if I could have a cup to put the cone in. She told me the cup would be extra, but I'm not sure that's true since no other location has charged me for a cup to put my melting ice cream cone in.

Either way, I let it slide. I thought maybe she had somewhere she needed to be. Maybe she hadn't taken lunch yet.

Then my mom came in (from the car) because she wanted ice cream and the lady was incredibly pleasant to her. The lady was being very generous with the toppings and the amount of ice cream. She even went into the back room to get more syrup for her.

I was very confused at the change in attitude. I just can't understand why the lady was pleasant to everyone except me. I am half black and half brown, but anyone who sees me would just think I'm black. I just couldn't understand how she can be so rude to me one moment, and then incredibly nice to my Indian mom the next. I really don't want to believe it's a race thing. I came home and started looking at other peoples reviews for this location and see frequent mention that the 'manager is a rude Indian woman with poor customer service.' And that she's only nice to 'a certain type'. I don't know what the certain type she likes is, but I have a feeling I'm not it.

I really didn't want to write this review, but then I see another black woman write a review about being double charged and harassed outside the establishment. Her bravery makes me want to speak up too. I really hope that the lady is not racist. From the reviews, it seems she has been rude to people with South Asian names as well. But then why would she be pleasant to everyone in the establishment, before AND after...

Avoid.

First time at this marble slab, went with my auntie and young cousin. The prices were very high but that hadn't deterred us because we thought it would be worth it.

The young girl serving us had her hat pull down so far in front of her face and her mask pulled up so high that we could not see her making any eye contact. I figured it was a thing teenagers do because she was young. When I asked about the ice cream she had no information to answer because she knew nothing of any of the ice cream I asked about and had not tried most of any of them. What bothered me is she didn't bother to ask her colleagues and I we were left making a shot-in-the-dark choice of icecream flavour. Oh well, moving on...

Another young lady serving my auntie prepared the smallest available cone for the youngest amongst us. I noticed that the ice cream seemed to melt rather than freeze over its short time on the slab. I suspected she hadn't left it on the slab long enough or that the slab was not the right temperature. When her cone got to the cash it was already melting while mine was still being prepared. We asked about having it fixed while my order was being prepared and she placed it in the freezer by the time my cup was finished the cone came out and was melting down the sides. She tried to sell it to us still and when I asked her if she could do something more about it she proceeded to dig out the ice cream from the soggy cone with a spatula (which began to break the edges) and try to refreeze it on the slab. After another brief go on the slab the ice cream had still not stopped melting. She returned the then warmer ice cream to the soggy cone and tryed to hand it to me.

I was in disbelief having served ice cream at Dimitri's for over 5 years myself and asked if she herself as a customer were willing to accept what she was trying to sell to me. She couldn't answer. A frustrated manager arrived and in efforts to hurry me out of the shop as quickly as possible gave me a new cone with a scoop, placed four marshmallows on the slab and then pressed the cone with the ice cream over top of the marshmallows. The toppings had bits of chocolate on them when she said "here is this good enough". I then asked for a spoon and she began responding with an exaggerated tone "sure I will get you everything you need, you need napkins you need spoons, here take it". She gave me more than I needed, then said "you have a blessed day" which is when I noticed her unwashed hands.

There are much better local ice cream shops in this area that know about and are proud of their craft...

We have been marble slab clients for many years. Today we came in for 4 orders of custom litre packs (4L total). We are not from the area and decided to pop by Marble slab while in the area and grab some ice cream for the family. From the moment we placed our first order at the Trinity Commons franchise location, we began to be lectured by Sunita on why we didn’t place an order in advance. We explained our stop-by was unplanned and we were not from the area, and ignored her continued grumbling on her situation. With our next litre order we were told again, “I am soo busy, I have Uber orders, DoorDash and other orders, you should have told me in advance “, which we heard and ignored again, not letting it affect our experience of feeling like a burden as a client.

Then, my husband ordered a coconut / pineapple litre, to which sunita said “oh my god, that is the hardest one, you should have told me earlier!” , as if my husband works at a ice cream shop and should be expected to know which flavour is more difficult to mix. We ignored this again, even suggesting if we should not order that flavour for her benefit. At the cash, as we were leaving we were then reminded again that we had inconvenienced her and lectured to order ahead of arrival next time. I reminded her that we were from out of town and did not know in advance and were frankly tired of her lack of respect for us as customer. To which she responded you paid for your ice cream product and you got it! She continued to yell and scream “oh my god” and very sarcastically say “sorry”!

Horrible experience, would not recommend...