Ice In Paradise — Local services in Goleta

If I could rate a 0 I would have....

Went here for a birthday party with 3 middle-aged teens, a 62-year-old grandma and two young adults for a birthday party. We had a little bit of difficulty with our grandma having stability issues so we kindly ask for an assistant tool so she would be able to skate easier.

Paul, the manager here first asked us to point her out on the ice. She was on the opposite side of the rink holding onto the side.

After pointing her out like he asked, he turned to us and said rudely, "if she can't skate then how did she get all the way over there?" I explained that we assisted her around the rink, but she fell a few times and needed a support tool. He said it was only for children, and although we understood that, we explained she is 62 years old and she wanted to enjoy skating with her grandkids...his replied was, "I wouldn't put my grandma on the ice if she can't skate."

I was so shocked by how rude he was to us. So I asked for a refund for our tickets. First he said he couldn't do that and I told him we are not going to stay if she cannot skate. Then he said he would only refund her ticket.

Of course this was not going to be acceptable since we had just gotten there, and spent maybe 10min on the ice. I continued to ask for a refund until finally he threw up how hands and said, fine get them all off the ice and I'll give you all your money back.

First he refunded us who had receipts from paying with a credit card. Then he gave us a hard time about the three teens and our grandma who paid with cash because they didn't have a receipt. The receptionist who took the payments said they usually don't give receipts to those who pay in cash, so getting more frustrated he started looking it up in the computer.

Then one by one he returned the cash, not realizing that we had four ppl who needed cash refunds, he seemed to be getting more and more irritated each time and asking for receipts even tho we had already explained that she did not give receipts for the payment made in cash. He literally threw the refund receipts back at my teenage siblings and my grandmother. I stood there and watched him do this. Deciding to not make matters worse and mention his extremely rude attitude and actions, I stayed silent because obviously he had no costumer service skills at all. The two employees working with him looked embarrassed and the young lady with blonde hair was apologetic.

In the end he lost the ice rink $112.50 in sales, and completely ruined a nice family outing / 18th birthday celebration. I felt bad for my grandmother who still enjoys to be active and was having a great time even tho it was difficult for her. There was no one else out on the ice using any support tools, so this whole situation could have easily been avoided had they been nice enough to assist the elderly!

In my opinion this was discrimination to old people. As a manager you should always be willing to be as helpful as you can. Even if we absolutely could not use the ice walker because of the rules, he could have handled that situation in a professional manner. No respect was given whatsoever. Even people standing around in the front area were kind of shocked that they wouldn't allow a grandma to use a walker.

As we left he said "sorry it couldn't work out, have a good night!"

This encounter was deeply disappointing and actually very hurtful, we will not ever be going back this poorly managed ice rink as long as he is the manager.

To the reader, don't waste your time or money here, there are other ice rinks with good friendly staff that know how to treat customers...

I give it 3 out of 5 stars because of the following: The rink itself is great. The way the place is run is less than great. My daughter and I came from out of town and where excited to try out a new rink. Having grown up in SB its been a long while since the days of skating at "The Ice Patch" on the Mesa.This new facility is top notch.

However, I have four safety issues that id like to share as well as a general running of the skate session that we participated in.

First safety issue, was the fact that their are no coned off beginner areas for skaters to learn and push the little aids around. As we where skating their where kids running those things all over the place, across the ice, backwards, a few kids one device, parents pushing and sliding it. It was quite crazy.

Second safety issue, Their was no area in the middle of the rink for the more experienced skaters to practice their jumps and turns. They where stuck dealing with the crazy going on all over the rink. I know that maybe they get private ice time but maybe some of us not so experienced skaters might want to practice some stuff as well.

Third safety issue, I did not see any staff members patrolling the rink at all. I was there on a Friday afternoon session and we had speed skaters, teenagers, and those skate aids flying all around. Kids slamming into the walls, etc. Thank goodness it was not that crowded.

and my last safety issue, at our rink we have staff members help to insure proper lacing and fit on rental skates. I saw kids with poorly laced skates running around, as well as the fact that when I went to get my mothers rental skates they where not sure of sizing, and when I went to lace her up the lace broke. So then I had to wait back at the counter for a good 15 minutes before a staff member would even help me, they had 3 staff members helping a gal with a refund. Thank goodness my daughter and I own our own skates. That would have been another half hour.

And my very last concern about this visit is the fact that we had to skate for 3 hours in one direction. Do you people switch directions at all during a skate session ???? and as for price point. Its Santa Barbara, I think its spot on for everything else expensive in the area.

So, I loved the facility, but I think you guys need to visit some other facilities and see how they run their skate rinks. There is always room for improvement. I do think we will be back again, but I think I will call first and see if we have to skate in one direction for the duration of the session first.

They have a good thing started. I hope they continue to improve.

Thank you though for putting a rink in my hometown. I have missed "The Ice Patch".

I am sorry to compare this rink to our current rink, but it gave me a new perspective on how well our rink is ran. We have been...

This rink is a lot of fun and runs a number of programs including hockey and figure skating lessons, however, the rental skates laces are all eaten up/too short, and when I asked about longer laces, they said they like it like that as it reduces the risk of people skating on their laces. The length the laces end up, you can't loop them around your ankle which, particularly for the hockey skate, is incredibly important to give you control of the skate. The side gap in my hockey skates extended as far down as the ball on my ankle which gives you an idea about how much control I was able to exert over the skate. The staff are friendly, and there are always regular figure skaters out on the ice training which is always fun to watch and dodge. There's a little coffee shop which serves both reasonable food choices, including for keto diet, as well as a nice variety of breakfast drinks, and alcohol. (Definitely beer, and I think wine) All in all, for less than.$15 for ice time and rentals ($10 for ice time), this it's a great time, and...