Sugar Shack — Local services in Port Aransas

⭐ 1 Star – Extremely Disappointed

I recently visited Sugar Shack in Port Aransas for an ice cream, and what I experienced was completely unacceptable from a food safety and hygiene standpoint.

The staff member behind the counter grabbed the ice cream cone with his bare hands—no gloves, no barrier paper—and began scooping ice cream into it. I immediately stopped him and said, “I don’t want it.”

He looked confused and asked, “What’s the problem?”

I explained, “You’re using your bare hands—that’s unsanitary. Where are your gloves?”

His response? “I don’t need gloves. I wash my hands, it’s fine.”

Let me be clear: It’s not fine. That cone is going straight into my mouth. Bare hands should never come into direct contact with ready-to-eat food—especially not the inside of an ice cream cone. I told him I didn’t want it and walked out.

To the owner: No, there was no paper on the cone. So please don’t try to explain it away. Customers don’t want anyone’s bare fingers—teenager or not—touching food that goes directly into their mouths. This isn’t about personal preference; this is about basic food safety.

As a former health inspector, I can tell you this plainly violated several standards:

Bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat food

No paper barrier on the cone

Fingers touching the inside of the food vessel

Questionable utensil sanitation between uses

You can try to justify it, but this is not a gray area—it’s a hygiene failure. And from what I observed, it’s not an isolated incident. Training and enforcement of proper food handling protocols are clearly lacking.

I don’t normally post reviews like this, but I felt obligated to speak up. Your dismissive response to my concerns only solidifies the issue. This isn't about one cone—it's about your store’s standards.

Please take this as a wake-up call, not a personal attack. Fix the problem and ensure your team understands and follows food safety...

Cute store based on looks, but that’s where anything positive ends. We have visited twice, thinking the first visit was a fluke… but the second was no better. I will not return. The staff was rude and come off very abrasive… my daughter has a severe, potentially deadly allergy that I made them aware of on both visits. Our first visit in July I asked if they could use a fresh scoop since all they do between customers is rinse in a cup of water. They told me they only have 1 scoop and could wash it but the girl seemed super annoyed when I told her that would be great. She huffed and puffed while washing it then was super annoyed sounding the rest of our interaction. Yesterday we basically had the same interaction but with different staff. Seemed annoyed that we’d asked… said it was fine and they understood but their entire demeanor was off and then they were kind of abrasive the whole time. While we were ordering, the lady didn’t finish listening to our order before charging us for 4 cups of ice cream even though we got one cone. When I came to order another cone she got upset that she’d charged us incorrectly before and caught a crazy attitude about it. The store is crazy overpriced, we got less than a pound of candy and it was $22. There were candy bins with lids missing, not enough scoops or tongs and not everything was labeled. Again, as a parent of a child with an allergy, we have to be really careful with flavors… not having things labeled made the whole visit really difficult. We’ll stick with the other shops...

Please do yourself a favor and stay away from this establishment. I visited this past Sunday (08/31) with my kids, and it was my first and last time.

When we went in to order ice cream, we were greeted by an older gentleman whose appearance was not very clean. To my shock, instead of using a scoop, he reached into the ice cream bucket with his bare hands. Because there was very little ice cream left in the container, he even pushed his hairy arm all the way in to scrape out what remained.

On top of that, the cone he handed us had no paper wrapper or protective cover, and he was holding it directly with his bare hands. When we asked if he could open a new bucket of ice cream, he refused. We decided not to take it, at which point he became visibly upset, threw the cone into the trash, and started cursing. My kids and I immediately walked out.

After posting this review, I noticed another customer had described the same issue, and instead of apologizing, the “owner” responded by quoting FDA rules. That kind of attitude and disregard for customers is exactly why this business will not last.

I will never return, and I hope others avoid this...