Gelato Messina Fitzroy — Restaurant in Melbourne

I had an extremely disappointing experience at Gelato Messina Fitzroy on Sun 14/04, entirely due to the poor customer service, and I feel it needs to be shared.

Not too long before 10pm, my partner and I walked past and were drawn in by the cool vibe of the place and then quite impressed with the range of ice creams—especially the amount of vegan options. I was in a bloody great mood after a lovely dinner down the road and thought grabbing a cheeky scoop would be the perfect way to top off the night.

When we walked in, it wasn’t busy at all. There was one group of three being served, one other person already at the counter, and three staff behind the counter. I stood at the front, patiently waiting to be served, while my partner stood just off to the side. I’d already picked out a few flavours I wanted to try and was ready to go.

But minutes passed… and nothing. Despite standing right in front at the counter and making eye contact with the staff, I wasn’t acknowledged at all. Two staff members walked directly in front of me, filling containers, but didn’t say a word—no “we’ll be with you shortly” or even a simple nod.

Then someone walked in—either an Uber Eats driver or someone picking up an online order—and was served straight away. Meanwhile, I was still standing there being completely ignored. After nearly 10 minutes, I raised my hand and politely said, “Excuse me, could I please get some service?” while making direct eye contact. One of the staff responded vaguely, but still didn’t come over.

By that point, the great mood I was in was long gone. I told the staff I was leaving and no longer wanted anything. It’s such a shame the staff were ignoring customers like that. Honestly, I would’ve been happy as if someone had just acknowledged me with a quick “we’ll be with you in a moment”—that’s all anybody needs in that situation!

I’d strongly suggest some proper customer service training for the staff, and ideally a manager on-site who can lead by example.. as it may not be their fault if they haven't been trained. It’s clearly a popular spot with a lot going for it, but tonight’s experience left a really bad taste in my mouth—unfortunately, not from the ice cream.

I ended up heading just two minutes down the road to Piccolina Gelateria - where they saved the night! Their staff greeted me with a smile as soon as I walked in and were genuinely helpful. It completely turned my night around and honestly helped wash the bad taste—both literal and metaphorical—out...

We were here with our kids last night. We asked for a milk chocolate ice cream for my daughter’s. Unknown to us We were given chocolate - Peanut fudge ice cream. My daughter’s are anaphylactic to peanuts and were going into shock in store.

I asked the staff member why we were given peanut fudge ice cream while kids are having an anaphylactic shock in store, the staff member with her voice raised in front of everyone pointed to a wall and told me that their is a sign that says there are traces of nuts on everything and she can call an ambulance. All we needed to hear is for her to say sorry we gave you peanut ice cream accidentally, how can we help, do you need an ambulance.

Having traces of nuts versus providing an ice cream that is filled with peanuts is not the same thing. We asked for chocolate ice cream and the question asked to us by the staff member was whether it was sorbet chocolate or milk chocolate. Our response was milk chocolate ice cream.

If there was no such supply of plain chocolate ice cream the staff member instead of providing us with Chocolate ice cream filled with peanut fudge should have advised that there was no plain chocolate ice cream available and only the sorbet or peanut fudge option. Instead we were handed an order we did not ask for with a severe consequential result.

I Carried my kids onto the street out of the store in anger and administered the EpiPens on the street before driving kids to emergency during a life threatening situation for both of my daughters.

I don’t want a free ice cream. I want a sincere apology from the staff member now that my daughters have been discharged overnight from the children’s hospital after a close...

On Friday, November 10th, my family and I visited Messina to enjoy some ice cream. Despite checking the website, which indicated that the parlour would be open until 11 pm, we arrived around 10:40 pm. The door was slightly open, allowing one person at a time to enter. Observing a queue of 4-5 people, including us, we followed suit and entered. Our group consisted of three people – myself, my husband, and our eagerly waiting 3-year-old son, who had been looking forward to having ice cream and was the main reason for our visit. Upon reaching the counter, where there were three girls, one of them, who had just arrived, informed us that they were no longer serving and would only serve those in front of us in the queue. We attempted to explain that we only needed one scoop for our little one, but the response was a firm refusal. Our concern is why the door was left open if the decision had been made not to serve ice cream anymore. Why did you let people enter? Why wasn't a "closed" sign displayed when you decided to close before 11 pm? We would have happily requested just one scoop for our child without any expectations for ourselves. Unfortunately, the response from the girl behind the counter, whose name we couldn't catch, was unreasonably rude. Despite offers from people in the queue to purchase and bring the ice cream outside for us, she adamantly refused, leaving us in an uncomfortable situation with the entire crowd observing. Messina, while you may have a well-known name for your ice creams, the service we experienced was far from satisfactory. It's crucial to instill proper manners and work ethics in your staff to ensure a positive...