Amato Gelato Kensington — Restaurant in Calgary

I had high hopes when visiting this gelato shop in Calgary today. It has solid reviews and offers a wide selection of flavors. As a tourist from the U.S., I was excited to try something local and gladly paid for a cone with two scoops, even leaving a tip upfront, expecting friendly service. However, the experience turned sour quickly. After sampling just two flavors, the male staff member with a mustache told us we could only try one more because we had only ordered one cone. This caught us off guard - there were no signs or verbal notices about such a rule when we paid. More importantly, we witnessed other customers, assisted by a female staff member, sampling multiple flavors without issue. She remained patient and welcoming throughout, which made the contrast in treatment all the more jarring. The samples from the male staff were tiny, and when we expressed confusion, he doubled down on the arbitrary limit. In the end, we had to make a rushed, blind choice, and sadly, neither of us enjoyed what we got. The gelato itself was quite underwhelming, definitely not worth the hype or the poor experience. It left us feeling unwelcome, even singled out. This was the only time during our Canadian trip that we felt unfairly treated, and it left a bitter aftertaste - both literally and figuratively. If you’re in the area, I recommend exploring other gelato spots. There are surely friendlier and better-tasting options out there, especially if you’d like to be treated with basic courtesy.

P.S. After checking some older negative reviews and store website, I somehow believe the person who served us was either the manager or the owner himself. That’s why I’m not sure whether this review will make any difference end of the day. But I do sincerely believe that a long-standing establishment, especially one with a proud history, should always put customers first, and treat every guest with the same level of...

Came in knowing that we’d order an Affogato, however I still wanted to try some flavours before purchasing the affogato. Every single ice cream shop and gelato shop I’ve been to have no problem with letting you sample 2-3 flavours before paying. However, the guy at the till said that I absolutely had to pay first before sampling? I thought this was odd and very inconvenient. What if I had 2 flavours in mind, taste tested them and didn’t like them, and decided not to get anything? I would have already paid for however many scoops and/or a cone (as the guy wants you to pay first). This is awful customer service in my opinion. I wouldn’t come back for the customer service. On another note, he also mentioned that they make customers pay first because “if it’s busy” and he even stated “right now in this moment we’re not busy,” we get customers to pay first to help with the line. He still made me pay first, and I wasn’t even able to sample flavours because the girl was “busy.” While this makes practical sense, I do still think it reflects poor customer service. All the times in the past that I’ve visited this location, this “paying before sampling” was never a thing.

The ice cream, on the other hand, always great and delicious. The affogato we had was the best flavour-wise (espresso was strong and bold, mixed VERY well with the vanilla bean ice cream), but the scoop of ice cream was quite small (seemed smaller than a child’s size…). For $8, it was very expensive, but the flavours and satisfaction were there! Would return for the ice cream, would NOT return for...

Every time we come here it's always something from their Debit or Cash policy, to popular flavours that aren't available.

Don't get me started on the rude and inconsistent service.

I'm paying lots for the privilege and always I get the you are only allowed to try it 3 times and all I'm getting is a tiny tiny taste that is so inconsequential that I'm often still not even sure I liked what I tried. Not enough to know - honestly.

Then there is the method of handling payments; nope not just the debit or Cash issue, but the fact that I'm going up and down the line, from tasting to then being told I need to pay, so I leave the line to being told I need to decide what I want, so I'm going back and forth to tell them because we all want different things and then being told no no just the size is fine.. but it's not fine, because I say 'oh sure two of those middle tubs' and they reply 'the xxxml one?'. Look you have three tubs, no signs about the sizes and I've already pointed and said the middle one, why are you asking me something I don't even know... 500, 1000ml.. I just know I want the middle one.

Anyway the experience there is always a delight and I really wish someone would think and sort out their whole process because we are going less and less due to their atrocious management of the...