Hollywood Gelato — Restaurant in Toronto

0/5 stars for my trip there last night! Short version is that we were served melted dripping ice cream by frowning, rude employees, and we had to throw it out in less than five minutes as it dropped everywhere. Total waste of money at a place which used to be our favorite.

I’ve been coming here for over a decade, and at least once a week every summer. Obviously we all love the flavors and variety here, but last night I was extremely disappointed. Both the service and state of the gelato I was served was a complete turn off.

Here’s the long version if you want more details:

The young man with glasses getting our gelato gave us the smallest scoops of ice cream I have ever been served. For one cone, he didn’t even bother getting a full scoop, he just too took smaller bits and pressed them down on top of the first scoop and along the sides. It was so obvious that the customers behind us were openly saying to each other “make sure you get the girl, she’s giving better scoops”. For the 3 scoop order, it looked like two scoops, with the 2nd scoop having extra bits along the sides.

On top of that, when we ordered creme caramel, he said he was going to go take it from the other side because it was “softer”, and walked away before I could say anything. I guess softer means half melted. It was dripping everywhere and was barely cold enough to be called gelato when I tried to eat it. This flavor is my favorite and it’s usually delicious, but at this temperature and dripping everywhere, it was pretty disgusting.

Honestly, we ended up just throwing it all out after two minutes because it was dripping everywhere.

The service was also awful. From the beginning, the girls taking our order seemed extremely frustrated about something. I don’t expect smiles all the time, but I also don’t think it’s appropriate for employees to be openly frowning at customers as they’re saying their order. The same attitude came up with the young man actually getting our scoops. He was frowning, mumbling and didn’t even look at me when he asked for the ticket with our orders on it. My parents have a bit of an accent, but it’s certainly not that bad, and we’ve never had case of employees not understanding them in the past. They told me afterward that they wanted me to order for them from now on because they felt a bit embarrassed and self-conscious about their accents. This alone, even disregarding the state of the gelato we were served, is totally unacceptable in a city like Toronto. I expect a lot more inclusivity, not to mention a more respectful demeanor from teenage employees who are serving an older couple. I was a teenage employee too, but I had basic manners and I could control my expression.

The gelato here isn’t exactly cheap, but I used to think that the experience and quality was worth it. Last night was shockingly bad, and a waste of money for me and my family. I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone if this is their new way of running this business.

I have never before written a bad review for any restaurant, I just don’t bother going back. In this case, I think it’s important for the owners to know that something is going wrong here because it used to be great and last night was terrible. I had to put 1 star to post the review, but I stand by what I wrote above: 0/5 stars for...

Stopped for Gelato here early August and was very dissapointed at how we were treated. We traveled from Brampton to visit one of our fav restaurants off that strip. On our way home we noticed this shop and decided to stop and finish off our night with Gelato.

We entered, and observed that there were a few customers who quickly ordered and left. It was clear that they've been there before. We were both clueless as to flavors or how the sales worked.

We stood at the area where they served the ice cream to customers trying to get some attention, but not one of the servers even acknowledged that we were there. It came to a point when it was just us as customers left standing there, and still no one attended to us. There was one young man who turned his back to us while packing cones and speaking with another female server.The female at cash focused her attention on counting monies from the register while there was another female sweeping the floor.

When the female sweeping the floor got closer to us, she finally looked at us, and asked if anyone had not taken our orders as yet, and I replied no. At this time, she directed the cashier to assist us. The cashier simply gestured with her hand for us to come to the cash and that we have to pay there first. We went there, and asked about the sizes and flavors and still we received a lot of attitude.

I'll stop ranting now, but I will never ever visit this place again. My girlfriend was dying for Gelato and that's my only reason for taking the embarrassment and standing there for so long. I keep telling everyone of my experience and they are all dumbstruck that this actually occurred. I don't know if it's because we are black or a gay couple, but no human should be...

Being as big a fan of ice cream/gelato as I am, it simply doesn't compute how I never stepped into this spot despite having driven by hundreds if not thousands of times over the years- it was literally on my old work route. Anyways, after being introduced a couple of months back, it's become a weekly (sometimes bi-weekly) pilgrimage all the way from Thornhill- their gelato is just THAT good/worth it. Tom's Dairy Freeze has been my go-to ice cream spot since I was a kid in the 90's... and I still maintain that they have the best soft serve in the city... but for the first time in over three decades, Tom's hasn't seen my face an awful lot this summer... just don't tell them that! Hollywood Gelato has stolen me. Their flavours taste... exactly like what they say they taste like... which is a much rarer occurrence than one might think. My favourite flavours are the coconut cream pie, hazelnut, rocky rocher, biscoff, and sicilian pistachio- but you simply cannot go wrong with any of them (the mango and raspberry are incredible for when craving something more tart/refreshing). My only criticism (which isn't a criticism of the place so much as it is of its success) is that it can get extremely busy at times and perhaps isn't best equipped to deal with the crowds. Best gelato I've had in the city, even if there are more hip/trendy places nowadays... cool vibe and aesthetic, and out-there flavours/concepts will only take you far... old school is the best school, and that's why these guys have remained relevant for so long and won so...