Cold Stone Creamery — Restaurant in Alexandria

Do NOT come here.

The WORST Cold Stone experience I’ve ever had. They had a sign on the door that masks were required, so I put mine on, no big deal but then we walked in and there were 6-8 teenagers behind the counter, some with masks and some pulled down, wearing street wear (hoodies, inappropriate graphic tshirts, etc) chatting amongst eachother as there was a line of ~6 parties waiting to be served. Of the teens there, only one was taking and making orders the rest stood in the back, walked around - all while chatting loudly. Finally, when the line hit the door, two other teens walked up to take orders. One took my order and the other completely ignored my partner and moved to the next party. I asked for chocolate chips in my ice cream, he threw some chips in the middle, and scooped the ball into the cup, no mixing and when I sat down to eat the ice cream I noticed there was barley any chips, only gave me half a serving. Then he came over and took my partners order after I had to tell him we had one more order (he was about to just ring mine up) and he didn’t ask if he wanted a mix in, just threw the ball of ice cream in the cup and slid it across the counter. When we went to pay, he swiped my card 3 times before it rung and gave me my card back sticky from ice cream - he then proceeded to make an ice cream for the next party with the same gloves that touched my credit card - gross.

Talking about gross, the establishment is FILTHY. By no means up to the Cold Stone franchise standards. The toppings were a mess on the counter, fruit was left out of the fridge, they weren’t cleaning up after each mix in, a MESS. The drink fridge - empty and with cardboard boxes pushed up against it. Waffle cones? They don’t have any. Some of the tubs of ice cream were visibly freezer burned and still put out as selections. The register area was sticky and dusty - just, seriously, gross.

The owner (who I learned was the owner through reading other reviews) was there and did nothing to get the teens to do their job, provide better customer service, or look more presentable. He walked around them, dusting the toppings counter with his BARE hands and throwing it on the floor. Then he just left, leaving the teens to manage the store in that condition.

Do not come here - deserves no stars....

Don’t waste your time if you come at any time near closing. Closes at 9 pm according to the hours posted. Yet walked in at 8:25 pm and couldn’t get a milkshake. Half the items were either already packed up or being packed up. Verified with the young lady at the counter that they do in fact close at 9, but then she declared that they stopped making milkshakes at 8. I asked if that was a policy stated somewhere and how would a customer know before wasting time coming there at say 8:15 or 8:45 since they close at 9? Of course I was met with the expected attitude and a comment of “well I just told you!” That is professionalism at its best!! I asked if there was a way to contact management to inquire about this new policy of not making milkshakes a full hour prior to closing (have never seen that at the numerous other Cold Stones I’ve visited with my kids), but as expected, again met with attitude while the story then changed to management tells us to stop making them at 8 and management doesn’t like to give their number out, but leave your number and we will have them call you. Yeah right!! Completely laughable. Management could do better on several fronts… if you’re going to provide limited service as your team prepares for closing, then make it known. Don’t leave it to your teammates to make up policy on the fly, making this look like a low budget mismanaged establishment. And train your staff, who represents you, to be a bit more professional, particularly in de-escalating as customers get frustrated over BS policies like “no milkshakes because we close...

Please do NOT patronize this establishment!!

I visited on February 15th after purchasing a Strawberry Blonde Gotta Have It size ice cream the Saturday prior. The lid was not properly affixed and the ice cream melted and came outsize of the bag. I returned to request a refund, with the ice cream in its original packaging and receipt, and was threatened, without prompting, warning, or even escalation, with the law. My only request was simply for a refund with my receipt provided. The 3 young African American girls, 2 pictured, are extremely unprofessional, rude, and disrespectful providing unnecessary commentary. The owner, an Indian male, Ajaz Shaikh, who prefers to reference himself as "AJ" attempted to reference himself as a "Christoper Johnson," his American business partner, also lacks professionalism. After simply requesting a refund, the owner, Ajaz Shaikh, first contacted building security, who arrived stating he could not remove me from the property, suggested speaking with the owner, and suggested I not engage the three young girls due to their behavior and disrespectful comments. After waiting for almost 45 minutes inside the establishment, the law never arrived. As I was about to drive away, an officer approached and stated nothing he could do and my contact with corporate.

Please do NOT patronize this...