Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams — Restaurant in Alexandria

From Alaska to Bali, Pantagonia to Zimbabwe and all towns, cities and countries in between, I experienced the most unwelcoming, unpleasant, customer anti-service in all my many decades of life - at none other than Jeni's in Old Town. I'd never tried these ice creams but had heard and read so many great things about the product that finally, yesterday, I made time to go. I was very excited about trying the product, and figured with snow and icy weather conditions, there likely wouldn't be a crowd. Sure enough, I was the ONLY customer and when I opened the door (wearing a mask - obviously!), there was only one person inside working. He was stationed right at the door and said, "Welcome to Jeni's". You may not enter our store any further. I was only a foot inside the door I'd just entered before being stopped. So, the immediate experience was of a literal and figurative barricade. To say that initial impression was unwelcoming and unpleasant is a massive understatement. I then told the employee that I'd never been to Jeni's and would like to taste a few flavors before making a decision about which to purchase. He said, no, we do not allow tastings. (Since I'd reviewed the flavors online beforehand, I had five I wanted to taste.) I thought, O.K., I'll gamble on this product and try 4 of the 5 flavors I'd hoped to taste, but because it was a gamble, I didn't want to get a whole pint of each. So, I asked if he would be kind enough to put (as is done with gelatos) half pint of each flavor into 2 containers. He said no, Jeni's does not "mix" flavors. I explained to him I would be fine with the moderate mixing in the middle of the container. Again, he said NO, Jeni's doesn't do that. I then asked if he would put half a pint each into 4 containers, and he said NO, there are no empty containers in the store, that all pints are pre-packaged. And so went my first and last time at this place NOT even remotely practicing customer service, and actually, it seems quite practiced and professional at NOT serving customers. That ice cream has to be some kind of great to be able to profit by telling customers no, no, no, no, and no again, and with ZERO indication/inclination to help/work with the customer. Be that as it may, no ice cream is worth that. After all those NOs, I told the the employee that I was a first and last time customer, and left. It truly was one for the record of how not to treat people trying desperately to try your product AND give you...

I was out walking errands today and knew my fav places were closed on Mondays soooo I stopped in Jeni's only because it was highly rated. Let me start with my overall thought before I get into it. SHORT ANSWER: For me, the serving was small, the ice cream was too sweet, the ice cream had ice/frost crunch to it, and it was not a good value. In short, this is kid-style ice cream but the parents should cry at the price they pay. STANDING IN LINE: When I walked up to Jeni's and saw three counters of ice cream from the back of the line I got excited that I would get to choose from many flavors. Uhh, when I got up to the counter I was faked out because each counter had repeating flavors with these fluffy names that market to kids. FALSE LINES: The line was artificially long because everyone stop at the first counter and the staff do not guide folks to move down to accommodate customers in line behind them. The line also gets long because everyone ask to sample several ice creams because the ice cream title tells you nothing of what it is. When I got to the counter I kept asking the staff to tell me what the ice cream were like Texas Layer Cake and Popcorn Butter Brittle tells me nothing. You'd think they would use their signage to describe what each ice cream contains to slow folks from having samples and asking so many questions. Ice cream should not be this hard. MY SELECTION: After 30 minutes standing in line I got one scoop of a safe flavor that's technically Vanilla (I don't recall what they call it), and one scoop of Texas Layer Cake in a waffle cup. For $11 I was stunned how small the scoops were. I am value spoiled because for that price my fav places pack the whole cup. THE TASTING: Now I dig into to see what's the high rating all about. Hmm, well, the waffle was really thin and not much flavor. The scoop of vanilla was small and had ice bits in it. The scoop of Texas Layer Cake was technically chocolate ice cream with a little cake bits in it. I am unsure why they call it layer cake since there was nothing layered about it -- misleading fluff. Both scoops of ice cream were small and really sweet. I say this because halfway eating the ice cream I was getting a headache and my watchband got tight. I had to loosen my watchband and immediately drink electrolytes to offset the sugar. Overall, Jeni's is not for me and I...

The Gooey Butter Cake ice cream was incredible. Each bite was packed with a delectable buttery honey flavor. The waffle cone piece was also fresh, crispy, and tasty. However, the rest of the experience was disappointing.

The Wildberry Lavender ice cream had a sickly sweet, overpowering berry flavor. The lavender was nearly nonexistent. It's too bad because I love lavender flavored things, but they're very hard to find.

I also ordered the Orange Blossom Chiffon, but it was out of stock, so they replaced it with the Blackout Chocolate Cake. It certainly looked very chocolatey. However, the flavor was completely flat and bland. I appreciated that it wasn't overly sweet, but there wasn't much chocolate flavor either. Also, they used actual chocolate chips instead of fudge chips. Even I've made enough homemade ice cream to understand that pure chocolate, when frozen, turns into a brittle, bitter lump. Fudge or chocolate mixed with coconut oil will have a much better texture when frozen.

Since I ordered a trio, there were three half scoops together. For some unfathomable reason, they put the lavender in the middle, which of course tasted disgusting when mixed with the chocolate. It's just common sense that the most neutral flavor (in this case, the butter cake) belongs in the middle.

We asked if they had any whipped cream for dogs, since we'd brought our dog with us. They said no. We asked if there was a peanut butter or vanilla option for dogs. They said no, they had nothing suitable for dogs. It was weird that they were completely unwilling to offer any suggestions. Many of their flavors could be dog friendly, but it seemed like they didn't even want to discuss it or offer any recommendations. Why wouldn't you offer a recommendation if the customer is willing to buy something? I ended up just giving the rest of my lavender ice cream to my dog since it wasn't good anyway.

If I had only ordered the butter cake ice cream, I would have given 5 stars. This place loses one star for the service and another star for the...