Charlie Brown’s Coney Island & Ice Cream — Restaurant in Almont Township

I have been going here a few times a year for over 20 years. It’s a typical small town go to ice cream place but with a very expanded menu. The variety of choices is great! Not sure why but at times when going there the wait time has been quite long. Maybe it’s a sign of these post COVID times as restaurants in general are having a hard time attracting workers. Recently when ordering a cup of ice cream and a sundae at the drive up window I did see their little sign saying tips were appreciated. I thought about leaving one but I tip based on my experience so had to see how that went. There was one car in front of me at the drive up window and it took nearly 5 minutes for them to get their one item and pay. When I pulled up it was the same thing for me. The ice cream in the cup was melting when it was handed to me. Because of the wait as well as the melting ice cream I decided to not tip that day. I paid with a credit card and they gave me a receipt back not to sign but to rather give a tip! I put a dash through the tip amount box and handed it back to the gal. I felt like that was rather bold of them to be fishing for tips! I went back again today and my wife and I saw the Sundae’s were $2.99 for a large. Being a great deal my wife and I each got one. When we pulled up to the window there were two gals there and they asked for $9.01. I pointed out that according to the price on their sign, with tax I should pay $6.34. The two gals were baffled so went and got another gal. She told us the entire board of menu items at the drive up had wrong prices. I said that was ridiculous but paid the $9.01 as I am sure these young gals had nothing to do with the sign being way out of date. C’mon owners. Do a better job. So I see after posting my update about the price on the sign not being close to what I was charged for two sundaes I got a response back asking if I added toppings. No I did not. What are you going to do about the wrong prices being posted and having your employee admit they were wrong? Isn’t it illegal to charge more than the...

I still only order specific items from this place. Don’t get this review wrong, their food is worthy of a red plate award for excellent drive & dine in- places to eat, their service & execution in the drive-thru is their biggest weakness & issue. I have given this place more than one chance in getting their orders right, & they sometimes do. They’re amazing, but they’re also growing beyond their capacity.

This place is plagued by long wait times & certain staff that don’t wish to go the extra mile. I gave them a secret test recently after seeing them under new management & ordered & placed an order a very specific way for family. When I received it (after a 23 min. wait), it put together, lukewarm, and with a drink two sizes smaller than I ordered it as, & I inquired about why it was that way, the person who took the order said “Because it comes that way.”

It’s disheartening for me to hear such sass-back when I want to treat myself to something from here. Why should I tip generously or leave a fantastic review, when service is so against the customer & people are being mistreated for supporting a business with their money, that the people only go for the food & nothing else there? Anyways, maybe the girl was having a bad day.

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UPDATE:: I❤️ Charlie Brown’s & continue to send a lot of business there. But when you know how each area of the process is supposed to work, it makes you catch on to areas that if worked on, would make this place unstoppable.

Someone gave me a suggestion to go in at a different time when it wasn’t as packed. The previous review that I made seems to come from the angle that this place is very popular & continues to be & maybe they don’t have enough staff to now keep up anymore.

I usually ring once for my reviews, but I took the chance & I’d suggest going that route as this place still has much to offer otherwise. And if you can go in and the line is small, go for...

Normally, Charlie Brown's is 5 stars... Not today. Yes, it's hot. Yes, it was busy. I called because I picked up food and ice cream for several people, get home, and there's no Bananas in the BANANA Split... I get a greeting, a "how can I help you" and I asked if they were out of bananas or something, and get no response. I don't mean the call cut out, because I could hear voices in the background. 30 seconds of ZERO response until after repeatedly saying "hello? HELLO? Is ANYONE there...?" I get "yeah?" She didn't hear me, I guess, so I repeated my question, if they had run out of bananas or was there a mistake because I just got a banana split and there's no Bananas in it? And she says, "okay." I asked if I was interrupting her because she was continuing to take a long time to repond, and she told me I could come right back get another one, told me it would be a bit before someone else could speak with me.

A simple "I'm sorry" or something would've gone a long way, even after being ignored for the first portion of the call... but the continued incapacity to give ANY sort of customer service or even politeness for that matter,...