Amy's Ice Creams — Restaurant in Austin

Amy has a lot of options in stock (stock options)—both ice cream and toppings—and her Counter Girls are cordially accommodating to inquisitive ice cream samplers such as us. My dear companion was still undecided after all her samplings, so she simply said “surprise me” and was indeed pleasantly surprised with a mystery ice cream which we believed to be Watermelon with Oreo ore. I admired my dear companion’s faith in Counter Girl No. 1, but my intuition was urging me toward American Apple Pie ice cream with pecans. Praise Allah = Thank God for Counter Girl No. 2, though, for she suggested a warm drizzle of pecan praline instead, a delectably appropriate and superior substance which I would not have known existed if not for her. Suffice it to say, the Counter Girls did right by us. I say this even though CG#1 inverted our cup sizes—giving me the “small” and my dear companion the “tiny”—because that actually worked out for the best, as the scientific consensus soon emerged clearly declaring mine to be the certifiably superior creamy concoction.

Because Amy’s is so small, my dear companion and I took our ice creams out for a stroll in the lovely little statue park just beyond the ice cream shoppe. This is idyllic and strongly recommended. Be sure to check out the bovine statuary. And be sure to ask yourself: What happened to the cows’ feet? According to local Austinite Alex Jones, Amy’s Ice Cream used to offer a very interesting ice cream topping back in the ‘80s when it first opened: hooves. #infowars ...

Amy’s Ice Creams still has the best ice cream around, but…

I’ve been an Amy’s Ice Creams loyalist for over 25 years, visiting every single location and spreading the word about its legendary ice cream and famously friendly, welcoming vibe. I couldn’t wait to introduce some friends from out of town to the Arboretum location this past Sunday to show them what makes Amy’s so special.

Sadly, our experience (this past Sunday) was soured by the way one employee handled our visit. One of my friends, who has a service dog, barely got a foot in the door before an employee — Hispanic with pink streaks in her hair — was on him with questions about his service animal. Let me be clear: we understand that sometimes questions need to be asked. But her approach was rude, accusatory, and completely lacking in the kind of warmth Amy’s is known for. It felt like she’d been waiting all day to “catch” someone, and she seized the opportunity with an attitude that was, frankly, insulting. Her tone was so off-putting that my friend, who is used to this question, simply turned around and walked out.

Amy’s, I know you’re better than this. Your ice cream is world-class, but an experience like this is enough to make anyone think twice. I’ll be visiting any other location before I come back to this one, even though this is the location I’ve been coming to since I was an infant. I hope this feedback leads to a reminder for all employees that the Amy’s experience is as much about kindness and inclusivity as it is about...

Upon walking into this location I experienced the employee, Josiah, arguing with an elderly woman. The woman, who was with what looked like her granddaughter, was trying to explain to him the details of a promotional card that she had. She was clearly explaining what the card entailed but he was unable to grasp the simplicity of it and proceeded to say she was wrong when it was obvious she was right. After a few minutes of debating the end result was Josiah throwing away two bowls of ice cream ordered by the woman and her granddaughter and the two of them leaving empty handed in disgust. What looked like a nice day for a grandmother and her granddaughter turned into a sad experience. I was tempted to leave based on that experience alone but was there to get a treat for someone else. The shake that I ordered said $8.50 on the menu but rang up at $10.50. When I asked Josiah about that he said he didn’t know(Also, I’m pretty sure the shake wasn’t made correctly based on what the recipient said). I just wanted to get out of there so I decided to just pay and not debate with him. I would say that this employee successfully permanently lost two paying customers. As a business owner I understand that it’s hard to find good workers but some people are a liability. Not only will we probably never return to Amy’s but the bad word of mouth will...