Eastern Sierra Ice Cream Company — Restaurant in Bishop

We had a really unpleasant experience with the man here. He was not hiker friendly and I would not recommend this place.

We got the bus from Bishop to Independence to collect a parcel each. Once done we decided to go for an ice cream at this place before we got the next bus back. It was about half an hour until it opened so we decided to wait outside in the shade on two seats in the garden. We took up two seats and put our parcels on two more. There was no one else about. Whilst we waited we made a few calls and sorted our boxes out. We didn’t make any mess or leave any rubbish and we didn’t get in anyone’s way.

A little later on an old grey haired guy came out to put his open sign out. We greeted him expecting to go into the shop for an ice cream but he just started ranting at us about how rude we were and told us we had to get out of there. We politely explained that we were just waiting for him to open but he just went on about how rude we were and that he didn’t want us there and that he wouldn’t serve us. Then he went on to mention that he’d done the PCT but that he wasn’t rude. We genuinely had no idea what had upset him so much, he pretended to radio security and advise them of an incident unfolding. It was absolutely ridiculous and so over the top. We asked him what we had done to offend him and he wouldn’t answer. He could give no explanation as to why he was treating us like this. As we walked away a bit flustered he just kept having a go at us and telling us that we were not welcome there.

I suspect that he has had a bad experience with hikers in the past and thought we were just lazing around on his furniture but even when we explained that we were waiting for him to open, he just carried on having a go at us.

This is the only unpleasant experience we’ve had over here, we’ve been so blessed to receive such warmth and kindness on this journey so far. We are a couple in our 40’s who are very polite and respectful but this experience really affected our trip to Bishop and was such a stark contrast to the welcoming environment of the community bbq the day before.

Don’t let him spoil...

In this extremely hot day of 100 degrees we decided to stop off at this quaint cute ice cream location. The owners were super nice and gave us the low down on why they chose to move from orange county to Independence after retiring from the landscaping business. They built this little shop themselves! Amazing talent! And they make the most amazing ice cream! We couldn't get every single flavor but I guess in time we will because it was just sooo good. We wanted to try their honey lavendar, unfortunately we got there just after they sold their last scoop. So we got Pistacci-oh (yummmm), apple pie (seriously tasted just like a slice of pie with chunks of Apple, and a scoop of Coconut ice cream (smooth and rich). Another customer there said that the cherry ice cream was AMAZING! So I'm gonna try that the next time I'm driving thru. If you're in the area and lucky enough to drive thru on a day that they're open you have to stop here. They only open on certain days of the week. I think they're keeping the other days to themselves so they can either work on building their home or enjoy their retired life in the little town of...

We stopped here on advice from family who had stopped earlier that week. What a cool place, people and ice cream! We walked in - it's tiny, but such a cool historic building. Paul and his wife were there and just full of life! We got up and I ordered boring Vanilla (which is def. wasn't) and my wife ordered the Dairy free Lime. Once we got to pay, Paul chatted with us for a good 20 minutes. He's good people - we chatted about his wife growing up in OC (where we're from) and how he happened upon owning this gem in Independence.

For Joanne Cotton - what the hell is "hiker friendly"?? Paul is a stand up guy....lemme guess, you took over the place and made a mess as he was opening his hard-earned business. Hikers are cool people - I'm one of them. Don't be...