Kaleidoscoops Ice Cream and More — Restaurant in Carlsbad

Short stay in Carlsbad and I largely try to stop at local spots because supporting small businesses is important folks...but maybe not this one...at least for me. The misses and I have a bit of a sweet tooth so when we spotted an ice cream shop that looked straight out of Pleasantville, we couldn't resist. Walking up, there were some folks sitting outside that gave off peaked in high-school energy, they didnt seem to have an order they were just kind of lingering and being "cool"? I kind of figured out why but thats later in the review. The inside of this place smells bad, like hot old grease thrown on kitty litter. I wanted to walk out but the misses is oblivious to these things and already perusing the ice cream options. I'm stuck, I join her. This place is dirty, I only noticed because we had so much time to look around as it took incredibly long to get our ice cream. Predipped cones melting, soggy, and fly blown, filthy tables and floors and that...smell. I tug at my partners hand, she remains steadfast in her quest for dairy. I watched customers come in after us get their orders taken because they obviously knew one of the workers and so they decided to chat each other up while we shuffled curiously from bin to bin looking at ice cream. But, now I see why the "cool kids" loiter, I guess its a friends hangout or something idk - I just want ice cream. Finally our turn arrives and I order the Mississippi Mud, she orders bday cake. With no gloves, our cones are handled and scooped and nearly soup as the cashier hands them to us. I nearly laughed when I saw the highest settings on tip percentage, and almost made a show of selecting zero - because, seriously? My wife hated hers and took a few nibbles before binning hers and I was quick to follow. She said the bday cake tasted like chemicals. The MM was just a chocolate cone, no depth of flavor, just blah. We got sugar cones because those were the only ones not exposed to the elements. Absolutely will not visit this place again, grab a pint from your local grocers and save yourself the time, money, and potential health hazards you may be...

It was my first time coming to this place & I'm so glad I did. It deserves waaayy more than 5 stars. I visited Kaleidoscoops with my fiance, mother. We had ordered Catfish, Crispy chicken salad, and a Burger w/ Cheese tots. Really fresh food! Everything was amazing. 👏 The salad we had received was well worth the money! You won't be disappointed coming here. The staff are very helpful & polite. There was seating outside which was nice at the end of a long day. We also had dessert. Superman waffle cone, Rocky road M&m's waffle cone, Strawberry Cheesecake waffle cone ice cream. All employees were wearing masks. I will be returning here when i am visiting again!!!

UPDATE 7/14/23 Stopped by to have a quick bite today i came with a crowd of 3, the food wasn't how it use to be. This place is great for ice cream but pass on the oil greased food it's not worth the money. Upon entering we picked a spot to sit inside all tables were dirty, we wiped down the table we were at ourselves. I had ordered 2 catfish baskets with waffle fries, a kids chicken tender basket, 1 double cheese burger basket, cheesy tots. The only thing that was good was the cheesy tots and the waffle fries. For $70. The portion sizes are not worth the money....we left unsatisfied. This place use to be so good, it's run by mostly teenagers so of course our youth is where it's at now a days. * LONG STORY SHORT COME FOR THE ICE CREAM...

Coming to this restaurants ruined my good day, wasted my money, and time. I won't ever come here again for following reasons. Although there was only one good thing the cashier/waitress was very sweet and kind.

-soda taste horribly off beyond usual bit inbalanced water/carbonate to syrup -no option for bottled or canned soda -no bottled water in bad tap water town -my table was missing salt shaker -fries sucks horribly it was floppy and oily idiot cook didn't have oil nearly hot enough perhaps on purpose to extend life of frying oil at cost of quality -fried chicken sucks (fried crispy is way too hard and taste bland like the chicken in it which was too thin to the hard bread on it and that's coming from guy who don't mind hard fried crispy chicken) -hot and musty air inside cause us all to sweat -cook on the grill smoking whole place with burnt oil -when finding this place on Google to leave review I can't help but notice that photos of this place are very convincing and good looking but this place doesnt look nowhere as good the building's ancient and it shows everywhere when you look around. -lastly, the most damning is that their ice cream sucks they are supplied by blue bunny and cedar crest which's trash compared to cold stone, blue bell, baskin-robbins, etc.

I wish that I had never stepped foot...