Handel's Homemade Ice Cream — Restaurant in Chula Vista

This could be a great family place to make summer memories and get good ice cream. Unfortunately, that potential is wasted on a drab interior more akin to a cattle chute than a family outing destination. Unclear signage attempts to lay out the options with plenty of upsell opportunities on dipped this and covered that.

Missing from the instructions is you get up to two flavors per order. What if you pay more? NOPE, not an option, they will die on that hill, and the reason for it is as lost as the purpose of the appendix. They will also fail to inform you that a "flight" (do we really need alcohol oriented naming for ice cream servings?) has four flavors to choose from, because I said bowl up front, and well, let's ignore that my main purpose was to figure out why I was limited to two flavors.

This is all delivered by dead-eyed, zero concept of customer service youth well old enough to have been taught what customer service entails--Wednesday Addams would have been more chipper than the Sunday afternoon crew.

And whatever you do, don't ask anyone "why"--this simply causes them to throw up their hands and take a break in the back.

The ice cream is fine if you like waiting in line to get not what you ordered and a side of sass.

Please don't continue the abuse with a glad handed, e.pty response about how an undefined "I" will take the comments back to management. Management knows they don't care what level of service staff are providing--there is ZERO chance the four staff members I had ample opportunity to watch in action well before I placed my order have had any training about either how to handle negatives or, ya know, seem like they care about anything but...

While the ice cream is of good quality and the staff is friendly, I find myself compelled to give this place a two-star rating. This decision is based on the fact that they do not offer free samples!

For decades, ice cream parlors have been providing customers with the opportunity to try free samples. Although the exact history of offering samples in ice cream parlors is not extensively documented, it has become a standard and expected part of the customer experience over time. These samples are a way for businesses to attract customers, showcase their variety of products, and enhance the overall customer experience.

With flavors like cookie dough, chocolate raspberry truffle, and peppermint bark at Handles, it's challenging to decide whether to spend $5 on a new flavor without any prior knowledge of its taste. The uncertainty of whether the flavor will be enjoyable or disappointing can make the decision daunting.

I've never encountered an ice cream parlor that didn't allow customers to try a small sample of any flavor, until my visit to Handel's in Chula Vista (Eastlake Parkway). So disappointing! We opted for 'safe' flavors due to the lack of sampling availability. However, I've come to realize that I prefer the option to try a new flavor before fully committing to it. So unless we are going to limit ourselves to safe flavors from here on out (not happening), we will be going back to Cold Stone near by. They, at least, allow customers to sample new flavors before making a purchase.

I have further reduced my review to one star because after asking the "manager" for contact info of the owner so I could privately provide constructive feedback, I...

THIS LOCATION IS A PASS. We already know we like handels ice cream, which is why we came; BUT the service here is horrendous for MORE than one reason. First, the owner’s policy is no samples, no exceptions. We go to different handels all over the place and they have no problem giving samples. How am I supposed to commit to a $7 (smallest size) without knowing if I like it? Ultimately I went with one I already know, but sure would have loved to try the seasonal flavors! Secondly, my father in law wanted two flavors. The person helping us started scooping and he said, “whoa, that’s way too much! I just wanted one scoop of each.” Her response was, “well, you wanted two flavors and that’s automatically a medium.” That was not communicated AT ALL. She just upsized him without clarifying at all and made no exceptions to have him change sizes because she already started scooping. Lastly, my husband and I were discussing what flavors to get in line (not ordering) and she already started writing it down and gave us a total… we had to tell her to slow down and that we hadn’t even decided. The communication here is TERRIBLE and I cannot even believe how unethical and rushed these money hungry owners and employees are at...