The Ice Cream Lab — Restaurant in Colorado Springs

Soo I really hate that i have to write this review but it has to be done. i have been coming to the Ice cream Lab Since they opened and was super impressed with the business until tonight. when we chcked the hours they are open said 10pm. so we drove from the other side of town to get my wife some dubai chocolate strawberries. when we got there at 9:25 the door was wide open and the open sign was on. i was approached by some random guy stating that the peeps behind the bar told him they were the last customers of the night. i dont know this dude and the open sign was on and the door was unlocked and wide open so i honestly didnt take what he said seriously. when i walked in i watched as the lady with the glow in the dark pink hair and bright neon yellow headband stare me down then went up and down the line telling everyone that i didnt listen to the guy and i just walked right in. i literally watched her go and talk to EVERYONE and when she talked to them they looked up and stared me down . its not hard to tell when someone is talking about you. After waiting in line for about 20 mins i was told by the owners wife that the people in front of us were gonna be the last ones helped for the night. we asked if it was ok if we got strawberries since thats what we came for nothing to big. She had to have a conversation with her husband who was like let them stay. so after waiting for an hour in line we were told they had just ran out of strawberries for the night. So we walked out and drove 30 mins back home empty handed and with out even an apology. after watching miss pink hair make what we ordered for the people in front of us. im curious as to why when you have an amazing business that everyone wants your product you turn them away on a saturday night on a holiday weekend. We own our own ice cream business and still support this business till today. Me and my wife will never ever go back for any reason in the future which is a sad thing for us. If you state your hours are till 10 then please honor that and stay open till 10 or turn off the open sign and close the door. Catch more flies with honey than you do vinegar. The Male Owner of this establishment is a good guy and i can see he cares very much about his business but your crew isnt putting off that same vibe. OH and then after turning away around 10 people that came in after us a family walked in and they apparently knew the owners and were allowed to stay. Also 2 visits ago we came for mothers day and got two cups of strawberries the creme ones. while making our strawberry cups she had to stop and gossip with another co worker there until the owner seen me looking at them in disbelief and did something to get her attention back on the task at hand. Manage your people guys....

Honest review: I visited the ice cream lab Sunday, March 2nd. I arrived in line at 5:18pm. There were about 25 people ahead of me at this time. I finally got to the cashier to order at 7:23pm. I ordered a cup of Dubai strawberries, Oreo shake, Oreo sundae, Reese’s sundae and cotton candy sundae. Total came out to around $80. A little more expensive than I’d like, but not too bad. After ordering I waited another 30 minutes before I received my order. I was given my Dubai strawberries and had to wait for the sundaes to be made. I’m patient, so I didn’t mind waiting. They were constantly working their butts off to get everyone’s order, with very few employees. I give props for the hard working employees. I was then handed a fruity pebble sundae (which I didn’t order) and told them it was the incorrect order. They ended up losing my order slip and had to find it again. I was told I could just keep it which was fine, and they’d make my correct order. Finally I was handed my Oreo sundae, Oreo shake, and cotton candy sundae. My Reese’s Sundae was still forgotten about but at this time it was 8:17pm and I didn’t want to wait any longer with my kiddos, so I just accepted the fruity pebble sundae that was someone else’s and left. The ice cream was great. Strawberries fresh and very good. I think with some more employees, they will be able to cut the wait time down. I do think they have too big of a menu personally which can cause some issues with longer wait times. If the menu was more simplified, it would give them a chance to perfect their products and cut down wait time due to being confident in each product and ingredient. All in all it was a fairly great ice cream shop and a cool experience. I think we will wait to return once the wait times can go down a bit. Hard working employees and you can tell they love their shop and take pride in it. That’s...

I really look forward to the day I can actually go and experience this with my kids, but unfortunately I’m not sure when that’ll be, if ever. I’m really fond of when businesses open on time or at least somewhat close to their opening time. I’m not sure how much grace is expected. We got there about 15 minutes before opening and waited outside for a good hour and still the place was not open. The was wind was far too brisk to wait much longer. Online it said they opened at 5:00, but the sun was beginning to go down once we had left. My kids, & my nephew who is autistic, became extremely restless waiting. Being the owner of a small business myself, I try to give grace. However, the same thing happened when my brother took my nephew on a previous occasion. This was their second time having this happen to them at this place. I’m sure the ice cream and experience is great. It must be if there’s a line of eager people out the door, but at this point it seems we’ll genuinely never know for ourselves. If I ever get the chance to even witness the place being open during business hours and experience it for myself, I’ll be sure to delete this review and leave one based solely on that experience, but right now this IS my experience. I don’t know many people that enjoy having time gone to waste or simply mislead. I hate to leave bad reviews, especially for locally owned businesses, but I believe in transparency so others have an idea of what they can...