Pipers Soft Serve Bar — Restaurant in Covington

I used to have a five star review up here. I’ve been coming here for years and years and it’s slowly lost its way. Having met the owner and had some conversations with him, it’s clear he’s reaching the “grumpy old man” stage of business ownership, where the 1% or less of people who cause trouble are so bothersome to him that he caters his business to the 1% instead of the 99%. Horribly inefficient systems that were not in place until this year, all because you’d rather slow down sales than implement a ticket system. A lot of the patio furniture is gone or replaced with much worse and less comfortable options. What really did it was that I saw them pulling waffle comes out of factory sealed bags, when I know as recently as two years ago they used to hand make the waffle cones in house. This means unless they have a bag sealer - which is possible but highly unlikely for this type of bag - they have switched from in house cones to factory cones. All the while they are charging some of the highest prices for ice cream, especially soft serve, I have seen anywhere in the world (not an exaggeration). I used to be able to justify it all, but honestly, there are over fifty ice creameries between my house and Piper. This may be the last time...

We stopped by Piper's ice cream bar on our way home from Cincinnati on Sunday April 13th 2025. There was a young man working the order window. We ordered and 11 oz chocolate vanilla swirl cone and an 11 oz chocolate vanilla swirl cup with whipped cream. The total was $14 and change. We thought it was a little expensive for our taste but since we were new to it we thought we'd give it a try. When my wife received her order we noticed a cup was maybe half full. When we question the young man at the window he said "it's an 11 oz cup have a nice day." My wife and I took that have a nice day as don't bother me. The cup was indeed maybe half full and when he applied the whipped cream he did one little squirt on one side like a ribbon maybe 2 inches long. When we were walking away he was talking under his breath really couldn't understand what he was saying. We walked away very upset about the whole situation. The young man was very rude to both of us but especially to my wife. We definitely will not...

I wanted so badly to like this! The menu really interested me and I was excited to see malt vinegar flavoring for the fries. I ordered on Door Dash and 32 minutes after the order was supposed to be delivered, not when I ordered it. That's when I received a phone call from the owner saying he just received my order and was out of fries. That's totally okay, it happens, he offered me chips or to wait until his fry delivery came in. I opted for homemade chips. I didn't expect to get anything for free, but the chips are cheaper than the fries and I wasn't credited for it.

Then 50 minutes after my delivery was supposed to be here I received my order of the Chick-Fil-Lie salad sandwich, to which I added bacon and mustard. I got it with no bacon or mustard. It had NO flavor. It was just awful. I was so disappointed.

But honestly, those were the best chips I've ever had in my life!

I'll probably give them one more try to see if this wasn't a fluke, but I just didn't have a...