Pat & Toni's Sweet Things — Restaurant in DeLand

My family has always loved it here and came every weekend for years now. But lately the staff is rushing us and it makes the fun candy outing and ice cream outing an unhappy experience. The cannolis used to be delicious and our family would come every Friday night for them but the past month or so they’re hollow with barely any cream. They took the 2 for 3$ special away during bike week so I ended up not knowing and paying triple the price or more. Last weekend I asked an employee to confirm they only have cannolis Thursday and Friday and she said “all weekend, Friday Saturday Sunday”. We came on a Sunday, no cannolis. Even on not busy nights my kids ice cream cones are so rushed that the ice cream falls right off the cone. It’s sad that there is no friendly customer service, the quality is going down and their prices are going up. Sadly, we will have to find a different tradition for weekend outings.

response to owner: The prices did not stay the same for bike week. I see you asking other customers which employees have gave a bad attitude. In my experience, it has been all employees that seem bothered anytime we went in. Especially if you ask for a milkshake or a cup to put your kids falling off ice cream cone in, then you get eyes rolled at you. It made me too scared to even ask for a spoon with the cup after, I walked to berryville and got a spoon. It’s intimidating. If you are at the candy counter and not totally ready they will take the next person and not come back to you, you just stand there until another employee asks if you have been helped. Customer service should include a “have a nice night” or any kind of communication besides setting your bag on the counter and walking away from the register. A talk with employees about customer service...

I recently visited Pat and Toni’s and was left feeling as if my opinion was not valid. I went to try their açaí bowls as I had been hearing pretty good reviews about them. The açaí bowls had a smoothie consistency rather than real açaí. I was fine with paying and going about my business but the owner happened to see that I hadn’t really touched my bowl after sitting outside at their tables for quite some time. Initially he showed some concern and asked if I enjoyed it. Respectfully, I told him that it wasn’t my favorite bowl but that’s just due to my preferences of having the bowl be more of a shaved ice consistency and firmer while eating. He became very passive aggressive, gloating about how his bowls are liked all over town and how he’s had people from other countries come to try their bowls and was told they were the ‘best they’ve ever had.’ I followed up by saying that it’s ‘just not my preference’ and trying to end the conversation there. He continued on trying to give 1000 reasons on why I SHOULD like the bowl and that in sooo many words that I’m wrong for not liking it. Very passive aggressive...

I have stopped in Pat & Toni's twice in the past six months. Their product variety is awesome. It's truly a gem of downtown DeLand. My only complaint is that each time I go there, while I am browsing products (of which there are so many), I'm repeatedly asked by different employees if I need assistance. Today my mom and I were asked four times by two or three different employees in less than five minutes of being in the store. This was consistent with my experience earlier this year as well. Perhaps it's just overzealous customer service, but it feels like we're being rushed to make decisions when we haven't been in there very long. I realize it's a small storefront, but we're just trying to shop, then get out of everyone's hair, but that takes more than a couple of minutes. That's all.

Response to the owner: Thanks for your reply. I know it's an odd thing to say "the employees were too helpful". I really didn't know how to read the situation because we were being asked if we wanted to buy something every 60 seconds. We did make a purchase, but it was a rushed process....