Dzen Ice Cream — Restaurant in Ellington

Disappointing and Discriminatory Experience 10/22/2024 It was such nice weather, so I decided to walk to get ice cream with a friend, my two ( 7 and 6 year old) grandsons and their friend, expecting a fun family outing. Unfortunately, what we encountered was far from that! The two young ladies at the window were very friendly and kind. We bought 4 ice cream in cones and a sundae. Then the kids wanted pumpkins, so we went into the other section, and there was an older white lady with short white hair. She was serving a young lady and her son and was smiling and very nice to her, so I felt at ease, but that was short-lived. The kids grabbed three pumpkins and put them on the counter. One of my grandsons said hello, and she ignored him.. I overlooked it as she didn't hear him. Then I asked her a question about carving pumpkins because they were so excited, but she continued to ignore me.. it was clear we were being treated differently from other customers, but I tried to remain calm and kind despite the cold and dismissive service. I then told her we were walking so please give us double bags. She refused, saying the pumpkin wouldn't fall through. Of course, we didn't leave the parking lot before my grandson dropped his ice cream, trying to catch the pumpkin that fell through the bag. We went back inside and I asked her if we could get another bag and explained what happened, she asked what does that have to do with anything, she had already given us bags. At that point, I told her I would pay for the bags, and she just stood there staring at us. My 7 year old grandson, confused by the treatment, asked in front of the lady, "Grandma, what did we do?" Hearing those words from him was heartbreaking. I felt deeply hurt because no matter how polite I tried to be, the woman's behavior only worsened. She ignored us while being warm and accommodating to others. No one, especially a child, should have to experience something like this. I could only think that this is a racist behavior because the only difference between us and the other customers was our skin color. Racism has no place in any setting, especially in customer service. I hope the management takes this seriously and addresses this behavior with this woman to ensure ALL customer is treated with the dignity and respect they deserve. Especially after spending $40 there... she did this with such ease. She most likely did this before without any consequences, or maybe no one ever reported her.. this type of behavior is just wrong... Sadly, we will not be returning, and I will make sure none of my family or friends go to that place! No one deserves to be treated that way.. now my grand babies had their first experience...

Been coming here for years mostly for the amazing peanut butter ice cream and staff works hard and is always courteous. My only complaints are the sizing is confusing and the specialty sundaes are underwhelming. For general sizing on all orders there is kiddie, small, and large but large is not available on any of the many flavors besides chocolate, vanilla, and twist. While their small is a pretty nice size as their actual midsize option, the staff has to constantly explain year after year to customers what I just explained and the excuse is always their machine doesn’t do large on most flavors. They do an amazing business year after year and one would think they could afford to upgrade the machines but I guess it hasn’t slowed down business so why mess with what already works. In regards to the review given a few postings down from this one by the woman who thought her family was mistreated because of race, this saddens me and I hope it was just a misunderstanding. I grew up here and even being white, I can contest to be treated badly as well by the stuffier, more stuck up older white community in a way where they act like the rest of the world doesn’t even exist. I hope this...

Standard soft serve ice cream stand backed up onto a farmstand. Employees were very friendly and understanding, compliments all around on staffing. Plenty of parking and easy to find. The ice cream itself was good, but is only soft serve dairy choices (no hard scoops) and they have zero cold treats for dairy-free folks, not even actual fruit or Popsicles. Basically no seating so pull down...