Chillin’ Cookies — Restaurant in Ephrata

I don't know what happened to this place. I would go in every other week or so, but started going at least once or twice a week consistently when they added the acai bowls to their menu around the 2nd week of August. The acai bowls are amazing! The ice cream is fantastic. The cookie sandwiches are huge, great value! The only thing I would've liked better is if the cookies were softer. Then 9/1/24 the Mainspring of Ephrata made downtown Ephrata discount cards, valid until 11/30/24, which Chillen Cookies (and 19 other small businesses) participated in. They offered buy 1 cookie sandwich get 1 free. It looked like business really picked up, especially during the Ephrata Fair. But since like the beginning of October, they started going downhill. There started to be less cookie options available, and then less ice cream flavors, but luckily, they had the options I liked. But the past 3 weeks, they haven't had the acai bowls available!! I was just in last week, and there were 2 cookie options, very few ice cream flavors, and STILL NO acai bowls. The employee who was there the past few times I've come in is extremely nice, and always apologized for not having what I wanted, which obviously isn't their fault. I'm not sure if it's a vendor problem or what's going on, but they will not last if this persists. The business should post a sign or to their Facebook page what's going on, because if I were a 1st time customer coming in with it being like this, it would be my last. I'm hoping they can fix whatever problems they are having, because they were/are a great small business for...

We were so excited to try this place, but had a mediocre experience at best. Service was just ok. Ordered 2 milkshakes and a cookie sandwich. The images of the milkshakes on all of their flyers and menus are far from what you receive, and they did not have several of the ingredients needed for either milkshake, which feels very much like false advertisement. The shakes were so watery it was - without exaggeration - exactly like drinking a glass of slightly flavored milk. There was zero thickness. There were no straws available or offered so we attempted to use spoons, but because it was a watery mess, we just had to drink from the cup. I wasn't able to finish mine because it was awful. There are so many genuinely good creameries in the area, it's hard to imagine this place will last long with very poor quality products and subpar service.

The cookie sandwich was at least one star better than the milkshake, but didn't fit into the container and the cookie was all broken, making it difficult to eat with your hands. That's fine - I know how silverware works. One of the cookies was fresher than the other (or at least chewy and less crunchy), and the inconsistency wasn't great. The ice cream is also just okay.

We used discounts available at the time, but even the discounted cost was not worth it. Unfortunately, the lack of redeeming qualities means we won't be back. Try it for yourself, but at least be aware you might be throwing...

I have to be completely honest here. My boyfriend and I came here for the first time all excited to try this place because I heard many people talk about it being new to Ephrata and all. It really was not anything special. The older woman working there is such a sweetheart, I really am not knocking her or her service. She was knowledgeable and kind. She gives generous scoops of ice cream for those cookie sandwiches. My boyfriend got an ice cream sandwich and I got a scoop of ice cream with a cookie. The ice cream was OK, tastes like normal tub ice cream. It was the cookies that we weren’t the biggest fans of. My boyfriend got red velvet and I got a sugar cookie. The sugar cookie was just way off, too sweet and almost had an artificial taste to it. I’m not sure how to explain that. The red velvet was also just too sweet. Eating that with ice cream was difficult to finish, we ended up tossing out half of it.

The facility is nice inside and clean. Overall, for the price and taste combined, we probably will not come back here. I prefer the other place in downtown Ephrata called Laura the Cookie lady if I plan on...