Cold Stone Creamery — Restaurant in Evanston Township

*I know many shop owners are busy and typically only wanna see positive reviews cause they are stressed out already, so I will start with that. After this paragraph is some constructive criticism, with solutions attached to them. Positive Review: Ruben and Hannah were there around 1:50 PM 8/18/21 if I remember their names correctly?? Sorry if I didn't I will edit this later when I find my receipt. I wrote their names down somewhere but I forgot where I put the piece of paper, somewhere in the car. Anyway, positive attitude, they knew what they were doing, they WORKED GREAT together as an actual TEAM, helping each other out and communicating with each other. I have seen a little of that from my previous visits but these two are a dynamic duo, made it look like some choreographed dance. They actually looked like they wanted to do their job , wanted to help each other, and wanted to help the customer.

Negative review .. This is COMPLETELY UNRELATED to the review ABOVE

I personally DO NOT want to write negative reviews. A few times I was extremely tempted to do so because of poor service not from the two workers mentioned above. I didn't write a negative review because I noticed a high turnover rate for the staff, its like people vanish all the time. I wish I could have written a review for the girl that did my very first cold stone shake, she was super nice and gave me the leftovers and I kept coming back ever since. Maybe that was one of the staffers working today and I just didn't recognize her.

Short version * Problem: new staff often make the same mistakes as other new staff, too much of a coincidence. Possible Cause: Too much too fast (too much to remember and memorize before they are thrown into the fire)

Solution: staff need more training (or change the training method being used) or more practice or small laminated reminders on each station (a picture reminder is easier to use than written instructions alone) personally I say make them do the motions 5 times in a "PRETEND ORDER" this will imprint the sequence. Then move them to the backroom to train them on something different. Bring them back to the front and redo the previous job 5 more times.

Problem 2: SOME staff appear to not wanna be there Solution: We all know the solution to this one. However, we know that staff is hard to find nowadays Compromise: verbal greeting script training: and perhaps stick a picture of their favorite animal on the register when they punch in so they can trigger a smile right before they say the scripted greeting to a customer.

Intro to problem 3 Love it shake, often gets plenty of leftovers (i have seen leftovers bigger than the shake itself left in the blender because of wrong scooper). The main problem though is below EVEN WITH THE RIGHT SCOOPER

Problem 3: when someone orders lots of toppings, half the toppings gets mixed in with the overflow. Not a problem when the worker is nice and understands that you already PAID for it anyway. CAUSE: the toppings add volume, even with the right scoop. If the worker MAKES A MISTAKE by using the wrong scoop or OVERSCOOPING, the solution is still the same below.

Solution: give the overflow in a separate cup or: submit to corporate that you need a bigger cup for people who love toppings. i mean, isn't the toppings thing the main draw for this brand to begin with?

reduce the scooping when you recognize the volume of topping being added. (which they ask you in the beginning anyway so they KNOW. EX:big toppings like every brownie = minus 1 scoop, , small toppings= half or 1/3 scoop. ) So: love it shake =6 small scoops - 1 scoop for brownie, -1 scoop for an order of double peanut butter. -1 scoop for fudge, marshmallows and almonds.

OR: MILK first, then drop the toppings , based on how HIGH it went up, reduce the scoop of ice cream afterwards , mark the blender "fill line" with a sharpie

Problem 4&Solution: they need a long tiny spoon or spatula to scrape the shake out of the blender, instead of having them wiggle it around...

Hello,

I feel the need to share this experience with you. My boyfriend and I visited cold stone today for the first time. It was 15 minutes after opening so we didn’t expect any issues. We entered the store, where we were ignored by the cashier who was busy on her phone. When we asked for service, we were ignored again.

The “ice cream maker” emerged from the back, AirPods still in his ears. At this point, we’ve been standing there for a while, and no one has said a word to us. He quickly started grabbing equipment such as spatulas, hurrying to open, even though we arrived 15 minutes after it should’ve been ready. We tell him our order, which he of course forgets and has to ask us multiple times, and starts preparing our ice cream.

He scooped a pile of ice cream onto the stone. As he’s running around trying to find the toppings we requested, because of course, they’re not out, my boyfriend and I notice the ice cream is just melting on the stone. It was sitting there, slowly melting for about five minutes before he started mixing in the toppings. While he was mixing in the toppings, we were sat at a table. Both sets of tables and chairs were filthy and sticky, to the point we couldn’t even sit and wait comfortably.

At this point, the ice cream is completely liquid. He scoops it into the bowl. Because it is melted, and he knows this as well, he puts the small bowl into a bigger bowl, thinking this will mask it I guess. In another effort to mask the ice cream soup, he just placed another small scoop of vanilla ice cream on top for some reason. The sides of the bowl are covered in sticky, melted ice cream, which we can’t even eat with the dirty spoon he gave us.

At this point my boyfriend and I spoke up and said we just can’t eat this, nor can we be expected to pay for this, to which he replies “the ice cream is melted because I haven’t turned on the stone yet”. He didn’t think to mention this before making our ice cream, while making our ice cream, or after. He saw no problem serving it as is. If they had mentioned this when we came in we would’ve just walked away, even though they were supposed to be open. But seeing as we were being completely ignored, no one thought to tell us. The cashier ended up leaving her phone to chime in and tell us we can go. We left without the ice cream soup.

This was our first experience at cold stone, and one of, if not the worst customer service experience either of us have ever had. We were both looking forward to it, and we left feeling upset and disappointed.

This was at 1611 Sherman Ave...

My friends and I were having a joyous day. We were hankering for some ice cream. it was a really cold day, but we really wanted ice cream. So we put on our coats and headed out to cold stone. In freezing temperatures, we walked 30 miles with hope of ice cream in our hearts. We were really excited because on Big Bite Night (October 5) Cold Stone participated and handed out coupons (the picture attached) and samples. The man handing these out was friendly and we waited until the specified promotion start date of November 1st, 2025 to use this Buy One Get One Free coupon that specified it was applicable to all sizes (including Gotta Have It). However, little did we know… Upon our arrival, we stepped into the overly-heated establishment and felt the sweat dripped down our faces. However, we once again felt cold by the chilly attitude of the employee. We kindly asked with hope in our eyes about our buy one get one free coupon. the employee looked to the sky and pondered this coupon that we had presented in writing. she called her manager and spoke with him for at least 5 minutes, stranding us at the display case. When she returned, she proceeded to tell us that this coupon was not valid for the gotta have it size. We were bewildered, dismayed, and besmirched. We questioned this as we had the deal and its various details in writing. When we questioned her about this, as the Gotta Have It was clearly included, she went back and called her manager once again, for even longer this time. When she returned, she told us the entire offer had expired because it was from their grand opening. False! She claimed it was 2-3 months ago; yet, we were there when management changed at least 7 months prior. We were disturbed by this facetious behavior and stated that the coupon clearly has a start date that is this month and we got this coupon at Big Bite Night the month prior. As we continued our intellectual debate over the binding agreement within the coupon, she went on to claim that only one coupon/promotion is viable at once. She proceeded to hand us another coupon with the BOGO offer that expired on 10/31. Her argument was illogical, flawed, discombobulating, and plain BULLSHIT.

don’t come here.

xoxo, fellow...