Milkcraft — Restaurant in Fairfield

Do not trust that the Milkcraft truck will show up to your event. It didn’t show up to my daughter’s college graduation/4th of July party after booking it months in advance and paying in full. No phone call/nothing. Had 50+ people at my house for a very special party for my daughter and the Milkcraft Truck was to be a surprise for her. Most of the guests, knew, however, that it was supposed to come. When it was 40” late… we called the Fairfield Milkcraft store and they knew nothing about it. They gave us Jacob’s number (the Milkcraft Truck manager). A message was left asking where is the truck that was supposed to be at my daughter’s party, almost an hour ago. He called back and had no idea about it. I had to look up my emails and confirmation to prove it to him. I had dealt with David, the owner, the whole time… not Jacob. (David was the one that answered my first request for the truck back in March). Jacob made some calls and called me back to say that the Milkcraft Truck driver was in an accident the day before with his own vehicle. And the truck wouldn't be able to come to my party that day. I sincerely hope that the driver was ok but somehow I don’t even know if that was the truth as no one called me ahead to say the truck wouldn’t be coming, Where were the other two staff that were supposed to be on the truck that day… and why didn’t one of them call me? Why is there no back up plan if someone is out sick and why didn’t the Milkcraft truck manager not even know about my party? The ball was dropped somewhere and no one will fess up to it. I did receive my whole payment back in full. And David finally emailed me back after sending 3 emails to him regarding how angry I was and he basically said. “sorry for the inconvenience b/c my driver was in an accident and your money can take up to 5 days to come in”. I did receive my refund I asked all the above questions in a follow up email and “crickets”. Jacob had offered another Milkcraft truck at another time which I declined. Why would I need that after the fact. I did mention ti David…how about a gift card but like I mentioned… he never responded back to my last email with all the questions of “how could this have happened” and no one calling me to inform me that the truck wouldn't be at my event. Long story short… if you are having a party and want a food truck… find a savory one and for the ice cream… order a cake from a business where the owner is transparent and up front and really cares about...

If social media didn't exist, I don't think Milkcraft would either - this place was absolutely designed with Instagram portrait mode pictures and TikTok videos in mind. Virtually every ice cream option is ridiculously photogenic, especially if you're willing to pony up a few extra dollars for one of the bubble waffle cones.

My mom and I stopped by here after lunch on Friday, a very pleasant/toasty March afternoon. I haven't been in downtown Fairfield since probably the mid-90s when I was a young pup, so I had no memory of what it looked like but I was pleasantly surprised to see an upscale college town. It's not a coincidence that Milkcraft is housed a few blocks away from a college campus, nor that it's surrounded by a lot of newer, edgy restaurants and shops, including an intriguing noodle bar right next door. This place is catnip for young pup adults and their parents looking to spend a little cash while they're in town.

We timed our visit well - no one was in the establishment when we showed up, but by the time we had our ice creams, a line of three or four people had materialized. I ordered a scoop of the Milk & Cereal ($5.95), with Fruity Pebbles as the cereal in question. It was pretty tasty, definitely on the heavier side but I think that's to be expected. The prep work for the ice cream is pretty interesting - they're using liquid nitrogen to freeze the ice cream scoops, which makes for a solid optic (again, social media rears its head) and a smoother texture. Very cool. My mom got a red velvet flavor and declared it "magnificent." She lives two towns over and I suspect will be returning shortly. One negative is that by virtue of the extensive freezing process, it takes a few extra minutes to get your ice cream. If you have a sizeable line in front of you, it could take a while to start sampling the wares.

The seating area is a definite bonus, especially on a nice day. There's a fire pit with some Adirondack chairs, along with other random, edgy post-modern chairs and upscale picnic tables. The only downside (and there's really nothing they could do about this based on the space) is that the seating is likely harder to come by during busier times, especially the primo firepit Adirondacks that we sat in, but that's true for a lot of ice cream places in my experience.

Come for the photo op, stay for...

I’ve been going to Milkcraft for about 3 years now. This was my first visit since COVID. I’ve always loved the environment which was always exciting and cheerful. Comfortable outdoor furniture and of course the heated table. Staff are almost always a joy to interact with and very polite. I’ve never had a problem in the past. It was disappointing that a quick trip to Milkcraft almost turned into a hour.

I arrived at 9:00 pm, there were only 3 guest in front of me, which I thought “wow how lucky I am”. Since I wouldn’t have to wait long.... so I thought. I ended up leaving around 9:40pm. Three employees and a short line of people was moving well for the first few minutes. It wasn’t until some girls stopped by who seem to know one of the employees. He waved at them and they wave back. I’m thinking okay, their friends whatever. Now at this point, I’m the next person in line and the line is starting to build up. I’ve been wait in the cold for about 25 mins now but I can afford to wait a longer.

The girls end up going in and after chatting start ordering, cutting the whole line of people who’ve been standing out side for just able 12 mins. I tried to politely inform the staff, but I was ignored and told to wait outside. On top of that, the staff didn’t turn on the heat (I didn’t even know there was heating outside) and someone had to go and complain. Then the staff decide to finish the customers in the store first before accepting more order. The whole line wait started getting annoyed by this since they stopped letting anyone in. No communication or anything. Eventually, I get frustrated and just go in to order. Which “they allowed me to do”. I get my order in, the male staff say absolutely nothing. No apology. Only the the female staff tried her best to rectify the fact that I basically waited 40 mins for a cup of ice cream. Which I really appreciate her efforts to doing that and really change my mood around. That’s the reason why I ended up rating a 3 stars instead of 1 like I wanted to. I don’t know if I’ll be returning maybe after COVID is over.... I can only imagine what this place is like...