Della's Ice Cream — Restaurant in Harrison Township

New owners. Hope they figure out their custard recipe. People came here for the custard, not the burger. A long time ago (1996) they used to come here for the "foot long with sauce" -- a foot long hot dog with meat sauce on it in a bun.

This place changed hands. Happy for previous owner, he was waiting a long time. But..I've been coming to this business since 1996. We've had our ups and downs but you were always amazing... that is.... until...

I'm sad (glad?) to say the place sold. I'm glad the old owner got what he needed and Natrona Heights / Freeport get to have an ice-cream place, BUT

Della's 1990s/2000s custard: White. So much sugar you flew to the moon. Amazing vanilla flavor, probably from real beans.

What they have now: Yellow. Not as much sugar. Smaller portion. Vanilla extract. Yes, they've turned Del's Custard into Soft Serve. :(

The Del's custard I came to love and eat ABOVE ALL OTHERS and WOULD DRIVE AN HOUR TO EAT ON A REGULAR BASIS, the one that I recommend appear in the trendy 2018 'Scratch' Restaurant Celebration of Natrona Heights, the one that I brought all of my friends to, the one I used to gush about with the relatives in New York and Virginia, has been RUINED.

It's not the new menu or the clean "marketing", the fresh paint on the bench or the transparent, soulless windows and printed signs, it's that the damn custard ain't the same.

Also, WHERE ARE THE PARFAITS? I always ordered one. I liked the Kit Kat. They would give me CHOCOLATE AND CARAMEL. The man would basically fill half the cup with candy then drizzle chocolate on that candy then put custard on the top of that candy until it was as high as the large cone AND THEN DRIZZLE CHOCOLATE AND WHIPPED CREAM AND A CHERRY. (I always said, "No cherry, please", but the rest was smashing.)

I GOT A MEDIUM ("regular") IN A CUP. WHY IS THIS MEDIUM SO DAMN SMALL. IT LOOKS LIKE A SMALL.

Also, the new slogan "Della's: A Pittsburgh Tradition" is a stretch. Della's is FAR from Downtown Pittsburgh (a good 35 minutes). I lived in the city for 25 years until recently and no one has heard of Della's or Del's Custard. The only reason I knew about it is when I was younger I was introduced to it while working nearby in Sarver. We had to drag them out there. The fact that they were included in "Scratch Restaurant Tour" is precisely because I shared the story of Della's with the owner. And Scratch itself is not all that important (it's a new trendy restaurant in Troy Hill area.) Della's : A Pennsylvania Tradition would be...

The young girls working here are not knowledgeable and unprofessional. I ordered a large sundae with extra peanut butter sauce and they handed me the cup it was in and i said that i ordered a large and that they forgot the peanut butter sauce so they said "okay" and threw that one directly in the garbage. They then made another replica of the exact same size in the same size cup with peanut butter sauce on it with it running all over the sides of the cup and onto there windowsill and said "its like running down the sides." Handed it to me and closed the window. The ice cream was good but very very unprofessional to hand a customer an extremely messy sundae cup with the sauce overflowing all the way down every side making it impossible to even pick up without covering your hands. I came again another time during a different time because the ice cream itself was good but the service was bad. The next time i ordered the same thing. I got a "extra large supersized sundae" and my girlfriend got a small. Hers came out bigger than mine... and i got charged more money for mine. Will...

Under new management, Della's is finally once again a gem of the community. They cleaned it up, bought new custard machines, new employees and over the winter they installed an outdoor seating area with corn hole boards and other fun things to do.

The custard is, once again, the same creamy deliciousness I used to get growing up. With daily special flavors and dole whip, there's always something different to try. Orange dole whip with vanilla custard, cherry dole whip with vanilla custard (picture below), pineapple and vanilla, strawberry and chocolate!!! Della Delights are almost all I get now.

But then fall arrived and they had an apple pie sundae. I tried it. I can't get enough! Warm apple pie, vanilla custard, caramel sauce and whipped cream? Oh yes, please!

New menu, new seating options, same great custard for 2023! They've got some different new specials and now feature a "Littles" menu with smaller portions...