Dolce Gelato — Restaurant in Hot Springs

Drove almost 2 hours here from Russelville after the total eclipse just for the gelato. We travel all over and we try the nearest gelato every chance we can. My husband, then bf, and I lived in Italy for a short while and share a love of gelato. We were both excited to try this place. Love the cheery decor and comfy sitting area. The lady was very friendly and energetic as well. The choices looked very good as well and we each sampled a flavor before deciding on 2 flavors each, which we did not sample beforehand. I forgot what my husband ordered, but one of them was raspberry. Mine was Stracciatella and Tiramisu on a chocolate coated waffle cone.

I knew that after my second bite, the texture was off. Gelatos are usually super creamy, smooth, rich, and have that intense aftertaste. This gelato, however, was too icy, sweet, not very flavorful, and didn’t even have the gelato aftertaste. The tiramisu didn’t have the sought-after tiramisu flavor and texture either. Usually, tiramisu gelatos come with chunks of espresso-soaked lady fingers and small swirls of cocoa powder. This had none of that. Regretfully, I would pass on this if given another...

My rating is probably going to post as falsely higher than intended because the service was fine and the place was clean and cute inside. But this was by far the WORST gelato I’ve ever had. Do NOT waste your money. My husband had never had gelato and I told him “you’ll love it! It’s super creamy”. I should have known by the look of it that something wasn’t right. Most of the containers in the case had water in them which is not normal. I did taste a few and realized right away this wasn’t good gelato, but figured we were already here, it’s dessert and I’ll just tell them this is not good and don’t judge gelato by this. When we left, I threw mine in the garbage and told my husband and son “this is NOT good gelato”. Hubby says, “you threw that away? You realize we just spent $42?” Yes, that’s right, $42 for three of us!! Could have bought gallons of actually good I e cream fur that price. Not only the worst I’ve ever had, but the most ridiculously overpriced too. Will never do again. Should have gone to the ice cream place that we passed on the way. 10/10 do...

I was one of the first people in the door when these guys opened a long time ago. They served dense and flavorful gelato. I honestly am not too sure what has happened. What used to be a nice dense chocolate is now heavily aerated. And gelato is supposed to be less percent air, otherwise it's ice cream. Also, the recipe has changed on their vanilla and chocolate. I can taste the alcohol from the vanilla extract, and the chocolate is a pale comparison to what it used to be. I could get a small and barely be able to finish it because it packed that chocolaty punch that satiated my desire for chocolate quickly. And one more thing. The gelato is not longer creamy. I've gone maybe 10 times this year and every time I gotten gelato that has way too many ice crystals. I'm willing to bet the owner knows exactly what change he made that caused every one of these problems and chose to decrease costs. Honestly, I would gladly pay maybe 7 dollars for a scoop of what they used to serve, but 10 dollars for a product that is steadily decreasing in quality? I...