Cold Stone Creamery — Restaurant in Independence

I don’t know enough words to accurately describe the level of disappointment experienced tonight.

It’s hot right now. Like “I wish I owned an ice cream store” hot. So we went for ice cream right after dinner… obviously. Along with a bunch of other people. Obviously.

Let’s start with flavor options. Chocolate? No. Vanilla? Sorry, we’re out.

Ok Fine I’ll have the founders favorite in a waffle bowl.

Sorry, no waffle bowls.

Ok, waffle cone? Luckily they had 3 waffle cones left.

It gets better!

They then go to make the ice cream… all the ice cream being used is sitting out on the counter instead of the ice cream cooler. So it’s more like milkshake than ice cream.

It gets better…

Cold stone is (was) gray because they give you a heaping serving. Well, today they also gave us heaping servings, which immediately melted down the sides of the cups, which they placed on the counter covered in melted ice cream. They weren’t out of napkins so I used 15 or so napkins to wipe the milk sauce from the sides of the bowls while they watched me. I wrapped the bowls in several layers of napkins for the ride home, which didn’t matter because they immediately soaked into the bowl of milk in my hands and I spent the car ride home letting it pour onto my shirt and lap so that it wasn’t a total mess.

By the time I got home, the bowls of pecans in milk were so covered in mess and milk soaked napkins that it ended up being a better use of time to throw them away.

TLDR : you could go across the street to Menards and you’d have a better ice cream experience than going...

Pretty wild the amount of fake reviews this place has gotten recently. Here’s an honest one!

The ice cream here is amazing, as it always has been. If all you care about is ice cream quality, this is the place. Service and setting? Declining every year. We have come here with different groups of people over the past couple weeks and I have noticed quite a bit. To start, there is a woman working here who I have to assume is a manager because she is incredible at what she does and clearly passionate about the job. Giving detailed recommendations, great customer service skills, and working at a fast pace to ensure needs are met and that things are getting done. She was not working today.

Instead we received minimal expression and a working pace that caused the ice cream to melt before it got to my hands. The passion was missing, and the customer service skills were non existent.

As for the shop itself, not impressed. Their counters (visible to all) were left dirty with ice cream and waffle cone batter all over the place. There was even a giant bowl of batter left sitting and unattended for the entirety of our dine in visit. Additionally, it was HOT in this place. I understand we are in a heat wave currently, but the AC in the ice cream shop should be a top priority. They could at least run the two ceiling fans instead of leaving...

I had the most weirdest experience I have ever had. I was the only one waiting in line when I arrived as the clerk was already helping someone else. Right before he finished, another customer walked up behind me. When he was done, he stated "I am helping the customer behind you, not you." He walked to the back and got someone else to help me. It was awkward enough to the point that when I stepped back for another family to look to order, that the customer behind me came up and apologized to me. It would be a stretch to go all "Kevin" and say that some sort of discrimination or something happened here, but it was way out of line and I will not be returning. I have uploaded my receipt from the experience too.

Update: Max from Coldstone did reach out to me through email but took no responsibility for the interaction and clearly stated this is not how they do business. Through correspondence I was essentially told my experience never happened and it is how they...