Bruster's Real Ice Cream — Restaurant in Indian Trail

Well, everything was great EXCEPT for that one little detail. My family loves Bruster's, especially considering it's one of the few places left where we can get banana pudding ice cream. The ice cream has always been better than most which is why we gladly pay the premium. Our past visit was hindered by an unfortunate event in the drive-thru that turned into a deal breaker. My wife ordered a double scoop banana pudding waffle cone. While we waited I noticed the young lady at the window hand, what appeared to be, a double scoop banana pudding waffle cone to the driver of the car in front of me. I even thought to myself, "man, I guess banana pudding is popular." Well, a few seconds later the man summoned the attention of the young lady at the window and then handed the waffle cone back to her. YES! That's what I thought, is that my wife's ice cream? What course of action took place to make this man realize 5-10 seconds after taking it, that it wasn't what he ordered? Nonetheless, I locked eyes with that waffle cone as the young lady had placed it back it the caddy sitting on the counter. As I pulled forward to the window and stopped, still fixated on that waffle cone, the young lady handed me two chocolate malts and then reached for the waffle cone still sitting where she placed it. She grabbed the previously served waffle cone and reached toward me. As I watched the now melting cone start to drip, I asked a question that I already knew the answer to (a habit most parents develop when interrogating their teenage children); "Is that the cone you just handed to the man in the car that was in front of me?" The young lady effortlessly stated, "No." But then as if she realized as she was saying no, she was standing in a fishbowl observable by anyone outside the building, she blurted out, "but I can rescoop it if you want me to!" Um, yeah! I guess the WHY is the reason I'm so disappointed. I'm taking a break Bruster's I may be back, but it's going to be on my terms. Food safety is a pretty big deal to me, and I hope it's a good enough reason to teach your people to discard anything handed back to them and NEVER LIE...

(This location has a drive-thru!)

The ice cream is good; a lot of sugar goes into it, but it’s so fluffy and fresh tasting. I asked one of the employees a while back if they knew when the White Chocolate Oreo was returning and she replied, “I don’t know, I’m new” and just stared back at me … meanwhile there were easily 5+ people inside; the correct response would have been “I’m new, but let me ask someone for you.” A learning opportunity. The staff is young, most likely a lot of first-job candidates that just need a little more guidance. Most of them are good overall and the drive thru line is quick and prompt. The labor market is unreal at the moment and staffing is not the task it was a while back, so I get it.

Their waffle cones and the dinosaur cookies from the Dino Sundae are really good, too.

Brusters has always been back/forth on tipping (a while back tipping was their form of wages), but an employee confirmed this past month that they get wages now, so the tipping is just extra. So all card payments are given a clipboard asking for a signature with a tip line on them, just a heads up.

We average $20ish for two adults and two kids. I’ve never struggled to park / never left because of a line...

Apparently the C Squad was on duty tonight. After repeating my order multiple times to the young lady who clearly was not paying attention, another young lady came to help and I had to repeat multiple times to her. They seemed to not know the menu or sizing at all nor did they understand what a cake cone is. After waiting and waiting for part of our order (which was partially wrong or poorly put together), it seemed like the rest of our order was not forthcoming. There was no communication. The people behind us walked away without ordering then the group behind them started to order and started to get their ice cream. I felt bad about not tipping so I gave some tip but at this point I over paid, didn't receive competent service and am out money for product I did not receive. I felt like asking for a refund would only continue to overtax the staff at this point. We will stick with the Monroe location...