Betty Rae's Ice Cream — Restaurant in Kansas City

Betty Rae's is kind of the new big hit in River Market popping up all over social media. We decided to go down on Mother's Day as a special treat and were not disappointed. We arrived to find a nice looking patio and interior with a line taking up most of the front area. Opening the door you could smell the fresh made waffle cones and hear the buzz of a busy place. Entering you will find their ice cream flavors on a tree looking area (pictured) with numerous traditional and specialty flavors. Behind their bar, where you order and they scoop the ice cream, they have their actual menu with ice cream scoops, shakes, floats, drinks, beer, and "boozies" which are shakes/floats that include an assortment of liquors.

The line was about 10 deep to order, but we were up within 5 minutes. The people were nice, but were focused on getting people through quickly, which they did. They were definitely not unfriendly, but were focused on doing their job. For me, that is great, get me the product efficiently, but some people may take it as a negative. Perhaps during a less busy time it would have been different. The price is about average to above average (I listed ours below), but for the quality I feel it is warranted and it is great to help a local small business. One great thing is the variety of specialty floats, shakes, and "boozies" they offer. I can't wait to go back to try some of the alcohol shakes or floats as they would be a great dessert after a night out.

We ordered 2 "big scoops" ($4.25), 2 "small scoops" ($3.25), 2 "waffle cones" ($1, 1 as a side to break over the scoops and one with the ice cream in it), and a "cold fusion" ($6, coke, espresso, ice cream). The strawberry was authentic and obviously made from real strawberries. The chocolate and cookies and cream were creamy and very flavorful. The coffee (made with Thou Mayest coffee) was creamy and just the right amount of coffee flavor without being overwhelming. The cereal milk flavor had actual cereal in it and ice cream that reminded of actual cereal milk. The Cold fusion had a good balance of coke to espresso and the ice cream made a nice creamy froth to go with it. The fresh made waffle cones look more like pancakes since they lack the typical waffle pattern are a perfect outside vrunch with a touch of interior softness that makes them better than most waffle cones.

Overall, highly recommended as it is quick service, great ice cream, great waffle cones, and cool...

I used to really love betty raes. I was excited when someone bought it to keep the franchise alive. The downtown location is run horribly. It’s always understaffed.

Despite being in a moderately dangerous neighborhood where multiple businesses have been burglarized, cars stolen, car break ins and there are lots of street people add drugs, betty raes chooses to staff with employees so young they have to be 14-16, only 2, and zero adults or managers in site to manage the store. This is very dangerous for young teenagers. Someone could rob the place. Actually I think someone did burglarize it this year but clearly the owner doesn’t care.

Also there is randomly a 10-12 year old that works at this store? I assume the owners kid but that is illegal as much as they use them. Child labor laws for a reason.

Because of their age and lack of adult supervision the employees are more worried about playing with each other than waiting on customers. they’re frequently flippant, petulant, can’t he bothered to make orders.

This is the 2nd store I have observed have this problem so it’s def not a one off.

A month ago they rolled their eyes when I asked for a milkshake and told me they were too hard to make, then proceeded to take 25 min to make because they didn’t want to. Today I asked for a double scoop in a sugar cone and repeated this order 3x and instead received a single scoop in a cup.

Serving sized have shrunk to 1/4 cup or 5 bites or ice cream for 5$. For that price I could go buy a whole pint of heavy whipping cream and make it myself in a kitchen aid and I’d have a LOT more. For that price I could just go to fairway creamery or andy’s where they don’t give me little teeny amounts.

As if that wasn’t enough the ice cream isn’t any good anymore. It all tastes a little creme brulee burnt. It’s icy and chunky and doesn’t taste fresh. The flavors are uninspired. Tonight’s ice cream was so bad I almost trashed it. I couldn’t even tell if I got smores, creme brulee, biscoff, or cookies and cream. It was not good. This place just gets by on location and seems to be a bad...

Our Family came to Betty Rae’s Saturday evening. Our experience was NOT good. We expected a line as that’s pretty typical. While standing in line, we saw a girl with an ice cream cone go to the trash can and dump her ice cream off of the cone into the trash. I commented to my son, “why would she waste perfectly good ice cream? If she wanted just the cone I wonder why she didn’t just order that?” Well. Fast forward to us getting our ice cream and I COMPLETELY understood why. There were 4 of us. My son ordered the Creme Bruleé , my husband ordered the Peanut Butter, I ordered the Butter Pecan, my daughter in law ordered mint chip. Out of 4 of us, two of those ice creams were absolutely inedible. Like SO bad. When my son said he could not eat his I thought he was just being dramatic. Then I tasted it. Vile. So bitter. It didn’t taste anything like crème Brûlée - all you could taste was bitter. My husband takes a bite of his and says his was awful too. I take them inside and am tell the worker politely that I need to switch these flavors out because they’re not edible. I explain something must be wrong with them like maybe they’re rancid or something. He remarks, “Were they like really bitter?” I am like YES, you knew they were?! He explains they’ve changed suppliers and that several of the flavors had that issue. WHY ARE YOU GUYS SELLING ICE CREAM YOU KNOW IS BITTER AND TASTES TERRIBLE?!! We paid $24 plus tip for half of us to have this experience and to stand in a long line to get this. I don’t mind a line if it’s quality food but I definitely do when it’s garbage and you know that you’re serving that to people. In this economy when so many have cut back on extras like dining out, etc. Ice Cream shouldn’t be one of those cuts and ice cream should never be bitter. The gluten free vegan cones are the only plus worth mentioning here. Betty Rae’s used to be good once upon a time. Guess quality went out the window when their...