Handel's Homemade Ice Cream — Restaurant in Mayfield Heights

I haven't had a really good turtle sundae in awhile. East Coast Custard (Lyndhurst) hasn't been good even before the renovation and Mitchell's for what they charge isn't worth it. Handel's is an absolute revelation. The turtle sundae in fact tasted like what I believe a turtle sundae should taste like. Let's start with the hot fudge. The operative word being hot because oddly enough too many of these places are no longer offering hot fudge (even though they claim they still do). I believe it's because the people working there don't want to clean the hot fudge canister at the end of the night, but whatever the reason is it's a crime. I actually called Handel's on Friday evening and a very nice young woman answered and when I asked if the hot fudge was hot she answered, "if it wasn't it would just be chocolate," and she is right on the money. So today we went and though I disagree with the young woman about one thing, the caramel should also be hot, I won't hold that against them. Let's also get it right out in the open that East Coast Custard is custard and Handel's is real ice-cream. Still East Coast (at least the Lyndhurst location) pales in comparison to how truly great they once were. Okay let's begin with the ice-cream at Handel's which is what truly sets them apart from Mitchell's. I got vanilla in my turtle and it is a sensational vanilla. Then the pecans which were large and plentiful and fresh. All of the flavors came together and were a taste explosion in your mouth. Again the caramel if it were hot would add another layer of greatness, but again not knocking any points off. I look forward to trying other flavors and treats. The only thing I don't understand is why there is no seating. They have two sorta chairs at a kinda counter and some benches. So ya that makes no sense to me because you end up sitting on a bench holding your sundae or cone while it melts and you try your best not to lose any nuts on the floor. Thank you Handel's for making me believe again in the ice-cream parlor. Anyone remember Connor's Candie and Ice Cream Shop or Swenson's (not the burger drive-thru)?

Second visit and though I thought my turtle sundae was again wonderful I just realized there was no caramel. Or at least I don't remember there being any caramel which is rather odd when it was the owner himself who made it. The hot fudge also didn't seem particularly hot. They call the turtle sundae a special sundae so it's $7 and for that $7 it obviously needs to be right. While eating it I did wonder why it didn't taste the same as the first one and only today did it pop into my head that the caramel was absent which of course is a huge part of what makes the turtle sundae a turtle sundae. I really hope that Reid or his wife can rectify this because I really do like this place. And maybe when they do remember the caramel (next time) they'll also realize that the caramel also needs to be hot.

Third time is most definitely the charm. First off everyone that works here is so nice. And I mean really friendly. They actually seem to care and that is something absent these days in customer service especially when it comes to food places. What can I say about Nate? The ice-cream expert who built/designed my turtle sundae. He really went beyond the call of duty making sure my turtle sundae was quite literally a symphony of flavors. I miss the ice-cream parlors from when I was a kid, but honestly Handel's is that ice-cream parlor. I am including a picture (it's the photo that I am not in) of the turtle sundae that Nate designed. When it comes to ice-cream Nate is a gangsta.

Nate does not disappoint and neither does Handel's. Their ice-cream is so good. Plus the people who work there are very nice and it really has the feel of an ice-cream parlor from back in the day. I am still a wee-bit confused why they don't have a table or two or even a couple tables outside, but the ice-cream is great and it's the best turtle sundae I have...

I truly love Handles and never had a BAD experience until June 6, 2025. Order a blondie and the young lady that was taking my order, just stared at me confused when I asked for a blondie, I even pointed to it on the menu and she just continued to stare at me and not even think to ask her coworkers for help. I'm describing It to her how its made. She still continues to stare at me. So Awkward. Finally a coworker comes to help and he said he knew what it was. So I asked him not to warm up the blondie and put the ice cream separate so I could eat it later. So he walked away and began my order and still warmed up my blondie and was going to put ice cream on the blondie, until I said something. I asked for caramel and nuts and he barely even added caramel and nuts but i just left it alone because I was just ready to say I didn't want it anymore. I literally been to this location several times and this was by far the worst. Honestly don't want to go back there. Very...

My husband and I LOVE Handel's and we go all the time... However, I have never been more disappointed than I was on Wednesday March 19th at 8:30 pm.

We both ordered medium ice cream in a dish, and we both were horribly skimped. We are familiar with the normal sizes, but we were willing to let it go. We sat at the register waiting to pay for SEVERAL minutes, and not a single worker bothered to check us out, so we just left cash on the counter and left. We didn't love having our time actively wasted like that while there were at least 3 people working.

Then we finally start eating our ice cream to find that BOTH of us got almost no toppings in our ice cream. For example, I ordered chocolate PB brownie.. but basically only recieved chocolate ice cream.

I know it sounds silly getting this irritated over cream, but it's expensive, and clearly no one on staff cared enough to be helpful or actually give us a product we paid...