normal ice cream truck — Restaurant in Millcreek

It pains me to write this review, so please know that this review is not for the ice cream (I really, really wanted to give this one another shot) nor for the owner, but for the experience my friends and I had with this location in particular.

On the weekend night I was here, there was a longish line (maybe 10 people) when my friends stood in line at around 9:35pm. I was also ice skating that night and had jumped out of the rink waiting for the Zamboni to go around to resurface the ice. At the time I stood in line the Zamboni was finishing up its job, so I had to decide: ice cream, or fresh, smooth ice? I decided to sacrifice a nice skate for the ice cream, so when I got to the front of the line at 9:55, 5 minutes before closing, I was extremely upset to be told along the lines of "sorry we have to close now because I have too many orders ahead of you". She was in a bad mood and not very nice about it. I did not get ice cream, nor did I get to skate on fresh ice.

Is it customary to close before closing time? Had she not seen the long line of people waiting 20 mins for ice cream? Could she have told people to pass the message down the line sooner that the persons after would not have a chance to get ice cream?

So, so many questions.

The high school students behind us tried to ask nicely if she'd serve us anyway because we've been waiting. There were 7 more people - could they not have been served?

It did not help that everyone she served was of white skin color, and she cut off the line right when the next 5 people were of color, mostly black. That was definitely not a good look. It made me question why we specifically got cut off. Would she have been as rude with her statement if we were white? Anytime contrasts like these are noticed there's a deep cut, a sadness, that settles in and I can't help but wonder the worst or feel like an outcast. It's not easy for me to write this because it's my pain, and it's my community's pain. We notice it, and we feel it.

But it could also be so many other potential scenarios. Maybe she was having a really bad day. Maybe the person before us also was greeted or served rudely. Maybe she just wanted to get home and be done on the clock on time. But there are so many better ways to handle situations like these, and this just wasn't it. It shouldn't have left me with a bad impression of Normal, but it did. Because at the end, every place is tied to an impression and a feeling, and ice cream should never...

I've given this place three tries and struck out. (Not including the brick and mortar location on 900 S. which has been the same experience.) And, overall this is a disaster. Why does it take someone 15,18, 20 minutes to squirt soft serve in a cone? Then, when I got my ice cream, 2/3 times it was not cold and firm, instead loose and melted immediately and one of those times after waiting 15minutes the girl says "sorry it's not really working, we can put it in a cup. Or you don't have to have it." It was so runny I threw it out. Why would they even serve that to me? So not only is quality consistently bad, the service is worse. The people serving me/our group each time haven't been minimally friendly, and honestly have just had an edge or an attitude completely unexpectedly negative. And for a $7-9 cone to then be asked/guilted to tip on a tablet checkout screen? Hard "no." on tipping, on returning back and on recommending. Avoid.

McDonalds serves a far better cone for $1.29, and the...

There’s nothing normal about normal ice cream, but I thoroughly enjoyed my dessert here. I’d been to their former 700E location before and really disliked the ice cream. It was too salty and just odd. This time I got a composed cone called passion fruit dreams, but served in a cup with a cone. It had amazing passion fruit white chocolate bits and caramel and fruit pebbles. It was super tasty! The new location is hard to get to while the commons is under construction, and all the seating is outside. They have some spots near a fireplace which kept us warm on a cold winter night. The employee was excellent: super nice and accommodating of my friend’s...