Revival Ice Cream — Restaurant in Monterey

I am disappointed that I am having to write this review, though it is important. This evening, my partner and I waited in line before Revival Ice Cream closed, arriving in line at 8:49pm. Revival Ice Cream is supposed to close at 9:00pm on Monday evenings. As we get near the counter, the woman staff member (woman appearing, there are no name tags, so cannot note names) working there comes up and talks about having handed out tickets and she will not be serving us.

This is problematic for many reasons - first, flaw of their "policy" implementation on when they close, and another important related issue of lack of customer service especially by this woman staff member. First, this woman staff member handed out tickets before the ice cream shop closed at 9pm. This woman staff member was incredibly rude, and when we asked about the time of when they handed out tickets being prior to 9pm, the woman staff member had no response. After this staff member's rude with condescending tone (which ended up being throughout this visit) explanation, they proceed to lock the doors behind us. This woman staff member is unable to serve us ice cream. My partner does ask about getting pints, and that is all that was possible. This is a really odd policy that was not well-communicated - not on Revival's social media, website, or even the door about these "tickets". The woman staff member said she told the customers in front of us to let the rest of the line know about the tickets and policy, which is a bad way to implement the policy. When we said that the woman staff member's explanation was the first time that we heard about it, this individual said that it is not their responsibility if other customers do not share the information. That absolutely makes no sense. It is up to Revival and this individual to communicate this information fully. This individual truly was on a power trip.

Please note - what occurred regarding what time they stopped serving is something that I will also flag for the Better Business Bureau. When a business notes their hours, they need to honor them. This woman staff member was making up their own rules as they saw fit. We arrived before 9pm.

Upon checkout, we inquire about the policy, and the woman staff member says that it is closing time and they are closed. This person obviously does not like their job. Also, at this point, they locked the doors, so don't understand their response. There was no one behind us at this point. There was another male staff member, who appeared to show some understanding that this policy did not make sense. However, this staff member was responsible for checking us out for the order and was not scooping and thus, did not hold the power of the ice cream scooper. This is the type of (lack of) guest experience that Revival has to represent their company?

Regarding additional notes to highlight, a pint of ice cream was $12.50, which is pricey compared to other artisan ice creams out there. Additionally, they are card-accepting only, which is discriminatory towards people that may not have credit cards or use credit cards for a multitude of reasons, which is often generally, people of color.

We have been to Revival during our trips to Monterey area over the last few years and was really looking forward to this ice cream experience. My partner and I had especially enjoyed the "Bees Knees" ice cream and traveled all the way from Seattle. This woman staff member had no compassion or customer service. Getting ice cream should generally be a happy experience, and this was quite the opposite. We arrived before closing, and we were not able to be served ice cream. In all of the years that I've visited dessert and especially ice cream shops, I have never experienced such horrid customer service. We were two guests that have supported Revival throughout the years (noted in our loyalty account). We are truly are disappointed, and will no longer...

My significant other and I have made this ice cream shoppe a must stop every time we are in the Monterey area (and when I mean all the time, I mean all of the time). Our favourite is the bee’s knees (because it is the bee’s knees, great ice cream). However, on this occasion we visit on a Monday evening and their posted hours are 12pm-9pm. We arrive in-line at 8:50pm and are in-line (that’s important here). We patiently wait in-line and get inside and as we are ready to order (yep, you guessed it, a large bee’s knees to share), the female employee tells us that she has handed out the last tickets and won’t be able to serve us scoops. Here are the issues (warnings).

1, Nowhere on the door, window does it inform people that tickets are being given out, no notifications of this ticket system, anywhere.

These tickets were handed out before the time of closing at 9 pm, let me reiterate, at some time before 8:50 pm, BEFORE 9 pm these tickets were handed out. Which by law businesses are supposed to serve guests until 9 pm. Remember we were in line a good 10 minutes before closing. Only after a discussion could we even buy a pint of ice cream.

We were told by this female employee that guests ahead of us were supposed to tell us about this ticket policy. In what world is it up to to other guests to inform other guests of this business’ ticket policy?? Isn’t it up to the employees of said business to inform guests of their own policy and not after 7 minutes of waiting in-line, in the shoppe before the doors closed.

If it was 9pm and the doors were closed, fair enough we were too late. In this case we were in the shopped before official closing at 9 pm. But!! We were in-line.

We will be reporting this business to the better business bureau. There was no gratitude for the people who patron this shoppe. I’m sorry but if there too many customers that come in, maybe it’s time to hire more help or alternatively if this unfair practice continues to go on without notice then as a guest, we have choices to take our business somewhere else and let’s see if Revival ice cream is still too busy, and open beyond their posted business hours. Businesses only remain in business if they are busy, and if enough people stop going, then the owners will be less busy and have more time on their hands. This ticket policy has to change or our ice cream...

Great ice cream, but they charge you an additional fee for eating it in the shop and don’t inform you of this charge. Additionally, there are no signs posted in the shop within reasonable view….not sure if they are hidden. I am a local and really enjoy Revival ice cream, but I am uncertain if I will return. I went in with my family and I was asked if if was dine in or to go and I noticed my total increased by a couple of dollars. I called to inquire about this and was told that they do have a fee. When I mentioned that customers are not informed and there are no signs informing customers, I was simply told that customers can see their total increase. I mentioned that this is deceitful as customers likely assume it’s some type of tax. I was interrupted during the call and the person argued with me instead of problem solving. I called to provide feedback which is to post signs and inform customers and instead the person seemed to argue against this. In the end, she said she would tell the owner what I said and tell her to put up signs. I told her I would like her, the owner to email me, and she then asked what I want her to email me for. I let her know that I would like to know what action will be taken so that customers are informed that there is a dine in charge. She ended up taking my number. I am posting this review because I would like the owner to be informed of my concern with customers not being informed of the dine in charge and I would also like to know what action will be taken so that all customers are made aware of the fee. Thank you.

Response to Revival owner: I am providing a 2 star rating based on my overall experience which I described in my review, not based on a tax. In my review, I mentioned that I told the person I spoke to who told me that there is a fee that I thought it was a tax and I would like to clarify again, that she did not say anything about it actually being a tax. She made it seem like it’s just a fee Revival chooses to charge customers. Additionally, in my review, I also mentioned the conversation was argumentative and the person didn’t seem to want to pass along my feedback to you when I requested an email from you. If the fee is a tax, she could have just told me and also offered to take down my...