Van Leeuwen Ice Cream — Restaurant in New York

This is a really difficult review to write. In my opinion, Van Leeuwen is some of the best ice cream in the world and certainly in NYC. The honeycomb is my favorite flavor anywhere. My wife is vegan and they have an amazing selection of vegan flavors too.

The reason I give this place three stars is that the experience is so painful that it detracts from my enjoyment. I can understand a popular place having a line, but this feels deliberately slow like a marketing device, like an empty club keeping a line outside so it looks like a big deal. The line moves impossibly slow. Even when it looks empty, you're not getting out of their quickly. There will be five people working and only two actually serving customers.

Also tend to be supply issues If you go after 9 they're almost always out of the best flavors. This is just poor demand planning. You cant franchise and sell your product in grocery stores and then act like a moment and pop shop. After waiting 45 minutes in a line and then getting to the front to find they're out of everything you're not in a good state of mind. I started checking the menu at the front of the store before I get in line.

I can't stand the inneficiency. It's such a miserable experience I started buying in bulk, then I gained like ten lbs and decided it wasn't a successful strategy. I finally decided to start going to Ben and Jerry's which I don't really like to get my ice cream fix because it wasn't a 30-45 minute commitment (that's not exaggeration). Now I only go back to bring guests or first timers because people don't come to NYC for Ben and Jerry's. This is a management problem and it saddens me. Please...

A quaint little shop in the heart of East Village, Van Leeuwen is a perfect blend of coffee shop and ice cream parlor. What started out (and still continues) as an ice cream truck has expanded into several brick and mortar shops across Brooklyn and Manhattan, and the EV is proudly home to one of them. There's a surprising amount of space given its location, which allows for plenty of tables and seats, while their WiFi encourages people to linger with their computers and tablets throughout the day.

They serve up a quality cup of coffee, using Toby's Estate coffee beans, but if you're not in the mood for caffeine, they have a unique array of ice cream flavors available. I opted for the small cup, after deciding on a scoop of the Earl Grey and Currants & Cream flavors. Without a doubt, this is some of the best quality ice cream you'll find in NYC. The texture is perfect - not too dense nor too airy, creamy, and well-blended. The Earl Grey is surprisingly subtle, especially when paired with a touch of strawberry, and not too sweet; the flavor reminded me of the mornings in college when I'd make a cup (or two) for myself while poring over notes before an exam. The Currants & Cream was a good contrast, as the currants interspersed throughout gave some texture and tartness to each spoonful, and the hint of vanilla was an appreciated addition.

I'm sure that if I lived any closer to this place, I'd be a pretty frequent customer. Nonetheless, it's a nice place to stop by after a meal or when you need to wile away some time with a laptop or good book. The good coffee and ice cream is just another...

Walking out of a ice cream place with a bad feeling; defeats the whole purpose of coming in the first place...

And that's how I felt! And not because the ice cream was above average, and good enough for me to think about coming back, but because the service was atrocious and obnoxious... Rude, and unfriendly! I'm not here to preach about mannerisms, and stuff; just about common courtesy! Treat your costumers as human beings. just one example is: when I asked nicely if I can try another flavor, instead of telling me it's store policy, he reacted in an obnoxious manner by implying that I was trying to rip him off by not making a purchase, despite the fact that my companion - standing right next to me - was already eating the multiple flavors she chosen after tasting... And I can go on and on.

Now that I have that out of my system, let's talk ice cream! None of their flavors, besides their honeycomb that I didn't have a chance to try, they were out of it, were something special, or worthy of the craze this place gets... This ice cream parlor shouldn't be a Destination! Especially compared to morgensterns, ample Hills, Brooklyn bell's, and ice & vice...

Tip: if you wanna try their honeycomb, you gotta come early, because they usually run out of it in the middle of the day.

So to wash away my bad taste, my friend dragged me to IL Laboratorio...