Mad Maggie's Ice Cream — Restaurant in North Andover

The ice cream and locatiom were fine. The staff also seemed friendly. My experience was really marred by the manager on duty. My sister, brother in law, and I brought my 4 year old son and my 5 year old neice for an ice cream on the way home from Kimballs farm. The lines at Kimballs were insane so we figured this would be a chance to find a new place closer to home with shorter lines. None of us has been here previously. Neither my son or neice can eat an entire scoop of ice cream so my sister asked for a double scoop and for an extra cup. The manager approached and went into a really long spiel about how what we really wanted was 2 ice creams and we needed to purchase 2 single scoops if we wanted them to share. They let us order a single scoop and have an extra cup (worked out for us because neither of them even finished that, but they lost money on the deal since we had asked originally for a double). After we purchased the ice crwam and a lime rickey the same manager profusely apologized that they had to follow policy and that people were abusing their generous ice cream scoops and sharing orders, etc... Everything, including an extra ice cream cone, was a la carte on their menu. The prices were higher than average as well (over $4 for 1 scoop after tax). We definitely were not trying to scam their system so it was a little aggravating the manager was so adamant and rude to start, and then followed up with a condescending apology after. The location was ok, its on a busy corner on a main street and the seating area overlooks a parking lot. The outdoor granite benches were so filthy my 4 year old refused to sit on all but 1 bench. I didn't expect a place with no lines and available staff waiting at empty windows to have no one available to wipe down benches. The spills were so old they were dried and large sticky splotches were on every single bench. I would definitely not go out of my way to go back to this location, especially with so many other awesome ice cream stands in the area with comparable ice cream at much more reasonable prices (and with clean/scenic sitting areas). If you had no other option this place was ok, but I probably wouldn't return. The manager definitely put me off of an otherwise ok ice...

1 year ago: The most delicious ice cream and friendliest staff.

Today: As a Law Enforcement Officer who serves the public, I understand various public scenarios and interactions. Today I took my daughter for some ice cream and it was so good we were going to order some to take home to our freezer. Upon going to the counter to place the order, my daughter (who is 2 and I was holding her) kicked the counter with her foot, dragging her toes along the edge of the counter. The man that was going to take the order says "yea can we not have her put her feet on the counter".....so here's the thing. I completely understand. Ice cream is handed over the counter. Apologies for my daughter touching the counter. But it was said in SUCH a condescending and offputting way that I could not even order the ice cream. I was really bothered by the tone given in regards to a 2 year old accidentally rubbing her foot against the edge of the counter. Now the reason I took the time to mention I am an LEO is because of different public scenarios and the professionalism in handling them and this was absolutely the furthest from polite. The same statement could have been very effectively communicated differently. After this interaction I needed to take a moment and I decided to not purchase the ice cream. Upon gathering my things, this man then stated "so you are not going to get the ice cream. Have a lovely day" with clear emphasis on sarcasm. It should not be taken personally my decision to get the ice cream (which that decision was 100% influenced by this interaction). I had been coming here for years but how I feel now they may have...

This is hard for me to rate. I've been going here for years. I will say though. Without a doubt, they have the best cake batter ice cream that I've ever had. I really like my ice cream too, so that's out of a lot of different ice cream stands. My wife also gets the Peanut Butter Cookie ice cream and she really loves it too. The location is in a nice spot. With the planes taking off and landing across the street. Now, for the Cons.... the sizes sure could bigger than they are, as well as the price. I've gotten the biggest size I can get, and I've still wanted more easily afterwards. The sizes goes by scoop sizes, but the scoops are like meatball size. They have a lot of young help, and I must say everytime we've gone they have been rude. One girl told my wife they didn't have her flavor. We always have a tough time with it being available when we come. So, my wife called and they told her we have it. Of course when we got their one of the young girls told us it was all gone, and she was convinced even after we told her we just called to verify that they have it. Well, good thing another worker over heard us, because they did have it!!. She said yeah we have it, it's a brand new batch. The thing is, the other girl didn't even look, she just told us it was all gone. How ridiculous!!. After all that the girl didn't even apologized. That's what really got to me. I'm big on customer service, and this is an ongoing issue that I've seen here for a long time. If the ice cream wasn't so good, I would be giving much lower. But, with the cons that I described. I'm going to give a generous...