Ice Cream Shack — Restaurant in Peoria

Review Date: September 29th, 2013

“Do you want to go to The Ice Cream Shack?”

“Sure! Which one?”

“THE Ice Cream Shack.”

“Right, but which one? Peoria has a ton of them.”

“It’s a place called THE ICE CREAM SHACK.”

“Ohhhhhh…”

I imagine that is a common conversation among people when they are talking about coming here. I know there was some slight confusion between my cousin and I when we made plans to check this place out.

After spending the afternoon hiking at Forest Park Nature Center with my friend Tim and my cousin’s family, we needed some sugary treats to recharge our batteries. The kids were vocally loud in their agreement on getting ice cream. So, we hopped in our cars and headed over.

I had been by this area quite a few times and never realized there was an ice cream place. The building itself is a bit recessed from the road and doesn’t really have an outlandish look that some ice cream shacks have. So, you can end up driving by without noticing it (as I have).

It was a slow when we pulled up so there was plenty of parking for our two vehicles. We hopped out and walked on up to the window to figure out what we wanted. Luckily this place doesn’t have a million different options to pick from like a lot of places. Their menu is simplistic and focused on ice cream with a small selection of non-frozen desserts to pick from.

On this day, I snagged a Peanut Butter Cup-flavored wizard. As we waited for our snacks, I eagerly anticipated getting a peanut butter cup-themed wizard staff and hat to go with my delectable. When they called my name, I sprinted up to the window to get my goodies. What they gave me was just the wizard that I ordered and no garments or anything else.

Dream crushed.

I’m kidding. We all got our orders in a fairly quick time as there weren’t many people there. I don’t recall what everyone else got but we took some funny photos while scarfing down our sugary dairy products. Everyone seemed to enjoy what they ordered and after goofing around a bit more, we parted ways.

Not only did the kids get to be kids jacked up on ice cream and hiking, us adults got to be kids at heart while being goof balls loaded...

So we drove from Springfield Illinois as a Sunday getaway and for a little nostalgia since we are from Peoria and this was a family favorite. Today was totally different the staff was indifferent and borderline prejudiced. Ordered a slush to be told moments later no because it takes an hour to freeze. Well little lady you are open until 9 I think. Meanwhile the cashier at the window and young man in the back were throwing ice cream at each other as they made our wizard. When asked for a manager a young woman stepped to the window in the most non gracious way ever. What a disappointment for your brand The Ice Cream Shack is a Peoria staple and your staff should do better because your customers deserve that. We paid 6.27 for a medium KitKat and cookie dough wizard and there is literally hardly any of the requested choice of mix ins. Maybe if the cashiers focused on the customers instead of entertaining one another customer service...

First ill say that the service we recieved was horrile. We ordered a shake a wizzard and 2 chili cheese dogs. Got our icecream and then waited about 10 min for our hot dogs. I happen to look through the wondow to see the girl makeing our chili cheese dogs on the counter right next to a spray bottle of cleaner. Thats not ok and a health violation. I told the young guy at the window and he sent the manager up. I told her and she said that she would move the bottle and didnt realize that they were making food as they hadnt had food in over an hour. Which was a lie because the literally handed chili dogs to the customer that was before me. I asked her to remake them and the young lady that was making them instantly started throwing her hands in the air and cussing. We...