Scoop Deville South St — Restaurant in Philadelphia

Great service. Terrible ice cream.

The staff at this location are doing their absolute best: they're friendly, efficient, and patient with kids. I have no complaints with the service here! Unfortunately, Scoop De Ville is not really an "ice cream" shop. This isn't ice cream as most people are familiar with it. It's neither traditional scooped ice cream, nor is it true soft serve or custard. It's... foam.

Try a (dairy) milkshake and you'll see: there's no creaminess, no density. Virtually no weight. It will shock you how light the cup is when they hand it over: it's like being handed a tall cup of froth or latte foam. What this means is that you're getting very little ice cream per serving, and it's being frothed and mixed up with lots of toppings and syrups to hide that fact. The effect is all sugar and no richness. Their milkshakes don't even feel COLD, because it's mainly foamy, not creamy... foam is not refreshing on a hot day, nor is it remotely as satisfying as real ice cream is.

The foamy "whipped" texture of everything, and the fact that they offer so many mix-ins (perhaps to hide said texture?), feels fundamentally dishonest to me. You're paying ice cream sundae prices for a scoop of whipped cream with a bunch of crushed cookies and gummies stirred in; in my opinion you'd get better value for your money from a fast-food milkshake. The only thing I've found to be worth purchasing from this menu is their frozen lemonades, since those will actually quench...

I really wanted to love this place. I did. I'm so happy that an ice cream place has so many vegan options. However, the service has a lot of room for improvement. I got my ice cream (vegan cookie monster in a cone) promptly. The mini chocolate dipped cone was delightful, and the ice cream was fun and colorful, albeit a little icy. The portion was generous. However, my partner's order of vegan soft serve took almost 20 mins to come out. First, a staff member apparently forgot to finish his order (per his colleague). Then, said colleague forgot to inform my partner that they didn't have the necessary ingredients for his order. He changed his order and informed a third staff member, who didn't seem to understand what the order was even though my partner read off directly from the menu. The good news is, when my partner's order finally came out (the choc PB), he loved it. Said it's the best vegan soft serve he's ever had. Great texture and flavor. I urge the owner to please take this review constructively and not defensively. With the right service, this could be a five star...

Edited for a happier ending. (My previous review is below). After the disappointing way it was handled by the staff, the manager called me back. Once I explained the issue, he offered to have someone come to my home to write on the cake. He made it in time before my daughter came home from school, so birthday crisis averted. So while I’m still disappointed in the initial mix up, I’m impressed that the manager quickly rectified the situation. And the cake was tasty!

(Original review: Scoop deville ruins small children’s birthdays!

I pre ordered and paid for a birthday cake with writing and a candle a week before my daughter’s birthday. When we went in to pick it up, they had no idea what we were talking about. There was somehow no record of my $42 order. (Despite my receipt) They finally deigned to get one out of the freezer. But there’s no writing (these things matter to a kid, and regardless, when I’ve ordered and paid for something, it should be ready and correctly done), and they offered no apology. Just an “I dunno” I will obviously not be...