Handel's Homemade Ice Cream — Restaurant in Reno

I just witnessed three young people take on an unanticipated mid-day rush at this Handel’s Ice Cream at the Summit. It was one of the most impressive operations I’ve ever witnessed, and I saw Desert Storm (on tv).

Allow me to set the scene:

Today is the last day of school in our district and elementary age kids got out early at 1:20. I thought it would be novel to go and get a sweet midday treat with my son to celebrate the beginning of summer. Well, it was far from novel. As I would soon learn, every other parent and child in Washoe County had the EXACT SAME IDEA and would soon descend on this ice cream shop and the three youths trapped within.

My son and I knew something was up by the number of cars in the parking lot. We circled around back and found a nice parking spot under a tree (not important but 🥵😁 so yay!), then scurried in to assess the situation.

As we entered we discovered a line already winding to the end of the demarcated zone. There were five small groups of two or three people each in front of us, but it took awhile before anyone came in behind us “Oh, we must the last ones in this rush,” I foolishly thought to myself.

But then more came. Then a few more. “It’s getting loud in here,” my son yelled. “My God, I don’t think I’ll even be able to order at an audible level!” I thought.

I scurried to write down our order for fear that the written word may soon be our only successful method of commmunicating with the youth taking orders alone at the counter.

The blue baseball cap hid the sweat gathering on her brow but I could smell what she had been trained never to show: FEAR.

The crowd started to swarm. More and more continued flooding in to the dining area. The air became heavy. The two youths scooping the ice cream came to the counter every few seconds to yell out a name no one could hear.

My son and I huddled toward the back of the store toward the bathrooms. “If need be, we can barricade ourselves in there until the storm blows over,” I thought to myself.

A few excruciating minutes later, I made eye contact with one of the ice cream scooping youths as I elbowed my way back to the counter. I attempted to use my gaze to telegraph my sincere regret for ordering so much ice cream. “In hindsight, two four-scoop samplers and three pints may have been a little excessive considering the sudden onslaught of other customers,”I blinked.

Hers replied, “Wait, you ordered three PINTS, TOO?!” 🤯🤬 as she turned, exasperated (but never rude!), and headed back to trenches.

Down but not defeated, she returned with the three pints, offering us a paper sack for easy carrying despite us both knowing I did not deserve it.

Bravely, my son led the charge out of the store, winding his way past an oblivious woman and her squadron of offspring.

How we made it out there, I still don’t know. What happened once we departed, I may never know. But unless these youth end up on the evening news for violently snapping after throwing up their hands and blue caps while yelling, “I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!”, someone should give each of them a medal.

p.s. Birthday Cake 🎂 10/10 Salty Caramel Truffle 🧂30/10 Cotton Candy 🎡 8/10 Mixed Berry...

The ice cream on its own is tasty. This is the first Handel’s ice cream in the area. It was very busy after a much anticipated opening. I have a feeling the reviews will be mixed. If you want judgement solely on the ice cream— it’s good and worth a try! Now, in terms of the establishment, things get a bit hairy. While the new employees are overall nice; you can tell they were overwhelmed and trying to figure things out. They should receive mercy for it. They’re trying. That said— management could have helped more imo to ensure things ran smoothly. The first day, no order numbers or names were taken to know when your order was ready. They also had zero decor on the walls and cheap ornaments on the tables. The trash bins were overfilled and spilling waste. One restroom even ended up out of order. It was a long wait time (about 45mins) and napkins were only available upon request with the cashier which is a hinderance to service since they’re already busy and now you needed to go back to ask them for napkins. Summary: the ice cream is yummy, the service was chaotic but nice people and the ambiance was lackluster. I’ll give it a month or two for things to settle. I just hope management can address the issues so the store thrives long term. For now— show some mercy to the staff lol. I’ll be back and I’ll thank them for their hard work. I can tell they’re at...

Absolutely love this place! The ice cream is top notch and made with quality ingredients. It was a long awaited refreshing addition to the Reno area and offers a long list of unexpected and extremely unique flavors not to be found anywhere else. The flavors I’ve had so far are spot on, like the pie flavors matching their titles or the PB&J that was down right delicious. DO NOT listen to the nay sayer’s complaining about the service especially considering this is a new establishment simply doing their best to learn the ropes, while happily serving our community with smiles. Also, the super friendly staff is working hard to deliver happiness and constantly improve, while actually caring about each and every customer. This is a local family owned business which is new to everyone and will only get much better in a short time. So, please do your part to support a local business and not be so picky and petty, like about the white walls. Are you there for ice cream or wall decorations? Can’t wait for...