NarWhals Rolled Ice Cream — Restaurant in Richmond

The ice cream was very good, the service was pleasant but highly inefficient, but we were there for over an hour before our orders were fulfilled.

Two young ladies were working there on a warm spring Saturday, and both were new, one appearing as if it was her first day. We came in with a large group of 11 people, but there were only 4 people ahead of us at that time, and they had all ordered already. After ordering and paying for 6 of us, they said it would be 15-20 minutes until those orders were up. It ended up being 45 and the other 5 in our party were 40 more on top of that. During that time, probably 18 more customers came in, and it felt chaotic. The shop was full of people - some waiting to order, some waiting for their orders to be filled, and few knowing what was going on. There seemed to be no system in place of when to take orders and when to fill them. At times, new customers stood at the counter for 10 minutes before they were acknowledged, and at other times waiting customers grumbled to each other that both workers were standing around taking new orders while they were backed up on existing ones. At least two couples left before ordering. And for as nice as the workers were (very kind and sweet), there was no hustle at all. They had a leisurely pace the whole time.

During our long wait, our kids were getting thirsty and we were hesitant to ask for cups of water because we didn’t want to interrupt the process of filling orders. We eventually caved, but if you know rolled ice cream takes forever, why don’t you have a water dispenser or something?

Overall, it may be that rolled ice cream is just too inefficient for a good experience unless you walk into the shop with a small party and no other customers in front of you. But there’s no way in my mind that the quality or novelty justified that kind of wait, and it really felt like little thought went into a good customer experience ahead of time. We are...

1/20: Came back on 1/20 after our last experience here with 1 other friend who had been here last time! A nice girl rang up our orders and took time making our orders. I got coffee with graham cracker, and she got strawberry and fruity pebbles. She was able to load the toppings up more and made our rolls pretty thick! The cups this time had been of a nice painted cardboard cup and the portion size was pretty equal to how it was last year! The owner was very genuine and did a great job of making the exchange smooth. The temperature in there was better than the last time as well, not running too hot for 24F outside. The flavors of the coffee and the strawberry were well distributed as she was very efficient in rolling our ice cream. The Ice cream is also more solid than last time making it a nice experience to end our day.

1/14: Honestly i'm not really sure what happened to this place within the past year, most reviews are from 3 months ago or greater. It's 11.35 for a small (very small) amount. (Feb 4 2024 picture included, it was much more for only $7 and not clear water cup like containers ): )It was in a small clear cup as well. My friends got a sliver of a strawberry in their strawberry icecream. The guy wasnt bad with his service, we had to ask a few questions to understand how the flavors worked for those who came for the first time but honestly we wouldn't go back here again. All four of us left pretty disappointed. Seems like it used to be mom and pop but might be different now? It was very hot inside for it being 32F outside. I'm not usually harsh on reviews but this really took me by suprised. Could have went to Jenis down the street for better or even mcdonald's .

I got coffee and gram cracker flavor and it wasnt bad but for their main menu it wasn't enough to satisfy anyone's craving ): (1 star for haste and 1...

This is a small shop in Carytown. We stopped in here after having some burgers right down the road. Very friendly and helpful service on explaining what they do to make it, etc. It was my first experience with rolled ice cream. You can get multiple flavors and they have oodles of flavors to choose from and they have free toppings to go with it or you can upgrade and get some of the premium toppings. It was neat watching them chop it, freeze it, and roll/curl it. I enjoyed that part. I chose the nutter butter and peanut butter cup 2 flavor small option and got plenty of ice cream for the price. Pricing is fair for what you get. I also asked for peanut butter frizzle (free) and that was put in the mixture and then on top of my rolled ice cream once it was finished. It was pretty good. I think it maybe would of been better if I had chose better flavors to go together. I would try rolled ice cream again at NarWhals or somewhere else that makes it but it wasn't my favorite ice cream ever. Seats inside. They also have games like uno to play inside which I thought was very cool/unique to have in an ice cream shop. 4 stars because of the experience, friendliness, and good ice cream - it just wasn't 5 stars for me because it wasn't a WOW...