Flapdoodles Ice Cream — Restaurant in Rochester

This has to be the most interesting ice cream place I've ever been too. I walked by it from my hotel at 3pm on a warm July Wednesday and happened to notice that both of their parking lots were nearly full. I was intrigued by that but thought it must be a misnomer because why would there be so many people at an ice cream shop... it's an ICE CREAM SHOP and we live in the world of dieting overload...!?

However, an hour and a half later, when I was walking back to the hotel, I noticed the parking lot was a little less full, but still full. I decided to pop in to see if the place was empty...and it was not. So now I began to look at WHY this place had so many people during a time that the mini restaurant space should be empty, and I found many many reasons for people to come. In fact I now think that the business owner, whoever they are, might be a small business genius...

Everything in the place was fun, from the funny sayings on the walls and tables, to the funny ice cream combinations, to the origin story by the door, to the funny daily bit of nonsense on their blackboard ...even the kids party nook. It's incredibly smart on their behalf to let the local customers submit names for their homemade ice cream combinations, which gives the customers a personal stake in the place. They also hold an annual art contest among the local students and hang the winning pieces in the hallway to the bathroom along with a picture of each student. They even sell shirts that would actually help customers advertise the place, and it's only a block away from a sports field where I imagine a lot of little league competitions take place.

Having said all that, you're probably thinking, BUT HOW WAS THE ICE CREAM? Actually, really good.. very creamy. They only allow you two samples (and in my opinion, they should up it to three samples...because I probably would have bought two scoops if I could have tried just one more, but I settled on one because the two I tried didn't go together...). I tasted the German chocolate ice cream, which was phenomenal, but ended up buying the spicy chocolate. With the spicy chocolate, it was the first time I'd ever had brain freeze while also feeling like my mouth was on fire. It was a pretty sweet experience (pun intended).

The customer service was excellent because they had three or four people working...again, unusual for an ice cream place,but also tells you that a lot of people drop by regularly. Half the tables were full of people and it gave the place a Date Night feel while also being family friendly. It had all the markings of a fun and classic ice cream shop, including a classic ice cream truck outside.

If I were to give any suggestions (basically just to the owner) it would simply be to up the decorations in the birthday nook. That corner was a bit on the bland side for a party nook. But other than that, probably the best ice cream shop I've ever been too ... and I'm a flight attendant who flies all...

We were in town for a dance competition and ice cream is the best way to celebrate freshly won awards or medals but, my daughter has an insanely severe peanut allergy so when I saw the sign for a local ice cream shop I assumed she couldn’t go, she can almost never go to ice cream shops. I gave them a call and could tell it was a teenager or very young adult who answered and I explained our situation and said, I’m just wondering if you have safe options or if you think we’d be better off skipping it? I would not have been upset at all had she said skip and expected her too and she said they could scoop with freshly sanitized scoops in the back from unopened containers. We went and the place was staffed entirely by teenagers and young adults and they were so prompt, patient, and helpful. A young man scooped my daughters and he didn’t seem inconvenienced or annoyed at all, even though they were busy. I thanked him so many times but it was almost as if he didn’t even understand why because to him it was just like scooping any other cone and that’s not something we ever experience. My daughter rarely gets to have normal laid back experiences celebrating birthdays, or awards, or wins and so it is so special to us all when she can just be a normal kid in an ice cream shop. Thank you to each and every employee for their kindness, patients, and understanding and thank you for helping keep my daughter safe. I know allergies are so prevalent and scooping this way isn’t convenient but that cone is so special to her because she’s so used to missing out. We appreciate you all. Also thank you to whoever designed the tables, we were all thoroughly entertained by the jokes/puns...

I live in the twin cities but we go to Flapdoodles any time we are in Rochester. I believe Flapdoodles (Both locations) have the best ICE CREAM in Minnesota. Never have had a scoop with ICE in it because the quality is that high. We just went this last weekend because my daughter wanted once of their strawberry ice cream cakes for her birthday. We bought the cake from their south location and received great service. We were provided with a extra box when they realized we were going to be driving back with the cake. We bought 20 pounds of ice from a nearby gas station and poured it inside the box they gave us covering the cake. We got home in an hour and half and the cake was still completely frozen. We tried the cake and it was just as great as the rest of their ice cream products. It really is the best ice cream cake we ever have had. The ice cream being made with real strawberries really made it...