Kilwins Ice Cream - Chocolate - Fudge — Restaurant in Saint Petersburg

I am a St. Pete local. I love kilwins cake batter ice cream. However, this particular location on Beach Drive seems to be the only one where it’s inconsistently available. After several visits and inquiries, I learned they rotate it with another flavor and store it in the back.

There is an employee, who I believe may be a manager or in a leadership role (an African American male), and I’ve noticed he is often on his phone during my visits. This past weekend, he was the one to assist me once he finished up on his phone (with a line of 7 people waiting). When I asked for cake batter ice cream, he told me, “We’re out.” I mentioned that this has happened before, and usually, someone finds it in the back. He stood firm, saying they were out.

Another employee, while helping a different customer, overheard and said, “We definitely have it. I’ll help you when I’m done here.” I waited, but then a third employee came over (young caucasian female). When I repeated my request for cake batter, I explained that the other staff member had said they would help me. She replied, “We don’t have it right now.” I clarified, asking, “Do you not have it out, or is it out of stock?” She admitted they had it, but they had replaced it with seasonal flavors and wouldn’t bring it out. When I asked if I could get a scoop or a pint as they had done before, she refused.

At $9 for a cone and a single scoop, plus ASKING for a tip, the customer service here is extremely disappointing. The employees at this location are by far the rudest I’ve encountered at any Kilwins. It seems to be a leadership issue. On a previous visit, I witnessed a young employee (in her early 20s) rudely belittling a colleague when he asked her to clean something. She laughed in his face and said, “I don’t care about this place. I’m going to be a nurse soon.”

While I understand that no one is perfect, the staff at this location seem completely uninterested in the customers or their jobs. I live closer to the John’s Pass location, where the service is always kind and respectful. In fact, across all the locations I’ve visited—Lakewood Ranch, John’s Pass, St. Armands—the Beach Drive location in St. Pete is the only one where I’ve consistently had a bad experience.

When getting a $9 ice cream cone or $20 pint becomes this much of a hassle, it’s no longer worth going out of my...

We just had lunch in the downtown St. Petersburg and decided we wanted to explore the area and at the same time, look for a desert place nearby. We quickly looked up desert places in Google maps and Kilwins was one of the top indicated dessert places so we then decided to check it out and to our amazement, it was really close by..455 feet to be exact. We started to walk and saw the Museum of Fine Arts across the street and a glimpse of St. Pete's pier in the distance. We also passed a few restaurants that were initially on our list of places to try. We almost past Kilwins if not for the elephant statue in a green cap and shorts lounging on a bench in front of the dessert place. Hmm..that would be a perfect landmark as the Kilwins sign isn't that noticeable if you are walking. We entered the store and wow, it was sweets galore. ice cream of all kinds, so many choices of chocolate..truffles, caramel, confections, peanut butter cups, caramel apples, fudge..woah a lot of fudge. Luckily, we had already decided beforehand that we wanted ice cream and they had a waffle cup which was perfect so we could pick and choose a few flavors. We went with salty caramel, strawberry chunks and fudge brownie. The serving was huge that my wife decided to share the ice cream delight with me instead. We got our ice cream and quickly crossed the street to see the pier and the other surroundings. It also started to get warm so the ice cream was a welcome treat. And the ice cream was so good, creamy and perfect. The waffle cone held up well, well maybe too well and was afraid it would break if I wanted a piece. The nice thing is that the ice cream was not too sweet. My wife quickly looked for a spot for me to take a video of her eating the scrumptious ice cream. Kilwins is definitely worth checking out for a nice snack/dessert. Ice cream is just one of many choices that you can get and you mist certainly will get confused on what to get as everything looks so good and the store has a fun display and...

There is no better place in town to load your calorie count and skip the guilt.(If you think like that and I do)...No kidding.. you and your significant others will not forget the experience as you walk through the front door.On your left is a huge area and table where the fudge master is rolling and cutting the best home made fudge ever.One word Decadence...as you weave your way through the hustle and bustle of energy one kind of feels an exciting feeling like your a child for a moment.I have a thing for a toasted coconut ice cream in a chocolate dipped cone with peanut crumbles on a fresh waffle cone.Don't be sorry and just get one scoop.While their fixing that head back to the fudge case if you dare and order a cappuccino or esspresso?The display of confections and gifts just let's you know this is the Santa's Workshop of confections.Every bit as festive as possible while trying to serve you promptly.One bit of advice..be decisive with your ordering please.Being good means being busy.These folks behind the counter are very polite while being very busy.Never had a problem giving a compliment and leaving a good tip.When you go out side again on your left is my favorite spot to enjoy your treats and people watch.There are plenty of anointing seating as well.Arethusa Farms of Lichfield,CT. is their only rival on the eastern seaboard....And say hello to my friend for...