Champloo Desserts — Restaurant in Salem

Edit: 1 to 2 stars for management's efforts. Like I said, I like the staff and I hear their ice cream is awesome, but I just had a rotten experience.

This is definitely a review I did not want to write because this is a new business and the staff I encountered (including the owner) are genuinely nice people. However, after visiting for a chance to try something sweet, I left with a very sour experience...twice...

To keep myself from ranting about good business practice, I'll keep this short. The demand was too high for the store to keep up and caused me and my family to wait for over an hour for a couple ice cream orders. They basically said "sorry, we messed up, here's free ice cream for your next visit" and sent us on our way. Yea, I'm upset that they kept us around for so long for no reason, but okay I understand...they weren't prepared to be as busy as they were on opening day (they sold out of ingredients, the freezers overheated, the store was at physical capacity...etc).

Sure, fine, whatever...but what really put me over edge is that we decided to come back to give them business the next day. They remembered us, but still told us it would be a 45 min wait because there are 11 orders on deck. We pleaded our case and were still turned away. Seems pretty standard to me to just push our orders through considering our wasted time the previous night, but alas, I'm back in DC and can't...

Champloo Desserts is a fantastic little "hole-in-the-wall" shop that sells a delicious assortment of handmade ice creams. They have a large menu of ranging options, from simple vanilla or chocolate to exquisite flavors like Mango with Tango or Mint Everest - both which I highly recommend. There are even coffee and tea flavored ice cream dishes. Anything that you buy is sure to satiate that sweet tooth.

The staff are friendly from the moment you walk in the door. It is great to be able to see your purchase being made right infront of you on the slabs of ice with only spatulas. I was extremely absorbed in what the workers were doing that I didn't even mind the slight wait.

The ice cream is delicious, rich in flavor, and smooth in texture, and the toppings vary from classics like walnuts and sprinkles to the more daring like green tea pocky and York Mint. The amount that you get for your buck is definitely worth it.

If ice cream isn't your thing, Champloo Desserts also has delicious drinks like Boba tea in many flavors or frozen lemonade - they also have French Pressed Coffee.

The best part of Champloo Desserts? Nothing is over $6.00! I highly recommend that anyone in the Salem area visit this place...

The service is incredible. Every staff is very friendly, but frankly their bubble tea is way too sweet. It's probably the worst bubble tea that I've ever tried in my life. For your reference, I've been to a lot of bubble tea cafes (kung fu tea in northern virginia and charlottesville, opass in blacksburg, and kelly cafe in roanoke and many more outside of the state. I ordered a green tea, and my friends got Taro and Black. We tried each other's tea and every single tea was just too sweet at the level you can't even taste its own natural flavor. It just tastes like sugar and honey/maple syrup which is terrible for tea. I don't know it's because their bubbles are sweet, but the worst part is when it's more melt, it actually tastes gross. None of us finished our tea. We all spent more than $4 on tea so we basically wasted our money. I already tried their ice cream and fruit flavored bubble tea in the past. I don't think I will go back. I have to...