normal ice cream store — Restaurant in Salt Lake City

Now that I have had Normal Ice Cream a handful of times, I can tell you the pros and cons.

Pros The ice cream is anything BUT normal. If your palate is on the adventurous side, I HIGHLY recommend stopping here for soft serve ice cream. You can choose a composite cone, cup, or cup & cone (as I do) OR come up with your own creation based on the flavors of the month. The flavors rotate every month ensuring that repeat customers come back for something new.

Cons Service has been hit or miss since day one of visiting this store. Sometimes you come across employees that are patient, happy, and ready to answer your questions. My first time there, I had a handful of questions before ordering and the cashier was kind and patient and explained how ordering worked. I started bringing my room mate with me to visit the store after that and he has more bad luck than good luck. Many times he has ordered ice cream for the two of us and drove it back home so we can eat together here and one of our orders is usually missing something that we paid extra money for ON TOP of a tip left. It happened again tonight where you ordered the Mango composite cone and asked for Rainbow sprinkles. He said there was no one else in line but the lady made the order so quick and basically rushed him out of the door that he didn't question it (it was close to closing time. So, I'll give her that) but when he came home, he discovered there was no sprinkles that he paid extra money for. This is the third time this has happened and the first two times were with the same employee-- a woman with glasses and dark hair. He described her as either being new and overwhelmed or she's high because she has messed up his order more than a handful of times and even her corrections are still messed up and she has to go back a third time to make it.

Another con is their pints--which i really hate writing. We started buying their pints WAY BEFORE we even visited the store front and our favorite is the "Off the Cobb". 2 year ago, when we first started buying it, every single pint was loaded with caramel and passionfruit in every bite, so we didn't mind paying $9 a pint at the store for them. Today, we're lucky if we even see a single swirl of caramel let alone any passionfruit. We thought maybe it had to do with quality control with products going to the store, but no. We bought "Off the Cobb" at the store as well and it was the same lackluster experience. We have since stopped buying the pints altogether now because it's not worth $9.

Last con is what is available on their menu online is not indicative of what they have in the store. We are DYING to try the Saltine Sandwichs pint, but we never see it in the fridge. You also never see "Little shortie" in the fridge either. I have another friend that introduced me to Normal to begin with and she said they DO have that ice cream bar but you only can order it through Doordash.

Parking Parking is another con depending on when you go. If it isn't busy, you can park right in front of the store. If it's slammed, chances are you are going to have to try and find street parking somewhere OR park behind the buildings and hope you find a spot back there.

Overall Advice Your best bet is to go to the storefront and be mindful and check your order before leaving. Do not assume they made it correctly. I would also tip them in cash AFTER you receive your order and if you're happy with the service. We are not tipping anymore before we receive our order when we go as our experience overall has been...

If I could leave 5 negative stars I would. Complete joke!

My daughter saw their food truck in Trolly Square and for over an hour looked at it and asked to get an ice cream.

Following dinner where she earned her ice cream we head over to the BS food truck. Where the attendant couldn’t be bothered with questions and refers us to their website. I have next to no service but manage to place an order where 1X it confirms the location which I assume is the one I’m at.

While ordering another couple with their kid walk up to the same truck and are guided through the website, order and are handed their ice creams smiles and laughs all around.

We head up after ordering only to find that we apparently didn’t order at the “right location”. I ask if I can please just get a cone for my daughter, where the super not helpful couldn’t be bothered with anything Normal employee tells me I have to get a refund first, then I could place another order.

At this point McDonals 1$ ice cream is where it’s at.

I then get a text letting me know our order is ready at who knows where location. I let them know I’m leaving a bad review because this was literally the worst experience EVER for an ICE CREAM, and ask for the refund as instructed by the Normal employee.

Then I get the following text, where shocking, “Normal” takes zero responsibility and sends this text.

ALSO NOTE NO REFUND AVAILABLE!!

“Shoot! I’m sorry your experience has not been ideal and that our current set up has been confusing for you.

You placed your order at our store location (169 e 900s), not Trolley Square. Our website asks confirmation on location multiple times to try to prevent people from accidentally ordering at the wrong place.

With COVID, our current business model is very much online ordering and minimal interaction to help keep you and our staff safe!

We do not make an order until we get a text saying that you are here- because sometimes people are late and we don’t want your ice cream to melt(!) or accidents happen and we want to be able to offer as much flexibility as possible with refunds

Unfortunately, once your order is made it cannot be refunded, since the only option (if you don’t claim it) is to throw it away.

We have it here in our freezer if you would still like to claim it, but unfortunately no refund...

Normal rating for some normal ice cream. But do not mistake that for being the same as ordinary, for they are not the same-- least, according to that sign in the store.

During our visit, I chose the flavor “S’mores in January”; my brother chose Lemon Meringue (LM). Having finished my cup of ice cream before he did, I found my consciousness distancing itself from the snowy S’mores wonderland and approaching the metaphysical; but more closely—an unknown destination that could help me reconcile the difference between these two paradoxically (similar, or different?) words--Ordinary versus Normal. As you might expect, this did not sit right with me. Each attempt at redirecting my focus failed as my mind couldn't seem to admit that I've lived 26 years without noticing the difference. Normal is not Ordinary. Ordinary is not Normal? It didn't matter. Slap. My brother slapping his emptied cup of LM down onto the table shattered that thought. But instead of that drawing my attention away, it only veered it deeper as my falling gaze rested onto his emptied cup of LM. From the angle I was sitting, our cups overlapped and fused both in spirit and physical properties; not unlike angel and demon; heaven or hell; l Imagined the young graham-cracker filled chocolate-marshmallow flavor as a young boy, attending his local state university, discovering the delicate intimacies of true love, establishing a livelihood, and eventually settling down and living out his twilight years with the love of his life, Mrs. Merengue. I saw it now. The log cabin they shared was beautiful; in exchange for Mrs.Merengue's lessons on living off of the heart of the land, Mr. S’more harnessed his woodworking and fire-building skills to build a foundation for a timeless and loving relationship.

That brings me to my conclusion, which I will start by saying: if, hypothetically, people were to liken S’mores to one of four seasons, it would (“absolutely!”) not be one shared with January, right? Until my struggle to find “S’mores in January” as a commercially available flavor of ice cream, my lifelong pursuit will continue. That is until I bridge the gap between ordinary and normal.

Waffle cones would be...