Swensen's — Restaurant in San Francisco

Long story short. Skip it. It’s ok. Head to Ghirardelli Sq. You’re not that much further away. If you want quality ice cream Or just buy a pint at your local grocer. Nothing to write home about here.

Staff: The staff seem less than motivated to do anything. When I walked (Sunday 12/3) it there was two young people a guy and a girl . The guy practically was laying down on the counter. Head folded in his arms on the desk. I wasn’t greeted with a “Hello”, “Welcome”, “ Not even a can I help you.” They seemed to want me out as fast as I came in.

Only problem is that, it’s cash only. So if you’re like me and don’t walk with it you have to go across the street and pay a atm fee. Furthermore, on that topic after giving the girl my cash, she give me the courtesy of handing me my change in my hand. Unsurprisingly, the tip jar is front and center.

Facilities: Some might call it “charming”, “cute”, or “eclectic” where I’m from we call it dirty. There’s no excuse for a establishment that is selling a dairy product to look the way this does. Everything seemed like it had a layer of dust or dirt and two people uninterested in being there, much less wanting to clean. I did take pause in moving forward with my purchase due to the condition of the place and the frigid response from the staff. (Ha! Puns) but I read some of the reviews and moved forward.

Product: Honestly, I don’t know what everyone is raving about. I wasn’t “BLOWN AWAY” by this ice cream and it sure as hell wasn't “The best ice cream I’ve ever tasted.” like some of the reviewers seem to infer. It’s about as good as Breyers or Cold Stone. In fact, there’s a diner right outside of Union sq that makes the best milkshakes and has better ice cream. If they’re making this themselves, I would stop and just have it shipped in. There’s no big difference.

The pricing is good. I paid about $5 for a medium sized cup of Cookies and Cream. I didn’t feel it was over priced. But I’d pay more if it meant the service and the establishment made some upgrades.

Added note: They also charge $1 for water....I mean, it’s water. Not even bottled. I wonder how much are you making off of that!? It seemed kind of silly when there’s bottled water everywhere.

Synopsis: It’s at its best 2 out of 5. I’d be hard pressed to give it a 3. But, I’d give it one extra star as it is out of season for ice cream, I get that. I feel like they could try a lot harder. Being walking distance from San Frans most iconic tourist traps, Lombard Street Gardens, Polk Street, and the Cathedral, I feel like this place could be an amazing find. However, a lot of work needs to be done. Half of it could be fixed very easily with A active internet connection.

My recommendation:

Hire friendlier, more motivated staff, ones that understand customer service by smiling and welcoming the customer into the establishment. I shouldn’t walk into you practically sleeping no matter how boring it is on a Sunday afternoon. Also, when they pay thank them for their patronage and give them their cash in their hand as they handed it to you.

Put on some lively music and some chairs outside for a nice day. Folks will appreciate a nice seat outside after getting their cardio in with the SF hills. You could be the treat for their hard work.

Update the place, replace those old floor tiles, throw up a fresh coat of fun paint. Like mint green or arctic blue, and clean, clean, clean! The staff should always be cleaning or thinking about cleaning.

Start accepting Credit cards. A Square, Paypal, or Stripe are practically free nowadays for merchants. Also, don’t charge for water. Either sell bottled water or don’t offer it. $1 for water is just plain nonsensical.

After all that, then maybe, put the...

Supposed to be four stars! We went here for the first time and FOR FOUR GENERATIONS, one of our Abuelitas has been going here since the 1900s. Of course, since she has gone, we decided to give it a try! The ice cream was great, but the service was horrible! It was three workers that night (Thursday, Aug 17 at 9 PM) -- one short blonde guy, two girls. One of the female workers with short curly (black) hair kept flirting with college boys and made unnecessary commentary, while the other two seemed like they did not want to serve at all -- I asked the boy if I can get a sample, and he looked so displeased and kept slamming the icecream freezer doors. Kept looking out the door to make sure no other customers would be entering (LOL, what the heck? Wouldn't you want more customers for your business?) All they had to do was serve ice cream and they were so rude to the customers -- shouldn't they get fired for this and look forward to hiring more hospitable workers? But anyways, the ice cream was good. Lots of flavor options but if I could have gotten more samples without attitude, that would have been better. Not only that but a man who has been going for 40 years (as he said) wanted to get ice cream at 10:02 PM -- only two minutes after closing. Just one scoop for him, one individual man, and the workers refused to give him service. Hence what I said, the male worker kept looking out the door to make sure no one enters the shop again. But dang, how rude!

I hope the manager sees this and knows who these...

Swensen’s been here my entire life! This is a locals’ ice cream parlor. Luckily it is perched up in Russian Hill close to the Lombard crooked street. You would come across it if you are living nearby or riding on the Hyde Street cable car. But the cable cars are just starting to have practice runs (shutdown during the CoVid19 lockdown of 2020-). This shop is awesome because generations of teens got their first job working at Swensen’s. I like a local business that helps neighborhood kids. They provide great ice cream! It used to be you could win a free scoop if your receipt had a star on it. My fav flavors have been sticky chewy chocolate, spumoni and seasonal pumpkin 🎃. Even if it’s cold out, there’s always room for ice cream, right? Insider tip: this is a great first date spot! The show “The Bachelor” filmed a date with local resident Ben F. inside the shop!Also, take a stroll along the stretch of Hyde Street between Swensen’s & the Lombard crooked street for conversation time culminating in amazing vistas of the Bay, North Beach’s St Peter & Paul’s Church & Coit Tower. You cannot miss being charmed by this...