The Penny Ice Creamery | Scotts Valley — Restaurant in Scotts Valley

In regards to the actual place itself, it was very clean, organized, and there were nice little seating areas outside with fire pits to keep warm. The employees were friendly, immediately offered to help, and waited patiently while we thought about our orders. My dad and I each got one scoop of the mint, but I opted for a cone and toasted marshmallow fluff. My mom got the "rocky lane," also with marshmallow fluff on top.

The marshmallow topping and the cone were delicious, and so was my mom's ice cream. They also gave very generous portions which I would normally appreciate, but the the mint . . . it was definitely something. It doesn't really taste like any other mint ice cream I've had. It's not minty, really, it tastes like eating straight pine needles (or, a worse but still fitting comparison, pine-scented cleaning agents). You can also smell that "earthy" smell on the ice cream itself. Honestly, taking a bite of it was like being slapped in the face by a pine tree. Everything else about the experience was good, the mint just sort of spoiled it for me.

Moral of the story: most of our experience was really good, just stay clear of the mint if you're going for that Coldstone mint flavor. If you like eating pine needles then that...

Horribe, service, very over-priced, tiny portions - don't waste your $$! We ordered a double-scoop in a cone plus an additional cup. The Harry Potter look-alike charged us $9.50 for a double scoop in a cup. He also gave us an extra cup. No cone. His digital register reqsted payment without itemizing so j had no idea what k was being charged for. He did NOT want to give me a receipt, even though I asked multiple times. When I politely reminded him I'd requested a receipt there times, he finally gave me one. I noticed he charged me an extra $1 for a hand-made cone. I asked him for my dollar back, or the cone I paid for. He told me no, saying he charged for the extra cup. I said he failed to inform us the cup would be $1 extra, and the price of the extra cup was not posted, plus we had asked for a cone. I then asked him to just transfer my scoop into a cone. He refused saying I had already used my cup. I asked for the managers name. He said he was the manager and would not tell me his name. Had I known all this, I would have gone across the street for a cone at fast-food restaurant burger...

The guy working at the counter was not friendly at all. The ice cream was alright , there are some interesting flavors… It reminded me of salt and straw which i absolutely love, but this ice cream didn’t measure up at all. The kids got mint chip which is usually a basic flavor, but this mint tasted like the actual plant… which is fine, but when serving small children it would’ve been nice to have been offered to taste it first, or given the heads up that it has a different taste. My kids aren’t allowed to waste, but they really didn’t like it so we threw theirs away. The cones were home made but tasted burnt. They gave a good portion, but the overall experience was bad. We won’t be back, and don’t recommend it. Hopefully they get better staff who put a little more love...