The Chocolate Barn — Restaurant in Shaftsbury

The ice cream here was good. However, we will not be returning (despite being in this area a lot) because we had a strange experience that made us feel unwelcome. We were sitting on the porch with our 3-mo old and 3-yr old eating our ice cream, experiencing a rare moment of calm. An older gentleman in the parking lot with his dog commented that we looked like we were having fun and offered to take a picture of our family, which was nice since it's hard to get a shot with all 4 of us. I tried handing him the phone from the porch (as we were far from the entrance) for the pic but was balancing a small baby and was struggling to reach him. We tried a few ways to hand-off the phone, but the baby was slipping, and so--to help me--the man stepped up on to the porch from the ground, holding the railings from the outside to grab the phone from me. Suddenly, the owner came RUNNING out and pointing at the man aggressively, YELLING very loudly: "Hey! You!!! This isn't a jungle gym! You get down from there, and you act like an adult!!!" It was SO loud and so full-force and so demeaning to this kind guy who was just trying to be helpful that it was entirely inappropriate--especially given the context. In fact, at first, we all thought it must be a joke; they must know each other and were kidding around. But no, that's just the way the owner responded (in front of several children and other guests on the porch, too.) And it's funny because we're working with our 3-year old about how you can't raise your voice at anyone just because you're frustrated with them etc. (Seems the owner is the one who needs to be told to "act like an adult.") Not only did the situation not really warrant saying anything at all (no less something so demeaning and SO loudly) cause the infraction lasted only 1.5 seconds, but if the owner had to say something, a simple, "Hey, sir--can you get down? The porch is fragile/ I don't want anyone hurt or filing a lawsuit etc" in a normal tone/volume would have sufficed and certainly would have been a much better example for the kids. The adult guests wouldn't have felt so awkward either. Anyway, it soured the whole thing, everyone (other guests, too) got silent, the man was embarrassed, we felt guilty for him, the kids were confused etc. Not a great way to behave in front of guests. There were so many other ways this fairly innocent situation could have...

If I could give this place a zero I would. Rude! I was there yesterday with some of my friends. When we walked in there was no one else in the store. I have been to this place before but my friends had not. We hadn't been in this store 10 minutes and before what I assume was one of the owners started telling everyone to "hurry up and decide" because people were waiting outside. He was yelling due to covid they could only have 10 people in the store. I understand the restrictions but we hadn't even been in the store 10 minutes to look at the selections and decide. He keep saying come on ladies decide...who's next...let's go. His tone was soo rude. My friends and I were prepared to spend money yesterday, but after he started harassing everyone we quickly grabbed something and got out...not nearly making the size purchases we had planned on. As we are standing in line, after having to make hasty decisions, this man stood there still telling us to speed it up...let's go ladies..verbally harassing us and other customers in the store. We were all so mad when we left due to how we were treated.... You lost 5 customers yesterday. I can understand if we had been in the stores for 45 minutes, chatting with each other not seriously shopping and people were waiting but that was not the case. Sorry your struggling due to covid...but your...

From the start, walking onto the porch, I was not impressed. I walk with a cane and there were no railings on the 3 high concrete stairs. When I walked in, I discovered that there were no restrooms. This is NOT a place for older people with any sort of a stair or walking problem.

The ice cream was good - just good. The pricing would lead one to expect, if not world class, at least award winning taste. To be fair portion sizes were good to excellent.

When asked if the maple ice cream was naturally flavored and contained real maple syrup, the snide and evasive answer was "Well, you ARE in Vermont".

An excellent place to avoid. There are numerous good ice cream places in the area; if you are a Maple Smoothie fan, the Sugar Shack in Arlington (5 miles up the road) is in fact world class, and has friendly staff as well. Let me be quick to point out that I have no connection at all to Sugar Shack, other than being willing to drive an hour each way on a regular basis for...