Cold Stone Creamery — Restaurant in Smithfield

I have never experienced such poor treatment in my life. During a road trip, my family and I were craving Cold Stone ice cream, so we decided to stop by. Upon entering, we were immediately overwhelmed by a strong smell of detergent. We tried to ignore it and moved on to the ice cream, but unfortunately, everything looked melted. We exchanged uncertain glances, contemplating whether we should leave, but a staff member approached us and greeted us kindly despite appearing to be in considerable pain from a rolled ankle.

I placed an order for three cones. By the time I ordered the second cone, the employee seemed visibly frustrated, and by the third, it was clear she was quite bothered. After paying, when we were asked to sign the receipt, she audibly emphasized that I had marked a $0 tip, repeating it twice for everyone nearby to hear. She held the receipt up and said, "Thank you, $0 tip, and $27.16, right? Is that correct?"

As someone who values hard work and only tips when I receive good service, I simply responded, "Yes, thank you," and left. After getting into the car, my mom took a bite of her cone and immediately remarked that it tasted like detergent. I tried mine and found the same odd flavor. When I asked my brother to taste his, he echoed our experience, noting a chemical taste. In hindsight, we shouldn’t have ordered at all, especially after seeing the visibly melted ice cream, which the employee explained was due to the previous shift's failure to maintain proper cooling—a red flag.

Just two minutes after leaving, we decided to return and let the staff know about the strange taste. While we waited, the employee was busy taking an order from another customer. When it was our turn, I offered to mediate and requested a partial refund, suggesting she could simply serve us fresh ice cream in a cup. Instead, she seemed offended and handed the cones to the customer in front of us to try, insisting she wouldn’t provide a refund because she couldn’t taste the issue herself. I explained that we had no problem with paying, but $30 for old ice cream that tasted like detergent was unreasonable.

Despite my insistence that Cold Stone should value customer satisfaction over a mere $30, the customer beside us offered to cover the cost. I was reluctant to accept his generosity, knowing I couldn’t just waste $30, but I felt frustrated and embarrassed by the whole situation. First, I was publicly called out for my tip amount, and then it felt like I was being accused of attempting to scam the staff.

I didn’t catch the employee’s name, but I plan to file a complaint with the environmental health department regarding this establishment. It’s not out of spite; I’m genuinely concerned about the possibility that others may have consumed whatever detergent was lingering and the subpar ice cream. I wonder what cleaning materials were used and how they were handled.

If the employee had shown kindness and offered an apology, I would have felt reassured that the issue would be addressed. Unfortunately, I fear she might continue serving the same ice cream without concern for...

I don’t do this much but I had the worst experience at cold stones today. They need to be shown some customers service and manera I have nevera felt so disrespected not only did she speak to my husband in a demeaning way, but she decided to throw my daughter’s ice cream on the counter instead of placing it. I wanted a signature ice cream, but I was not aware that it cannot be sold in a kid size only a small size instead of asking me if I wanted to upgrade to a small size she said she couldn’t make it. So I said that it was strawberry for kids would’ve been fine. My daughter wanted sprinkles, but after that, I just decided to take the strawberry ice cream and have my daughter enjoy it the way it was I am not one to cause a scene in a public place or ruin other paying customers experience, but I will make the extra trip to go talk to the manager in the next coming days, because not only I was disrespected the customers behind me where also disrespected as they decided to vent their frustrations in front of paying customers. I have been in the industry for many years, and I know what customer service looks like. And that was everything but customer service. I’ve always love cold stones, but that one will not get my money ever again. I understand that some customers can be very difficult and as a customer service rep or a server you get frustrated because you’ve had a long day and you’ve worked really hard but to say in front of another pink customer that she want to punch X or Y customer in the face speaks very poorly about the kind of training they received. I believe that if you want to have good tips and a prospering business, you have to be kind, respectful, joyful in front of customers venture frustrations at closed doors behind the scenes not in front of other pain customers. Luckily, it wasn’t me that she wanted to punch in the face because we would’ve had big issues then I will not be going there. Not...

HEALTH CODE VIOLATION! I LOVE Cold Stone! In my opinion its the ONLY ice cream shop! Unfortunately this particular location needs to be shut down and the employees retrained. I was just in and we were waiting to order when my daughter taps my arm and whispers in a horrified voice "look mom!". There in the case, in the most delicious flavor they have- Sweet Cream, is a hair so long it winds back and over itself. No exaggeration- at least 18-24 inches long based on the server's loose ponytail. So I quietly bring it to the Supervisor's attention and she quickly puts on a fresh pair of gloves and gingerly picks the hair out and throws it away. Now that she has properly taken care of the problem she efficiently moves on to the next customer in line. ? Really? Now I have more than a couple years experience being a Kitchen Manager and if you missed the infraction allow me to help- taking the hair out, even if you use gloves does not make the hair any less of a health code violation. Just because it is no longer seen does not mean it was never there. I spoke with every employee who walked by softly reiterating my concern and even going as far as telling them that the tub of ice cream is contaminated and should not be sold. I even used the term "Health Code Violation" but I just kept getting blank stares and no action. Now if you're reading this and thinking big deal please Google why the Department of Health prohibits food contaminated with human hair to be sold. I will be calling there corporate office tomorrow to complain and hopefully they will send someone out to help train those girls! Until then avoid the...