Red Barn Ice Cream Shop — Restaurant in Stowe

Talk about a palate cleanser. The Millennial Chum and I came here last week right after a very mediocre meal down the street involving sub-par flatbread, needing desperately to do something positive with our mouths. One of the number one benefits to hiking up a mountain (in this case Mount Mansfield)? You can eat an entire flatbread and then top it off with some ice cream if needed. Red Barn was conveniently located between the offending flatbread restaurant and our hotel, and without much research we quickly pulled in to salvage our gastro day. It's located in a pretty non-descript strip mall right on the end, which gives it the advantage of taking up the outdoor space nearby with some seating (a few benches) and one of those wooden prop/photo-ops that you can poke your head in.

Definitely a cute/quaint vibe in there. Unsurprisingly, it has a rustic, farm feel on the outside with a lot of wood rafter goodness throughout. We were probably a little early for the evening rush and had the place to ourselves. I don't mean this as a negative per se, but it had some tourist trap vibes - there's a lot of local jams, etc. for sale, and a significant section of the storefront is dedicated to self-serve candy (not dissimilar from our experience at Lake Champlain Chocolates).

The vast majority of flavors were pretty standard, and I opted for one of my all-time classics that I used to get at Friendly's when I was a young pupper - purple ice cream (aka black raspberry) with Reese's Pieces. Hit the spot. I thought it was a little creamier than its Friendly's counterpart, and also a smidge softer so you didn't end up chipping away at it like a sculptor (which honestly sometimes I'm into). We took our ice creams outside and ate them on a bench nearby, taking in the sights. It's right on Route 108 so it's not the most scenic view, but you do get some glimpses of the nearby farmlands/greenery. Pleasant.

The service was perfectly fine. There were two people behind the counter who were very professional and efficient. We had no issues ordering or receiving our items quickly - it would have been pretty concerning if we had, honestly, given the lack of a line and the straight-forward nature of the items requested. But solid thumbs up nonetheless.

If you're dabbling in the local touristy chains here, I thought this was a bit more affordable than Lake Champlain, and more down to earth. But they both have their own selling points, I suppose. We got the taste of the bad flatbread out of our mouths, and that was truly...

Ice cream was good but the attitude of the staff will ensure we never return. The person taking our order was having her own side conversation with the other staff member, laughing and completely not paying attention to us standing right in front of her at the register. Asked us to repeat our order twice because she couldn’t be bothered to listen the first two times. Any time the other staff member said something to her (I’m not sure what as they were speaking in another language) she’d stop in the middle of inputting our order to laugh and reply back. On the few times she did happen to be listening she looked everywhere else in the room BUT us. Hard to know if someone is actually hearing you if they can’t manage even a half second of eye contact. One of the rudest and frankly weirdest experiences I’ve had here in Stowe and while the ice cream is good, the bad service puts a hard stop on returning us. By reading other reviews, bad attitudes at the counter is not a one time occurrence. My advice: save yourself the frustration and...

A deeply disappointing and uncomfortable experience — one of the worst I’ve had at any ice cream shop. Ice cream is meant to be a small moment of joy — a sweet treat that lifts your mood. Unfortunately, this visit left a bitter taste in every sense. From the moment we arrived, the service was unwelcoming and dismissive. When we politely asked to sample a few flavors before deciding, we were abruptly told that tasting was limited to just one flavor. Even then, the sample we received was so minuscule it was impossible to actually taste anything. The staff’s attitude was cold and unaccommodating, to the point that we seriously considered walking out. What made the experience even more unsettling was the question that lingered afterward: were we treated this way simply because the service was poor overall, or was there an undertone of discrimination involved? Whatever the reason, no customer deserves to be treated with such indifference or disregard. This was not just disappointing — it...