Skan Ellus Drive In — Restaurant in Town of Skaneateles

Good soft and hard ice cream cones, sundaes and shakes. They also serve chili dogs, burgers (they have a version that resembles a cheese steak sandwich but with crumbled hamburger called The Skan Ellus Burger), cold and hot sandwiches, fried seafood, and the normal selection of sides. UPDATE-1: New owners have extensively renovated this popular summer destination on the outskirts of Skaneateles. The menu is similar to the old one, and they still have the Skan Ellus Burger. From the newly paved parking lot, we noted that the building has a new coat of paint. Inside we found that the booths have been removed as well as a wall that divided the dining room into two sections. In their place, is an open space with tables and chairs. The walls and ceiling have been painted white giving the room a bright, clean look. The window replacements are larger than the originals, giving a nice view out the back of lawn and trees. You place your order at a window as you enter and they hand you your drink. Food is delivered to your table. We ordered a Skan Ellus burger and a chili dog, with sides of french fries, macaroni salad, and potato salad. The sides were very good and the French fries were exceptionally crispy. Unfortunately, the sandwiches were a disappointment. The crumbled hamburger in the Skan Ellus had the flavor of meatloaf and the bun was so firm that it was impossible to eat without the filling sliding out the bottom. I ended up removing the bottom part of the bun and using a knife and fork to finish the burger. The chili dog had a very generous amount of chili. However, the chili had little flavor except for heat and the hot dog roll disintegrated quickly, again letting the contents fall on the underlying plate. What should have been a very enjoyable finish to the meal also turned out to be a disappointment. For $8.50 plus a $1 tip the hot fudge sundae seemed small and underwhelming. Next time, if there is one, I'll probably just order a plain hot dog with mustard and a side of the wonderful french fries. On a positive note, the unisex bathroom may be the cleanest, largest, and most attractive bathroom in any drive-in restaurant or diner in New York State. UPDATE-2: Stopped for a small chocolate soft-serve cone. It was generous in size and had a good...

So disappointed in our visit tonight. First of all the attitude of the girls behind the window so needs to be corrected. None of them seemed to be getting along. They had to call the cook three times to come out to start the orders Then our order came out missing one of the items we asked for. They had to go find the cook as he had gone out back again. When we finally got the order and got it all home the hot turkey sandwich had three pieces of turkey rolled up in the center. The turkey club all the toast was burnt. It was not an enjoyable dinner what so ever. The place is not trained in customer service or how to ring up and bill correctly. The employees are not told to not to bicker with each other in front of customer. Oh and the best part was the person who had a peanut allergy and the one girl had attitude about putting cloves on so as to not cross contaminate and to use brand new sprinkles so she could enjoy and ice cream out with her boyfriend. I miss the way this place was run a few year back when all we had to worry about was if we had ordered...

We love Skan Ellus and it’s been our go-to spot for lunch or dinner on nice drives. The food is always great and fast. But the girl working the front window lately has been shockingly rude. She doesn’t greet you, doesn’t say thank you, doesn’t even acknowledge you. She just stares past you blankly like you’re an inconvenience for ordering.

Yesterday while I was mid-order, she literally turned her back to talk to someone in the kitchen, leaving me standing there mid-sentence. No apology when she turned around, no effort to be polite and she had that same blank stare with miserable attitude. Even other customers next to us were shaking their heads at how rude it was. This wasn’t a one-time issue either as we had the exact same experience with her during our previous visit, which makes it even more disappointing.

The food and kitchen staff are excellent, but that kind of behavior completely takes away from the experience. Management really needs to address this because no matter how good the food is, service like that makes people think twice about...