Pitango Gelato & Coffee, Reston Town Center — Restaurant in Virginia

I just want to start by saying that I used to love this place The current manager is absolutely hideous She had a really bad attitude, the store looked really dirty, she pulled my shot of espresso for over a minute. It overflowed all over the espresso cup and instead of pulling another shot she half cleaned the cup with a paper towel and served it to me. The espresso tasted SO BAD I had to dump it and my girlfriend’s Lavender Latte was extremely sweet (even tho she asked for the very light syrup). Her latte also had very bad steamed milk. I stayed in the store and had some gelato with my girlfriend (gelato was 10/10). While I was there this person threw a fit because she was having issues with the register and it was very uncomfortable for a lot of people in the store. We all looked at each other bewildered by the situation. A couple of kids arrived later to work and 10 minutes into their shifts the manager was reprimanding them in front of customers, being extremely nasty and she even treated a customer like an idiot at one point because he didn’t know what a macchiato was. I’ve worked in the specialty coffee industry for 10 years now and this kind of attitude is exactly the reason why people think of “coffee snobs” as arrogant people. Because they feel judgmental and arrogant while giving horrible service. I’ve had to explain hundreds of customers what the difference of a macchiato and a Starbucks macchiato is and I never try to make them feel like idiots. When the manager left, I asked the kids that were working there if she was the owner and they told me she is the General Manager. I don’t know her name but she was a white lady with a lot of tattoos probably on her late 40’s.

To be clear I didn’t have a personal altercation or conflict with this woman, it was all about the experience I got out of just being there and looking at how this place...

Had some gelato here today. Not very impressed. I had the chocolate hazelnut, espresso and lemon (sorbet). The chocolate hazelnut was the best of the flavors. The espresso didn’t taste very strong, nor did the lemon (if I’d had tasted blind, I might have had trouble figuring out what it was). The gelato was quite soft, almost runny. I’m used to something a bit harder/colder. As far as service is concerned, I like that they let you taste. The problem is that what they sell as a large portion at close to $9 before tax is about the same you’d get as a small size at another place for about half the price. To make things worse, they were stingy when they filled this small cup. The person serving me made sure that each flavor just barely came up to the lip of the rim on the outside. The inside ends up as a dimple. There’s certainly no filling as high as it can get. I’ve seen some pictures from other reviewers with cups filled and nicely rounded as a small mount - I certainly had a good amount less. Now wondering if they were trying to stretch what they had on hand. Plus, due to the server carefully smearing each spoon into the cup, the cup ended up with dabs of ice cream all over the outside. Some other reviewers raved about all the great flavors, but I didn’t see anything that I haven’t seen at thousands of other ice cream or gelato shops. When I think of exotic flavors, I’m thinking lavender, black lemon and other such things. The only slightly interesting flavor here was the Mojito flavor, but for some reason I decided not to taste that.

They also have cookies and small pastries which looked good, but I didn’t try any of that.

Kind of interesting how the pictures in some of the great reviews are so similar, e.g., showing the “flavors” wall and pastries/cookies…

Not...

Despite the enticing aroma of coffee and gelato, the customer service experience was disappointing. The ambiance and decor were subpar compared to other coffee shops. I am accustomed to the Old Town Alexandria location, and I was underwhelmed by the establishment’s appearance. The individual attending (there were three of Them) was initially welcoming and offered to recommend ice cream flavors. However, while we made our selections (which took approximately one minute or less), she proceeded to assist other customers. When we expressed a desire to try flavors and place an order, she informed us that we had to wait because she was the sole representative. This assertion was inaccurate. And kind of rude to be honest. Specially when she had said she was ready for us. Not coming back to this location. Not a...