Dairy Queen Grill & Chill — Restaurant in Waterloo

Updating review with yet another terrible experience at the location.

Original review from 2020: Store was closed, people were waiting in line for extended periods of time (15 mins+) and there was no sign on the drive through, but on each door on the inside of the building which is both closed and cant be seen from the drive through. Couple this with other subpar experiences I have had here, and this is easily the worst Dairy Queen I have ever been to. Will happily drive the extra distance to Columbia for better food and service.

Review from 2023: Should have learned my lesson from this place 3 years ago. Waited almost 30 minutes with 3 cars in line. Asked for extra toppings in a large blizzard and a small blizzard. The small came out as a mini which we did not realize until we left and they charged us $2 for extra toppings only to get a vanilla blizzard with no toppings. Along with that, we had points for a free any size blizzard and the scanner would not pick up the code so they told us it was no valid.

Many other choices for ice cream in and around Waterloo, avoid this terrible place. Ownership either needs to get a handle on their hiring and training practices.

Sadly, we have had other subpar experiences here, we have just never posted a review on them and never learned our lesson.

We absolutely will...

Waterloo DQ has officially lost my business! 😖 I keep returning to them, foolishly thinking it will be better next time, but they continue to disappoint. (And we go there A LOT! We Love ice cream!!) I'm willing to give someone the benefit of the doubt until you prove otherwise. Well, today was the straw that broke the camel's back. The service is super slow, the food quality and portions are sub-par, the ice cream is melty, and the management is rude. On one particular visit, I ordered a twist cone. The OWNER handed it to me and it looked like a chocolate cone with a small white stripe. I told him that it wasn't a twist cone and he proceeded to try to convince me that this is what a twist cone looks like. I said a twist cone should be half chocolate and half vanilla twisted together. He disagreed and continued to lie. He could've just told me that the machine wasn't working properly. This is one of many instances that I have let slide until today. I will drive the extra 10 minutes to visit the Columbia store which has always exceeded my expectations!!!

I tried to leave a review on the Waterloo DQ Facebook page, but it keeps saying there's an error and to try...

Only good thing here is the food. You wanna pay 50 bucks for only 3 people? Come here! The cheapest combo meal is almost 10 bucks and a normal combo meal is like.. 12. For a burger, side, and fries.

Even after that, place has gone downhill after what I'm assuming is new owners. Chairs have never been changed and it almost fell apart as soon as I sat down, they forgot to even input a whole meal, and I cant even sit at the booth. PSA, that's only possible if you're probably a skinny girl that does cheerleading or something for example. The tables ate BOLTED to the floor.

I'm disappointed and sad. Portions are so small for their price and I miss when DQ used to be fun to come to with my now late GMA. Don't bother here y'all.

Update: just realized they didn't even make my cheese curds a large like I'm 90% sure I...