Milkcraft — Restaurant in West Hartford

What happened to Milkcraft - WeHa? A large part of the Milkcraft experience is to watch the making of ice cream counter side with liquid nitrogen. This experience is completely gone at Milkcraft West Hartford; even the plumbing for the nitrogen is gone from front of store. Ice cream comes out premade from the back. I’m shocked they even still make bubble cones in store and not ship everything in from Fairfield. The serving size was also halved of what it was in the past. It used to take me half my commute home to finish the bubble cone, but now it’s finished on the walk to the car. What happened? Next, the appearance and cleanliness of the store is a far cry from what was experienced when the store first opened and what is expected at an upscale ice cream shop. Boxes on the counter, supplies on racks, power cords frayed, freezer cracked, and an electronic menu taped over instead of fixed or edited appropriately are just a few of the items I noticed in less than 3 minutes inside the store. What happened to dry good storage containers with toppings or add-ins on a designer shelf instead of an open box of cereal on a counter top or a bakers rack with stacks of supplies in the front end instead of in a back storage area. Glass was loose and in danger of falling off the counter, used trash boxes were on the counter right next to the pickup, and a mixer clearly had a frayed power cord sitting on the counter. And what was with the freezer covered in caricatures of the staff in plain view of the whole store (messy). What happened? How about the staff? What happened to wearing a “uniform” or Milkcraft shirt? The staff here was wearing whatever they wanted, looking like they just rolled out of sleeping in the back seat of their car and throwing on a black non-descript apron. Their friendliness was almost non-existent like they had no desire to have a job. I’m pretty sure they have an employee handbook which discusses cleanliness and attire, but if they don’t they need to because it is not a clean look whatsoever. What happened? The general vibe of the store is moving and has moved away from the typical higher end West Hartford Farmington Avenue that the surrounding restaurants and stores portray and is more of what to expect in more run down parts of town. Unless they re-do the whole store and bring it back to what it was when they first opened or the clean experience you get going to the original store I will not be returning and will not be recommending a visit for anyone (go to Ben and Jerry’s right...

I went there this evening and there is absolutely nothing spectacular about this place. It was packed in there, as it's a cramped little venue, and the line was well out the door. Took us about 15 minutes to even get inside the place, so you'd think it may be worth the wait, right? Wrong. Now, they make the ice cream right there in front of you, so your order takes a little bit, but once you get it, you'd better eat it in a hurry because it melts quickly... too quickly. I got my order, walked across the street to the car, and by the time I sat down in the passenger seat to eat it, saw that my scoop of ice cream was now chocolate soup, which had already melted down to the bottom of the bubble cone, through the bubble cone wrap, and onto my pants. I took a sip of the ice cream, noted that it at least, did in fact taste like chocolate; had a bite of the bubble cone, which tasted like a soft waffle cone, and threw the whole damn thing in the trash. Oh, and the plastic spoons available to eat your ice cream with are about as sturdy as a straw. The first (and only) time I used it, it folded in half. Awesome. The service here was eh...the girl who took my order was nice but the girl handing out the orders looked like she was about one bad customer experience away from pulling out a shank and stabbing someone. I'm sure her only option for a shank was one of their plastic spoons though, so you'd be alright. Wouldn't even break the skin. And to top all of this off, I had to listen to the entirety of that new, annoying Justin Beiber song ("Despacito," the one where he sings in Spanish) while waiting for my order. AND, I had to watch EVERY millennial employee in that place dance around and lip sync to the whole song, with the majority of them most likely having no clue with regards to what any of it means. Also, 90% of your toppings are various sugar cereals...super fancy. Not worth the wait or the $10, so do yourself a favor and skip this place...seriously. It is NOT worth...

Milkcraft used to be a novelty ice cream shop. I haven't been here since the ceiling collapsed and honestly, I don't think I will be back.

The ice cream itself has always been good, but the rest of the experience left me yearning for the past.

A few changes include: Only two types of icecream are made at a time, while the rest of the scoops come from a freezer. One of my favorite reasons for coming here was seeing my ice cream made with liquid nitrogen. Which I understand they still use, but the visual of it is what is missing now. I can get a scoop of icecream from a freezer at just about any ice cream shop.

There were two separate groups of people sitting at the chairs/bar stools that were not eating ice cream. One group just walked in and sat down without ordering anything. When someone in my group asked an employee about it, they said there was nothing they could do. I remember when you couldn't even sit on the outside chairs without ordering icecream. Normally I wouldn't care, but it is a small place and they removed about half the seating.

A few of the employees didn't seem to know what they were doing and they were quite a bit rude. I ordered the almond butter with all the toppings plus whipped cream (yes, I verbally confirmed I wanted all the usual toppings) and once they handed me my ice cream (after moving to the other side of the counter and about 5 minutes of waiting), they stated they did not have the almond slivers. I can understand being out of something, but please mention it when I am ordering! I probably would have ordered something else...

They didn't have any soda for sale (it used to be in the cooler) and I didn't see the Dragon Balls. Kind of like a hollow cereal ball, but with liquid nitrogen smoke inside.

If you have never seen liquid nitrogen ice cream made, it is really neat to see. But other than that, the experience...