Kaleidoscoops

The place is dirty, hot, and overpriced. Paid $ 5+ for a shake and all it was was the teenage girl who worked there getting a spoon and swirling ice cream around into a paste. Never going back

Average ice at best. Similar to store bought quality. My friend got a smoothie and it was so bad she took three sips and threw it away. My daughter didn’t finish her cone. What child doesn’t eat all their ice cream?!
As others noted cleanliness is lacking in the store. If I’m going to pack in the calories it won’t be here.

2 stars only because of the quality of the ice cream. Fro yo machines are located in the back and not convenient, but most of which were broken. The floors and, yes, the walls, are disgusting. Things stuck to the walls and lots of stains on the floor. I do not have ocd or any other issue that would possibly taint this review; this place is dirty. It needs to be cleaned and then cleaned again.
Again, ice cream was great: kids had Playdough and cookie dough and loved both. I had cappuccino chocolate and it was great.
Would have been 5 stars if this place were clean and had working fro yo machines.

Not sure if it was an off day or if the freezers were messed up but we had 2 different kinds of ice cream and they were both icy — crunchy from ice in the ice cream. Not very clean either.

I’ve been coming here since i was younger and i abosultely love it! My favorite ice cream is the cookie monster!

Yuck!
I stopped by here a few days ago with my boyfriend. I’ve been here a few times before and it was just ok. But after the other day I would NEVER come back.
PROS
1. They have a lot of choices and their ice cream flavors are different than other places.
2. The ice of their scoop is decent, especially for a kid scoop.
CONS
1. DISGUSTING. This store needs a complete bath. Just walking in the floors are sticky. There’s topping spilled all over and the waffle cone maker is covered in burnt batter. The ice cream is not spaced down and who knows when the last time they cleaned the soft serve.
2. Cakes. In all honestly I tried so hard not to laugh when I saw their cakes. They’re beyond ugly. The frosting has dents, the decorations aren’t even decorations their more of blobs. The cakes are just so sloppy and I feel so bad for someone who pays good money for trash.
3. Employees– when my boyfriend and I were there he had gotten his ice cream and was ready to pay. The girl employee was talking to a customer that had just paid. We didn’t mind waiting a bit but she just kept on talking. Once she was done she looked over at us and walked away. What the heck? My boyfriend and I were really wondering if we should just leave the scoop and walk out. Finally another male employee came over and rung us up.
I feel like they only stay in business because of their location, the heart of kingstowne. If this small dump of an icecream shop was anywhere else it’d be long gone.
All in all, just go somewhere else. A nice Baskin Robbins is less than a mile away (Manchester Lakes) and they have BEAUTIFUL cakes. Or if your looking to save a buck just go to the grocery store and grab something. If only a Ben and Jerry’s would take over this store!

Ice cream here is decent. They have a lot of unique flavors. I like when my ice cream is fluffy and slightly icy, but their ice cream was too chewy. Just the wrong texture.
I wish my ice cream was sweeter. I don’t think it was sweet enough and don’t get the cake batter? Or birthday cake (I forget the exact name). It tasted really good at first when I sampled it, but the more I ate it the more I disliked it. It had ALOT of candy pieces. It was too much for me to enjoy my ice cream and I couldn’t wait till that flavor was gone. I got the pumpkin, which was decent, but again I wished it was sweeter. I wished I got just a scoop of pumpkin because I didn’t finish my two scoops of icecream haha but a nice place to try some unique flavors of ice cream. Probably won’t be going back here for ice cream though:/

Love the cake batter ice cream!!! Young blonde girl serving me was so sweet and polite. I come here all the time and everyone is so respectful! Love the atmosphere

Very friendly staff and very good ice cream! Blonde girl serving was especially friendly

The place needs to be hosed down with disinfectant, swept, mopped and all the machines need a deep cleaning. All I can say is there has to be a better place for ice cream that we can find. My first impression was that it seemed run down and I had already ordered my son a kiddy scoop before my wife brought to my attention that it was also DIRTY. The toppings looked rough. Definitely not fresh and one of the blueberries was actually rotten. I paid my nearly $ 3 for a tiny scoop of ice cream for my son and we promptly left, threw it away and went across the street for a shake.
* If it is this dirty outside the machines I can’t imagine they are cleaning inside the machines any better.

After walking around Old Town on a warm afternoon for a few hours, we were seeking out a cold treat and came across Kaleidoscoops on Unilocal.It was on our way home and we always opt for the local business over the chain, so we figured we would give it a try.
We happened to walk in with two other people. The woman who walked in ahead of us was pretty excited for a banana split – she appeared to be someone who came in often from the friendly greeting she received – but was let down when she found out they were out of bananas. While I understand that this is an ice cream store, when you have fruit smoothies and banana splits on your menu, that is something that I would think you would be sure to have in stock on a Saturday afternoon.
While we waited for that couple to be served, we couldn’t help but notice the state of cleanliness (or lack there of?) of the place. I cringe at the thought that waffle cones are made in the cookers that are on display and that people eat at the tables that seemed to be in desperate need of washing. Being a fan of the show «Bar Rescue,» my boyfriend made a comment that this needed the ice cream store equivalent of an overhaul. It makes me pretty nervous when any food establishment appears dirty to the customer – if they allow you to see that, what happens behind the scenes?
Once we were served we decided to share a large smoothie rather than ordering two regulars (it was about $ 0.50 more for the size upgrade). As we watched our smoothie be poured, I think we both had to pick our jaws up off the floor. While we opted for the larger size, it was ultimately only ²⁄₃ full. Oh but don’t worry, the rest was filled with whipped cream. Upon seeing that it wasn’t even worth handing over our $ 0.17 in change as a tip.
The sad part? As we tried the Strawberry Mango smoothie while walking out it was delicious. But after paying $ 6.00 for a ²⁄₃ full smoothie and getting the creeps from how dirty the place is, we won’t be back.

Visited on a Saturday night after a movie around 10. I prayed as we walked toward the door, that they were still open, and they were. Score!
The staff was very friendly, patient, and accommodating to me and the Dude as we were clearly overwhelmed by all of the selections. I should have taken notes when I walked in the door. They have so many flavors, I’d be hard pressed to remember them all. At the top of my mind are:
Strawberry Cheesecake
Nutty Coconut
Birthday Cake
Pistachio Almond
Tiramisu
Play Dough
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
They also have some sugar free flavors and sherbets.
A little pricey for ice cream that’s not handmade. More than $ 9, but less than $ 10 for two people who each ordered a single scoop in a waffle cone. The scoop was generous enough for me, and almost too much for the Dude. In the end, both our sweet teeth were satisfied.
Definitely, a solid choice for ice cream in a convenient location.

I’ve come to realize the ice cream here is not that great but decent for an ice cream craving.

While I am a proponent of the hand-​scooped ice cream place — not the fro-​yo places that are everywhere and not the Dairy Queen/​Baskin Robbins/​Ben & Jerry big company places, I had two complaints about this place.
1.). They need to clean the place. Really. My daughter and I went here around 2 pm, were the only ones here after our movie let out across the street. And it was filthy. Seriously, please mop the floors (lots of dried ice cream and old toppings on the floor) and clean the bathrooms (bugs and the aforementioned lack of mopping). I can’t help but think the County Health Department would have a field day here.
2). I could do without the very loud Christian rock music. I had to yell over some guy singing about what he was going to do when he meets Jesus just to tell my kid to not touch the dirty floor! Nothing against Jesus… But it felt pretty forced upon my dining experience. I just wanted to get a quick scoop of real ice cream with my daughter without feeling like I was in a revival tent.

I occasionally go there, but it’s not the best ice cream you can have and the taste is mediocre. It’s convenient if you’re going with your kids though, the place is colorful and so are their falvours.
There’re no special or signature flavours, they give you generous portions nonetheless.
The best flavour I’ve had there is the «Tiramisu», which is a good way to end your day (I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re on diet or watching your calories intake, though).
They have a number of 5+ tables, which makes it good for families and small gatherings.

I nice little ice cream spot right in the Kingstowne plaza across from the theater. It is nice to have something different than Cold Stone or Baskin Robbins around as options for ice cream and they have quite a variety of flavors. Well priced, large scoops, no complaints.

I’ve been coming here for years. I really like this place. Kaleidoscoop and Cold Stone Creamery are my two favorite ice cream places. There is something here for everyone. There is such a variety of things to select from, that you may have a hard time choosing.
They have regular ice cream (lots of flavors), sugar free ice cream, waffle cones, sherbets, sorbets, yogurt, flavored ice, shakes, smooothies, sundaes, etc. In addition to the standard chocolate and vanilla, they have more exciting and unique flavors such as Moose Tracks, Birthday Cake, Peanut Butter and Chocolate, Play Dough, Cotton Candy… I can go on and on, but go in and see yourself. I personally LOVE the cake batter ice cream, nobody makes it the way they do… cake batter ice cream with yellow cake pieces and fudge swirls.
Friendly management. Sometimes the staff can be unattentive, too busy talking behind the counter instead of serving their customers.
The only downside is that it can get very busy in the summertime, so you may have to wait in line a while. But hey, that’s what happens at good places.
So, bump Baskin Robbins! If you are in the area and you like ice cream, I recommend trying this place. You can thank me later. :)

Kaleidoscoops is a nice little ice cream shop in the Kingstowne shopping center. There is a solid selection of flavors, skewing a bit camp with options like ‘candy store mixup’ and ‘cookie monster crunch.’ They do have a good selection of sugar-​free ice cream, although I’m not sure what the point of such things is.
The store is almost always staffed by high school aged kids who are surprisingly professional and efficient given the complete lack of oversight.
Prices are reasonable, particularly by Alexandria standards. They have a cute option where you can get two ‘half scoops’ of different flavors, which — given the size of their servings — is pretty awesome.

I like this place a lot. We come here often as its close to the non thuggish movie theater. Great selection, and tons of fruit smoothies if you’re not so lactose friendly like yours truly.
Minus 2 stars for LAZY employees who ignore the line and diddle daddle behind the counter refusing to make eye contact. Teenagers need to learn the value of a dollar.
We often get banana splits here and for about $ 5 you get a lot — 3 kids of ice cream, 3 kinds of toping, huge bananas, and a smile. Not too shabby.

After yet another visit to our reigning favorite Indian restaurant, we stopped in for a scoop. I was stupidly and incorrectly working off the assumption they were local.
Well, the house was jammed with juvenile primates of the purse and high heel wearing subspecies. This is the subvariant who communicate only at 100 decibels or higher and travel in packs of 10 or larger. On a good day, their voices go porpoise at 250 Hz. This wasn’t a good day and they were all uncomfortably shrill in the audible 160 Hz range.
Their native defense mechanism, clearly, is to sterilize and neuter all males in a 50 foot radius with a combination of their sonic weapon and overpower them with the chemical weapon they call «perfume» which is applied by the gallon. The call to battle is initiated with «OMIGOD!» At this point, even the suffering staff hides behind the counter.
I am immune, so I ordered a cup of the ice cream. It wasn’t very good and in fact, I’d say it was bland. Service was very good and I’d give them all battlefield promotions for having to put up with the Teenage Fembots.
I ate perhaps half of this before feeling nauseous and threw it away. The next morning, I woke up with a killer migraine. Their web site has links for gluten and nutritional information, which attaches PDFs for download. There’s no assurance for gluten free and the nutritional information beyond basic fat and calories is limited. I should have checked this on my «Is this Gluten Free?» iphone app before going in.
While I don’t think this is necessarily unsafe for Celiacs, I do not think this is the best choice for Migraneurs.