Rita’s Italian Ice

I’ve passed by this place quite a few times and wanted to try it. One day I was in P-​M with some time on my hand so I stopped in. I guess I always noticed the Custard part more than the Italian Ice part so I was a bit disappointed by the limited custard offerings. Custard is my favorite style of ice cream and I haven’t tried to find a good custard place since I moved to Charlotte.
I got one of the custard and italian ice mixes. They had swedish fish ice so I mixed that with vanilla custard. They told me I got a mix-​in also. Since my usual cookie dough probably wouldn’t mesh well with swedish fish I asked for a suggestion and the lady said nerds or gummy bears. I really don’t like gummy bears in frozen stuff so nerds sounded like a good bet. It was a nice sugar rush.

Yo, the whirlwind relationship I have had with Rita’s over the years. I mean, wow. The place that I drove by for so many years in Atlanta, but never took the time or day. When I finally did, I was going an easy 3−5x a week. Yea, I can certainly blame Rita’s for my recent weight gain.
I then moved. But I still got all of the emails from Rita’s (I am on their mailing list) — so I figured business was normal.
Don’t worry, it wasn’t! I soon learned to find out, that only 3 locations remained open in all of Metro Atlanta! For those of you familiar– they have the remaining locations in McDonough (no thanks) Suwanee (still, too far), and Dunwoody– the best option. But I mean seriously, what the hell happened? I mean, Atlanta is HOT and HUMID, and this stuff cures the heat. So I figured I would never see Rita’s again.
That all changed last weekend. As we were leaving dinner (I just ate that triple heart attack from kickstand), I noticed a familiar sign on the left side of the road– and yes, it said Rita’s! I demanded my mom pull in. I mean just days before, I got an email from Rita’s of a new flavor– Blood Orange.
I was so excited– excited enough I almost bought a 5 gallon bucket (is that even allowed?). I mean– the flavors they had were stacked– I mean they had Red Sour Patch, Swedish Fish, and Cherry. I mean that right there can give you a red mouth for a week! But I held true and tried the Blood Orange with Vanilla custard. The guy asked me how I wanted it, I just told him to make it happen, I was too excited for the BS. I just wanted some Rita’s, dammit! I didn’t care at what price either!
I was so happy, I bought my mom and my sister one as well. But only because I planned on them not eating it all, and to give to it to me!!!
It felt so good and so unhealthy at the same time. I was just sad because I had no idea when we would re-​unite.
I did however, just find out they are building one @ Coors Field in Denver and have one at the Minor league park around too– but this means I have to pay admission just for Rita’s! Is it worth it? IF it’s as damn good as it is back in the south!

The gelati is the best. Custard, ice, and more custard! My favorite is something with cheesecake in it and if they are out there are always other options that can satisfy me for the time being. Excellent place, go check it out!

Welp, it looks like I’ve found a new guilty pleasure; a new tasty tasty guilty pleasure.
This place is hard to miss if you drive through Plaza Midwood. I’d seen it and parked in front of it about a dozen or so times until one day I finally walked in. The staff member who greeted me very cheerfully educated me on what Italian Ice was and what was awesome, and she offered me samples of whatever I wanted. I was pleasantly surprised at the friendly demeanor. I’m sure answering the same questions all day and scooping little taster spoons gets really old, so they get bonus points.
I’m a woman of variety, so I liked the Gelati thing, even though it sounds super weird. It’s custard, then ice, then custard. Pretty much everything is delicious, so I’d recommend going for a theme. My first adventure was a little tropical — I went for like a passionfruit (?)-coconut-​vanilla thing. It was amazing.
If you ever liked slurpies or slushies as a kid, this is for you. as a grown kid. :)

This place is great. I’ve been looking for a shaved ice place around Charlotte.
I’ve historically not liked Italian Ice because I didn’t want to scrape all the ice, but Rita’s Italian Ice requires no scraping! I got the cookies and cream ice cream with Swedish Fish, and it was very good. It’s kind of like snow cones or shaved ice.

Love this place! Icecream, custard, and ice OH MY!
The store is clean and bright. Parking is right out front. The staff is friendly and they let you sample the flavors.
I love the gelati– I put vanilla custard, ice (usually cherry) and then vanilla custard on top. Supper yummy
Download the app and use the virtual punch card!

Staff is ALWAYS friendly (where do they find these awesome people?!) and the custard and Italian ices are just divine!!! No complaints, hope it stays in business for years to come!
When my aunt flies in from California, her first request is always to get a cup! That’s saying a lot because California is in no shortage of quality, yummy, frozen confections.

As far as flavored ice and custard goes, it doesn’t get any better than Ritas. As my boyfriend says, «this place is legit!»
First off, the staff, they were absolutely fantastic. A girl named Ashley was assisting us and she was very helpful and had a great attitude and demeanor. [I’m used to employees at other places frustrating me recently, so it made me extremely happy to have such a great staff member helping us– to the point that I stalked her name tag– sorry, Ashley!] We tried several flavors and finally landed on one Swedish Fish (yes, I repeat, Swedish Fish) and original lemonade and then one Swedish Fish (yes, I repeat, Swedish Fish) and mango with light vanilla custard.
The flavors were all pretty fantastic but we were very happy with our choices. It was our first time trying the custard and it was delicious! We definitely have some other mix ups in mind for when we return! The place was very clean, the staff was extremely friendly and efficient, and we are really happy we finally swung by!
With the summer heat heading our way, Rita’s is definitely a place you need to #TreatYoSelf to!

This store is much better now. Seems like there has been big changes. This is more like the ritas I was used to!

Sooo Good!!! Best place to cool off and get some sweetness! my personal favorites are Wild Black Cherry and Raspberry I have the notifications sent to my phone when these are available!

My wife loves frozen custard. More than ice cream. More than frozen yogurt. More than me. Wait, what?
So on a quiet date night evening, I brought us across town to the only frozen custard (FC) that I could find on Unilocal.Good move, as she was seriously pleased and said that it was even better than her favorite FC place back in Arkansas. And that’s really saying something because she really liked that place!
Good flavors — vanilla and chocolate and strawberry and light vanilla. Mixable. Plus they have frozen ices for people who enjoy that sort of thing. And a reasonable though not wide offering of toppings. The whipped cream is out of a can though.
A great treat on a hot day. We’ll be back!

I only drove by this place 100+ times before finally coming in. They let us try out a bunch of their Ice flavors (e.g. Pink lemonade, cookies ‘n cream, swedish fish, etc.), and all were delicious.
Ultimately, we went with the Blendini, which was a combination of Cookies ‘n cream Ice, with Vanilla Gelati and Oreos. It had soooo much flavor. Much lighter and smoother than Ice Cream, but just as delicious. We will probably make it back here multiple times this summer.

Summer lovin’, had me a blast… Summer lovin’, happened so OMG THERE’S A RITAS IN CHARLOTTE!!!
Yes, that was my reaction a year or 2 ago when the Plaza Midhood got Philadelphia’s very own Rita’s Water Ice in town. Yes, WATER ICE. Not Italian Ice like this stupid Unilocal listing says. Italian Ice — HARD. Water Ice — Watery, shockingly enough.
Anyway, Rita’s is the total bomb dot com, amazeballs, super duper awesome and all things positive. Sweet treats in 98 273 928 732 987 flavors, awesome custard, helpful staff — what more can one wish for?
Perfect for families, date nights, and just an anytime pick me up.

Rita’s is bomb on hot and sticky days where you think god has smited you for living in the South. This place has been an awesome treat after doing stupid things like running in 90 degree heat. I stick with plain ol’ Italian ice, no custard for this gal, too rich for my blood. They currently have Sour Patch Red, I might be a diabetic now, but it was delicious and I regret nothing!

That’s right, I’m giving Rita’s a whole 5 stars! I can’t think of a single thing to complain about! Rita’s is perfect.
A small location, but seating indoor and out. Service is super fast and even if there’s a line, it moves rather quick.
If you’ve never been here before, I recommend a Gelati. This treat is served in a cup. The bottom layered with frozen custard (usually 4 different types to choose from, but vanilla is the best in a Gelati), then the Italian Ice of your choice (usually at least 8+ to choose from), then another heaping dollop of frozen custard on top! Mmmm.
Frozen custard flavor favorites: COFFEE!!!, strawberry, and vanilla (of course)
Italian Ice flavor favorites: strawberry piña colada, mango, lemonade, wild black cherry
Flavors options change every day and they always offer a sugar-​free ice.

After an excellent dinner in the Plaza Midwood area, we were craving for some desert to complete the night. Rita’s was just down the road from where we were so we headed there… the location looks fairly new and some people were still using coupons from the Grand Opening.
I’m used to a smaller Rita’s location, so this one is definitely super sized with plenty of seating and tables inside. A full glass corner sweet and a bench outside makes for a great place to spend a hot summer night or even just to cap the night off with some delicious treats.
I went full on strawberry… with a Strawberry Italian Ice and Strawberry frozen custard. Awesome… I wonder how many people take up the Strawberry and Coffee Custard twist… I guess it would be an experience.
The parking lot was pretty crowded with popular neighbor spots, but it was nice to eat my Gelati and go browse around the Used Book store next door.

My friend is a huge fan of Rita’s and gave me the low-​down on a delicious secret– free regular-​sized Italian ice on the first day of spring! (ok, maybe not so secret…).
So I took the pup for a walk (to cut out the guilt of course) and headed over to Rita’s for an ice cold treat. I was able to sample as many flavors as I wanted (the guy at the counter was super helpful) so I tried raspberry and birthday cake. Both were tasty but I was in the mood for tangy so I ordered something completely different– cranberry. For 95 cents extra I added a dollop of creamy vanilla custard on top. Wow what an incredible combination this was! I will absolutely be back for this winning combo and I highly recommend you check them out!
The only downfall is there really isn’t a nice place to eat outside as it is located in a stripmall.

For a total treat monster like myself, Rita’s is pretty tasty. With smiley employees and an array of cool sweet treats in a squeaky clean store, this place appeals to kids and adults alike. And, frankly, Charlotte doesn’t have very many ice cream shops to patron, so their competition is slim. Mind you, I said *ice cream* not froyo. Rita’s custard is definitely not frozen yogurt.
Since I come from the Midwest, I know what custard is. It’s thick, it’s smooth it’s creamy and dreamy. Overall, I like Rita’s custard… it definitely fills the void, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the places I frequented when I was a kid. Mmm Culver’s. Anywho, while I enjoy the gelati (a combo of the custard and Italian ice), the Italian ice part almost send me into sugar shock. And I like sugar, friends.
Yes, I’ll agree with others, the Italian ice is a bit insane. A bit bright. Neon, as Dion says. But hey, I enjoy a bit of creamy vanilla custard on a warm summer day. Do yourself a favor and get a smaller size… it’s whole lotta sweet!

On a hot day, my boyfriend, my dog Milo, & I were riding around Plaza-​Midwood & saw a banner «free icees today!» Well, of course we like free things so we stopped in. Having Milo with us, we couldn’t both go in, so Shawn went in & asked if he could have an extra one for me, since I was outside in the car. Shawn called me & asked me to get out of the car & walk with Milo towards the shop. He had both icees & the owner with him. The owner was very nice & had an ice cream cone for Milo! :) He took Milo’s picture eating it & said it would be posted on the wall inside the shop.
He scored MAJOR points with us! Hooking Shawn up with my free icee, (cause of course, he didn’t have to believe Shawn) & hooking Milo up too… you can’t get better than that.
The icee was yummy too! I love that they change flavors. This particular day I had the strawberry. We will defintely be back!

Is Rita’s a chain store? Yes.
So this location is pretty much like thousands of others across the country, with a few exceptions. If you, like me, are used to a seasonal Rita’s you will be happy to know this location is year round. More importantly, the owner seems to really be excited about getting involved with the community. He has made the effort to meet other local business owners and to appreciate the neighborhood as more than a group of wallets. The bottom line is that the product is good but the folks seem to be good as well.