Abbott’s Frozen Custard

Gotta love Abbott’s all year round. The service is always great here and the frozen custard is just as good as at any other location.

Love abbotts — chocolate almond is where it’s at!
I am partial to the bushnells basin location, I feel like the ice cream tastes better there!

Okay don’t tell my trainer! But! After my workout I happened to jog by Abbott’s, usually not a big deal but it was hot Sunday so I decided to treat myself to a scoop. Well when I walked in I saw everyone else had an ice cream sunday so what the heck, I ordered a banana split.
Here’s the bad part I ordered it with three flavors; strawberry, vanilla and blueberry. The toppings were caramel, marshmallow and strawberry sauce. It also had whipped cream and cherries. The looks you get while walking down the street eating a frozen piece of heaven are amazing. This was one of my best ideas ever! So again don’t tell my trainer, LOL!
Enjoy!

Let it never be said that I’m not open minded – I came again and tried their blueberry custard, and it was absolutely delicious.
So the lesson is: blueberry yes, chocolate almond no.

I was very disappointed with my trip to Abbott’s tonight. I was craving Mint Chocolate Chip. However with not having off street parking I figured it would be smart to «call ahead» and make sure they had it before I abandoned my parking spot. To my delight they informed me that Mint Chocolate Chip was on the menu for tonight. My boyfriend and I quickly jumped in the car and drove down. Turns out, NO MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP! You could imagine my frustration. My boyfriend got a chocolate milkshake and said it was delicious… but his opinion is irrelevant.

Sailbbotts would not be a custard store, it’d be a badly-​spelled sea-​vessel store.
Let me start by saying Abbott’s is my fave custard ever (at least, it’s top 5) and the custard itself is 5-​star custard all the way. But there are 10 or 15 locations in Rochester and the burbs alone, so I can be picky and choosy about which locations get a 5, and this one absolutely does not. It’s on the trendiest stretch of one of the trendiest streets in Rochester, so I’d hope that they’d have better service… but my experience was what the French would call «nicht gut.» Oh wait, I think that’s Spanish?
This is probably my least fave Abbott’s, and that’s weird because the custard tasted absolutely delicious and the cone was very fresh and not stale at all. I had a vanilla custard, and it tasted like a 5 star custard all the way. But here are the problems.
I ordered a «kiddie size.» I was pretty loud about it, there was no way they could have mistaken what I asked for. So the guy yells «small vanilla.» I said «hey, can I just get a kiddie size actually?» No response. So she makes me what has to be a kiddie size, because it’s smaller than any «kiddie size» I’ve had at any other Abbott’s. And then she says «small vanilla» and rings me up for nearly $ 4. Which is, by the way, a small.
So I was given a small despite asking for a kiddie, twice. Charged for a small. But the amount of custard was actually less than what I get as a «kiddie cone» at any other Abbott’s. Plus the employees were none too friendly to me and seemed in a rush even though I was the only one in line and it was torrential rain outside.
So all in all that’s a 3 star experience for me. Fantastic tasting custard and cones, but it left me kind of annoyed. And if I’d had a bout of flu that day, it’d have been Abbout’s. But thankfully I didn’t.

Simple and the custard was excellent. Great prices (I’m from a big city) and not busy on a Tuesday evening. Excellent!

Being a west coast transplant I was eager to see what all the fuss was about over frozen custard. It’s good… I don’t think it’s quite as good as ice cream but it is good. It melts really fast though. At this abbots the service was not very good and the highschool kids behind the counter seemed bothered that we were not familiar with the menu. We’ll try another one if we decide to give frozen custard another try.

Stopped here on a quiet Wednesday night. The girl working was very sweet but the guy scooping was not at all pleasant. The couple in front of us had just received their order and as they left, the guy decided to put his fingers to his head like a gun. Poor guy, scooping two ice creams is tough.
When it was our turn, I chose the waffle cone with chocolate/​almond ice cream and my sister got a waffle cone with vanilla and chocolate. That came to $ 12. We walked down Park Ave and it became clear that the cone was completely empty, $ 12 for a waffle cone and one scoop of ice cream. I love Abbott’s but am completely disappointed with this particular location. Will not be going back!

Abbotts has always served great frozen custard for as long as I can remember. However, I am disappointed in this location. The serving size was very small and the cashier was picking her own prices because it clearly did not add up to what was listed on the price board. If you order vanilla almond be prepared to find less than 5 almond pieces in a scoop.

Came here to get a milkshake on a Thursday night. There were no flavors on the menu for milkshakes, so I assumed you could get any of the flavors from the ice cream selection, and I asked the girl at the counter to double check. She replied «Um… Yeah, well only some of them. And banana.» So I asked for banana. Another employee shouted from the counter he was sitting at «We don’t have banana syrup.» So I asked the girl again what flavors I could get in a milkshake and she blankly stared and said «Um» again, so I gave up and just said vanilla. The other employee then shouted «you gotta use the old machine, we sent the good one to the other store.» Slightly awkward to shout these things across the room with customers inside.
After paying $ 4.86, I finally got the milkshake which was incredibly runny. Went out and sat at the tables out front. 2 more customers walked in, and a minute later the 2^nd employee walks in with a pizza from next door. The 2 employees then start eating the pizza at the same counter/​table that the 2 customers were eating their ice cream. Right next to them… Not a huge deal, just strange.
Also, the floor was COVERED in rainbow sprinkles. Like someone dumped a bowl of sprinkles everywhere. 5 stars for the flavor, 0 stars for the employee/​customer interaction, bad quality shake, and the floor.

Years ago when I first moved to Rochester I was thrilled that there were places like Abbots that served custard like in Milwaukee. There are many places in the US that do not have frozen custard — which is far superior to just regular old ice cream. Over the years we have enjoyed everything they make from just plain vanilla, to the Turtles, to the pints with the mix-​ins. Always delicious!

I am the queen of all things frozen and delicious. Does 45 degree weather faze me? No, I’ll stop by and grab a cup of frozen custard anyway.
Walked by with a friend and couldn’t resist stopping in. He had the pumpkin custard, and I had the chocolate almond. The chocolate almond is actually chocolate, with salty almond slivers below and on top of the ice cream. I wasn’t expecting the almond to be a topping so was disappointed a first, but in the end, really enjoyed the combo of salty-​sweet. The pumpkin was very rich and a bit too sweet for my taste.
Can’t wait for the summer to come around again. I think I’ll get to know Abbott’s pretty darn well. :)

Abbott’s is a staple in Rochester. This location is the one I frequent most often as it’s the closest to where I’ve lived for the last few years. They recently renovated so it has a fresh look. I usually grab ice cream to go and walk down Park Ave for some fresh air and people walking. They also have chairs outside if you want to sit and let the people watching come to you.
My go-​tos:
— Choco/​Vanilla twist on a sugar cone
— Vanilla with rainbow sprinkles on a kiddie cone
Clearly, I keep it super simple, but that’s why I love Abbott’s. The custard is creamy, and rich so you don’t need much more than the basic flavors (at least that’s just me).
However, I do live it up sometimes and opt for a peanut butter cup ice cream cone. SO many chunks of tasty candy bits… or cookie dough! They have a ton of other flavors, but those are my personal faves.

Abbott’s is such a treat on a humid day in Rochester! There was no line and the service was great. I tried the chocolate and chocolate almond, and I recommend the chocolate almond any day! Such a cute little icecream shop on a lane filled with restaurants, cafes, boutiques, and people watching!

I don’t know how someone could completely redo this space over the winter yet manage to make it feel dirtier. The staff has been, on every occasion this season, worse than the time before. The custard has the consistency of a milk shake and I am sure that this location has some how altered the original recipe in an effort to save money as it now has a chemical after taste. Today’s young counter worker appears to be suffering from a complete lack of understanding of language, social etiquette or basic customer service skills. That is unless between yesterday and today we have moved to a language of guttural throat noises.

If it was just based on the Custard — its 5 stars. But the staff here is hit or miss, and its season to season too. This year they are above average, last year, it was waaaay below average. The line can be incredibly long on nice days which can be a bit of a nuisance to wait, but comes with the territory of anything on Park Ave, especially something like Custard.
The hours are weird, if it rains they will close, if it is nice out they will stay open later, so you can never be sure they will be open at their posted hours.
The Custard is excellent. There are almost always new flavors that are great. The sundae’s are great. I could eat it multiple times a day. They have limited outdoor seating so you can sit outside and enjoy your custard in the nice weather.
They just underwent a remodeling and the inside has a small bar area you can sit at which is nice when it isn’t crowded with people trying to order, but if it is crowded forget about trying to sit their comfortably. The new lighting they put in makes you feel like you are in the brightest room ever, almost so bright you need sunglasses.

I give Abbott’s custard 5 stars (see my 5-​star review for Bushnell’s Basin, our go-​to location, even thought it’s 15 – 20 mins from home), but I only give this location 2 stars for off flavors and poor service.
This location:
Swamped with people and poor, slow service from the staff here. Other Abbott’s locations are equally or even more busy (like Charlotte) but they manage to quickly serve good custard. This location has had off-​flavors and bad service. The line takes forever to move. We avoid it unless it’s our only choice.
One example: They have put almonds on chocolate custard and tried to pass it off as their chocolate almond flavor. Strange as it might sound, it’s not the same. Their chocolate almond flavor has chopped and lightly salted almonds mixed throughout it (not just on top!) that aren’t too hard to chew while still being crunchy. Not whole, hard, unsalted almonds, which is what they tried to serve.
Another time they basically tried to serve me custard soup because they hadn’t allowed it to solidify enough or maybe it wasn’t staying cold?
I’ve only ever had these problems at this Abbott’s location.

Abbott’s! A Rochester staple. Thick, rich, and creamy… I usually opt for the chocolate almond or just plain vanilla.
Not like other frozen custard I’ve had. This is more like a thick soft-​serve.
But mm-​mm! I eat way to much of this every summer. Be sure to get a punch card.

Pretty solid! I got the Chocolate Almond ice cream and it was wonderful. Fresh almonds, creamy chocolate ice cream. A friend noted that prices are a little high for Rochester — that may be the case, but these would be LOW for DC so I didn’t mind.
Went with the large. Didn’t look back.