Cold Stone Creamery

People rarely feel like dessert immediately after a meal, right? People want a chance to move around and a digest a little first. That makes Cold Stone a great compliment to the many downtown eating establishments. A big plus is the option to sit outside on a warm evening and take in the lovely Old State Capital.

Downtown is lucky to have a good ice cream shop, even better a name brand one like Cold Stone. Clean store with a good selection, and better yet, professional employees that actually enjoy their job… with some pretty good voices as well when a tip is dropped in the jar. One employee in particular, Josie, is great. Plus the fact that she knows what she’s doing behind the counter. The store also has a good selection of cakes, and other sweet fare for the dedicated sweet-​tooth. I’ll be coming back… as long as Josie keeps workin’!

The ice cream is good. It is unique and I like the whole concept of mix-​ins. It is quality ice cream (regular ice cream, not soft serve) with quality ingredients mixed in right in front of you. Very decadent.
On the negative side, it is downtown. Although I applaud this for bringing business downtown and being in the historic setting, it makes getting there are parking a pain in the rear. The few times I have been able to get there, it has either been deserted or super hectic but that’s not really Cold Stone’s fault. I also find the singing to be annoying.
For the money and convenience, I’d rather go to DQ but Cold Stone is still pretty good.

I went in during the Route 66 festival thing downtown. It was super busy. I am amazed at the people in front of me having such a difficult time ordering whenever we had about 10 minutes in line to decide. The singing for a tip is irritating but tolerable. The ice cream was good but expensive. Not quite worth what we paid for. ie: time wasted in line with idiots & okay ice cream

This store just opened up over the summer, and had SO MUCH hype surrounding it. People would line up, snaking through the store and outside the building. The wait would be well over an hour. It’s freakin’ ice cream. I love ice cream and consider myself something of a connoisseur and addict.
I was initially wary of Cold Stone, not because of the huge lines or the wait, but because of the company’s policy of making the employees sing whenever they get a tip. I have worked in food service (1 year bar wench, 4.5 years coffee wench, 2 months surly waitress), and have made it my personal policy to tip anyone and everyone. One time I was at Panera, and got a latte, and I tried to tip the girl. They didn’t have a tip cup. I gave her a dollar anyway.
I WILL NOT TIP AT THIS PLACE! When the kids actually did get a tip, they sounded so pained and embarassed that I could not, in good faith, force them to do it again. I really, really wanted to tell the manager who rang me up that I would have tipped if the people would just not sing. The company tries to say it’s fun and that their employees enjoy it and the customers enjoy it.
No. We don’t.
Regardless of how I felt about the product (it was decent, but I wish I would’ve gotten the sorbet), because of this policy I will NEVER be back, and I am only giving this store a single star because Unilocal forces me to. Okay, I guess because they used real coconut and pineapple in my ice cream, and I’m a sucker for real fruit.