i know that cold stone ice cream is the same (i would imagine) at any cold stone ice cream shop you would go to. right? what makes it special is the person behind the counter who mixes the ice cream and the extras you add to it. the friendliness, the smile, the happy-to-be-there-to-help-you attitude. i asked for coffee ice cream w/almonds and choc fudge (to mimic jamoca almond fudge at baskin, one of my favorites). and the guy did a totally fantastic job. hubby had dark choc w/almonds, nothing special, but it was done well. both had lots of almonds, if you like almonds in your ice cream, you know what i mean...there were nuts in every bite. :) i wish i'd gotten the guy's name. it was a monday morning in july around 11:30am. read more

I haven't been here in well over a decade and always ordered french vanilla ice cream with a ton of cinnamon powered and Oreos. Since it's been so long I came the other night and tonight. First night, ordered like I always have, tasted it... not so flavorful and if you know me, if it looks horrible but, the flavor is out of this world... that is all that matters. The second time, much better with the exact same ingredients but, guess how much this "like it cup" came up to? $22! I had to repeat my order close to 8 times since the gentleman couldn't recall, I'm assuming he was nervous, but when I ordered it two nights ago it was not $22 and the owner was right by the register when the young woman rung me up. Don't think I'll be back for... let's say... another decade or longer. Should have gone to a mom and pops ice cream shop in Santa Cruz instead. Hit up Mariann's ice cream or Penny ice Creamery. read more

Cold Stone Creamery - Custom: french vanilla with cinnamon powder and oreos - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Santa Cruz, California

Service was fast and friendly. The low sugar ice cream could have been a little bit more fresh. And the server could have done a better job sterling in the bananas and pineapples. But the portion was larger than usual and it tasted pretty good nonetheless. As for the ambiance, average cold stone creamery. read more

Cold Stone Creamery - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Santa Cruz, California

I am a local that brought in a friend visiting from New Zealand. He was excited about the ice cream and the flavors and just to try something new. The two girls that were working there last night were so incredibly rude and condescending to him. Their body language rolling their eyes talking to him like he was an idiot because he didn't know a cold stone was... I was horrified and embarrassed that he was treated so poorly in a place that I chose to take him to for a new experience while visiting America . Shame.... For a community That is as open and accepting as Santa Cruz... You would've thought that we would've done better . Horrified!!!!! Will Never go in there again! read more

My partner and I got to this store ready to order and waited patiently behind a family of three in front of us. The two male workers never acknowledged us at all the entire time, and slowly completed the order for the family in front of us. After about 10 minutes of standing there they completed the orders when a door dasher came in. Again, without ever acknowledging us or making eye contact they began filling the door dashers order. Again after another 5 minutes of waiting patiently for someone to take our order we ended up leaving the establishment. Really frustrated by the staff tonight. read more

Very good I rate this place 5 stars because the ice cream is delicious you can make it however you want they have so many options to make it just for you read more

Cold Stone Creamery - Ate some already and it's delicious 5 stars for me the employees were so nice too - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Santa Cruz, California

Always consistent and fast service. You know exactly what you're going for and you get it every time! I especially had a great experience with the two young women and one young man employees working the evening shift on Saturday 1/6/24, they handled an overloaded line and a weird homeless person with class and presence! Great job ladies! read more

Cold Stone Creamery - Sweet Cream base with Snickers. - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Santa Cruz, California

Pulled up and all the chairs were sticky and the tables were covered in ice cream. Ice cream was great but it would be great to sit down somewhere clean. read more

First thing when I walk is I am greeted by the wonderful staff!!! Typical of any good ice cream store is they give us all assortments of samples and I ended up choosing regular chocolate ice cream with coconut inside. It was very good and the portions sizes were amazing. Looking at the other reviews maybe I just came here on a good day but excellent ice cream and excellent service !!! read more

Cold Stone Creamery - a man holding a bowl of ice cream - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Santa Cruz, California

This is a business, not the high school quad! Went in to get a carton of ice cream and the freezer case was locked ( already a sign of a poorly run business) so we go up to the counter and there are five teenagers behind the counter all involved in talking and no one acknowledges us for about 30 seconds(we are the only ones in the store) then when some one looks over we asked if we could get a pre packed pint. She mumbled "just a minute" and went back to talking. We waited for 4 more minutes and watched the five youth behind the counter continue in their circle of conversation, backs to the counter. We finally walked out and got ice cream four doors down the road. June 10, 7pm I love cold stone but no one wanted to serve me! Who is managing this place??????????!!!!! read more

Did they stop singing at Cold Stone? I took my sister with Down syndrome there earlier this evening for her birthday. There were 4 people working there. I asked if they could sing a birthday song, or any song. This would have been the perfect moment to say "no" if they dont do songs there anymore. I gave him a tip. The guy who took my order was new. He asked one of the two young ladies if they would sing for my sister. She looked annoyed by this request. The two young women didn't smile at me or my sister, or any customers. They were straight up rude. They were smiling and goofing around with each other though. We were about to leave without a song and the other guy came up to us to ask my sister's name for the song. Excited she might get a song, we waited. Little things like that make her really happy. Apparently the two ladies wouldn't sing for her, so after waiting like 10 more minutes we left. I feel like my town has been taken over by a bunch of flat affect sociopaths who act just like this. How hard is it to just be a human? If you dont do the songs anymore just say so, don't make a disabled person sit and wait for you to blow her off. These people make more than my sisters caregivers. Act like its a real job. I want my tip back. Boo! read more

Kids enjoyed and the Barbie ice cream we tried was delicious although very sweet. I have no idea how any one can eat more than a small of any of these. This location is on the main strip, pacific garden mall Santa Cruz so very easy to get to. I have walked by for years as chains are not my favorite the young man serving us was helpful. read more

I'm going to make this review short and straight to the point. The ice cream is smooth and cold as you would expect ice cream to be. I had the strawberry blonde. The place is very clean and the service was fast. Overall a good experience at a fair price. read more

Cold Stone Creamery - Strawberry blonde - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Santa Cruz, California

Rude and unprofessional service. Some woman cut in front of my group, we were the only 3 people in the store before these 2 rude woman came in. They stood in front of us, in the middle of us ordering and began to order. The ice cream attendant was an old man, he appeared to be the owner. He served them even though we were first and they obviously cut in front of us. I waited there 15 minutes. Absolutely unprofessional, never returning. The owner should have served us first.. read more

My son has several food allergies and it's always hard to find him a treat. Eva at this location was so sweet and patient with me while I checked the ingredients. I truly appreciate her and helping me little man have a great Sunday! read more

The server was extremely rude. I believe his name was Kayden. He took forever to complete my order it seemed like he forgot it and and kept checking the little screen. He was also extremely rude and left me waiting to place my order for like 15 minutes. The ice cream was decent but he forgot the whipped cream. I am never coming back and I hope he never does this again. read more

j just went in to get the Barbie ice cream. The guy making it gave me the skimpiest scoop and then put the put the whip cream on top instead of mixing it in. when I asked them to remake it, since the whip cream was not mixed and they told me they couldn't do anything for me unless I paid since they put the whip cream on top. the manager told me her employee didnt even make a mistake because he put everything in. my friend ordered the same thing and the whipped cream was mixed in so how was there no mistake? very disappointed, dont go here. inconsistent quality and really bad costumer service. read more

Great service, all the team members welcomed me in. Shout out to James! He was super fun and could brighten anyone's day. He put the biggest piece of brownie in my mint ice cream and I could tell he was mixing it with love! After I paid and tipped he sang a cute song that I thought was just delightful. Will definitely go back for the amazing service. read more

Always a delight and a cheat on my diet. Highly recommended for a treat. Enjoy, even if you shouldn't.

Very standard Cold Stone that will give you what you want. I'm knocking down one star because the manager is very scary and comes off as being rude. Knocking off a second star because the last few times I went here they gave me melty ice cream. They offer coupons in the student coupon books (for UCSC), read more

I mean it's ice cream how can you mess it up. Food and cleanliness are definitely all good, only problem I had was with the employee. The man who was helping us was extremely rude to my friend when he asked how the mixing and sizes worked. Then even though he was checking my gift card for money, that he saw had a lot, still acted as if we weren't real customers. Other then that would recommend. read more

I have been here once or twice usually when I'm at the end of my shift since I'm a site supervisor for security at the metro so I'm usually in uniform , tonight was a little busy so I waited behind maybe about 7 or 8 people when it finally got to me I was standing in the middle in front of the ice cream patiently waiting for the employee to ask me what I wanted, at that moment two female college students walked in and he decided to take their orders, literally cutting in front of me. They got their orders and left, I then proceeded to wait another 10 or more minutes. I watched him go into the back twice, making eye contact with him the first time. But on the second time he walked out, I started to walk out because I noticed he was going to go back in the back for a third time and I was already frustrated being this my 13th day in a row I've worked and I was just wanted to treat myself to some Ice Cream. I ended up walking out sadly as he called back to me from the back door I was going to help you in a not so great tone. read more

OK. first of all THANK YOU COLD STONE TEAM! my bf and i have been calling honestly way to much about the MARSHMALLOW ice cream. straight daily for the past few months...(sorry not sorry) but hey it worked and you guys listened. just left with a gallon of it and could not be happier. thanks again. will be back for the rest very soon. THNK U COLD STONE read more

Cold Stone Creamery - I SCREAM 4 MARSHMALLOW ICE CREAM!!!!! - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Santa Cruz, California

I came here today and ordered my fave to go which is a medium chocolate ice cream mixed with Oreo.Very tasty.The employees here are all really nice fast and efficient. read more

I want to thank the owner of this store for caring so much for his customers experiences. We are in town for the three day weekend and ordered a large ice cream order through door dash. There were several hiccups between DoorDash and the store. We ended up only getting about half the order and many of the items received were wrong. When we called to let the store knowX the owner got on the phone quickly and apologized for the issues. Door dash it seemed picked up the wrong order. He even offered to drop it off himself. He made sure our experience the following day was perfect and we will be back anytime we are in town. Thank you for the great customer service ( not to mention great ice cream!). Many happy kids! read more

Being a fan of Cold Stones back home, I like to treat myself, occasionally, when I'm in Santa Cruz for our frequent vacation stays there. Why not go to Cold Stones? This evening was at least our third visit there and for sure, my last. Before going I reminded my wife that their ice cream is always soft and mushy, like cheap off brand stuff from a discount store might be. She wanted to go anyway! During past visits, we've encountered the owner and was unfortunate to have him serve me a couple of visits ago. Tip to owner: don't skimp on such an expensive treat! Make your customers feel like they've received their money's worth! On this visit, with only one person working the counter, I pointed out to my wife how soft and mushy the ice cream looked, while the employee filled orders for those ahead of us. Sure enough, once we received our ice cream, it was mushy, like always. Why is this?? I'm guessing it's to save money on the cost of freezing ice cream to where it's actually frozen, not half thawed out. There are several other choices for ice cream In Santa Cruz. Warm Stones has just made them that much more tempting! Saying goodnight to Warm Stones. We won't be back!!! read more

Very disappointed. My ice cream was already melted when I got it. Also the worker(I believe he is the owner or manager without uniform) was really slow and unhappy to be there I guess..... I asked Strawberry topping, when he scooped strawberry I was very disappointed by look.. he didn't even break the toppings. It took 2 second on the stone. Overall we are not going to come back. Way to go "Cold Stone Ice cream" It's actually "warm Stone" now read more

The manager here is extremely rude and disrespectful. If you want good ice cream, don't even come 100 ft within this place. I saw the manager pick up dirty cups from the floor and wash them and then reuse them. He literally yells at his employees infront of customers. I would never recommend this place in a million years. DONT COME HERE !! GO TO MARY ANNES INSTEAD !!!!! read more

The ice cream was great- however I unfortunately witnessed the owner harshly scolding one of the employees. It made me and my family's ice cream experience very uncomfortable and sad. Hopefully that was a one time thing. Never going back there again, if you're in the area and hungry for ice cream I recommend Mariannes. read more

TERRIBLE TERRIBLE TERRIBLE! I'm an avid cold stone lover and this was literally the worst experience I've ever had. I ordered a signature creation with an added topping of cookie dough. When I got my order there was literally 1 Oreo and 3 almonds, it took me awhile to even find any of the toppings, and the ice cream was extremely runny. I asked the servers kindly if they added the toppings I requested and they said "well if we did it would be at the bottom", I assured them there must have been a mistake because there were no toppings in it, and instead of kindly taking it back, refunding me, making me a new one or simply adding the toppings I originally asked for said well you'll have to PAY MORE for that?! I never write reviews but felt compelled to save others from the experience I had. Simply put: DONT give this location your money. Horrible customer service, you don't get your money's worth (they skim on the toppings) and ice cream is runny. read more

Walked in last minute yesterday and I guess they were closing. They politely let me know that they were technically closed and everything would need to be taken to go. Understandable, But I felt rushed so I didn't even bother adding anything into the ice cream and just got a cone to go. The ice cream was delicious! Thanks for staying open long enough to give us our ice cream fix. read more

Most employees were not wearing gloves when preparing food, which is very unsanitary.

Never have had a good experience here. The owner is grumpy and when I have ordered ahead for a pick up they weren't even completed with the order when they were supposed to be. The only redeeming value is the icecream is good. But we avoid coming here and prefer Yogurtland hands down. read more

I was craving frozen yogurt a la Pinkberry, Yogurtland, Red Mango and the rest but being in SC prevents me from eating it unless I drive to the south bay and beyond. So instead, I decided to get ice cream at Coldstone because it is the one place that I know of that serves plain MINT ice cream (I hate mint chip or anything -chip ice cream...the chips are usually too waxy and i just spit them out anyway). So I was ready to order my cup of MINT ice cream (I love love mint ice cream. Skinny Cow mint ice cream sandwiches anyone? they're heavenly!) when I saw a huge poster advertising TART FROZEN YOGURT called "N ER GIZE" or something like that. It wasn't soft serve, it was served in the ice cream bins along with their other flavors. I ordered a LOVE IT size of their frozen yogurt with added strawberries mixed in. The texture of the yogurt was icy and chunky, not smooth and consistent but it was pretty tart. And probiotics? can't beat that! Pretty soon the word (if it hasn't already) "probiotics" is gonna be on everybody's lips the way "partially hydrogenated oils" was (or still is). Hooooray for trendy terminology! How's that for sounding smart? read more

always a pleasant experience to eat ice cream here. I like their french vanilla flavour and find their employees to be fresh and friendly! they seem much less pretentious than the Mission Hill or Penny ice cream places and seem focused on giving you a good experience downtown that you will remember........ puts the smile on my face read more

DO NOT SUPPORT SANTA CRUZ COLD STONE! The man (who is the boss I assume) was SO incredibly, unnecessarily rude to his employees. I tried to order from a young woman at the counter and she heard me wrong so she had to transfer my ice cream into two containers and her boss shouted at her in front of me. He was mean and vindictive and I don't think it was appropriate at all. Ice cream gets 4 stars but service from that man? Not okay. Personally, I would suggest Mission Hill instead. read more

I was extremely disappointed when I came. I ordered two cups of the gotta have it size (the biggest size they offer) and asked for Oreo to be mixed in one of the cups and graham cracker in the other. The owner mixed it in for me and my friends but put in just one small scoop of graham cracker and two Oreos in the cups. It look like specks of dirt in the cup because of how little topping there were. My friend who was with me worked at a Cold Stones and told me that it's company policy to put more mix ins for the bigger sizes than just a scoop. Really upset. I payed $10 for ice cream that had toppings I couldn't even taste. Would come here again if the owner would put more toppings into the ice cream. Really sad. I'm pretty sure he's losing many customers because of this. read more

Okay, so I got fooled by this fake offer of free Coldstone that was circulating on Facebook: I led this troop of friends over to Coldstone a couple weeks ago on the alleged "Free Coldstone Day." They were suspicious of this free ice cream business, but I had promised them I'd get free ice cream for them, and my pride was on the line. We get there, and there's no line out the door of people getting free ice cream, so I'm worried. But there's a girl working behind the counter, right, and I figure I'll turn on the charm, and I can sweet talk her into giving us at least a little one to share for free. It's a perfect plan, right? Right? So I'm headed up to the counter, and just then the girl goes into the back, only to be replaced by a middle-aged balding man. My charm didn't work quite as well on him. Damn. Aside from that fiasco, I have nothing but good things to say about Coldstone. read more

It's impossible to walk by and not slow down to smell fresh waffle cones. But despite being well known for their create-your-own 'mix-in' concept, like Kristin E. I come here because they are the ONLY place I know of that serves plain mint ice cream! I also find the chocolate chips here waxy, and they get ridiculously hard to bite when mixed in with the ice cream. Service has always been friendly. No complaints here! read more

Yes, you can get cool combos of "ice cream" here and that's about it. I put the "" because I'm skeptical of the ice cream part of Cold Stone- this is the only place where the ice cream doesn't melt. Instead of turning into a milky colored soup like most melted ice creams, the ice cream at Cold Stone remains a strange thick and gooey constancy. Buuuut if you've never gone, okay try it out. I really like banana ice cream with heath bar, coconut, and pecans. Yuummm! The combinations the store recommends have way too many mix in's for my liking (and also racks up a few dollars real quickly.) I also don't like paying $4 for a (ok, fairly ample sized) cup of goo cream. I'd much prefer making the trip over to Marianne's. read more