This is a review of the branch of Helados Italia at Juncal 1760 where the ice cream was wonderful and the service was cheerfully inept.
I speak Spanish pretty well. And have for 40 years. Ice cream Spanish is fairly straightforward.
At Helados Italia I was suddenly transformed into one of those situations like Jack Nicholson in Five Easy Pieces.
I wanted one scoop of pistachio ice cream in a cup, not a cone.
Sounds simple but apparently the rules at Helados Italia do not allow it. You can get one scoop in a small cone. Or you can get a cup filled to the brim with ice cream -- about 0.25 l, way more than I wanted. But you cannot get one scoop in a cup.
I'll spare you all the details but I may have written a new chapter in the voluminous book of Americans making a scene in a foreign country as I explained that I want one scoop -- una bolita, una bucha -- in a cup and the very frustrated young woman told me that was against the rules.
I ended getting ice cream in a cone which ran all over my hand as I ate it. Ugh.
That said, the pistachio ice cream at Helados Italia was fabulous. read more