Zana Lunsford

One Mitchell’s Ice Cream display cases filled with different types of custom, home made flavors in half-gallon containers that customers can take home for $10 a piece.

Chaos, rude employees, and sub-par ice cream: that pretty much sums up my experience at popular ice creamery in San Francisco, Mitchell’s Ice Cream.

Located in South San Francisco, Mitchell’s has been pulling in large crowds for years. The creamery first opened up in 1953 and has become a staple name in Bay Area households for years.

With all the buzz surrounding the shop, I figured that it was worth a try and started looking forward to a delicious scoop of ice cream.

Unfortunately, I was more than disappointed.

When we got to Mitchell’s there was a line outside of the store and the inside was filled with people.

Pulling into the parking lot, we got lucky and found a parking spot right as someone was leaving. I was already starting to get overwhelmed by the number of people crowding around the shop.

Trying to keep an open mind, we walked into the shop. I was pleasantly surprised. Behind the curtain of people, a dainty ’50s style creamery was hidden. There were bright colors and pastel tiles up and down the walls. They had a personalized Mitchell’s Ice Cream neon sign in the window and display cases full of ice cream you can take home.

After pushing through the all of people I realized that Mitchell’s is set up like a deli; they have a number system. My number was 19 and number 92 was being served when we got there, so now all that there was left to do was wait.

Since I know a lot of people that raved about Mitchell’s, I was looking forward to the ice cream and didn’t mind the 15-minute wait, but when my number was called, things continued to go south.

The server I had was either under the influence or extremely tired. At this point, I had a plan in my head to make sure that I had plenty of variety to sample from and give you guys the best review I could, but I was so thrown off by the server’s demeanor and behavior that I scrambled just to get my order out.

I got a single scoop of Grasshopper Pie on a sugar cone. They charged 50 cents extra for the sugar cone, but my scoop was halfway off the cone. Disappointed with the service and presentation, I hoped that the taste would make up for it.

I took my first lick and was pleasantly surprised. Grasshopper Pie is peppermint ice cream filled with Oreo cookie pieces, chocolate chips, and a fudge swirl. The mint really helped balance out the sweetness of the all the chocolate, but the base of the ice cream tasted a little watery. A little salt could have helped maintain a balanced flavor.

The Oreo cookie crumble was also on the larger side. At one point I found half of an entire cookie floating around in my mouth, which made it hard to taste all the flavors at once.  

While Mitchell’s ice cream was good, it didn’t seem any different than the ice cream you can pick up at the grocery while avoiding the large crowds, long lines, and trip up to South San Francisco.

Overall, Mitchell’s was an overrated creamery that let me down. The service was messy and as organized as it could have been with 20 people in the store, and the ice cream was sub-par.

All in all, if you’re going for the ’50s style decor than head on over, but if you’re going for a quick fix of frozen delight, save your time and money and head to the grocery store to pick up your favorite brand and flavor. 

[star rating = 3]