AZ Ice Gilbert

I used to go here when it was called polar ice. I I went on many fun dates here. I’m at the best skater and get no way say this is the best place for skating but it’s the best place to go in Gilbert. Great Place to go during the summer

Good times. Lockers available for your stuff as well but never any problems at this rink.

The management does not allow for quality customer service.
I visited this rink with a friend and paid $ 13 each for a public skating session. We only had about an hour left, but that’s all we were planning for anyway so it was worth it to us.
I’m a size 10.5 regular shoe. I tried on a sized 10 skate and it was too long. A 9 was just right for the length, but the width was too narrow. I planned to just tough it out since there was only 1 hour left, but it was not at all comfortable.
My friend had a small shoe size. She ended up trying on 5 different sizes between two different style skates, and they were either too large making for an unstable skate, or too narrow, digging into her foot at the sides. She tried one of the better fits with a loose lacing, but the hard material near the ankles ended up causing an abrasion after just 2 laps.
The problem seems to be the cheap quality of the ice skates. I’ve ice skated in other states before and have not seen these generic, plastic, no brand skates that they are renting at this facility.
The staff at the counter were very nice and exchanged our skates several times with no problems. There was, however, a sign posted that stated «no refunds» for public skating sessions.
The kicker was that the staff member said «Yea, we get these complaints all of the time. Sorry.» It wasn’t that staff member’s fault, but one would think that management would look into the complaints and make some changes if this was indeed a common complaint. It seems that their solution was to post a sign stating that there are no refunds instead of addressing the underlying issue of stocking poor quality skates.
My friend and I had a good time, because there was something hilarious about our failed attempt at ice skating in the desert, which was our mistake to begin with.
I would not recommend this rink to anyone, unless your idea of fun is paying $ 26 just to try on skates, skating 2 laps around the rink, and having you or your friend suffer from a painful ankle abrasion, all in less than 15 minutes.

You don’t know a good rink until you have been to one… and this is NOT it.
I grew up here when it was Polar ice and then moved to scottsdale and was always at the ice den there
… we just moved back to Gilbert, my husband and I were excited to go skating once we found a good date day opportunity.
Except when we got there… he CAN’T go skating… WHY? Because his feet are too big. HR wears a size 15, and this rink cuts their sizes for men off at 13.5!
We know he has big feet, but never once have we run into an establishment that does not carry AT LEAST one pair to accommodate all types of customers
We talked to the manager and he blamed it on not being able to afford them and how difficult they are to find. So we are expected to go out and buy skates for him to then pay again to enjoy the facilities here… it’s horrible and very upsetting :(
It doesn’t stop there…
My mother and I stopped by to enjoy some skating since I can’t bring my husband here according to their sizes available. We were surrounded by figure skaters practicing their routines, or being taught by a private out of house instructor. This wouldn’t be an issue, if safety rules were followed and if there was someone from the rink supervising. Instead I watched skater after skater completely disregard the public skaters, lift their blades well off the ice and practice very dangerous tricks while not paying attention to the people around them who are less experienced and there to enjoy a good time. Then about 15 hockey players (little guys ages 5 – 10) entered the rink way before their practice time and decided that it would be best to practice their hockey tackles and tricks on the ice as well… we saw a kiddo almost skate right into a figure skaters blade who was not paying attention trying to practice.
This is ridiculous and a huge safety issue! And no one of the employees are watching the rink at all.
Skaters should like every other rink I’ve been to have designated rinks/​times for professional or practicing skaters to enter into after a specific skill level (which I can tell you all of these girls were)
I also brought this to the attention to the front desk and the woman acted clueless and surprised this was happening… but once again, this shouldn’t be a surprise… because there should be an employee on the ice at all time maintaining the public skaters safety!
This is not acceptable. Fix the issues, or let someone else buy this rink to accommodate all people and make safety of all #1.
— a former polar ice and ice den figure skater

This was our first visit in a long time. The staff was friendly and the facility was pretty clean. My struggle here was the fact that no music was playing. It got extremely boring fairly quickly going in circles on the ice with only the sounds of human voices. If possible add music to liven the place up during free skate

My two youngest did a hockey trial for 6 weeks through the Coyotes here. It was great! They supplied all the gear and the teachers were awesome!!! :) — give it a try if you have young one interested in hockey! 100% free!!!

Fun place to stay cool. Kids had a fundraiser here for school. Not too crowded. They even serve beer.

Just had our child’s birthday party here. This was our first time and I found the staff to be very helpful. From the price to the party attendant to the instructors we rented for the party, we were very pleased. The only reason I don’t give five stars is because it was absolutely freezing in there, teeth chattering cold. I guess I should have expected that but I severely underestimated how cold it would be. The instructors were invaluable to the party for the kids and adults who have never skated. I would absolutely recommend this place for a party and we’ll definitely be back for public skating, dressing a lot warmer!

Went here for my Choir fundraiser and was greeted by a fantastic worker named Justin. He helped me and went above and beyond to make sure me and my family had a great time and we did! He told me to apply for a job and got me and application. Turning it in today hope I get it.

We were looking for a fun ice skating place for family fun night so we decided on trying Az ice. The ice skating was fun. The place could have been cleaner & the tool bag with the cowboy hat working skate rental is rude! I would put him in the back somewhere behind the scenes so he won’t have to deal with people. Halfway thru our kids were freezing little heaters somewhere would be a nice addition. Not sure if we will be back. Maybe we will try it earlier to see if they have different possibly «friendly» staff.

Went there on a slow Sunday with the family. Didn’t come across anything other folks complain about — it was clean & good customer service.
I can tell you firsthand it’s a fabulous place to put children in skates for the first time. The rink is hockey-​rink size, so plenty of room for folks like me that are well-​seasoned with skating. There’s room in the middle for figure skating.
There weren’t heaters for those in our party that weren’t skating; deducting one star for that. It is very cold.
Snack bar has great hot chocolate. It’s a little bit heated. Fyi: They sell hard liquor and have beer on tap.

It is an ok ice rink. Cleanliness is questionable. I signed up my 4 year old for skating lessons and the only reason I go here is because it is the closest rink to my house and I think I can deal with the run down facility as long as as my child learns basic skating. Once he’s proficient, I’ll look for another place in the valley.
His instructor Ms. Susan is 5-​star worthy. She is so personable and is great with preschoolers. Most of the assistants are teenagers, and I’m ok with that. At 5 lessons accomplished, I’ve seen the lessons start and end on time with no time lost in transition. The ice seems to be of decent quality, but again, all my child is here for is learning basic skating, not hockey or anything.

My son plays in a youth hockey league here and has for over three years. New owners took over and it has gone from ok to worse. The kids play at the South Pole where there is no «real» bleacher seating to watch the teams play. Nevermind that it is freezing in there. The travel team practices in the North Pole where no one is really paying attention to them. But I guess when you pay $ 3000 vs $ 800 it apparently doesn’t matter. Or so the owner told an upset parent. The games are late. 8:00. On school nights and there is no consideration because they pay less to pay. Let’s see how much money is lost when parents don’t sign there kids up next year for this sub-​par excuse for a league. Who suffers the most? The kids…

Just watched new staff members put over 15 pairs of loaner skates away without disinfecting them. My daughter’s been figure skating here for over a year. Never had any issues until new ownership took over. The place is going downhill and needs a lot of revamping. New owner stopped free skate before practice, lost my payment and places the figure skaters on the south pole ring (which is freezing has no arcade game or snack bar/​tv to entertain restless siblings) while the north pole ring is completely vacant. Hopefully this is just some growing pain and will improve with time. Until then, my daughter will be finding another hobby.

This place is truly inept. It’s as if they want to alienate customers.
I belong to a hockey club that rents the ice at AZ Ice Gilbert for regular games (and did so when it was Polar Ice). When I arrived for a game scheduled for 5÷22÷2014 at 7 p.m., I learned from other members of the club that the rink had canceled the game without notice.
So I went to speak to the manager to complain. He informed me that the game was not on the schedule for the month that he sent the club manager in April. When I indicated skepticism, he offered to let me see the email he had sent with the schedule. I agreed, but when we both went to his office and looked at the email and schedule it turned out the club game for that evening was in fact included.
Amazingly, he then went on to claim that the game was not included on another schedule on his hard drive. I started to explain that it didn’t matter what was on his hard drive and that the only thing which mattered was what he sent the club manager, but this turned out to be moot. Before I could finish, he had opened the other schedule, and it turned out he was wrong again! The game was included there as well.
Throughout this experience, the manager’s attitude was defensive and angry, never apologetic. (The same was true of the customer service representative I initially spoke to.) He did not seem embarassed that he had made this mistake or that he had falsely blamed the club manager for his error.
At the end, he apologized, but he seemed far from sincere. He did not seem to care that his mistake had inconvenienced about 22 of his customers and caused them to prepare for and travel to a game that never took place.
If this is an example of the type of customer service we can expect from the new management, I am not optimistic about the future of this rink.
Update 6÷30÷2014: Called during listed business hours to find out if they offer skate sharpening services. Went immediately to voice mail, which promised a call back. Finally received a call back exactly 24 hours (to the minute!) after my initial call. They do offer skate sharpening, so that’s nice, but this was still a pretty dismal example of customer service.

AZ ICE Gilbert is the new name of what once was Polar Ice Gilbert. It is under new ownership. AZ ICE is our home rink and we have been skating there for many years with our kids either figure skating and playing hockey. I am very excited about the changes we have seen so far for the betterment of the rink and the community. I know that they are continuing to make changes and I am very hopeful about all the good things that we are seeing. The ice conditions have already improved, the cleanliness of the facility is noticeably improved and the café seems to be headed in the right direction.
The grand opening was a nice event. There was free food, games, music and face painting. The mayor of Gilbert was in attendance as well as, the new owner and many from the Gilbert Parks and Rec department. It was nice to see everyone all there together, unified, as this was a long process to get to this point.
Business transitions are hard and take time and I am willing to take time and evaluate those changes as they happen. I hope to be able to come back after some time and amend my review and make it 5 stars!

Its the remodeled Polar Ice. I will add more details on this review later today. Its the grand opening and we get to skate for free.