Carvel

Not only was the ice cream amazing. But the owner personally delivered our ice cream cake after hours when the delivery service we were using just gave up on us. Some of the best service and product out there.

When I’m in the mood for soft-​serve this place is the best. But their ice cream cakes and other pre-​made items lose all the appeal. Reminds me of summers on the East Coast.

I have never written a review. I signed on to Unilocal to do this one.
Having a guest in the car who was a New Yorker, and passing Carvel we decided to stop to enjoy an East Coast treat. The owner was there with 2, apparently new employees helping a woman and 2 children. We gathered this was difficult for the 2 very young looking employees. the owner told them to finish with that group and came to help us. Out of chocolate at 3:00. Really?? ok we order, we pay and., wait for this… he tells one of the kid employees to finish making the ice cream sandwiches… which he does WITH BARE HANDS! I say, «he’s not wearing gloves. and the owner answers HE WASHED HIS HANDS,!
Next call is to the health department and no Carvel from there for me or anyone I know.
Not to mention it was skimpy and expensive.

Wow I’ve been MIA from writing reviews… dental school has taken up basically my entire life and then some! Which leads me to why I actually have become someone who orders from UberEats and Postmates in order to survive… weird I know. But amazingly convenient! Unless… you try order something new before you have yet to look at it with your own two eyes. Case and point, it was one of my favorite aunts birthday who happens to live locally. She’s been nice enough to drop off care packages ever since I’ve moved here filled with home made amazingness. Seeing as if I were my normal self I would have baked her an EPIC birthday cake, a berry packed trifle or a frickin croquembouche… I opted for the next best thing. Ordering an Ice Cream cake.
So her birthday fell conveniently in my Finals week and I had no time to go and pick out a cake and deliver it, so I relied on my trusty Postmates to do the deed for me. First off A+ to postmates, from the price to the speedy delivery they were on their A game. From what I hear the cake was tasty as well. AND to boot the owner was nice enough to ask my post mate delivery person (deliverer?) to call me and tell me that my original message wouldn’t fit… and talked to me in person for 5 minutes to personalize it! With this service I was expecting a bomb cake. In my head I had that basic cursive writing you envision on all birthday cakes… basically everywhere. Nothing fancy, seriously… I just wanted it to look comparable to a typical Ralph’s or Albertson’s Bday cake font (you KNOW what I’m talking about).
Anyways my gripe is that when I got a picture of this cake I swear my 6 year old 2^nd cousins could have written out the message in a more aesthetically pleasing way. Seriously. It wasn’t that it wasn’t cursive… it was that it literally looked like what a 6 year old that got a C+ in writing would pull off as they were anxiously awaiting that poptart to pop out of the toaster. It was depressingly ugly, crooked, and spaced out weird. I swear I wouldn’t have minded if the whole thing was just written in normal font just as long as there was some regularity and that it roughly looked like it followed a straight edge. So yap that was disappointing. But hey it’s the thought that counts right? :D

best. ice cream. in america!!!

Subjected to 8 minutes of conspiracy theories about celebrity deaths by the owner, only to finally order and pay over $ 8 for two small, mediocre soft serves. The rest of the ice cream in the case did not look appetizing and did not appear to be at the correct temperature because it was melting everywhere. Learn from our mistake and just go to Diddy Riese or The Big Chill or Saffron & Rose.

Honestly so pissed off from this that I don’t even feel like going into detail, I just hope I can spare someone else the complete waste of time and money. Not a single redeeming aspect to any part of the experience. Save yourselves. Run.

I placed an order for a cake online and totally forgot to add what was supposed to be written out on the cake. When they delivered the cake the delivery man brought a decorating bag & tip to double check if I wanted to add a note on the cake. That was SOOO thoughtful of him, he stood outside my apartment and wrote out «happy birthday» on the cake for me. Best customer service treatment ever!

Update: Hah! Got my own rude message from the store owner! Jealous? Apparently he doesn’t understand the first thing about customer service. He admitted that he was in the wrong during the experience I wrote about… in about the most unapologetic way humanly possible. Then he made a bunch of excuses instead of saying how he’d correct things moving forward. Then he gives me his number and expects me to want to talk to him. That’s not how this works, man.
The main question I have to ask is: if you don’t enjoy making people’s day with your delicious product (which apparently, unbeknownst to me before reading all these reviews, is famous on the East coast), and relish creating a welcoming atmosphere for folks the moment they arrive, WHY ON EARTH are you in the ice cream business at all?
Now he said some stuff to me about having difficulty finding good counter help… I get it that’s a problem, but honestly, that’s where you’ve gotta apply your management skills. Discern who’s gonna do the job well. I am willing to bet the main reason you have a hard time finding good employees is that you don’t know how to provide excellent customer service yourself. I’ve actually gone back since my first review because the ice cream is so good. That’s the only reason. I can guarantee though I won’t be back again. Not after this. And pleeeease man don’t send me another rude message.

Even after cooling down for 48 hours I can’t help but cuss this guy out in my head even today.
He doesn’t greet customers when they walk in.
He doesn’t fill your ice cream cup all the way.
He doesn’t even give correct change! (An «honest» mistake, he says)
Will never go back here again. Stay away. Do not spend a penny here.
(BTW, I signed up to Unilocal just to leave this review. That’s how bad my experience was.)

I got a small chocolate and vanilla ice cream «cake» for my friend’s birthday at the very very expensive price of $ 39.99. The «cake» barely had any cake and consisted mostly of mediocre ice cream. With the terrible responses I got from guests at the party, you’d think I got this cake at the 99 cents store. I bet that any cake at Vons or Ralphs would probably taste better than the cake I got here. It was overly sweet, tasted really artificial, and did not suit my palate at all. This is what I get for not planning ahead and going to an actual cake store! Save your money, get a real cake elsewhere, and skip this place.

Ice cream is good, but pretty pricey. My friend and I bought a scoop each and it came out to be about $ 8.

I’ve waited a day to make sure I gathered my thoughts and could review them minus the profanities and obscenities that originally came to mind. (although, it probably would’ve been a fun but completely inappropriate read).
I gave it a 2 star rating rather than on a 1 based in the following grounds:
1. A 1 is the lowest and means horrible/​inedible.
2. I will be eating it
3. They messed up the order and did a bigger size. More cake for us.
4. The 2 correlates with dissatisfaction. Operational acceptance but not correctness.
Soooooo, we walk in on Wednesday, after work, to order a custom cake for Saturday. My family has been coming to Carvel (the old carvel back in the day that was in the Palms/​Culver City Area about 32 years ago). They were fantastic. My mom would bring in a party napkin with pictures on it (Sesame Street, superheroes, etc). They would create the picture on our cakes and they looked great. Fast forward about 32 years to Wednesday and yesterday.
We go into Carvel and I speak to a young blonde woman in the store. Something about her bothered me. As I asked questions regarding cake sizes, prices, and custom designs, she seemed annoyed. It was as if she had a million better things to do than help us (We were the ONLY customers in the store!). Finally, we appear to get a cake size selected. A round one that serves 4 – 6 people. She tells us that it is $ 39.99. A little steep. They sell those exact ones at the grocery store for $ 21. I was getting a fresh cake and I wanted to customize it, so whatever.
Now the design. I asked for Superman. I’m sure lots of kids are asking for the Superman logo now that the movies have made it hot again. I didn’t have a napkin to copy, thinking they’d either have a picture in a cake sample book on the floor or have some experience doing Superman (or Google search it). I offered to show the woman what I wanted on my phone but she said she knew it. She started listing colors, which seemed to make sense. She then said it would cost $ 10 extra to customize. And she didn’t think they could fit my name on it. I’ll be real. For $ 49.99, I was ready to walk out but we stayed, as I did really want this perfect cake.
My girlfriend goes to pick it up yesterday on my birthday. The cake is rectangular and a bigger size. What??? The superman logo was the wrong color combo. In fact, it looked liked they employed a 2^nd grader to do it (but as my girlfriend and mom pointed out, if a 2^nd grader had done it he/​she probably would’ve gotten the colors correctly!). The nicest part was my name (the part that the woman said probably wouldn’t fit). Apparently, the middle-​aged man working there told my girlfriend that we should’ve been charged $ 10 more due to the size of the cake and my name being on it. Really!!! She said he was a jerk but she didn’t pay a cent more for their incompetence. Carvel should thank us. My girlfriend is the calm one in the relationship :)
The ice cream was supposed to be proportionately vanilla and chocolate but it is more heavily chocolate (not a big deal, just not what I asked for).
I’ve taken the liberty of posting 2 pictures. One from yesterday (which shows the aforementioned flaws) and one from 30 something years ago (which shows how good and professional Carvel once was).
I will be taking my future business elsewhere from now on. I suggest y’all consider doing the same.
I’m out, maybe I’ll go eat some of that cake. The more I eat, the less like a busted Superman it looks. (Damn, I’m on the west coast. It’s only 8am. Too early for cake. I’ll wait 4 hours and then do that!)
#youngforeva!

after nate n als we had to stop to get some of the salty deli flavors out of our palate that even a black cherry soda couldn’t get ride of.
your still the best and creamiest soft serve ever. its still a little pricey for soft serve but once tasted the thought of money goes away and brings us back to our childhood.

Thank God their ice creams are good because otherwise I’d be mind-​boggled to how it’s possible such a poorly run business could still be open.
I went to Carvel twice. Always give a place the benefit of the doubt. My first experience was horrible. The guy behind the counter was sitting basically ignoring our sole existence. Felt like I was bugging him for entering the shop. Had to ask him to help me. He was very rude and impatient for me to leave… ok maybe he had a bad day?
Well I went there again a second time. May I say that if you don’t mind horrible customer service go there and get their Nutella ice cream, amazing. That time though, I wanted to get two flavors. I asked for a sample. My boyfriend also asked for a sample, to which the same man behind the counter responded «if you know what you’re getting then why are you asking me for samples?». We didn’t know what we were getting. He basically had the guts to call us free loaders, Good thing he doesn’t work at Pinkberry…
Then he started doing some behind the counter work (before serving us), like replenishing ice cream, etc for a good 10 mins, after we told him what we wanted. Because he couldn’t wait for us to leave to do what he needed to do.
Just overall the RUDEST customer experience I have EVER experienced in my life. And I am from France so that’s to tell you how bad this was.
The unbelievably rude and uncomfortable customer service from Carvel is not worth the ice cream. That is what I have learned.

SMOOTHED OVER!
What is it about ice cream that makes us SCREAM for it? Is it the creamy sensation we feel when it slides down our throat? Is it the subtleness or boldness of flavors it provides? Or, is it just cuz it is oh so yummy? Whatever it is, when we have a scoop in a cup or on a cone, it seems to make the world a much happier place.
Carvel Ice Cream, located in the Santa Monica Plaza, is a small shop that serves up scoops, sundaes, shakes, novelties, and ice cream cakes. Post group dinner on our way to food coma, a scoop of ice cream hit the spot.
ORDERED:
Swiss Chocolate Almond– was cold, creamy smooth, and had a satisfying amount of almonds.
Service was ok, no complaints.
IN A SCOOP:
Carvel didn’t rock my boat, their ice cream is good, and I’ve had both worse and better.

Normally walking into any business you are greeted and welcomed as the guest. We were not. The grumpy old man sulked behind the counter on his phone and looked as if we bothered him by walking in. My girlfriend was really excited to try a few flavors and asked for a description. He was not thrilled and acted as if any question about his ice cream flavors were a burden, or that we were stupid for not knowing. He looks like he’s been on a 3 night binger. Will not ever go back to this place and sadly the ice cream was delicious but we would rather have ate packaged ice cream from the gas station down the road. MINUS 5 stars

I grew up on Carvel when I lived in New York. So imagine my delight to find one in Westwood! I have come here only a couple of times, and each time I have gotten the Fudgy the Whale cake. I love a good ice cream cake and I find their cakes to be some of the best. The service has always been great so I’d make a stop again when in the area.

I personally like the soft serve here the best. It is very creamy and good quality. This is a good place to go after visiting the sushi place at the corner of the shopping center. I will be back.

Who doesn’t love Carvel? I certainly do, and I love that there is one nearby. Carvel ice cream brings me back to my childhood… there is nothing quite like their soft serve ice cream topped with chocolate crunchies!!! For birthdays we LOVE Carvel ice cream cakes.
Now for the bad news. The staff. This location seems to have a high turnover rate when it comes to minimum wage employees doling out delicious Carvel delicacies. I get it, you are not going to get very many long term employees, but for crying out loud higher and train the people that represent your business!!!
We were just in Carvel this past Friday night and the girl working behind the counter was rather lethargic and did not say one word to us except how much we owed. I would have had better interaction with a vending machine then I would with this employee, or employees that have served us in the past.
While we were eating our ice cream another customer was picking up a custom cake for her kids birthday the following day. The woman had pre-​paid for the cake, and called to confirm it was ready. The lethargic employee looked in the freezer and began opening boxes. She told the woman it was not there, and she did not know why. After 10 minutes she called the owner who told her it was in the back. How hard is of customer orders and when they are expected to be picked up? Through it all the employee seemed clueless.
I give Carvel 3 stars… the ice cream is 5 stars in my book… the customer service is awful and deserves 1 star.