Zaharakos

You want ice cream with 7 flavor choices? Fine. This is the place for you. If you want good food served attentively, look elsewhere. By the way, if you choose not to heed my advice, avoid the chili, a watery, beefy affair strewn with canned tomatoes.

On the way out, I was treated to the manager giving a gentleman in front of me a hard time for attempting to pay for his meal by using an outdated gift certificate. In front of the other patrons, she argued with a gentleman for perhaps 5 minutes. Rather than say something professional such as, " I'll accept this gift certificate if you promise to come back and visit us again," what we got was, " we can't wait forever for you to cash in your gift certificate. After all, we have to reconcile our books."
And with that, she lost 2 return customers, the gentleman ahead of me, and me.

My chocoholic friend and I stopped here on a recommendation from counsel. It took my friend 15 minutes to decide what combination to order... which is apparently a common experience based on the seemingly limitless combinations and eager to please ice cream parlor staff. I obviously had to have the cinnamon soda with the butter pecan ice cream. It was a winner! :)

My friend ordered chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, brownie, fudge, chocolate something. The little girl sitting next to him, witnessing his un-adult-like glee, dared him to drink the gravy boat full of hot fudge. I turned away so I didn't have to witness the consequences of this display. Despite the junior audience squeals, I should not have been surprised by the fact that no chocolate escaped to the floor.

The paper straws were an eco-friendly perk. The juxtaposition of Zaharakos museum-like decor and child-friendly ice cream parlor atmosphere made for a unique stroll down 'I-wish-these-were-my-childhood-memories' lane.

The ice cream, sodas, & surroundings are the only worthwhile reasons to stop.  

Don't get me wrong - for that, it's worth the stop - but don't expect the food to rise above edible and, well, meh..., which to me says that I'd really rather they just be an amazing ice cream / malt / frappe / soda shop,than the 'who cares?' tourist blech restaurant they currently are.

Seriously.  For real.  STOP it with the crappy, if hygienically prepared food!  (Seriously, that is the best thing I can say about your food: I saw servers following board of health protocols consistently throughout food prep.  That's not exactly mouth-watering news.)  

Yes, the servers are prenaturally pleasant.  It's fairly alarming in a restaurant, but in an ice cream shop / soda fountain, well, that's what you'd expect, right???

I promise we'll just come for the sodas and the ice cream - those alone get four stars or more.  No foolin'.  We'll be thrilled and have a reasonable food traffic for walk-out cones and shakes.  

(I will admit: I'm not sure what the breakfast score is: I just know none of the lunch "real" food items are worth eating.)