Glacier in Manhattan Beach

This was my third time at Glacier.  Yes, I'd been there before, without clueing you in, dear readers and with my apologies.  Here's a quick summary of the previous experiences: the first visit, my friends and I sampled the gelato and ice cream and nearly ran to order the ice creams, promising to make a second trip only for the gelato.  We were delighted at Glacier, especially after a dismal outing (to a sad establishment) earlier in the day (I'll review it for you later).  The service was helpful and enthusiastic, the boad games (Ice Cream-opoly, anyone?) and brightly colored tables were fun to see and all was well.  On the second visit, a friend and I honed in on the gelato and subsequently promised to return only for the ice cream in all future visits.  The service was dull and close to non-existent (the server was on the phone the entire time). 

So, some more friends and I met up at this adorable, previous-Baskin Robbins-looking-building, and tried again.  I didn't bother the gelato (as promised) and sampled the ice cream.  After realizing I was going to be in for a disappointment, I settled on a double scoop of chunky donkey and mint chocolate chip (I choose the first on a friends's recommendation and the latter on the hopes it would be astoundingly good).  First, let me say, "hope" is not an effective strategy and that is a lesson I learned the hard way.  Second, the chunky donkey was not special--in fact, I see why the server dead-panned and said he didn't like any of the product when I asked for his favorites.  Third, the mint chocolate chip was sufficiently minty and the chocolate chips were bland.  What happened?  I don't know, but I left Glacier feeling very puzzled and a little cheated out of great ice cream.

Rating: one to four spoons, four being best:
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