Fenton's Creamery

05/21/06

Just go for the Dessert

by stainlessmirk at Citysearch

Great ice cream, bad service, bad food, overrated, but I guess it's a cool atmosphere.

Tip: Get your sundae in a boat instead of a cup. They will give you more ice cream that way.

• Pros: ice cream
• Cons: overrated, food

10/16/09

SUPER BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE

by RMATT at Citysearch

Called ahead of time to see if they carried a particular type of pie. I was told they did, they had them in stock and I was given the price. Made a trip there only to be told that the price quoted me was wrong. I understand people make mistakes but the manager did absolutely nothing to gain my continued patronage. He basically said there's nothing he can do for me.

In essence, the manager stated "you called here, was told a price of an item; you drove here expecting to pay that price, you arrive and discover the amount was wrong, well, screw you, I can't/won't make this situation better."

To the manager, I would suggest a refresher course in customer relations and customer satisfaction. Personally I will never treat my customers the way I was treated. I've gone out of my way to accommodate people who are buying from me, whether refunding their purchase price, shipping price or both.

Fenton's you receive two thumbs down from me. I will discourage any and everyone from patronizing your establishment, whether family members or business associates. It may only be a small dent but sometimes those are the ones that really hurt.

06/16/08

Don't go here WASTE OF TIME & GAS!! ESP. W/ KENNY AS MANAGER

by i4u2cliza at Citysearch

Our family went here on Father's Day to enjoy some good family time, ice cream & b/c we visitied my grandpa a block away. Boy were we in for the worst experience ever!!

We had a party of 7 adults, 2 toddlers including my 37 week pregnant self. The teen hostess said there was a 30 minute wait, so we waited patiently as parties of 2,3,4,5,6 were seated as they walked in. We were told we were going to be seated in the room in the back past the restrooms, & to wait 10 more minutes. Because we came from SF & some from Walnut Creek we waited. We got there at 4:45 and didn't get seated until 6:05 (after me telling the hostess I am hungry & pregnant).

Turns out they were waiting for another waiter to start his shift at 6:00 to serve us! They sat us in the back room and there was no one there! The waiter that just started his shift came over after 5 minutes & we had to speak to the manager. The manager, Kenny was non-chalant about the whole thing and said they were short handed. My mother & father were frustrated by his attitude that they just stormed off. My brother & I had to explain our frustration to get some sort of reaction. It was just plain wrong to keep us waiting for that long. DON'T EVEN PLAN TO GO HERE ESP. VIA CAR. NOT WORTH THE SOARING GAS PRICES FOR HORRIBLE SERVICE.

• Pros: plain old ice cream flavors, nothing special
• Cons: run by teens..poor customer service

01/04/08

Fun place to eat, but a little overrated

by taoseattle at Citysearch

I went there with some local friends, and was pleased at the retro look and fun atmosphere, but was disappointed when they were out of my first three choices for ice cream. Also, there was a definite lack of option for those who are lactose intolerant/sensitive (there were few sorbets, and they were out of all of them). The light ice cream I got was good, but lackluster.

Fun to go to with friends, but relatively expensive with long lines.

• Pros: Busy and fun--a good place for friends to go
• Cons: Relatively expensive, lack of lactose-sensitive options

10/05/07

Hair in my food

by snguyen78 at Citysearch

I ordered 1/2 crab sandwich to go. When I got home, halfway through the sandwich, I noticed a blonde strand of hair sticking out of the end of the sandwich. Totally disgusting.

I will never go there again.

07/31/07

Don't waist your time

by sarahkathryn0 at Citysearch

I've been to Fenton's several times, and none of them have been an exceptional experience. I have always here people raving about this place, so I decided to try it out myself. I went late on a friday night with a few friends, around 10:30 pm. After nearly 30 minutes of waiting outside in the cold (there is absolutely nowhere to wait inside) We were seated in the very back of the restaurant in a very small and crowded area. There was five of us, and we were seated at a small 4-person table where they just slapped another chair down. We waited a long time before the waiter even came over to ask us for drinks. He was rude and seemed rushed. When our food came, we had to ask 3 different servers for condiments before someone finally brought them to us. After we were finished, it took forever to get the check-- we were attempted to just leave some money on the table and walk out.

On my second visit, I went on a Monday morning, right after opening- around 11:30am. I figured it wouldbe a better experience because it was on a less popular day. We sat down within 5 minutes, luckiy. I had a different server, but she was just as rude and rushed as the other man. She had a ridiculous amount of tables.

So overall, the food/icecream is alright, the service is terrible, the wait is too long, it's overpriced, and it's not worth your money.

03/16/07

One Bad Experience

by eatingoutallthetime at Citysearch

Pros: Ice Cream, Crab Sandwhich

Cons: Noise level, prices, rude cashier who orders and yells at customers (I will never go again because of him)

• Pros: See Above
• Cons: Thumbs Down

03/05/07

My local favorite for root beer floats and crab salad sandwiches!

by ckyelland at Citysearch

I've been coming to Fenton's since my family moved to Oakland in 1985, and I've never been disappointed by their ice cream. Service can fluctuate, as they mainly hire local teenagers who are sometimes adjusting to the idea of working their first or second job. However, their crab salad sandwich is one of my favorite nostalgia dishes in the bay area. Followed with a gigantic, creamy root beer float, you can't go wrong. Their seasonal flavors (eggnog, pumpkin, pomegranite, etc.) are wonderful as well, and are rotated throughout the entire year. Waits can be long, parking is consistently terrible, and I can?t vouch for the rest of their menu, but Fenton?s is truly an Oakland institution and still a great place to grab an ice cream dessert...and of course, a crab salad sandwich. And even if you can?t stand their ice cream, they should at least be lauded for their continual efforts to give back to the Oakland community. They always have running ice cream specials and fundraisers to benefit local charities. They also offer a ?heroes? discount to firemen and police officers who drop by in uniform.

• Pros: Crab sandwiches, ice cream (esp. floats and seasonal flavors), continued commitment to local community
• Cons: Parking is terrible, waits can be long for eat-in service, noise level can be almost deafening on occasion

02/11/07

Who are writing these recomendations?

by chocotron at Citysearch

It feels like the owners are the ones putting these great reviews on here. The ice cream is terrible, terrible, terrible!!! I'd rather have a normal size serving of good ice cream than a truck load of feces. They justify their prices by giving you more than you could ever eat and anyone except the least discriminatory among us would throw most of it away before nearing completion. It looks like a fun place because of the old fashioned decor but I will not eat bad ice cream just because the guys that serve it wear paper hats!

• Pros: paper hats
• Cons: ice cream, portions, prices, parking, service, oh and ice cream

11/10/06

Fun, lively old-fashioned ice cream parlour

by bevymcmanus at Citysearch

We all cheered when Fenton's re-opened after their fire. It is good homemade ice cream at its best, with great toppings and a wide variety of choices. Ice cream brings in the customers, but what brings them back are the wonderful crab sandwiches. I know it sounds like a weird combination, but Fenton's crab sandwiches are quite delicious, and excellent followed by a (shared) sundae. The servings are generous and it's hard to finish everything!

• Pros: Great creamy ice cream; excellent crab sandwiches; small parking lot
• Cons: Kind of noisy inside; If you arrive at a peak time, there can be a long wait for a table

09/05/06

huuuge servings

by soygirl at Citysearch

the service is not always the best here, but the ice cream is definitely worth the wait. if you don't want to wait, order take out and eat outside. try the banana nut icecream or cream caramel almond crunch or dutch chocolate or coffee cookies n cream...the list goes on and it's all made on the premises.

• Pros: huge servings
• Cons: long wait