Meadows Original Frozen Custard

When this place first opened, it was exceptional. Sorry that is over. I have given them the benefit over the past year, thinking it couldn’t get any worse, but I was wrong. This place is disgusting. Just looking at the outside should be a dead giveaway. Windows are filthy and the inside is deplorable. Not sure if the floor has been scrubbed in a year - saw hairballs and moths. Icecream is pretty much all vanilla and they throw toppings on it - look at the pix. Can’t say much better about the employees. The one girl was scratching her head and then proceeded to get our order. Another guy looked like his shirt hadn’t been changed for quite some time. And at one point, it smelled like the toilet had overflowed. I can’t really figure out how they pass inspection. Oh well, it hope you enjoy it as much as we did. And to add, their site says 4.5 stars. That truly is impossible

The girl working alone on car show weekend was busting her butt. The sweaty guy came in from outside didn't even wash his hands yet started handling food items. The place needs a real good scrubbing....its pretty gross. I would give it a C as a food inspector...my opinion.

Me and my girlfriend decided to get ice cream at Meadows this evening because we have enjoyed visiting in the past. However, tonight we were met with extreme disrespect by an employee. Lily Lenk verbally harassed us and told another employee to “spit in his,” and to charge us extra. We also noticed her take a photo of us without consent. As we were leaving she told us to “never come back.” Being treated like this left us both extremely uncomfortable and ruined our night.

The 2 ladies were very nice. The one lady was very disrespectful and I wanted to handle the attitude. She like threw the ice cream at my boyfriend after giving him a dirty look and the other 2 were having a conversation to the one girls parents. I don’t know what that one girl had a problem with but probably shouldn’t be working there she needs to learn kindness and get over how her life is. Very very very disrespectful. The Italian ice was pretty good though so I give them that.

Spoons Up, Carlisle! Meadows Frozen Custard of Carlisle Just Reclaimed Our Summer Hearts

As part of our very official, highly scientific, and totally delicious research for our upcoming Kids Eat Guide (aka: the ultimate list of kid-friendly spots so good parents actually enjoy them too), we’ve been revisiting some of the region’s tastiest, happiest, messiest, most memory-making-est places to grab a bite or a sweet treat. And obviously, one of our first stops had to be Meadows Frozen Custard of Carlisle—because this is custard royalty, people. If you’ve lived in the area for more than a summer and haven’t made a pilgrimage here, are you even doing parenthood right?

So off we went—me and the snack squad—to reconnect with our creamy roots, and spoiler alert: it’s still got it.

Roll Call of Ridiculous Deliciousness:
• River, age 3 and queen of chaos, ordered a Cookies & Cream milkshake roughly the size of her face and then drank it faster than I could shout, “WAIT I NEED A PICTURE FOR THE REVIEW.”
• Roland, our deep thinker and milkshake aficionado, got the same thing and gave it two enthusiastic thumbs up before entering a temporary brain freeze blackout.
• Ridley, flavor adventurer and honorary blue raspberry ambassador, went for a freshly scooped blue Italian ice, which—spoiler alert—turned out to be so good it derailed all of Mom’s willpower.

Now, I was gonna be good. Really.
You guys. I had intentions. I’m like three bounce-houses and a half a salad into trying to lose the baby weight after kiddo number five (and let me tell you, losing weight in your 40s is a whole different game—like trying to play tag underwater). But then Ridley offered me a bite of his ble raspberry ice and suddenly it was all over. I was at the window ordering my own blue raspberry like I’d blacked out and woken up in a sugar rush dream. Was it the healthiest choice? No. Was it the right one? Absolutely. I might even declare it fruit adjacent.

Things We Love About Meadows (Besides the Custard, Obviously):
• The friendliest staff—like genuinely kind humans who actually like people.
• Great specials we just learned about—kids in sports uniforms get 10% off. BRB rounding up a random team just so I can cash in.
• Prices that don’t make you cry into your napkin.
• Portions that are generous enough to share but good luck getting your kids to agree to that.
• A location that’s dangerously close to amazing pizza AND our favorite Japanese place. Basically, this strip plaza could singlehandedly handle dinner and dessert for a family of seven with wildly different cravings.

Also, if you’ve been following our family’s ongoing shoe drama—you’ll be thrilled but not surprised to hear that River showed up barefoot. Again. Because obviously. Sometimes I wonder if her entire personality was hand-carved by watching Ridley’s early years like a chaotic little apprentice. And honestly? That tracks.

We spent a few sweet moments chatting with the team at the window, reflecting on how much we’ve always loved Meadows but somehow hadn’t been in a while. It’s funny how some of your favorite spots just fall off your radar while you’re busy chasing kids and wiping sticky fingers and trying to remember which child is missing a shoe. But here’s your reminder: don’t take the good ones for granted. Go back. Get the custard. Get the ice. Take the team. Tag along with that neighbor who always knows the best dessert joints. You won’t regret it.

Unless you’re on a diet. And even then… it’s worth it. Just dance it off in the living room later.

Me and my folks walked in and got chocolate milkshakes. I am very particular about chocolate milkshakes and the chocolate milkshake I got was one of the best chocolate milkshakes I have had in awhile. I have a background in food service and I noticed that the store appeared very clean. I looked over the counter, I looked under the tables and I looked at the corners of the room, I also looked at the display freezer for the cakes, it all seemed clean. The two men working behind both seemed to be cleaning while serving people. I hope the people here keep up the good work.

The Meadows is one of those places that is not only reasonably priced but the portions are large a huge Banana Split is like $7. And it has all the bells and whistles on it. Cones are are also large but this place goes beyond that because for every 10 cones that you buy there's a rapper on it and for 10 of those wrappers you get a free cone plus the entire time that you're ordering other stuff you're Gathering points for other goodies. So it just keeps giving back and giving back I love it and no I think it's yogurt Maybe but it is really good. They also have sugar free vanilla which is really really good. If there's a Meadows anywhere around you I would not go to Dairy Queen

Rudest people act like they are doing you a favor by just coming inside

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 3

Service: 1

The 3 stars is because the ice cream is usually good but Man the operations is bad. I don't think the owner likes his job and large frost is listed as the same price of large shakes, but there's no button for large frost so the owner puts it as a small and does a custom charge which wouldn't be an issue if it didn't overcharge from the listed price. Either configure a button or adjust it the correct amount- it is already expensive as is.
This has happened over 4 times so it's definitely not a innocent mistake.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 4

Service: 1

Bathrooms were very dirty. Service was ok. My chocolate ice cream really didn't have much chocolate flavor. Prices were high. We won't go back. Other ice cream places are much better.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 3

We stopped by to try Meadows today. We tend to love all things involving custard. When we walked in, a large young man with some wrap-around glasses stared at us from behind the counter wordlessly. It was totally uncomfortable. This was for at least a minute as we worked through the menu. When I told him our order, he just stared another moment and then just turned away. A nice young lady came out from the side and helped us.

Well, if that wasn't a reason enough to not go, let me tell you about the chipwich (sp?). It looked like a delicious ice cream sandwich with two large cookies. The problem, though, was that the cookies were super stale. I couldn't even gnaw through it with my side teeth. We just threw them away.

I am not sure how this place has good ratings. Buyer beware.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 1

Service: 1

Best custard around hands down.

Second Visit two years later:

I went through the drive thru right after they opened. I believe it was the owner at the window and he was very nice. I love the prices here. A large custard for $5 is like a small bucket of custard. It's very unfortunate for me that the Meadows that was near me closed but I'll go out of my way to stop at this one.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

I walked in on Sunday and the 2 gentlemen at the counter were just staring at me. They seemed so inconvenienced to have customers in the store. I greeted them and ordered. In the meantime we used the restroom and sat at a table, and I cannot believe how filthy this place is. For a place that serves food, this should not be allowed. On the bright side, the custard was good, just get nervous about ordering from places that don't have a cleanliness standard.

Today we went and we waited almost 30 minutes at the window. Before getting the first ice cream, the gentleman was screaming..and I mean screaming, I’m guessing on the phone about how he needed help and no one understand. He blamed that the ticket was wrong and that was why he messed up our whole order. The second ice cream was wrong so I asked for that one to be fixed. He just would shut the window and go scream. There was a customer who walked inside and then turned around and walked out because of all the commotion.We normal go and love getting ice cream. But this trip was disappointing.

Celebrated a Birthday Party at Meadows, had a wonderful time.Coconut is my favorite when it is available but fluffernutter is a close second. We stop whenever travelling thru Carlisle.