Rita’s Italian Ice

Stopped by today around 5:30pm, there wasn’t any custard. I asked why since they didn’t close until 8 and the employee said the custard machine was broken. I was there 3 weeks earlier, also on Sunday and the same employee was there, also no custard. I was told that the machine was broken that time too. I was curious as to how both custard machines could be broken at the same time for over 3 weeks. She looked away and just said that they were broken. It looked to me like she was cleaning some parts from the custard machine. That seems odd since it has been broken for over 3 weeks! This location is closed on Mon. Tues. and Wed. Seems to me that this employee wants to leave early on Sunday and shuts the custard machines down several hours before the closing time! Maybe there would be more business at this Rita’s if they had an employee who actually did her job and kept the place running until the actual closing time. Does the owner know this is happening?

Don’t go here if your expecting vanilla custard they didn’t have any. I dont know if it was just an off day but no apologies just «don’t have any.»

We’ve visited Rita’s multiple times. The frozen ice is good, with a wide array of flavors each day. You can also request a flavor one day in advance.
Our most recent visit was on the first day of spring, where they were giving out free cups of frozen ice (your choice of flavor) and $ 1 gelati’s (frozen ice + soft serve). Very nice of the owners!

Rita’s is a small Italian ice and custard shop near Catfish Country on 98 S. My first taste there was tangerine ice with vanilla custard (a gelati). Heavenly. I also enjoyed a lemon Italian ice another time – lovely – the ice is very thinly shaved and delicate. Today’s visit I got a small black cherry Italian ice ($ 2.45). I would’ve made it a gelati but the custard machine was broken (hence the star loss). Loved the little black cherry flavorful pieces within the ice. They generously overfill the cup. They have about 20 flavors to choose from. These are nice and light compared to a shake. However very very sweet. I believe they may have a sugar free option, didn’t ask today. Very generous with the tastes – I tried passion fruit and mango, both great. I always look for an excuse for a pass-​thru on this side of town!

Love Rita’s. so many choices and it takes me forever to decide. Yum!

The owner is super nice! He sits in a chair playing his guitar or making sure that people aren’t waiting too long to get their favorite flavor! We love coming here! My 17 month old daughter goes NUTS when she sees the Rita’s Cup! LOL Our favorites are the Mango gelati (custard and italian ice) or the pear ice! YUMMMMM! Highly recommend!

We stopped in here a few times while visiting family in Lakeland. This location is bright, cheerful, and somewhat corporate, but forgivably so. Their slogan is «Ice-​Custard-​Happiness.» They could have gone simply with «Crack» given the amount of time I spent preoccupied and thinking about when I could get my next fix. It is actually the last thing I ate before heading to the airport. Apparently this is a franchise business. Please, someone in Oregon open one of these!
I couldn’t bring myself to deviate from the vanilla chocolate frozen custard swirl, but their Italian ices were very, very tempting, and free samples were gladly offered each time we visited.
Of particular note is their treat called the Gelati — the bottom of the cup is layered with soft-​serve frozen custard, the remainder of the cup is then filled with your flavor of choice Italian ice, and then the whole thing is topped off with even more frozen custard. Next time, Rita, for sure.