Clown Cone & Confections

Man… this is a hard one for me to write.
Clown Cone has been on my list for years, and I finally got a chance to try it. This is usually exactly my type of place. On paper, it should have been perfect: a small, local business, kitschy hole-​in-​the-​wall goodness, and ice cream!
I’m sad to report it was a big letdown.
When we first arrived, nobody really greeted us, explained anything, or offered to help us. We definitely had to initiate all that. In fact, the staff wasn’t friendly at all; we felt like we were bothering them.
The ice cream looked a mess. Many of the buckets were sloppy and nearly empty. I still sampled three of the flavors (because that’s all they’ll let you try), and I wasn’t a fan of any of them. They were all cloyingly sweet, yet tasted like… nothing.
While one lady was giving me samples, another employee kept going through the buckets to sample them. Not that it was dirty or anything, but I thought this was really weird to do in front of customers.
I decided to get their version of a blizzard, with vanilla ice cream and peanut butter cups. I wasn’t a fan. It’s like it was too well blended, so there were zero chunks of Reese’s in there. And it was so sticky sweet, I could only finish a few bites. Honestly, a DQ blizzard would have been 100x better.
I know I’m being hard on Clown Cone, and I’m super bummed to give it two stars… I just can’t say it was A-​Okay. It’s one thing for my personal tastes to not like the ice cream, but how hard is it to be nice and helpful? You’re selling one of life’s greatest joys for goodness sake!
Clown Cone has quite the cult following, and clearly some people love it. I don’t want to take away at all from their amazing experiences, and I’m glad this place does good business. It’s just not for me.

Even for basic ice cream, Clown Cone is a miss for me. The service was pretty bad (tons of employees behind the counter, very few of them actually doing anything, one employee floating around and sampling the ice creams for herself while another was scooping that very same ice cream for us, waited forever and had to ask someone to ring us out, etc) and the ice cream was.. .. I mean, it’s just not great. I’d go to a Baskin Robbins, a Dairy Queen, or a UDF any day of the week, but Clown Cone didn’t even hit that baseline for me.
The Cappuccino Crunch wasn’t the worst. Everything else we tried was… meh. Too sweet. And the ice cream cabinet was messy, with ice cream spilling out of tubs.
I also didn’t find the clowns charming, really. I wouldn’t have eaten in the store, even though there are semi-​broken tables and chairs sitting out for that particular purpose. The space is small and the high amount of kitsch makes it seem even smaller.

The ice cream was delicious! I had cappuccino crunch & my kids had superman & white birthday cake. We all took turns trying the one another’s & they were all pretty tasty! For my next visit I’ve got my eye on the banana pudding flavor or buckeyelicious! They also had a good selection of candies & the people working were very friendly. Only downfall was the rough & sketchy area of Columbus.

Love Clown Cone! The area isnt the greatest, but the ice cream is cheap and delicious. I would recommend the Buckeyelicious– it has tiny buckeyes in the ice cream! Would definitely return.

I Went here routinely as a kid for the candy… now i go here for the ice cream. If your a kid, going here should be a rite of passage. Their Superman ice cream is still the best flavor EVER!

Too cold for the ice cream, I stopped in for candy. It’s a small place, packed with clowns. There’s a pretty good penny candy selection, with some old favorites. Service was good. The place would be great for kids after school, and I’m sure the ice cream is good in the summer.
It is pretty hard to find, tucked away behind the main run-​down strip mall at Northern Lights. Look for the gap between buildings and park back there.

first time visitor and i loved it! made me feel like a kid again with all the candy, $ 1 pizzas, ice cream, etc. looking forward to going back there again

I saw Marlena L.‘s review of this today and a bell went off. So I came down to get some ice cream. And they were busy! Not just with the ice cream but with the candy. I swear, the were selling more candy than ice cream. So I got a cone (it was vanilla crunch or something like that and it was pretty good. I hung around the to eat it so I could clean up afterwards.

Will you get exotic flavors made with flowers, champagne, and spices you can’t pronounce — no. You will get good classic flavors and a trip down memory lane.
Old school describes Clown Cone. It has a true penny candy store/​ice cream parlor feel to it, minus the counter with stools.
The ice cream is good, traditional flavors with a few fancy, done very well specialty blends. The banana pudding is pretty spectacular, one of my faves. Birthday cake, salty toffee caramel, red velvet are a few great flavors worth trying.
Along with ice cream is an assortment of penny/​nickel candy to choose from.
The place is very, very small with limited seating, actually maybe only one table and chair. It is always crowded — line outside the door crowded. You can easily drive by and totally miss Clown Cone because it sits back behind the main Northern Lights shopping center. It’s located in its own mini strip of stores.
Even though it’s old school/​retro, credit cards are accepted. It’s definitely worth checking out. I almost forgot to mention the clowns, they’re everywhere. Seriously, everywhere– hanging from the ceiling, sitting on shelves, pinned to the wall everywhere. A few are down right creepy. This also adds to why you need to come check out Clown Cone

HeheHE. On a quest for ice cream, the boy and I ended up at Clown Cone, because he had some idea of a place with crazy candy and stuff that existed somewhere in the vicinity of the thrift stores on Cleveland Ave, and because he’s rarely wrong, we found Clown Cone exactly there (somewhere in the vacinity of the thrift stores on Cleveland Ave) — so clearly the trip was meant to be.
Clown Cone reminds me of childhood — everything, from the hand-​written-​on-​florescent-​posterboard ice cream names, to the candy in jars and the kitschy clown dolls everywhere (DO NOT go here if you are afraid of clowns), screamed nostalgia, in a sort of Wonder Years voice over type way. Clown cone has a ton of different flavors, from Red Velvet to Buckeyelicious — and you can get sundaes and milkshakes as well as chili dogs and a few other items. I got oreolicious with hot fudge and the boy got red velvet and an almond flavor in a sundae. Everything was excellent — I actually couldn’t finish mine it was so sweet. Boy took his to go since I was driving.
The owner, who was working (and who was featured in an article on the wall, which I sadly forgot to read before we left) at the counter was the perfect ice cream/​candy store guy in the way that Comic Book Guy on The Simpsons is the perfect comic book store guy. He seemed very sweet and I was impressed with his scooping, baking, and managing — stuff you often don’t see owners doing. Yet another reason to support a local business.
But like I said, if your skirred of clowns, you’re going to have a hernia just walking in here — so don’t. There is clown everything. EVERYTHING. But I’d like to go back, because, you know, clowns ain’t got nothin’ on me… and I kinda love ice cream AND local businesses in humble neighborhoods.