Cowabunga Creamery

Ice cream hear is good, a little pricey. It you sit there out front beware lots of flies, they should hang some kind of fly strip. Not fancy place. The lady that helped us wasn’t real friendly.

I won’t go back. My husband and I enjoyed Cowabunga for years. We wanted to give the new owners a shot and went 3 times trying to have a good experience. Not. The place is run down, looks cheap, dirty and cluttered. The ice cream is still delicious because luckily they still serve Mariannes. But the service is slow, unfriendly and impersonal, as if my order is an inconvenience. I hope the San Carlos/​Belmont area gets a new ice cream shop so we have a few more choices.

I would rate this place as zero, if possible. Worst ice cream experience of my life. The man didn’t seem to understand how to make a sundae. The size of the scoops were a joke. We asked for hot fudge and he only had some chocolate that was «warming» on top of a coffee machine. Literally, he placed a thin strip of «hot fudge» on top of the dime-​sized scoops of ice cream.
McDonald’s has a better sundae, and that’s not saying much.

I have been a long standing loyal costumer to Cowabunga. I was horrified and in complete disbelief when I made a visit to this previously wonderful establishment. I walked in the doors and my heart dropped when I saw the maze of tables and offensively ugly art. I managed to maintain composure and order my once beloved shake of choice (goofy foot). Five minutes later I received my goofy foot shake. It was not the goofy foot shake that I knew and loved. This shake was overly mixed which resulted in a lukewarm, frothy, and soup like consistency. This «shake» was truly a mockery of an American Classic. Not to mention, the costumer service was an utter disappointment. The Asian man who was «helping us» was extremely rude and unwelcoming. I sadly will not be back.

I’m not a huge ice cream fan but I gotta give love and respect to a place that offers a cake cone.
I’m sick of this fancy Bay Area artisan waffle cone ish. Gimme the real deal with a classic cake cone or give me death.
The flavors here are pretty classic — nothing too crazy or out of the ordinary. Which is fine… though I wouldn’t mind the place being a little more artisan in that aspect. And I’m not sure what the rules on calling yourself a creamery are but I was confused because they don’t actually make the Ice Cream here. In fact, it’s from Marianne’s in Aptos, which is still local but I just feel like Cowabunga itself is not a creamery. Po-​tay-​to, po-​tah-​to, I guess.
Service is incredibly friendly, as you’d expect with any ice cream shop and I just found out that one of favorite coffee roasters moved in with them at this location, so you can now get your bulletproof Plantation coffee at Cowabunga.
There’s some seating inside and just as Plantation Coffee Roasters was before, it’s a little ‘midwestern den’ inside with stuff you wouldn’t expect to see in off places (magazine rack in back hallway) and it isn’t modern or vintage but it gets the job done and seems like a great place for families to go for an easy peasy mini scoop.

Yummy! A very local ice cream parlour feel. So good! They have a mini size which is so cool! And its amazingly cheap. So good!

This place has gone downhill since the ownership change. SO cramped in there, I feel claustrophobic. It’s lost the open homey feel.
I saw postings of the hovering owner AFTER I checked Unilocal.I had noticed him and the change in atmosphere and wondered what happened. Unilocal confirmed my fears. Oh well, another local landmark bites the dust.

We have lived in San Carlos for over 10 years and would occasionally go to Cowabunga for ice cream. We are firm believers in supporting the local small businesses in our town. What kept us from going to Cowabunga more often was the fact that the tables were always so dirty and sticky and the workers really didn’t seem to be concerned with the cleanliness of their store.
Since the new owners have taken over, their store is so much cleaner and they have a nice warm vibe to it as well. The décor is so much more inviting and we love looking at that large coffee bean roaster in the back of the shop. We noticed that they have recently started to hang artwork from the local schools which makes the shop feel more communal.
We have not noticed a difference in serving size, but, we have not been to the store in quite some time either. The ice cream is consistently delicious and their coffee is fantastic. We are especially pleased that the new owners have been in the community for over 15 years and that they have been providing amazing coffee (way better than Starbucks or Peets) for our town.
The male owner is quiet but never rude and his wife is so friendly and accommodating.
Overall we feel that the new owners have given the shop new life and warmth that the old one sorely needed!

My favorite is the Goofy Foot. There are plenty of tables and chairs. They also have toddler-​sized tables (with some toys) and chairs for little ones.

We have been going to Cowabunga for «family date night» for several years. We start out at one of the restaurants in San Carlos for dinner and have a great walk down Laurel Street to get our favorite ice creams (chocolate for our daughter, Goofy Foot for us).
Prior to its «renovation» Cowabunga Creamery was a local funky ice cream shop with chairs, couches, benches, and cute little nooks for devouring generous scoops and thick shakes. The lighting wasn’t amazing, but the artwork on the walls was inviting and cheery. The kids behind the counters were kind and engaging, and talked to the customers, giving out free samples.
Then the place closed for about 6 weeks to «renovate» and reopen as a coffee shop («Plantation») and Cowabunga Creamery. The same great ice cream is there, but because the ownership has changed, the ambiance has completely changed. Gone is the kitchy but welcoming space, friendly staff, and generous portions. Now the place is CRAMMED with non-​descript cheaply made tables and chairs (it’s as if the owner moved from a D-​List sandwich shop on El Camino and just decided to not sell a thing), a GIANT coffee roaster, which in any other space could be a great conversation piece, but here it’s stuck among the tables. It’s decorated like a sad public institutional space with fluorescent tube lighting, random odd things on the wall (like a wall calendar about Paris), and a complete disregard for flow and public space.
The «owner» (or manager, I’m not sure) is always putzing around, and the staff now defer to him for every decision they make. He eyeballs them to make sure they’re not scooping out more.
Upon ordering a «hot fudge sundae,» I caught the server heating up some chocolate syrup that would be used to make chocolate milk. That’s not fudge. I stopped him and asked for caramel instead. It was a thin, watery caramel flavoring that added nothing to the ice cream.
And finally, we sat in a library-​like silence while trying to enjoy the anemic portions of very flavorful ice cream.
To fix this, I would suggest the following:
— Add artwork to the walls. Have local artists sell their artwork and photographs. Contact
and ask if any of their students would like to participate.
— Add track lighting aimed at the wall to add to the ambiance of a local place on Laurel Street.
— Increase the portion sizes and thickness of shakes. Otherwise you will alienate your customers.
— Greet customers as they enter with a smile.
— Get real ingredients: caramel sauce, hot fudge sauce, whipped cream, thick marshmallow.
— Remove at least 30% of the tables and chairs and add a futon or something to create a more welcoming space for people to choose how they enjoy their coffee and/​or ice cream.
It’s so sad to me that such a great opportunity exists if just a little bit of TLC was given to the space. It would cost less than $ 1,000 to turn this from a place destined to fail to one that could thrive in the neighborhood.

Since the new owners have moved into the shop it has gone down hill, the once fun and welcoming environment was destroyed with tacky and cheap art and the sea of ugly unmatching tables and chairs is bothersome. The once loved Cowabunga creamery has become a nuisance with horrible and unfriendly customer service from the owners, the young workers are great with the customers. The ice cream is still Mariannes which is great but the new owners changed the scoop sizes to smaller cups and tell the workers to not fill the cup all the way so it’s not worth the money it’s priced at its a complete rip off and very disappointing. And when I was there the older Asian man owner kept walking around the outside of the shop where I was sitting with a friend and he kept staring at in a judgmental way it made is very uncomfortable.
I sadly don’t plan on going back with the uncomfortable and bothersome environment and over priced tiny sized ice cream, my used to be go to favorite spot has been decimated by the new owners and their business.

I always enjoy supporting local, non-​franchised businesses so coming to Cowabunga instead of Baskin Robbins was always my ice cream go to. A few months ago Cowabunga sold to Plantation Coffee Roastery and the coffee owner moved his coffee biz to the ice cream location. Sounds good, right? I LOVE coffee. So, in I went. I am sooo disappointed. I did get ice cream which was fine. You can’t screw that up too badly. The scoop sizes are noticeably smaller and pricier than before. Maybe the owner figures San Carlans can pay more. The nice friendly ambiance is GONE. Adiós. It felt family friendly and now looks like a dirty, third rate (at best) Starbucks or Peets. I walked in thru the back door and the aisle was lined with boxes and supplies. This seems like a fire hazard. The tables and chairs inside were mismatched and outside tables were dirty. The new owner was there sitting by the coffee roaster and then walking around watching everyone. CREEPY. The young lady behind the counter scooping was great but I could tell she was being watched by the owner.
Outside is a nice area for seating. But… now there’s a high-​boy table with stools added into the seating mix. This seems dangerous and ready for someone to sit on that stool and fall over. The outside tables were dirty and the owner who came outside made no effort to clean or tidy. Yuck.
Bottom line: I still want to shop local but Plantation/​Cowabunga needs to clean up and spruce up. Don’t be stingy with scoop sizes. Adding a welcoming smile would go a long way and make customers feel welcome.

3 things.
1. I appreciate that they have a mini size.
2. Their heaven ice-​cream lives up to it’s name.
3. The man working seemed very confused when I asked for a lid.

Last night we went to Cowabunga since its change of ownership, excited to see how the merge with Plantation could only better my experience with my existing love for Cowabunga prior. Well, talk about major disappointment. First, there was a rude older Asian male coming out from the back, to basically what seemed to look to me, was scold the guy helping me with my Affogato. I really feel for the staff, it’s is NOTHING like it was before. The guy truly was helping me prepare my espresso and then the older Asian man seemed to act like he was goofing off. Poor staff, I’d get another job, it’s not worth it. And trust me, I’m all for teenage work experience, it builds character and responsibility, but not at Cowabunga which will probably break you beyond misery.
Second, what the heck is wrong with the portions? Seriously? My Affogato barely had ice cream and the mini I bought was the size of a sampler at Costco… and Costco is free (ok, some exaggeration, but not too far from the truth). Ice cream so so small that it didn’t even peak to the top… not even close. I don’t blame the staff as evil eye older Asian man was starring. Btw, I’m Asian so this is in no way me picking on Asians. If anything, I’m embarrassed.
Plantation has ruined what locals loved. My son’s soccer team (end of season) would meet here, but I doubt many of the community will be back with this new ownership. Thankfully their ice cream is Mariannes (and I love!) and I CAN find it somewhere else.

I would give this place higher ratings if the previous owner was still running this place. The young people that were working here prior were amazing and polite. Today my wife and I went here for dessert, first time since they switched owners and merged with plantation coffee. There was an extremely rude elderly Asian woman that was helping in the back and what seemed like her son while was really nice.
I asked for a sample of the ice cream as they had some new flavored, my normal go to is goofy foot like most people have reviewed. But when I asked for a second sample the lady said you want another with an angry and irritable look, she then told my wife she could only try one flavor !!! At this point her irritability was almost comical. She was in a rush to get us to pay. I can tell you that this place is steadily going to lose customers if that lady keeps working, I wish I had caught her name but very very poor customer etiquette.
As for the ice cream I had the heaven which was brownie peanut butter vanilla ice cream. It was heavenly aside from the irritable old Asian lady who hardly spoke English and demanded us to keep moving.
The merging of plantation and cowabunga stink :(

I went for a scoop of ice cream with my wife tonight and we ended up receiving two child-​sized scoops for $ 7. The old cowabunga creamery gave great scoops, unlike tonight. I’m pretty bummed considering I read another post saying that cowabunga was getting stingy with their scoop sizes. I just didn’t want to believe my favorite ice cream shop in San Carlos was gone…

Thankfully the new owners still serve the same tasty ice cream because the remodeled interior is simply awful. It’s as if the owners bought every crappy, small table they could possibly afford from the local consignment store and crammed them into the space. It’s not at all welcoming and frankly just feels cluttered. It should be interesting to see how well the space works, or doesn’t, when the summer crowds start showing up.
Recommendation to the new owners — please fix the seating soon to make it more welcoming and comfortable. Get some professional interior design help if you need to.

Tasty ice cream and fro yo!
I like being able to put my own toppings but over here, they put the toppings and everything is piled high so you can’t put many toppings since the cups are so tiny.
In addition, they only had the baby peanut butter cups that don’t have much pb in them, which was kind of sad. I liked how they had small kid portion sizes, though, and the frozen yogurt is tasty.
Perfect for a hot day/​evening which it was!

Cowabunga Creamery is a fantastic local business; a great atmosphere to relax and enjoy some good ice cream.
The ice cream is from Marianne’s; five stars on both the ice cream (for sourcing the iconic 65+ year-​old Santa Cruz brand) and the experience which feels, well, like you imagine a local ice cream store would have felt all those years ago — fresh, friendly, prompt, and happy. A place to see your neighbors — which you invariably end up doing.
My advice about the flavors for those who may not have tried Marianne’s ice cream yet — if it sounds good, it is… Root Beer, Snickedoodle, Chocolate, Butter Brickle — all great. Take your family, sit outside on a summer night and enjoy Laurel Street in San Carlos… Recommended.

I wanted some ice cream after dinner so I went to this ice cream shop. Their ice cream is actually Marianne’s based in Santa Cruz. Kinda weird eating someone else’s ice cream but that’s ok.
The goofy foot ice cream was pretty good. It has caramel, fudge AND Oreos. I am usually not a huge fudge person but you know it actually was good.
The TV was on so we sat at the counter and watched for a bit.
They take credit cards!