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International Delight Cafe
Rating Details »
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- No
- Parking:
- Street
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
12 reviews for International Delight Cafe
You know, Rockville Centre in Long Island is basically a collection of diners, strip malls, and pavement. The one redeeming quality of this town which I'd spent my youth living next to (in equally unredeeming Oceanside, NY) is the International Delight Cafe.
This is basically an unglorified diner, but they have the most amazing desserts in New York. Their belgian waffle with ice cream and hot fudge is pretty much the epitome of decadence. Biting into it during my youth provided me a brief respite, a Calgon moment if you will, from the concrete hell that was life in the suburbs of New York.
I love this place. Great gelato and desserts! Strolling through Rockville Centre wouldn't be the same without stopping here.
I've been coming here for 25+ years.
A nice little diner on Sunrise Highway. We came here for there famous giant waffles with ice cream scoops. It was delicious and we enjoyed ourselves.
I gave 3 stars though because its a diner, and I just don't have good experiences to talk about. Its not a cafe, so don't be fooled by the name. Its as bright and corny as any diner!
Oh and enjoy the teenagers :o)
It's just okay here. The burgers come the same way no matter how you order them, the eggs are cooked well but lack flavor, the fries are bland, the waffles are so-so. The ice cream choices are incredibly extensive and the portions are huge, but their flavors lack that extra something. I'd rather go to Haagen Daaz for ice cream any day.
Atmosphere is actually pretty okay. There's a lot of kids and they can get pretty loud, but you have to expect that from a diner/ice cream shop, and I do enjoy the Americana-style decor.
I can see the number and length of reviews of IDL --what I call it but thought I'd add my 2cents. The phrase it is what it is pertains to International Delight. One reviewer was right about there being a scarcity of dessert places on the island so this is totally welcome. Heaven help you if you get there after one of the movie theaters across the street has let out cause the wait will usually be longer than you care to wait for dessert.
That being said for what the food is it's actually really good though sometimes a bit salty. The ice cream is also very rich and creamy and their milk shakes and floats are good. Is it pricey? Maybe a little but not much and you can get good food on the menu for not a lot of money so I am only giving it 2 dollar signs since the choice is well rounded. The service is usually very good though it does seem like they are short staffed more times than normal.
If you are looking for a light bite to eat or good coffee and ice cream or cake after a movie or late night I would recommend IDL!!
I swear my boyfriend is trying to make me fat.
We took home pint of their pistachio ice cream, and it was out of this world. Super creamy and sweet, it had large bits of pistachio that left me in a food coma.
I don't think I'd eat their regular menu (maybe brunch items?). But I will be back for ice cream.
Casual places for dessert are hard to come by around Long Island, so we ventured a little further out into Rockville Centre at a family-owned cafe called International Delight Cafe. Oh boy, does this place have some funky gelato flavors and a lot of them!! There must've been about 30+ flavors, some having some creative names requiring you to ask about the ingredients because of sheer curiosity. If gelato ain't your thing, they also have hot food (pasta, sandwiches, pizza, tacos, burgers, etc.), salads, coffee, and other desserts.
Parking is available along Sunrise Highway, but be prepared to pay metered parking. After 6pm and until midnight, it is $0.25 for 1 hour. For some reason though, the meter said 1hr30m when I put one quarter in. Before 6pm, I believe it is ~$0.25/30 minutes. Regardless, bring some quarters for the meter, to avoid getting a ticket.
The ambiance of the estalishment takes you back into the 80's with the ~20 old white vintage tables and black chairs, neighboring each other within 2-3 feet of one another. Bright big white bulb lights on the ceiling near the dessert counter, tiled floors and mirrors stretching across the walls of the restaurant.
Sitting for our table of 4, the waitress brought over old white laminated menus, a pitcher of water with lemon and lime, and 4 small (OJ diner-size) plastic cups.
I decided to go for some dessert, 2 scoops of gelato ice cream on top of a small waffle ($6.25). I decided to go for the Fiume and Moka Koka Fudge, because I was a bit curious what was inside. Our order took about 10-15 minutes to come out, a bit long for desserts, but the waitress informed us that the belgian waffles were made to order and took ~5 minutes each to make. Our food and desserts finally came out. I receieved half a Belgian waffle with two decently-sized, though not the most generous, scoops of gelato. The waffle was nice and fluffy, just how I like 'em. The Fiume was interesting, which had bits of raisin and some kind of pound cake (or something similar) in a chocolate ice cream. The Moka Koka Fudge was a chocolate ice cream with chocolate fudge, and may have had something else, I was not at all amazed so I can't really remember. I also had a chance to try the Hawaain Heaven, Chocolate Elephant, and a a rainbow cookie in vanilla ice cream (I believe it may have been Pebble Beach?). All flavors were rather disappointing except for the Chocolate Elephant. Yum! After second thinking, I wish I had stuck with the more conventional flavors which I have heard are pretty good.
In all, I felt that the ice cream was a little on the expensive side, but not too far off from the prices at Baskin Robbins or Haagen Daaz. Priced accordingly: $2.75 for one flavor, $4.25 for two flavors, and $5.25 for three flavors of gelato is not bad, but the half-portion of a plain Belgian Waffle was not worth the extra $2.00. The cafe was very laid back and relaxed, as we sat and chatted past closing time (11:30 PM) and stayed until a little after midnight on a Friday night. I will probably come back to try their other flavors but avoid getting the waffle as it was far from anything extraordinary.
For those curious of what International Delight Cafe has to offer, check out their menu at: http://www.kpsearch.co...
Site of the former, and vastly superior Jahn's Ice Cream Parlor, perhaps the last true 'soda fountain' left on Long Island. Hotis was another one on Merrick Rd. in Baldwin, near the Venice Restaurant, though very long gone.
It's still a fine ice cream joint as far as variety goes, though with little of the long lost feel of Jahn's. Took brother Ken here a few times when he didn't have much time left. He's in Chocolate Heaven no doubt. We were both born in RVC and lived up the road a ways.
please visit
http://kennethgarywich.../
I absolutely LOVE this place! Try the tiramisu ice cream on a belgian waffle and die happy... Haven't tried a lot of their regular menu food items but the chicken salad is pretty good. Mostly go there for amazing ice cream flavors... The kids love it because of the huge selection. Cash only though but they have an atm on site.
This is one of my all time favorite "go in your PJ" places to eat. Let me start by telling you that they have the most incredible Grilled Chix Ceaser salad... even my 3 year old loves it!!! I can't seem to stray away from it and we get it everytime. My husband gets a hambuger everytime- usually a bacon cheeseburger with BBQ sauce on the side. The fries are homemade potato wedges and delicious and so is the coleslaw it comes with.... the portions are huge and worth every penny. We havemt; really made it more than a few times for breakfast, but when we did go- it was just as good as lunch and dinner and you can get breakfast all day long!!! I really do not think that they have anything bad and everything is freshly made. Now, on to the icecream.... OMG- They have over 50 homemade icecreams, gelato's... name a creation, they probably have it or something close and a million toppings to go on it- if you can even fit more food in your stomach- try it on a waffle!!! You won't have to eat for a month and you def. won't break the bank!!!
The only downside is that they don't accept credit cards, but recently they put in an ATM, so if you forget $ you don't have to go anywhere!!!
Four stars for the brownie sundae. I enjoy a variety of the sundaes at this location and the pie is also great. However, i have never actually ordered "real" food. A fun casual location.
Screw the local diners, go to international!! Great burgers, grilled cheese, fries and eNORMOUS salads. HUGE, fresh and yummy. Then there is, of course, the gelato. Crazy delicious. Perfect quick meal before a movie.
