The Swiss Miss

I gave 2 stars only because they give 2 big scoops of ice cream. That's it. I went here for a nice lunch, ice cream and a hot dog, with friends after a long hike. We ordered a ton of food because of how hungry we were and this place looked promising. The benches outside the place were full, so my friends and I went inside to eat our food we bought from the place. As we were eating all of our food, a girl came up to us and told us we had to leave because the inside was for "full service" people. We bought food? We wanted to eat it at a table? Is that not full service? There was no one else in the sitting area? Not coming back here after a long hike, or ever, that's for sure.

P.S. I got Yelp JUST to write this review. You're welcome.

Excellent soft serve! Choc and vanilla swirled on a waffle cone! Loved every bite of it :) right about of creaminess and yummy texture!

Also they have a few benches to sit outside - excellent for people watching! Friendly service and a fun atmosphere!

Delicious ice cream!

If I come to Harper's Ferry I always take my group down here!

The soft serve is memorable, it's one of the best places for soft serve nearby DC. The soft serve has a delicious and creamy texture that makes McDonald's soft serve want to cry! I mean this is the real deal. Plus they have plenty of flavors as well as toppings to choose from.

They usually have long lines during the weekends and especially during the summer but typically the lines go by fast. Their staff is pretty efficient in making the process run as smoothly as possible.

The price. The price is not expensive but your paying more than other soft serve spots, due to their demand their prices are a bit higher than others.

The taste. As I mentioned it tastes absolutely yummy. It's rich creamy flavor makes waiting in the long line well worth it.

Seating. They have a couple benches you can sit by. Or why not take your soft serve with you around while you check out the historic sites! I wouldn't dine in here personally.


Oh yea and the scoops here are pretty huge!

While not a five star restaurant, this cute little café in Harper's Ferry is definitely worth a try. The café is decorated in a 1950's vintage chic with feel good phrases on the walls. The best part of my experience was the food. Sara made one of the best cheesesteaks I've ever tasted! That being said, I give 5 stars on the cheesesteak and chocolate shake. The two gals working here on 5/6/16 (Sara and Kaitlyn) were friendly, accommodating, and welcoming. It is nice to know that some folks still believe in the value of providing great customer service. Thank you gals for an awesome experience and amazing food!

Words cannot describe how horrible this establishment was yesterday. We stopped in for lunch yesterday and experienced:

-what appeared to be alcoholics running the place, the woman yelling at the man for being "loaded", and loud enough that the cafe area all hushed in reaction.

-the man serving tables had horribly dirty hands and finger nails. It took him 25 minutes to bring out 3 sodas, and our two burgers and and one grilled cheese took an hour, the bill request after taking 30' more, resulted in us handing them cash and leaving ( yes we asked if it covered it)

-note that menus had NO PRICES.

-a woman entered while we were there, inquiring about her order that had been placed an hour ago. Rather than discuss amongst themselves, the woman yelled at the man that had taken the order then AT THE CUSTOMER! She refused to give her a refund, she challenged her to show proof to her credit card when she said she would simply contest the charge, the owner called her a bitch, insulted her upbringing, and patronized her by sarcastically calling her names. The customer remained calm in asking for a simple refund, and was clear that she was no longer interested in the food that appeared to still not be prepared. It was shocking.

-we witnessed 6 groups of people leaving after not being greeted or waited on after some time waiting.

-we were told there was no tap water ( scary to think how they are cooking or cleaning)

- asked for a bathroom... And the response was " someone went and messed it up for you, so you can go to the train station".

Between the poor food, rude and unacceptable behavior on the owners part, and the nearly 2 hours we won't get back...this was a bad choice.

This review is for the hot dogs at The Swiss Miss. They were just okay. Maybe if we had hiked for longer and were hungrier they would have tasted better.

I'm sure the ice cream here is much better.

The food here was amazing, I had a Chocolate Peanut Butter Milkshake and Funnel Cake Fries, the food and ice cream was out by the time my group was finished ordering, so no complaints their. However after eating my group of 5, including me, were sitting on the benches which are customer only and after being their for I'd say 10 min were asked by the cashiers to leave because we were done eating! This was outrageous, they had no other customers waiting to get food and it's not like we were being loud and making a disturbance, on top of that one of the cooks in the back was talking to one of my group members about their food but the way she was asking sounded so rude, and when my girlfriend was giving the cashier, that asked us to move, our money she was very rude.

All I'm saying is I think this restaurant has great food but should definitely work on being nicer to paying customers. It's no wonder they have a 2 1/2 star review.

Ice cream is good, considering its soft serve that comes out of a machine, can't really mess that up, but service is rude and act like they are annoyed to be working!!! We asked for sprinkles on our ice cream cones and were told they can't do that, only place I've ever went to that says they can't do that , and that would've been ok but to come with the attitude also?! Noooo thanks!!! There are 2 other ice cream places surrounding them so make sure to go to them instead! Ice cream is ice cream so a little smile and friendliness will go a long way. If you hate your job so much, find a new one!!! :) seeing all the reviews on here I see that everyone else also had the same issue with the older blonde lady who works here! She's a miserable human being!!!!! Avoid at all costs!!!

For $5, you get a HUGE scoops (not just one scoop, maybe 3 scoops) of ice cream. Unless you can eat a pint of ice cream all by yourself, I suggest you get one and share it with 2 people.

Considering how big the portion is, I guess it's a good value but the flavor/quality/taste of ice cream was disappointing. Ice cream wasn't creamy or flavorful.. Also there are pieces of ice in the ice cream...

They also have shaved ice cone/slush (Hawaiian ice?).

I came to Yelp! with high hopes of being able to leave one of the first honest and negative reviews of this terrible establishment - but it seems that I have been beat to it... many times over.

To be completely honest and since I'm a local, I've only had ice cream here maybe once or twice and it's completely average. I'm not much of a reviewer so I never thought to come here to complain about the ice cream. However today, after an extremely rude encounter with the manager of the store, Cindy, I felt compelled to leave a review.

My family of 4 (my wife and I plus my young children ages 2 and 6) plus a friend of ours had just finished the 5 mile hike in Maryland Heights to the overlook. On the way back we grabbed a quick lunch at the eatery next door to The Swiss Miss and then ordered ice cream from the same establishment for the walk back to our car. We paid our portion of the check and headed outside to enjoy our ice cream while we waited for our friend to pay her check next door. My 6 year old daughter and 2 year old son proceeded to sit down on one of three park benches outside of The Swiss Miss - which at that moment was occupied only by a man and his son at the far end of the three benches. The benches have large placards which read "BENCHES RESERVED FOR THE SWISS MISS CUSTOMERS ONLY" - fair enough, but my children are children and had just completed a fairly rigorous hike, what's 3 minutes on an empty bench? And to clarify, my wife and I stood the entire time. So after literally 1 or 2 minutes tops, one of the workers pokes their head out and says "These benches are reserved for customers only." I look at her incredulously and said, "Really? My kids are 2 and 6 and we are only here long enough to wait for our friend." She said, "I'm sorry, do you want to speak to the manager?". You bet I did.

What happened next is somewhat of a blur. I'm a pretty laid back kind of guy - I don't like to get into confrontations with anyone unless absolutely necessary. And I think it's necessary when breaches of common sense and idiocy abound. Cindy, the manager, comes outside and begins to berate my wife and I about how rude we are to feel "entitled" to allow our children to sit on the benches that they own. I tried to explain to her, calmly at first, that my children are young and we just got back from a hike and we were merely there for a few minutes while our friend settled her check up next door. Add that to the fact that there was literally 2 people sitting on some 18 feet comprised of 3 benches. She would have absolutely none of it and continued to yell and berate my wife and I. I even told her we were locals and fellow West Virginians who understood how businesses in Harper's Ferry are reliant on tourism for success. I was hopeful she would realize how ridiculous she was being but apparently it all fell on deaf ears. And please keep in mind thorough all this that this woman was yelling OUTSIDE on the sidewalk of arguably the tourism capital of West Virginia.

We didn't allow it ruin our fun though. My 2 year old never batted an eye and my 6 year old daughter had a few questions about why the blonde lady was so "bossy" but otherwise was fine after the confrontation.

So here it is, probably only my second or third review on Yelp! but the most deserved one. If you ever come visit Haper's Ferry (and please do - it's not only a boon for our local economy but a really cool place with tons of history and beautiful sights) - avoid The Swiss Miss and Cindy at all costs. Good local fare is tough to come by in Harper's Ferry but places like this need to go out of business in hopes that a new and better run eatery opens up in its stead.