Stillwells Riverwalk Ice Cream

Worst chocolate frappe I have ever had! It was completely liquid and it tasted like plain milk even though it was supposed to be chocolate. I asked the employee if that was their original recipe or if something went wrong with my frappe because it tasted like nothing, she said that’s how it’s supposed to be because it’s a milk shake…. Next time I will just have a glass of room temperate milk at home, which it will taste exactly the same as this but cheaper. I don’t recommend this place and I will certainly will not go back.

May 2023: Repeat visit, but liked it less this time. I was surprised that the Ice cream is not made here, it is Richardson brand. It is okay, not as good as CEO's ice gelato. Many flavors, but no creative flavors. I had German chocolate cake and strawberry. Basically supermarket ice cream, rather bland. My husband ordered Death by chocolate and I got a taste of it, it was more flavorful. Both orders were handled incorrectly, paid for cones which were not given and ice cream had to be moved. The space is small, no tables, but has several benches outside. Summer 2022: generous portions, good price.

Lots of flavors to chose from. Friendly service. I had a Moose Traks. Vanilla with peanut butter cups and chocolate. If the owner reads this review and responds, they will do a better job describing the 🍨 ice-cream. I will say it tasted good 😋! There was a line to get in. They will service one customer or "party" at a time. The front is blocked off by a table. Facemasks are required to enter. They accept credit/debit cards. I recommend a visit.

The absolute best ice cream and employees! Every time we come to visit family in Exeter we have to get Stillwells.

Brilliant! I remember visiting your shop many years ago and was desperate to come back as I was vacationing in the area. The ice cream was absolutely delicious, I tried your cake batter ice cream because that is not something I would be able to get in the UK. The shop was very busy but the staff all coped really well with everyone’s orders and we were all served very promptly. I will definitely be back next time I’m in the area and would recommend you to anyone wanting a delicious ice cream!

$8 for half a scoop of ice cream with two toppings, both of which they told me they were out of after they already sold it.

A very filthy environment. The employees are like eating behind the counter. They also had the employees lock up at night and they’re under age under 16. My daughter was given bad ice cream last summer and had to go to the hospital. The girls name was April and I’m researching it now but it’s definitely a serious investigation.

Filthy. No pride of ownership and not very civic minded. Styrofoam cups end up scattered in our beautiful parkway. Too bad, as the ice cream is fine.

If you are looking for an ice cream treat as the weather gets warmer or even when the weather isn't great, this scoop shop is open year round in a cute location! Ice cream portions are very generous & you can mix the scoops with different flavors! It was a bit busy due to the warmer weather and the staff kept the line moving efficiently! In the cooler they also had mini premade sliders with different themes and ice cream pies.

What I like: - generous portions - low prices - great location What I don't like: - young staff that often has an attitude - sometimes amazing in dealing with allergies, sometimes acts like they can't be bothered to help

It's officially ice cream season! A line of 20 outside. Best service and delicious ice cream excellent selections

Best ice cream shop around! Efficient and friendly staff, delicious ice cream, beautiful location on the water.

Great little ice cream shop with a bunch of flavors and good portions! I always get the purple cow frozen yogurt- black raspberry with chocolate chips, so good! I really appreciate that they are open all year round and are open pretty late too. And my dog really really appreciates that puppy sundae!

Very unprofessional service, taking their sweet ass time despite a line. DO NOT get sundaes from this place- each scoop is supposed to be covered in hot fudge and you can barely see the fudge they put on. Just disappointment after disappointment each time I come back.

Stillwell's Ice cream is just FABULOUS. They sell lots and lots of flavors, and, once you've gotten your ice cream you can go and walk by Exeter river. Another thing is that the SIZES RUN HUGE!! So, don't just go ordering smalls for toddlers. (1 scoop there=2-3 scoops at home!!!) So, to sum it all up, Stillwells is an AMAZING ice cream shop that sells AMAZING flavors. So what if the sizings off? It's totally worth it!!

I think this place is doing very well during Covid and the are very busy day in and day out. I do recommend this place for some nice cold delicious ice cream on a hot day.

When I came here, the three girls working gave me and my boyfriend a lot of attitude. I would understand if it had been two minutes to close, but it was only 7:30 and they close at 9. I do have a bigger issue though. I was halfway through my ice cream and I found a long blonde hair in my ice cream. I have brown hair, and it was within the ice cream, not on top, so I knew it wasn't my own. not thrilled with this experience.

Yo counter service...cheer up. How's bout at least pretending that you're happy to see paying customers. Been in a few times this summer and the attitude is as chilly as the soft serve. "Hi, I'd like a kiddie coffee Oreo. In a cup, with a sugar cone on it. Oh and could you not act like I'm bothering you? That'd be greaaaaat." 4 star ice cream. 2 star service.

What a nice old school ice cream parlor. The service was quick and organized for the big group we had. The ice cream was good and the location was very nice as there's a river behind it with sitting next to the Exeter boat house. It's a perfect little spot to bring your family and friends I will definitely be back I would definitely go with a smaller size cone as ours scoops were huge and that's a good problem to have!

Terrific, creamy ice cream and many flavors to choose from - the small size here is HUGE! Reasonably priced and friendly service as soon as I walked in.

Great ice cream in a really nice location. Everything is really well priced, but keep in mind that the portions are huge!!!

We love paddling upstream from Chapman's Landing on 108 up to downtown Exeter, then taking our kayaks out at the public ramp. We always stop in for ice cream (to put back all the calories we just burned while kayaking).

Ice cream is average but one worker who's been there a while needs to go easy on the eye makeup and easy on the complaining over having to make 2 fraps. Customers can hear you!

Another year has passed with no real progress on the Styrofoam cup situation. Yes,you can pay extra for a paper cup, but only when they have them. Besides that, this option isn't posted well enough for most customers to know it exists. If the owner can't switch to using paper cups exclusively (why not?), then she should at least have her employees ask customers if they want paper or foam---like register clerks do at supermarkets with paper and plastic bags. This would remind people that it's an option. The parade of foam cups blowing around Exeter speak for themselves, but the owner says this has nothing to do with her. If you aren't part of the solution, you're part of the problem. Can't recommend.

This is my go-to ice cream place! The ice cream and milkshakes are delicious and the staff is always really friendly. In the spring, the line is out the door, but it is always worth it! Prices are also really good for the amount of ice cream you get.

Best ice cream around perfectly located right next to Swazy Parkway in downtown Exeter. Great prices and people working there. We stop there after the farmers market every Thursday during the summer. There's always a long line but it's worth the wait!

The jewel of Exeter! This place offers the best deal in town for ice cream - very creamy rich flavorful ice cream at an amazingly cheap price. The workers are all so friendly and welcoming to every single customer who walked in the shop. Don't feel rushed choosing your flavors as the workers are all very willing to give you samples for you to taste. The shop offers more than 45 ice cream flavors, in addition to the many gelato and Italian ice flavor. Hope you'll enjoy this place as much as we did!

Staff were rude and careless in scooping and more concerned about talking to each other than giving me ice cream on a cone that barely fit the size I ordered and was freezer burnt

Best place ever!! Year round 2!! All the girls r so nice and such hard workers!! They really do get very busy and they do an amazing job!! Wish I had the money to come in everyday!! Right behind is the Exeter River with benches to sit and enjoy you ice cream as well, LUV LUV LUV LUV THIS PLACE

Ice cream is delicious, and portions are generous. Sadly, the staff are simply rude and miserable! I've yet to to be waited on with a friendly smile, always disappointing. The owners need to take action with this location.

excellent. i wish they offered even more flavors! my favorite is peppermint stick. trying new flavors each time. run do not walk here.

Very good ice cream with many flavors and friendly scoopers. Hand packed pints or quarts to take home are the way-to-go value-wise. Totally Turtle is a fave flav (choc covered cashews with caramel swirls in caramel ice cream,) and if it's not currently in stock, ask that they keep it on the regular board so we can all enjoy it any tme. Locally owned, so that's going for it. It's an old-fashioned ice cream stand stuck in an office block. A river walk and Stillwell's cone make a great combo. Very large portions. Average pricing for ice cream joints of this type.

Good ice cream & a generous portion at a fair price.

Solid 5 stars. I've never been here before but my wife had the hankering for ice cream while coming back from the beach to Manchester. Overall, Good selection, cute location, healthy portions, and friendly staff. The one thing I appreciated was the varying sizes and big pictures telling you how many scoops were in each size. They basically went from less than a kiddie-cone to back-up-the-truck large. A small (2 scoops) was rather hefty. I'd go back.

Great to place grab a Richardson's Ice Cream or Italian Ice. The owners, who are often working behind the counter are incredibly nice. The portions are very generous. Some of the teenaged staff have a bit of an attitude on them, but that's every ice cream stand. Note to people with nut allergies: When they add sprinkles on cones, they stick the ice cream directly into the container of sprinkles. This means that the sprinkles have obviously been contaminated, since they sell nut-flavored ice creams. (You'd think that the staff might have considered that this was a dumb idea, but apparently not.) Update: I received a PM from the owner. Apparently their procedures re: nuts are much more careful than they appear. They store their nut-flavored ice creams separately from the rest, and if you ask, they'll sterilize the scoop and give you fresh, uncontaminated sprinkles from the boxes under the counter.

They have great ice cream here my favorite is the chocolate frappe and they have all the ice cream that you can think of in the employees are so nice I would recommend coming here on a nice sunny hot day

Great ice cream, great portions, great prices! We decided to walk in because it was the first time I had seen the location when it didn't have a line out the door. My fiance and I both ordered "Cry Babies" which is a super sour sorbet. Fair warning, a "small" is like a large! We forgot to look before we ordered. Will definitely be back!

Stillwell's is a great addition to downtown Exeter. Its in a perfect location right next to Swasey Parkway and has a huge selection. The Peanut Butter Chocolate ice cream is to die for. The owners are young, energetic and friendly. Great people! Highly recommended!

This is a great ice cream shop! They have a huge selection of flavors, and most importantly, in my book, is that everything is SUPER affordable. You can get a smaller size cone (which is still a big portion) for just a couple bucks. I am really surprised that the business could keep prices so low while being right on the downtown Exeter strip. The people that work there are really nice and helpful as well. Definitely stop in here if you are ever wandering down the strip and in the mood for ice cream.

Stillwell's Ice Cream was voted a winner in Applaud Women's BEST in FOOD, WINE & DESTINATION Reader's Choice Contest! Their winner listing is in our Summer issue. Look for it at http://bit.ly/pWQAtw.

Love their ice cream, but employees wear hair down and flip it around all day long over the ice cream coolers.....I have gotten long hair in mine many times. ewwww

Yum!!! Wow, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of this ice cream! Just a few weeks before they opened, I was looking at that empty storefront, thinking that what was needed there was an ice cream shop to "anchor" that end of Water Street. I would love to see them increase the signage inside the store. They sell ice cream from Richardson's Dairy in Massachusetts - it's all hormone free milk from cows raised and fed right at that dairy. Stillwells should really highlight this as the ice cream is top notch! http://www.richardsonsicecream.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=35&Itemid=46 My only real criticism is that the baby scoop was WAAAAAAY too big for a baby scoop. The scoop I got was easily softball size, but I expect a baby scoop to be more like 2/3 of a baseball. I only tried a scoop of ice cream - next time I'll order a sundae and hopefully they won't disappoint!

I withnessed racist comments coming from the owner. An Asian teen was asked if he wanted "green tea" flavor. I was appauled and I have been taking my children down the street ever since. Also, the clothes on the worker were dirty. GROSS

I drive by Wright's (Just the Wright Place for Ice Cream) on 108 in Stratham and it is pretty obvious at this point their business has taken a huge hit since Stillwells opened a few years back. I don't see nearly the lines at primary hours on hot days like I use to. What primarily makes Stillwells such an attraction is the location...what a perfect situation, given you can't miss it- last business amongst the long row of buildings in downtown Exeter- you've got the river, the benches, the walkways behind the establishment- even if the ice cream is average (which I don't think it is- fyi it is Richardon's- tasty, but not homemade), the setting is ideal. Most importantly, you don't get eaten alive! The mosquito situation up the road is a real issue at Wright's, not to mention it sits off a busy road with a big dusty parking lot. Lago's also is nothing to write home about in terms of location, but they do have the BEST ice cream and fat free choices in the region. Stillwells is still respectable though and it has a good selection of sorbet flavors to boot. They are open year round, unlike most ice cream establishments in the region. To summarize: Lago's for the taste, but Stillwell's for good ice cream and if you want an ideal place to hang out while you take it in on a warm/hot day.

The rudest customer service today! The employee (who happens to be co-owner) opened the store up late and was rude to the waiting customers. She acknowledged she was late but was annoyed it was being brought to her attention. She lost me, my family, and the customers that walked away!

My wife and I enjoyed a couple of small cones (two generous scoops). The ice cream was very good, and the value was better than most places left near the seacoast.

There are lots of flavors to choose from, the sizes are generous, prices are fair, and the ice cream is good....but I was rather disappointed stepping in off the quaint street. The place is a hole! It would be nice to have a pleasant environment to dine in, it would truly round out the experience.

This is our favorite ice cream shop! Lots of flavors to choose from and great service from the crew that works there! Love this place!

Great ice cream (Richardson's) and large servings. Located next to the PEA boat house and Swazey Parkway for an easy walk with your ice cream! Pleasant attitude behind the counter. Currently open from 11AM to 9PM.

Ice cream tastes good but they rarely ever get the order right. Missing one scoop of this or one scoop of that or no jimmies or nuts when they are not supposed to be....