Bowie Restaurant Project: (45) Simple Pleasures Ice Cafe

For an explanation of the Bowie Restaurant Project, look here.



For a list of all the Bowie Restaurant Project reviews, look here.

Simple Pleasures Ice Cafe, 8519 Chestnut Avenue
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 02/19/2012
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 2
Pre-Foursquare Visits: At their old location
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Charming interior

If I were doing a "Bowie Food Places Project" instead of a "Bowie Restaurant Project", Simple Pleasures would rate higher. It's a Victorian building in which you can sit and have great, locally-made ice cream! In Bowie, of all places! And I think Simple Pleasures is a great local business, so it pains me to give it only 3 stars.

But. As a restaurant reviewer, I have to focus on the meal itself. I found the sandwiches to be "eh". I found the potato salad included with the sandwiches to be "eh". Christina tried the flatbread (essentially a mini-pizza), and that was pretty good.

Further, on my second recent visit, the place was closed more than half an hour after it was supposed to be open. It opened a few minutes later, but they looked like they had just gotten there, and they weren't exactly ready for business. Something similar happened to Christina.

The ice cream, however, was awesome. The service was super-friendly. The setting is absolutely charming -- it's very nice to be able to remind people that Bowie dining isn't all strip malls. All of these factors lead me to bump it up to 3 stars.

If you're in Old Town Bowie and looking for a meal, I'd suggest going to the Old Bowie Town Grille (subject of an upcoming review), but saving enough room to wander over to Simple Pleasures for ice cream. (The third Old Town eatery, Old Town Deli, is the one I haven't visited yet.)

Way back in 2008, I visited the old location and posted it as a waymark. You can see a picture of the old location here. The new location is infinitely more pleasant. (I've updated the waymark with the new location and new pictures.)