Dessert Lounge - Herndon

I was craving Indian Falooda and found a great place to get it to go. They also serve snacks, although I didn't have the opportunity to try them. We tried 3 to 4 Falooda options and all of them were delicious. I would give this place a rating of 4, but there was only one server and a long line of customers. The server had to close the restaurant 30 minutes early to accommodate everyone in line. I would suggest to the owner to hire more staff, especially on weekends, or at least have some extra help.

I am not a big fan of sweets, but when I visited this restaurant for the first time, I was pleasantly surprised. The interior was wonderfully designed and the customer service was top-notch – the staff was very welcoming. I tried a few flavors, including the Pan Masala ice cream which I found to be quite good, although it's probably best enjoyed by pan lovers. My sister tried the Fig Walnut flavor and absolutely loved it. We also tried the Rose Falooda and Mango Falooda, both of which were delicious. I recommend trying these two faloodas, as well as their ice creams. Even if you're not a fan of falooda, their ice cream flavors with Indian touches are worth checking out.

Today, I visited the restaurant for a small falooda. The ice cream portion was disappointingly small, only a teaspoon. When I mentioned this to the staff member behind the counter, who was quite rude in their general demeanor, I was basically scolded and told that it was actually two half scoops. It felt like a joke. It seems like this establishment has declined over the years and they seem to be intentionally driving away customers with their poor service. It's like they are following a self-destructive business strategy.

After seeing this place pop up on every dessert search I did online and looking at their menu I had been wanting to come by for months only to be so sadly disappointed in every way possible. A group of 7 of us came by here after dinner thinking that they may have better dessert options than the restaurant we were at wrong. Having grown up in India there were certain ice creams flavors that I was really excited to be able to enjoy again casatta, tuttie fruity, chikkoo etc.. the gulab jamun sundae sounded interesting, the variety of falooda options really tickled our fancy however the entire ice cream shop is absolutely filthy! dust bunnies all along the walls, the tables were sticky, the bathroom wreaked of **** and looked like it hadn't been cleaned in weeks! They had sample spoons set up on top of the display but told us they weren't doing samples, the group that came in after us did get to try samples so not sure what that was about. We ordered a variety of ice creams cones, faloodas, sundaes and a slice of the kulfi the portions are incredibly small for the price, and most of the ice cream flavors seemed to have freezer burn and weird after taste, the kulfi tasted like it had gone rancid and the texture was gelatinous..how?? The fridge was stocked with slices of casatta and kulfi ice cream, each slice wrapped in parchment paper and then just placed in large aluminum trays, customers are welcome to just help themselves to the slices by sticking their hand in the fridge. There are no gloves or spoons provided to pickup the slices of ice cream which pandemic or not seems incredibly unhygienic. Will definitely not be coming back, and given the state of the shop I'm pretty sure the health dept will shut it down before we even had a chance to come back anyways.

First time trying the mango flavored falooda. I liked the ice cream and the nuts. Could have done without the noodles and the jelly, but that is part of the dish. Next time I'll just get regular ice cream ?