An East Village ice cream store has a catch: Pay $10, and get what you get

Step inside Surprise Scoop in the East Village and it’s clear this ice cream shop isn’t like the others. There are no employees in sight and no ice cream is visible in the store, which consists of just a room with two electronic kiosks and a pickup window.

There is only one option on the menu: a $10 double scoop of ice cream. Customers order at the kiosk and don’t know what flavor they’re getting, or what the available options are.

When the ice cream is ready, a computerized voice on a speaker calls out the name on the order, the small window opens, and a barely visible employee places the order on a small ledge before shutting the window again.

East Village resident Brenda Maysonet and a friend were at the shop on Saturday evening. Maysonet said she was excited to be forced to try something new.

“I have no idea what this is,” she said about her ice cream order, which she described as tasting like “marshmallow and caramel, almost.”

The experience is the brainchild of Jackie Luu, a Brooklynite who has been in the ice cream business for nearly a decade. His first shop, Stuffed Ice Cream, sells doughnut ice cream sandwiches and used to occupy Surprise Scoop's current space before moving to Bensonhurst.

When Luu opened Surprise Scoop in the East Village in January, he hoped he could create a market for indecisive customers who might get a rush from the mystery of “ice cream roulette.”

“The concept has kind of come from gambling or blind boxes,” Luu said in an interview at his shop on Friday. “Just taking a chance of getting something potentially you like, potentially you might not like.”

He said that when the shop first opened, he wasn’t sure how inventive he could be with flavors.

“But all the bad reviews were saying they paid X amount and they got chocolate,” Luu said. “So it’s the disappointment of getting something safe, when I think they’re looking for something much more here.”

Since those early reviews, he said, he has swapped out all the “safe” flavors for more unique ones. But Luu was hesitant to name specific flavors when we spoke, because he preferred to keep things mysterious. Still, he conceded that a popular flavor in the shop’s past rotation contained Ritz Bits cheese crackers.

Surprise Scoop keeps about 12 flavors on rotation at all times, and changes the lineup roughly every four months. Typically any group of customers that walks in will get an assortment of flavors in their orders, making the experience feel randomized.

Luu said that while the shop currently lacks vegan offerings, accommodations can be made for most common allergens like nuts. However, Surprise Scoop doesn't offer refunds for those who don’t like their ice cream.

On a recent visit to Surprise Scoop, there were about four people in the store. I ordered ice cream and indicated no allergies or dietary restrictions. My order was a scoop of white ice cream, which tasted creamy and slightly sweet, with a tang reminiscent of mascarpone. But it’s hard to know what the flavor actually was, because, as a rule, Surprise Scoop doesn’t tell you.

Those who would like to know what they're eating must upload a photo of their ice cream to their Instagram story, with their best guess about their flavor and tag @surprisescoopnyc. Lu said that his team only confirms with a yes or no answer. No hints are given for close guesses, and he said only two flavors have been correctly guessed so far.

Not everyone has been receptive to the concept. On Saturday evening, a man and a woman stopped by Surprise Scoop and peeked inside before quickly heading out. On her way out, the woman said she wondered if the space was “performance art” and said she was confused by not seeing anyone working inside the store.

Luu said not having any visible employees is necessary for creating the full experience.

“We want to eliminate the interaction between employees and customers because typically people would want to know [what they’re eating], and when there is someone to put this pressure on, I think it takes away a lot of the fun," he said. "We try to keep it as mysterious as possible.”

Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled Luu's last name.