Retro ice cream parlor opens in Seaford

Ice cream shop Sweet Spot Café in Seaford opened its doors May 22 and has already gained tremendous popularity in the community, manager Chris Paci said.

“There’s been a line outside stretching down the sidewalk every night since we opened,” Paci, one of the business’ pioneers, said.

Paci opened Sweet Spot with owner Frank Pasquale, who also owns the barber shop next door, Man to Man Barber Shop on Merrick Road.

“The owner and I met about 8 years ago when he was a customer in my shop and we have connected really well ever since,” Paci said. “I wanted to open this shop because I have the biggest sweet-tooth ever.”

Paci said Sweet Spot Café is far from a typical ice cream parlor. “Not only do we have ice cream,” Paci said, “we have gelato, coffee, a candy wall, a cake cabinet filled with different cakes and pies…and I constantly have a thousand new ideas about more things to get, and new flavors to create.”

Some of Sweet Spot’s specialty flavors include their Reese’s peanut butter flavor, rainbow cookie, apple pie, banana nutella, Boston cream, stracciatella, and affogato. Sweet Spot is also the only place on Long Island that makes gelato milkshakes, Paci explained.

In addition to their menu, what sets apart Sweet Spot from other local ice cream shops is its ambience. Sweet Spot employee and Wantagh resident, Sabrina Locascio, described the atmosphere of the parlor: checkered floors, diner-like furniture and a colorful wall mural offers a “very cool, 80’s ice cream parlor kind of vibe,” Locascio said.

Another Sweet Spot employee, Illana Mesnick of Huntington Village, said the shop offers an individualized experience for each customer. Eaters are able to mix and match any ice cream flavor and topping in a sundae, milkshake and more.

“We’ve mixed everything from pretzels to slices of cake to slices of pie and more into milkshakes,” Mesnick said. “We are constantly trying out new things.”

Working in Seaford is enjoyable for Paci, he said, because he loves the “tight-knit community.” Locascio said she’s noticed overwhelming support from locals.

“The customers are truly such kind people,” she said. “They are so excited when they walk in, and they all congratulate Chris and wish him luck.”

Mesnick reminisced on one of her favorite experiences working at Sweet Spot thus far, when a couple entered the shop.

“It was the couple’s 55th wedding anniversary,” she recalled, “and they spent it at our shop, trying our desserts for the first time. They loved it and said they would come back every year for their anniversary. It was really heartwarming.”

Paci said that the staff at Sweet Spot Café love to make the community happy by serving them treats. Mesnick said she loves seeing people light up once they enter the store.

“It’s so incredible to see the smiles on people’s faces when you give them their milkshake or their treat, and they have an expression like they’re a kid in a candy shop,” Mesnick said. “It’s a sense of pure bliss that you can’t find anywhere else.”