The Best Ice Cream Shops in NYC – UPDATED
eatingmynyc / October 31, 2023
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If you really know EatingNYC, you know that we take our ice cream very seriously. Lucky for us, NYC has some of the best ice cream shops, we think, in the world, serving up both old-fashioned classics and super innovative flavors. Even though the colder weather is approaching, there’s no bad time to prep you with a rundown of some of our favorite spots for ice cream in NYC. Here you go!
Ample Hills Creamery
PC: Lic TalkAmple Hills Creamery serves some of the creamiest ice cream in the City. They’ve taken all of your favorite desserts, like rice krispies, peppermint patties, and even NY cheesecake, and ice-creamified them! If you’re planning to go over with your squad, try one of their ice cream flights, so you can sample 6 different flavors! Some of our favorites here are ooey-gooey butter cake, the snap, mallow, pop, and salted crack caramel…. but we really love them all!
Caffe Panna
PC: GreenpointersOpen for just about three years, Caffe Panna has continued to create massive lines outside every day. The rotating menu of scoops, pints, sundaes, affogattoes, and the newly-added soft serve is posted on Instagram daily, exciting fans for what’s new. The flavors are anything but simple, filled with cookies, banana bread, caramel, fudge swirls, marshmallows, cheeses, and everything else you can imagine, all made from the highest quality ingredients. You can also always find the familiar Cookies n Panna or Red Flag, as they’re so good they never leave the menu.
Morgenstern’s Finest
PC: MorgensternsWalk into Morgenstern’s and it feels like you’ve been transported to a 1950’s ice cream parlor, but peek at the menu and you’ll be instantly reminded what century you’re in. They have what seems to be an endless number of flavors, from five kinds of vanilla to five kinds of chocolate, three different caramel, coffee, and strawberry flavors each, and that’s just their “normal” flavors. The one drawback is they don’t allow samples, so choose your flavors wisely!
Malai
PC: Grub HubThe name Malai means “cream of the crop,” which is exactly the type of ingredients they use in each of their flavors, all of which are inspired by Southeast Asian flavors. The eggless ice cream creates a creamy texture as well, perfectly complimenting the flavor choices. Sample an assortment, from golden turmeric to Turkish coffee, red chili chocolate, and spiced peanut crunch.
Sugar Hill Creamery
PC: Uptown GuideSugar Hill Creamery in Harlem known for flavors with quirky names — like The Unicorn, a birthday cake ice cream with gluten-free vanilla cake, royal frosting, and rainbow sprinkes, and A$AP Rocky Road including milk chocolate with toasted hazelnut, marshmallow, oreos, and graham crackers. The crazier the flavor, the crazier the name.
Sedutto
PC: DoordashThis Upper East Side institution has every classic flavor you can imagine. Of course vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry, but the menu of 30+ flavors means there’s something for everyone. My personal favorite is the S’mores, with a graham cracker base, but I also love the birthday cake, sea salt caramel, and mint chocolate chip. They also have an entire menu of hard serve yogurt and soft serve yogurt.
The Original Chinatown Ice Cream Factory
PC: Eater NYThis place is has been a tourist attraction in Chinatown for over 40 years, but definitely should be added to your list. The Asian-inspired flavors range from egg custard to taro, green tea oreo, ube, and black sesame. They also have classic flavors for those not willing to venture outside the box, but we encourage finding something new!
Momofuku Milk Bar
PC: EaterChristina Tosi, the Mastermind behind all of Momofuku Milkbar is famous for inventing cereal milk soft serve. We love all of her dessert creations like crack pie, chocolate malt truffles and confetti birthday cake, but her soft serve goes down as one of our favorite ice creams in the city.
Softside
PC: FourSquareThis place does soft serve right. Flavors of vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, and pistacio, with several toppings and sundae options. My favorite is The Riff, topped with honey, olive oil, and flakey sea salt. The perfect sweet and savory combo that you never knew you needed. Unfortunately, it’s only open during the summer, so keep this bookmarked for next year.
Caleta
PC: Eater NYIce cream bar by day, wine bar by night – the perfect combination! Bad Habit ice cream started as a pandemic popup, but became so popular that they began selling packaged pints out of Caleta in the East Village. The flavors change daily, from toasted milk to roasted banana creme brulee, chocolate tahini, key lime pie, miso caramel, tarragon, as well as sorbets with every fruit imaginable.
Kith Treats
PC: Clevland JenningsWho doesn’t love cereal milk soft serve? At Kith, they do you one better by straight up blending cereal right into your soft serve with whatever other toppings your heart desires (i.e. cookie dough or a Snickers bar). They even have a Waffle-taco, made with a fudge-lined Kith waffle cone, molded into the shape of a taco shell, filled with vanilla ice cream infused with cocoa puffs, cookie dough and mini marshmallows, topped with milk chocolate fudge and sprinkled with tri-colored candy coated chocolate crispies. Simple, right?!
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