PHLGuide
The Best Ice Cream & Frozen Treats In Philadelphia
photo credit: Nicole Guglielmo
Philly has a history of fantastic frozen desserts, including (but not limited to) the Choco Taco and of course, water ice. But sometimes you just really need something creamy and silky smooth on a hot day. Fortunately, Philadelphia is also home to great ice cream, popsicles, and chilly sandwiches, whether on the go or after an epic meal. So we put together this list—the 19 best places for bingsu, shaved ice, soft serve, sundaes, and more.
THE SPOTS
photo credit: NICOLE GUGLIELMO
A good cup or cone of soft serve makes you feel like you walked in with the A/C cranked up after a sweltering day. That’s exactly how we feel after eating at 1-900-ICE CREAM, making it the best soft serve in town. The Rittenhouse spot has flavors like sort-of-salty chocolate, vanilla, twist, blueberry, and several take-home pints, and each spoonful is creamy, smooth, and full of delicious dairy.
Both The Franklin Fountain and The Franklin Ice Cream Bar are full of antiques that make you feel like you’ve stepped into a 1920s ice cream parlor (or happen to be on the set of Peaky Blinders). But aside from the time warp, this place is pretty unique—all your scoops or cones come in their signature Chinese takeout boxes, and it’s some of the best ice cream in town. We prefer their soft serve, which you can have dipped in chocolate, covered with sprinkles, or doused in old-school hot fudge. However you order it, it’s special, just like all the players on your third-grade soccer team.
There might be other places in Reading Terminal Market that serve ice cream, but none of them matter next to Bassett’s. The stand has been in the same place at the front of the market since 1892, which means it predates college basketball, the rotary dial, and airplanes. All of their flavors are super rich and creamy, like butter pecan, raspberry truffle, and a kind-of-spicy cinnamon. They usually have a line, but it moves quickly, so don’t wander off just because the bakery across the way has no wait.
photo credit: Gab Bonghi
Anytime our bodies start to overheat (which is often during Philly summer), you can find us at Cuzzy’s Ice Cream Parlor in Queen Village. One, they have great A/C; two, their ice cream is full of creative flavors that will linger on your tongue (and in your heart) for the rest of the day. Think of a fresh-baked cinnamon apple streusel, sour cream blueberry compote, and strawberry blondie paradise. The shop is more fragrant than your embarrassing brother’s body spray, each flavor is super creamy, and it’s a more satisfying cool-down option than standing in front of your freezer.
photo credit: Weckerly’s Ice Cream
Weckerly’s is an old-fashioned scoop shop on Girard in Fishtown. And given how delicious it is, it doesn’t get nearly as much foot traffic as it should. They specialize in small batches of seasonal flavors, like honeysuckle and cinnamon toasted oats, which means you don’t really know what you’re going to get when you walk through the door—but we’ve never had a flavor that we don’t love. The best thing they do here is their ice cream sandwiches, which change just about as often as their flavors do, and have ridiculous crusts made out of things like shortbread and coffee cake.
photo credit: NICOLE GUGLIELMO
This small Passyunk Square ice cream shop is probably the most popular one in the neighborhood. And the crowds aren’t wrong—it’s f*cking delicious. You can get waffle cones, pints, and ice cream sandwiches packed with flavors like cookie butter, Earl Grey with honeycomb, and Girl Scout peanut butter cookie. While many places try to do unique flavors like this, very few shops succeed in such a way that we could happily come back day after day.
photo credit: NICOLE GUGLIELMO
Fishtown’s Float Dreamery doesn’t have a shop. You order the daily flavors from a small window, so it’s very much like waiting behind the curtain for The Wizard of Oz to grant you a wish (except instead of Auntie Em and a dry prairie you get ice cream magic). You can get one scoop for $5, two for $9, and a perfect ice cream sandwich like tahini chip and vanilla for $6. If you’re dairy-free, it’s a slam dunk place to get flavors like mint birthday chip, lychee, ube, and mango. Just a tip—they make small batches and sell out quickly, so get there when they open at noon.
photo credit: Gran Caffe L’Aquila
POWERED BY
Gran Caffe L’Aquila is an Italian spot in Rittenhouse where pasta is the main attraction. But it’s the gelato that’s the real headline act at this all-day cafe. They have endless flavor options, and each spoonful has the perfect ratio of creaminess, richness, and mix ins. If you can’t think of which flavor to go for, just know that the salted caramel will haunt your memories for weeks and will drive you to make some excuse for stopping by (like there’s a “g” in your cat’s name and one in gelato, so it must be fate).
photo credit: Nicole Guglielmo
You can get all kinds of frozen treats at this Passyunk Ave. shop, from the best sorbetto and gelati in town to cinnamon-sugar donut and strawberry cheesecake-flavored sundaes. They also have some inexplicably smooth soft serve. Top your cup of twisty vanilla or chocolate with sprinkles, chocolate syrup, chocolate toffee bits, or a crunchy graham cracker dust they call “unicorn crumble.” Check out their Instagram if you need inspo.
photo credit: NICOLE GUGLIELMO
In this town, we may think the end all, be all of ice cream creativity is rooted in twists, dips, or sprinkles (possibly jimmies depending on where you’re from). But at Manayunk’s Crust Vegan Bakery, not only do they have soft serve flavors like Thai tea ice cream, but you can put it in coconut, dark chocolate, and French vanilla waffle cones. They also have ice cream sandwiches, and if you want to really get wild, you can still make it a twist or top it with rainbow sprinkles in the end.
photo credit: NICOLE GUGLIELMO
Head to the side window at Small Oven Pastry Shop and choose from flavors like pistachio, honey peanut butter, cider donut, and hazelnut praline. The options here rotate weekly, so make sure you check their online calendar or you may hold up the line while trying to decide. The smooth ice cream is a great way to close out a meal here after you’ve taken down one of their classic Philly pork sandwiches.
photo credit: NICOLE GUGLIELMO
C&C Creamery in Manayunk always has a line of people holding cones and cups full of their excellent vanilla, chocolate, twist, and pineapple Dole whip soft serve. It’s no surprise—it’s a Philly classic. The sizes here range from kiddie to a $4 large that’s a towering three-and-a-half scoops. And for just a few bucks, it’s a great deal that’s big enough to split between two people.
photo credit: NICOLE GUGLIELMO
Cloud Cups is a clear Fishtown standout. From the unconventional flavors—we love the mango chamoy and the banana pudding—to the anime action figures, everything inside this gelateria makes it one of the best dessert spots in the area. The flavors change weekly, but we can guarantee you’ll find something you like inside the small, cloud-print-covered shop. Open until 10pm on weekdays and 11pm on weekends, it’s a no-brainer to line up for a few creamy scoops after enjoying Pizza Brain next door.
photo credit: NICOLE GUGLIELMO
Do you remember when you were a kid, and your parents promised you an ice cream cone in exchange for doing something insufferable (like hugging a weird distant cousin)? Well, if the bribe involved Passyunk Square's La Guerrerense, their success rate would’ve been 100%. The Mexican ice cream shop has a sweet cream base, so it’s thick, but still smooth and rich. They have over 25 flavors, including standards like vanilla and chocolate, but where they make their mark is with ones like Gansito, mamey and guava, and piñon and papaya.
photo credit: NICOLE GUGLIELMO
The twisty treats at Twistee Treat are literally the shape of a giant ice cream cone. So when standing in line, you get a nice preview for whatever soft serve you’re about to grab. The cash-only Northeast spot has vanilla, chocolate, swirls of orange cream, and a few other rotating flavors that you can get every day. A cone of their smooth and subtly sweet soft serve is perfect for a short trip to the waterfront at nearby Lander’s Point Park, where you can watch people cross the bridge into the land of endless diners and pumped gas.
photo credit: Gab Bonghi
When you head to Fishtown’s Kalaya and see a mound of shaved ice heading your way, your eyes will light up like a five-year-old staring at their birthday cake. And like kids, after one spoonful, you’ll be against sharing. The shaved ice is light and fluffy, comes in flavors like passion fruit and Thai tea, and has rich banana cream in the center. After a meal full of curries, stir fry, and dumplings topped with chili, shaved ice is the perfect way to extinguish your mouth fire at the end of the night.
Tabachoy is a Filipino comfort food spot in Bella Vista, and it shines a light on the most essential things in life: good chicken, crispy spring rolls, and creamy ube ice cream. The whole place feels relaxed, like you walked into a dinner party at a friend's house. And the sundae, paying homage to the chef’s upbringing, will put you in the same carefree mood. You’ll get sweet scoops of chilly purple yam-flavored ice cream that’s sprinkled with puffed rice and coated in coconut caramel, making it the perfect ending to a showstopping meal.
photo credit: NICOLE GUGLIELMO
It’s no surprise that one of our favorite restaurants in the city, Rittenhouse, or to have our last meal on earth makes great ice cream. You could come to the intimate French restaurant every day of the week and have this sundae seven different ways. It has more range than the rooms in Willy Wonka’s factory. We’ve had it topped with Teddy Graham crackers or with a rhubarb twist, but no matter how it’s dressed, its smoothness-to-creaminess ratio is one that a few ice cream shops can learn from.
photo credit: GAB BONGHI
Outside of having some of the best food in the city, this Israeli grill in Kensington has soft serve that's completely unforgettable. The brown sugar and vanilla blend is smooth, creamy, and comes topped with pistachio rice puffs that give it a little crunch. The only problem with the sour cherries floating around is that we’d like a jar full of them, please.
