Best Ice Cream NYC: The 10 Best Creameries In New York

This Kosher ice cream parlor offers ice cream, frozen yogurt, and micro-brewed soda in an old-school location that calls back to classic soda shops. Although they began in Boston and have multiple locations in New York and New Jersey, their most famous location is on the Upper West Side. They currently offer thirty-two ice cream flavors, six frozen yogurt flavors, and three sorbet flavors. They also offer a duo of no-sugar-added flavors sweetened with Splenda.

A single scoop of ice cream, frozen yogurt, or sorbet at Emack and Bolio's Ice Cream begins at around $5.

​This Italian-accented ice cream parlor has been serving the Upper East Side for over thirty years. It's a no-frills ice cream parlor that makes up for its humble appearance in a wide variety of time-tested flavors. Besides thirty-seven regular ice cream flavors, five sorbets, and five rotating seasonal flavors including the popular pumpkin and eggnog, Sedutto offers a wide range of toppings and dessert options. These include big sundaes and classics line banana splits and ice cream sodas. They also have multiple flavors of hard-serve and soft-serve frozen yogurt. Their line of wine-infused ice cream and sorbet is popular with adults.

A cup or cone of Sedutto ice cream, yogurt, or sorbet begins at around $4

Ample Hills Creamery, with eight locations in New York, one in New Jersey, and one in Walt Disney World, has gained a reputation as one of the most innovative ice cream makers in the country. They offer six custom flavors available in pints for nationwide shipping, but their ice cream parlors have an additional array of flavors up to eighteen. Their most famous flavors are Ooey Gooey Butter Cake and PB Wins the Cup, and their Shirley Temple Vegan ice cream is a popular non-dairy alternative.

Ample Hills sells their cups and cones starting at around $7, with their pints available for $10 on site.

A relatively new small-batch ice cream parlor, this East Village shop was founded by an ex-con and specializes in elevated comfort food flavors with a hip-hop/R&B vibe. Mikey Likes It offers nine original flavors, including their highly popular Southern Hospitality. This richer take on Butter Pecan has become their signature flavor. Their ice cream can be served on waffles or in milkshakes, and they offer to make custom flavors for anyone with special dietary needs, although these are not on the standard menu.

Ice cream at Mikey Likes It begins at a little over $6.

Known as an "ice cream magician", Nick Morgenstern has gained a reputation as one of the most inventive ice cream makers in New York. His Rivington Street ice cream parlor is known for its unique mixing process, which decreases fat and sugar while increasing flavor. The parlor offers an average of thirty flavors, divided into familiar categories like vanilla, chocolate, caramel, and strawberry with unique twists.

The parlor's claim to fame comes in its specialty section, which features unique flavors including Durian Banana, Burnt Sage, Raw Milk, Salt and Pepper, and Fernet Black Walnut. Seven vegan sorbet flavors are also offered, including unique flavors like Raspberry Lychee. A wide selection of dessert and topping options are available in this state-of-the-art creamery.

A single scoop in a cup or cone at Morgenstern's hovers around the $ mark, with an additional scoop running $ extra.

A Chinatown institution for over forty years, this ice cream parlor has a no-frills appearance combined with a wide assortment of Chinese-influenced flavors. Although these recipes are old, many of them cannot be found anywhere else in the city. With over forty regular flavors, customers from outside of Chinatown may be amused to see Taro and Pandan listed in the standard flavors - and items like Butter Pecan or Chocolate Cherry listed as "Exotic flavors"! A rotating mix of additional flavors may include a non-dairy sorbet. They don't have a wide dessert menu, but they will make custom ice cream cakes for parties with 24-hour advance notice.

Ice cream scoops begin in the $4 range, with additional scoops adding about $2 to the price.

Specializing in extra-rich Italian gelato, this East Village parlor features a wide range of rotating flavors. They have over a dozen varieties of chocolate, but you'll also find experimental flavors including wasabi, cheddar cheese, rice, prune Armagnac, or Su Jung Kwa (a rye tea popular in South Korea). Their sorbet laboratory is no less ambitious, featuring five distinct apple sorbets and unusual flavors like Prosecco or Acai berry. All flavors are rotating and appear on the menu on different days.

A small scoop is a little over $3, with a large going for around $5. However, sizes overall are much smaller than in most creameries.

After beginning life as a wildly popular ice cream shop, Van Leeuwen has expanded into a mini-empire with a primary location in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. All their flavors are made in small batches from fresh ingredients, and they have a successful line of vegan ice creams made from non-dairy milk substitutes. They have a line of ten traditional ice cream flavors, eight vegan ice creams, and seven specialty flavors including two vegan specials. Their ice cream parlor offers milkshakes, sundaes, and the Italian coffee treat Affogato. Even toppings like whipped cream and hot fudge have vegan alternatives.

Van Leeuwen has a higher price point, with scoops going for around $7 and pints going for $10 at most retail locations.

Although this creamery began life in Williamsburg, its signature location is in the East Village with a third location in Soho. Each location features a unique mix of flavors every day, comprising eleven hard ice cream flavors, one vegan sorbet, and two soft serve flavors. Flavors are a mix of more traditional choices like cookies and cream or oatmeal cookie dough, and unique flavors like Avocado and Raspberry Pink Peppercorn Sorbet.

Scoops at Oddfellows begin at around $4.

Right on the edge of Central Park, Grom is the first New York location of a popular Italian gelato chain. Featuring a standard lineup of ten gelati with two specialty flavors, accompanied by four fruit sorbets and four granita (a simple semi-frozen non-dairy dessert from Italy), this authentic gelateria features traditional flavors like Stracciatella and unique flavors like Pastry Cream with Corn Biscuits and Chocolate. All gelato and sorbet at Grom is gluten-free and can be bought in scoops or pints.

Gelato at Grom begins at $5.25 for a single scoop.