The Best Ice Cream in Los Angeles, Ranked
In Los Angeles, you have your pick of the best of the best, like super-rich ice milk stuffed between two brownies, perfectly smooth soft serve twist cones and a dairy-free dark chocolate scoop topped with cacao nibs. (Trust us, it’s amazing.)
Here’s where to find the best ice cream in Los Angeles—make your way to these shops ASAP, before summer melts away.
RELATED: The 7 Best Things to Eat in Los Angeles This August
15. Shake Shack
Real sugar, no corn syrup, and flavors like cherry streusel. It’s super creamy because it’s made with egg (hence the “custard”).
8520 Santa Monica Blvd.; 323-488-3010 or shakeshack.com
14. Smitten Ice Cream
Seasonal flavors like sweet corn with berries, along with delish standbys like salted caramel, are made using a proprietary method that fast-freezes fresh ingredients using liquid nitrogen.
The Point, 850 S. Sepulveda Blvd.; 424-220-7100 or smittenicecream.com
13. McConnell?s Fine Ice Creams
Seasonal flavors like Wild Sweet Clover—that’s a vanilla-esque flavor made from the foraged greens that cows love—share freezer space with year-round scoops including Mint Chip (made with organic peppermint and bittersweet chocolate chip) and Sprinkle Cake (multi-spotted and prepared with sheet cake and, um, unicorns?).
Locations in Downtown Los Angeles, Los Feliz, Studio City and Pacific Palisades; mcconnells.com
12. Sprinkles Ice Cream
It’s hot up in here, so skip the cupcakes and go for a red waffle cone full of rocky road, dark chocolate with toasted almonds, house-made marshmallow cream and bittersweet chocolate chips.
Locations in Glendale, Beverly Hills, Hollywood and Westlake Village; sprinkles.com
11. Coolhaus
Hipsters flock to this sleek, neon-accented Culver City ice creamery that’s inspired by high design. We don’t know about all that; we’re just here for the brownie ice-cream sandwich that’s so rich we have to split it with our bestie.
8588 Washington Blvd.; 310-838-5559 or eatcoolhaus.com
10. Sweet Lucie's
It’s time to consider ice cream for breakfast. Why? Because this Mar Vista creamery has created organic Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal-milk ice cream, with a little crushed cereal on top of each scoop for a touch more cinnamon and crunch.
12222 Venice Blvd., Mar Vista; ilovelucies.com
9. Honeymee
Classic soft serve gets an update at this Koreatown shop, where ice milk made from a family-owned, kosher-certified dairy farm gets served in foodie iterations: bits of honeycomb, Ghirardelli chocolate, caramel or matcha cones and a matcha affogato with honey.
Locations in Koreatown and on Sawtelle; honeymee.com
8. Sweet Rose Creamery
A vegan ice cream that’s a solid (but creamy) contender? We would never lie to you. You must try the dairy-free dark chocolate topped with cacao nibs.
Locations in Brentwood, Pacific Palisades, Mid-City and Santa Monica; sweetrosecreamery.com
7. Humphrey Slocombe
This foodier-than-thou ice creamery started in San Francisco, where it got raves for its cheeky attitude (#lickthat) and outside-the-cone flavors like mango mojito and Secret Breakfast (bourbon ice cream and corn flakes). We’re currently crushing hard on yuzu, the refreshingly floral Japanese citrus turned into a rich, sweet cream ice cream.
1653B Abbott Kinney Blvd., Venice; 424-387-8161 or humphryslocombe.com
6. Mashti Malone?s Ice Cream
This Hollywood strip-mall institution was famous for its nontraditional flavors long before the current foodie craze. Lavender and rosewater saffron are musts.
1525 N. La Brea Ave.; 323-874-0144
5. Milk
Your secret summer feel-good move? Stop in at Milk and order a milkshake—our favorites are the blueberry, red velvet and coffee. By the time you get back to your car, its smooth, soothing properties will have worked their calming magic.
Locations on Beverly and Silverlake; themilkshop.com
4. CVT Soft Serve
Remember that cranky soup purveyor on Seinfeld? That’s the conceit at this ice cream truck, where the sign that says “influencers pay double” went viral. (Hey, what do you expect from two East Coast transplants who bring their Yankee ’tude to La La Land?) But just as long as you don’t ask for ice-creams-for-likes, you’ll discover that the soft servers are sweethearts, and the chocolate-vanilla twist on a traditional cone is simple perfection.
Various locations; cvtsoftserve.com
3. SuperCool Creamery
This little ice cream maker next to the Vista Theatre in Silverlake is as much about performance as it is a sweet treat. The owner merged his background in drama and experience mixing frozen cocktails to create a spectacle: nitrogen clouds parting to reveal flash-frozen scoops and milkshakes in flavors like Nutella banana and key lime with dark rum.
4469 Sunset Dr.; 323-471-1110 or supercoolcreamery.com
2. Jeni?s Splendid Ice Creams
Make your own ice-cream sandwiches, rolled in slivered nuts? Don’t mind if we do.
Locations in Los Feliz, Venice, Larchmont and Calabasas; jenis.com
1. Salt & Straw
This Portland outfit has rocked Angelenos (and made us wait in lines) with its crazy gourmet mash-ups (strawberries with balsamic and black pepper, anyone?). From the über-creative seasonal flavors to its rabid foodie fans, this ice cream shop is a scene.
Locations in the Arts District, West Hollywood, Studio City, Larchmont and Venice; saltandstraw.com
RELATED: 11 L.A. Dishes That Are Already on Their Way to Legendary Status