The Best Ice Cream & Gelato in Phoenix
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The best ice cream & gelato in Phoenix, according to the experts: Phoenix New Times has weighed in, and their honors are what rank this list. Cream of the Crop comes out on top, and the good stuff runs deepest in Scottsdale and Gilbert.
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Gelato Cimmino and Nami hold the next two places.
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Rank 1. Cream of the Crop
Ice Cream Shop
A small-batch ice cream shop inside a converted Quonset hut in Gilbert's Barnone complex, with a rotating handful of flavors that leans toward combinations like date and orange blossom or strawberry and rose water. The menu is short by design, and classics like mint chip share the case with vegan sorbets. You won't find thirty tubs here, which turns out to be beside the point when each one is this carefully made.
The awards
- Phoenix New Times Phoenix New Times: 2025 · Best Ice Cream · Best of Phoenix
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Rank 1. Gelato Cimmino
Italian Ice Cream Shop
A gelato shop in Old Town Scottsdale where the owner brought recipes from his hometown in southern Italy and hasn't wavered since. The flavors run classic, almond with orange, hazelnut, milk cream, plus dairy-free fruit options, and the affogato is the move if espresso is involved in your afternoon. The crowd is half tourists already pretending they're somewhere else, and the gelato gives them a reasonable case.
The awards
- Phoenix New Times Phoenix New Times: 2025 · Best Gelato · Best of Phoenix
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Rank 1. Nami
Vegan Ice Cream Shop
A renovated house on North 7th Street is now a vegan ice cream, coffee, and pastry shop where the Tsoynami, a housemade soy-based ice cream in over 20 Blizzard-style flavors, is the thing people come back for. The affogato, ice cream and chocolate syrup drowned in espresso, is a strong supporting argument. Cupcakes, cookies, and rotating daily specials round out the case for plants as dessert.
The awards
- Phoenix New Times Phoenix New Times: 2025 · Best Vegan Desserts · Best of Phoenix
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Rank 1. Sugar Bowl
Ice Cream Shop
Pink booths, a soda fountain counter, and ice cream sodas that have been drawing Scottsdale families for what feels like forever. This old-school ice cream parlor is better known for sundaes than sandwiches, but the lunch menu holds its own: turkey salad with avocado, tea sandwiches, chili with cheese. The kind of place where saving room for dessert isn't advice so much as the whole point of showing up.
The awards
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Rank 5. Cool Gelato Italiano
Italian Ice Cream Shop
The awards
- Phoenix New Times Phoenix New Times: 2024 · Best Gelato · Best of Phoenix