Best Ice Cream Shops In Los Angeles

Nothing helps with the summer heat like a creamy scoop of our favorite flavor of ice cream. There are tons of shops, cafes and creameries in Los Angeles that serve ice cream and they're all pretty delicious. Some have been around for a while and deliver traditional flavors while others are new to the scene with exciting infusions. Should you find yourself craving a frozen treat, check out these amazing places for ice cream in LA. Make sure to check out our original list for other great ice cream parlors

Salt & Straw
240 N. Larchmont Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90004
(323) 466-0485
saltandstraw.com

If there was a contest for having the most oddly paired ice cream flavors, Salt & Straw would definitely be in the running. Salt & Straw hit the LA ice cream scene in September of 2014 and has been making people pleasantly scratching their heads ever since. With concoctions like rhubarb crumble with toasted anise, wildflower honey with ricotta walnut lace cookies, dandelion sorbet with spring flowers, pear blue cheese and strawberry honey balsamic with black pepper, those who love trying new flavors should make Salt & Straw a must visit.

Coolhaus
8588 W Washington Blvd
Culver City, CA
(310) 424-5559
www.eatcoolhaus.com

What began as a cart selling its delicious ice cream sandwiches has become a local phenomenon with expansion Eastward into cities like New York, Austin, Dallas, Miami and elsewhere. Today, Coolhaus has a few locations in LA, including a few roaming food trucks, offering up delicious flavors for its customers. From Cinnamon Cookie Dough to Avocado Sea Salt and Netflix Ice Cream, the menu is full of unique flavors which tend to change often. So, if you happen to love a flavor, make sure to come back often as it might not be there in a month. Although they serve ice cream by the scoop, the popular item to get here is the ice cream sandwich. With two chunky and delicious homemade cookies and your choice of ice cream in the middle, the sandwich is huge and the tasty ice cream is likely to be bulging from every which way.

Related: Best Ice Cream Sandwiches in LA

Sprinkles Ice Cream
9631 S Santa Monica Blvd
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
(310) 274-7890
www.sprinkles.com

What started out as a cupcake eatery quickly expanded into the company offering its very own ice cream store. Complete with cookies to make ice cream sandwiches, and an ever growing list of flavors to choose from. While the ice cream shop offers some staple flavors that are always offered, they are constantly changing and adding to their menu to keep it fresh. Flavors here include everything from banana, cap'n crunch, chocolate chip and mint chip to the always popular salty caramel, blood orange sorbet, cherry vanilla, peanut butter cup and many others.

McConnell's Ice Cream
317 S Broadway
Los Angeles, CA 90013
(213) 346-9722
www.mcconnells.com

Situated in the Grand Central Market in Downtown Los Angeles, McConnell's Ice Cream holds its roots back in 1949 when it was founded in Santa Barbara. Over 70 years later, this ice cream parlor is authentic in that it makes its ice cream from scratch in small batches to ensure its excellent quality. Using Central Coast, grass-grazed milk and cream, McConnell's boasts its usage of sustainable and organic ingredients as the reason the ice cream here is so good. You won't find just the normal array of flavors here either. Instead, choose from interesting and unique flavors like chocolate almond brittle, coconut & cream, peppermint stick, Turkish coffee, sweet cream, salted caramel chip, sea salt cream & cookies, churros con leche, and many others. But, for you traditionalists, they offer many of the standards as well, including vanilla bean, mint chip, and chocolate.

Sweet Rose Creamery
225 26th St #51,
Santa Monica, CA 90402
(310) 260-­2663
www.sweetrosecreamery.com

Any best ice cream list would never be complete without adding Sweet Rose Creamery to it. With multiple locations around Los Angeles, Sweet Rose is known for their wide selection of unique flavors in addition to some of the classics like old fashioned vanilla ice cream. From the owners of Rustic Canyon, Huckleberry and Milo & Olive, popular flavors here include salted caramel, and fresh mint, but customers also come for the delicious old fashioned sundae's, as well as Guittard chocolate dipped bananas, bon bons, fudge pops, banana splits, and pies.

Carmela Ice Cream
2495 E. Washington Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91104
(626) 797-1405
www.carmelaicecream.com

Another contender in the crazy flavor competition is Carmela Ice Cream. Brown butter sage, Guinness, Matcha green tea, earl gray, lemon and olive oil and rose petal are some of the wonderfully bizarre flavors at Carmela. The shop does have some of the classics with flavor upgrades like strawberry buttermilk, brown sugar vanilla, chocolate with cacao nibs and raspberry champagne. On hot days and weekends, flavors tend sell out by late afternoon, so don’t wait until last minute if you have your eye on one of the popular ones.

Blockheads Shavery
11311 Mississippi Avenue
Los Angeles CA, 90025
(310) 445-8725
www.blockheadsshavery.com

Blockheads might not be your traditional ice cream shop, but their version of shaved ice might as well taste like it. Blockheads Shavery creates its own snow cream by taking the freshest ingredients, blending them with the creamiest of cream and then freezing it into a block. That block is then put through a special machine that slices it super thin to create a unique and fluffy texture. Enjoy amazing flavors like taro root, avocado, peanut butter, black sesame, strawberry shortcake, mango, chocolate and many others. Add a topping like mochi, fruit, nuts and brownie bites or a drizzle of caramel, chocolate or strawberry puree.

Related: Best Cold Treats In Los Angeles

Scoops
712 N. Heliotrope Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90029
(323) 906-2649

Ice cream made with beer? Yes, please! Scoops is a definite ice cream fan favorite with its unique and quirky flavors like coffee peanut butter, sour honey almond rocca, strawberry wine, yam burnt sugar and hazelnut Guinness beer with real beer. Free samples, free topping and open to flavor suggestions is another reason why people love Scoops. The place is small with an unassuming front and is cash only.

Related: Best Frozen Yogurt In Los Angeles

Milk
7290 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 939-6455
www.themilkshop.com

For the old fashioned taste buds there's Milk. Indulge in creamy flavors like chocolate, vanilla, strawberry and rocky road in a float, sunday or delicious shake. If you’re looking for the ultimate ice cream sandwich, Milk uses macaroons and offers some unique flavors like Thai tea, jasmine tea, grasshopper, salted caramel and blueberry crumble, just to name a few. In addition, it has a stellar lunch menu and bakery complete with Milk's famous blue velvet cake.