21 Places To Try The Best Ice Cream in Toronto

Some people may feel that ice cream is a summer only thing but that’s totally wrong! Yes you’re more justified eating ice cream every single day in the summer but with how amazing the ice cream places I’m about to share are you’re going to want to eat ice cream year round and there’s zero judgement from me on that! Toronto has dozens and dozens of ice cream places and it can be hard to separate the ones that are super pretty from the ones that are tasty. But that’s where I come in! After many years trying as many ice cream places as possible I’m very confident in sharing this comprehensive guide of the best ice cream in Toronto.

ps. Prices are in Canadian dollars as always as we’re based in Canada! And taxes are on top of most of these prices!

Dutch Dreams

Location: 36 Vaughn Road, Toronto, M6G 2N3
Hours: Sunday-Wednesday between 12 pm and 11 pm and Thursday-Saturday between 12 pm and 12 am
Price Range: $5-$10 
What to Order: Whatever flavour you prefer really but make sure to get one of their decadent cones!

Dutch Dreams is a Toronto staple. It’s family owned and has been around for over 25 years. They carry 32 different flavours which also happen to be kosher so if that’s a requirement for you then this is definitely your place! They’ve got a ton of cone options decked out in different styles. The place is definitely incredibly Dutch. There’s very special decorations throughout the space and they sell some take away groceries and candies that are very European. Luckily there’s plenty of seating as well because you’re going to want to dig into your ice cream almost immediately. There’s also a giant ice cream cone decoration that begs to have a selfie taken with it so check that out too!

Sweet Olenka’s

Location: Multiple (see map below): 23 Jutland Rd, Etobicoke, M8Z 2G6/2790 Lake Shore Blvd. W., Etobicoke, M8V 1H5/1050 Queen St. W., Toronto, M6J 1H7/225 Augusta Ave., Toronto, M5T 2L4
Hours: The hours vary by location but you can check them out here
Price Range: $5 (could be more if you’re trying lots!)
What to Order: The icecream bars – in particular the Red Velvet (it’s the one with kisses at the bottom)

Sweet Olenka’s started with the location on Lakeshore in Etobicoke and now expanded to 4 different locations. It’s one of the places on this list that actually doesn’t solely focus on ice cream – it’s just a byproduct of their fantastic products. They’ve got cupcakes, macaroons, brownies, gourmet chocolate and cakes but since you already know what kind of list this is you’re definitely heading there for ice cream! They do cool flavours of scooped ice cream like Lavender Rose and Caramel Bourbon but my vote is for the ice cream bars which are absolutely stunning and so tasty!

Ed’s Real Scoop

Location: Multiple (see map below): Beaches (2224 Queen Street East), Leslieville (920 Queen Street East), Roncesvalles (189 Roncesvalles Avenue) and Mimico (230 Lake Shore Boulevard West)
Hours: Sun-Thurs between 11:30 am and 9:30 pm and Friday and Saturday between 11:30 am and 10 pm
Price Range: $3.50-$7.50 depending on the size and whether you sundae it or not
What to Order: Some of the super natural ice cream scoops

Ed’s Real Scoop is one of the strictly fantastic ice cream places on this list. You can make it super pretty with toppings like candy but you’re really here for the ice cream which is super creamy and super tasty. The good thing is that all the ice cream is hand made with natural flavours like Ontario milk and cream and no artificial flavours at all. Once you’ve tried all your flavours you can even take your favourite home in a pint!

  

Kekou Gelato

Location: 394 Queen Street West is the main location. They’ve got a seasonal location at 13 Baldwin Street
Hours: Every day between 12:30 pm and 11 pm
Price Range: $3.95-$8 
What to Order: The bars! But also try a more exotic flavour!

You may say this is cheating since it’s gelato and not ice cream but I don’t discriminate here. Plus they do have popsicles and ice cream bars and isn’t all type of ice cream really ice cream after all? Anyways, Kekou is special because of 2 reasons. The 1st one is that they use all natural ingredients to make their gelato which is super cool. The 2nd is that their specialty is actually Asian flavours. We’re talking Vietnamese Coffee, Oolong Tea, Black Sesame etc! Definitely unusual but super refreshing.

Nadège Ice Cream Shop

Location: 780 Queen Street West (on the left hand side of the main entrance)
Hours: Monday-Friday between 2 pm and 10 pm, Saturdays between 12 pm and 10 pm and Sundays between 12 pm and 9 pm
Price Range: $5-$10 – really depends on how fancy you go with toppings
What to Order: The flavours are all unique and good but make sure to add mini macaroons on top! It’s the best!

Nadège Patisserie is one of the more popular French bakeries in Toronto with multiple locations across the city. While some of the locations do serve soft service ice cream nothing quite compares to their actual ice cream shop which is new as of this summer. It’s located at their original location at 780 Queen Street West (right by Trinity Bellwoods Park) and with over a dozen flavours you’re going to want to take your time picking 1!

QQ Thai Ice Cream

Location: 3278 Midland Ave, Scarborough, M1V 0C9
Hours: Sunday-Thursday between 1 pm and 10:30 pm and Friday and Saturday between 1 pm and 11 pm
Price Range: $6.50-$8
What to Order: Anything – they’re all fantastic

A couple of years ago, Thai rolled ice cream became a huge hit in Toronto and a fair amount of new places opened up. One of the ones that stuck around was QQ Thai Ice Cream. While the concept is obviously not original their flavour combinations are and it’s super fun watching your ice cream be made! It helps that you can see literally all the ingredients going into your ice cream.

Bar Ape

Location: 283 Rushton Rd, Toronto, M6C 2X6
Hours: Bar Ape is one of those ice cream places only open in the summer but when it is open the hours are: Monday, Wednesday-Friday between 5 pm and 11 pm and Saturday and Sunday between 1 pm and 11 pm
Price Range: Everything is pretty much $5 (the soft serve, the bars and the sundaes). Cash only!
What to Order: You can’t go wrong here but the bars are amazing and if you can only order one thing that’s what I’d go with

The gelato bars is what the place is known for and the rotating flavours definitely keep you coming back because you definitely have to try them all. But the soft serve and sundaes are nothing to scoff at and are typically very unique flavours like blood orange, passionfruit caramel and amarena. As a huge benefit to others I’m sure they’re also all vegan!

iHalo Krunch

Location: 831 Queen Street West, Toronto, M6J 1G1. They’ve also got another smaller location at 318 Queen Street and will be opening another location at Vaughn Mills Mall in Vaughn. 
Hours: Mon-Wed between 12 pm – 10 pm, Thurs-Sat between 12 pm – 11 pm and Sunday 12 pm- 10 pm
Price Range: $6.50 
What to Order: Combination of flavors – best of both worlds!

iHalo Krunch is the one guilty of all those black cones you see all over the Toronto food Instagram accounts. The cones are hand rolled and dyed with natural activated charcoal which is what gives them the black colour. The menu here is fairly simple for the soft serves. Purple is ube, black is coconut, white is vanilla and green is matcha. You can do any combination of the flavours you want and you can even get all 4 soft serve flavours in one cone (that’s the all in!). They do seasonal flavours occasionally so keep an eye out for those as well.

The Sweet Escape

Location: 24 Tank House Lane, Toronto, M5A 3C4
Hours: Mon-Thur between 10 am and 7:30 pm, Friday-Saturday between 10 am and 8 pm and Sundays between 11 am and 6 pm
Price Range: $4 and up depending on size
What to Order: Scoops of ice cream!

The Sweet Escape is hidden away inside one of the buildings of the Distillery District – all the way at the back of it. It’s worth looking for because the ice cream is quite tasty and worth the sometimes long line up. There’s very little seating so my recommendation is to get your cup to go. 

Put A Cone on It

Location: 633 Bloor Street West, Toronto, M6G 1K8
Hours: Sun-Thu between 11 am and 10 pm and Fri-Sat between 11 am and 10:30 pm
Price Range: $3.99-$6.19
What to Order: Raspberry or Earl Gray – so good

The name pretty much sums up the concept. They add a super cute little waffle cone portion to the top of your cup so now you don’t have to worry about finishing an entire cone and can safely choose cup! You’re allowed 3 samples so I’d definitely recommend trying a couple before picking the one you’re going with. 

Roselle Desserts

Location: 362 King Street East, Toronto, M5A 1K9
Hours: Closed on Mon-Tue. Wed-Thu between 11 am and 6 pm, Friday between 12 pm and 6 pm and then again between 8 pm and 11 pm, Saturday between 11 am and 6 pm and then again between 8 pm and 11 pm and Sundays between 11 am and 5 pm
Price Range: $5 but definitely add the $0.50 for the additional toppings
What to Order: The Earl Gray soft serve

While they’re predominately a pastry/bakery shop Roselle Desserts does serve 1 flavour soft serve. Typically it’s the Earl Gray which is super delicious. It’s light and the flavour is not overwhelming at all. You also have the addition to upgrade it for $0.50 which adds 3 (!) toppings to it which are an earl gray short bread cookie, a lemon filling and tons of white chocolate pearls. There’s a nice little surprise of lots of extra pearls at the bottom of the cup! They do rotate out the soft serve flavour so depending on when you go you may get a different flavour. You can keep an eye on their Instagram to keep track of what they’re serving! Keep in mind that as per their website, the soft serve is weather dependent so if you’re heading there just for the ice cream perhaps give them a call ahead of time!

Mochi Ice Cream from Whole Foods Market

Location: 3 different Whole Foods Markets in Toronto: Yorkville (87 Avenue Road, Toronto), Yonge and Sheppard (4771 Yonge Street) and Leaside (1860 Bayview Avenue, Toronto)
Hours: Yorkville (Mon-Fri between 9 am and 10 pm and Sat-Sun between 9 am and 9 pm), Yonge and Sheppard (Mon-Sun between 8 am and 10 pm) and Leaside (Mon-Sun between 9 am and 9 pm)
Price Range: $12.99 + tax for a pack of 6 or $2.29 for one
What to Order: The strawberry! So flavourful!

Perhaps the most exotic on this list, mochi is a Japanese dessert which consists of sweet Japanese rice dough which covers the ice cream. Flavours include chocolate, mango, vanilla, strawberry, salted caramel and a couple more. 

Tom’s Real Dairy Freeze

Location: 630 The Queensway, Etobicoke, M8Y 1K5
Hours: Monday-Sunday between 10 am and 11 pm
Price Range: $2.85-$6.10
What to Order: Soft serve cone – specifically the Rainbow Burst but a giant shout out to the dipped ones as well

Tom’s Real Dairy Freeze gets extremely popular with lineups like out the door so off peak hours are your friend here although the line does move at an okay speed. First thing in the morning for example is however a good time. Wait, am I the only one that thinks ice cream for breakfast is suitable? Hm, well it got us out of the crowds so it works for me haha. This place is the one to check out the menu ahead of time because there are so many options! But my recommendations are the flavour burst rainbow soft serve or getting your soft serve dipped in anything. A giant bonus here is that it’s definitely one of the more affordable places on the list. They’ve got a small parking lot too so this one’s high on the recommended list!

 Bakerbots Baking

Location: 205 Delaware Ave, Toronto, M6H 2T4
Hours: Closed on Mondays. Tue-Thurs between 1 pm and 10 pm, Fri between 1 pm and 10:30 pm, Sat between 11 am and 10:30 pm and Sun between 11 am and 10 pm
Price Range: $4-$9
What to Order: Banana Pudding or Lychee Rosewater with Raspberry Flavours

Bakerbots Baking is a bakery (duh right?) and while I can highly recommend their pies (my husband loudly recommends their banana pudding), they also serve fantastic ice creams. You can go the full fancy route here with a cinnamon bun ice cream sandwich or even an ice cream sandwich between two or their super yummy cookies but with rotating flavours like banana pudding, cinnamon toast, espresso, ginger milk, London Fog (earl gray!) and so many more the ice cream completely stands for itself. My vote is for the Lychee Rosewater with Raspberry which was so incredibly delicious! Bonus points for the fact that it does a couple of vegan flavours and for it being right outside of a subway station (Ossington in case you’re wondering)! 

The Big Chill

Location: 566 College Street, Toronto
Hours: Mon-Sun between 3 pm and 12 am
Price Range: $4-$10 depending on what you get! Cash only!
What to Order: The black cherry cheesecake! 

The Big Chill has a ridiculous amount of flavours. They’ve got super flavourful choices like black raspberry cheesecake, salted caramel, toffee almond and ferrero rocher and then they’ve also got special flavours like polar paws, tiger tail and super kid! While I did not catch what any of those tasted like they did look super tasty! Worth noting too is that their cones are made in front of you! The interior of the restaurant here is also worth noting. It’s super fun and there’s a really nice outside patio area with a mural on the wall as well.

Booyah Ice Cream

Location: 16 Vaughan Rd A, Toronto, M6G 2N1
Hours: Mon-Thu between 2 pm and 10:30 pm and Fri-Sun between 12 pm and 11 pm.
Price Range: $2.90-$7.50
What to Order: The ice cream taco

Booyah was a really under the radar place for me until I saw a picture of their ice cream taco at which point I of course had to try the place. They do ice cream sandwiches similar to other places but since the taco is unique to them that’s what you have to get! It comes with a whopping 3 scoops of ice cream, whipped cream, sprinkles and caramel or chocolate topping. One of the flavours you must try is the white chocolate raspberry and the marshmallow!

 Fugo Desserts

Location: 205 Dundas St W, Toronto, M5G 1C8
Hours: Mon-Thu between 12 pm and 9 pm, Fri between 12 pm and 10 pm, Sat between 3 pm and 10 pm and Sun between 3 pm and 9 pm
Price Range: The specialty cones are $7.5. Scoops range from $3.25-$7.5 depending on size.
What to Order: Specialty cone, particularly the Cookie Monster

Honestly, unless you know about Fugo Desserts it’s super easy to walk past the place. It’s a really small location with no super large signage or anything but keep an eye out for it because you won’t want to miss this place. They’re known for their instagrammable mini donuts and super pretty ice cream cones. They do 3 different specialty cones. The one pictured below (and my recommendation!) is the Cookie Monster! It’s giant and completely shareable. We had problems finishing it! If you’re on your own and not up for the challenge of the cones, you can also get their ice cream in cups by the scoops!

Lickadee Split Ice Cream Shoppe

Location: 980 Coxwell Ave, East York, M4C 3G5
Hours: Mon-Sun between 1 pm and 11 pm
Price Range: $2.95-$9.95
What to Order: The Mini Sampler – 5 half scoops for $8.95

One of the more affordable places on this list you can get a mini cone for $2.95 or an XL cone with 5 scoops for $9.50. There’s tons of options in between. Gelatos and sorbetos are slightly more expensive but you can see the prices in the menu boards below as well. 

Milk Bar

Location: 90 University Ave, 2nd floor (Inside Momofuko Restaurant), Toronto, M5H 0A3
Hours: Sun-Mon between 11:30 am and 10:30 pm and Tue-Sat between 11:30 am and 11 pm. It closes daily between 4 pm and 5 pm. 
Price Range: $5.25 for the soft serve and $0.75 for the cereal crunch which you do have to add!
What to Order: The Cereal Milk Soft Serve

Milk Bar is this fantastic hidden little place inside Momofuko Restaurant with the absolute best cookies and this fantastic thing called crack pie. While the baked goods are absolutely fantastic, that is obviously not why they’re on this list. They do a soft serve and rotate flavours but their staple is the cereal milk soft serve and it’s exactly what it sounds like. It’s soft serve made on milk that cereal has soaked in! Not convinced? Try it – it’s seriously amazing. And to top it off they add crunchy cornflakes on top. It’s pretty much breakfast in ice cream form. So good!

Milkcow Cafe

Location: 2651 Yonge St, Toronto, M4P 2J6
Hours: Sun-Thu between 1:30 pm and 10 pm and Fri-Sat between 1:30 pm and 11 pm
Price Range: $5-$9
What to Order: If it’s in season, the water melon soft serve!

Milkcow is actually a Korean chain that’s opened it’s first location in Toronto. They’ve got 1 more Canadian location in Richmond as well if you’re ever out there. Their menu is pretty much all soft serves which is great because their soft serves are very good! It’s served in a cup because it’s very decadent with lots of toppings. You can see from the menu below the different combinations they have. One of their specials is the watermelon soft serve served in an actual slice of watermelon which I convinced myself in my head somehow counted as a fruit haha. It’s a season item but if they’re serving it then that’s what you have to have!

Bang Bang

Location: 93A Ossington Avenue, Toronto
Hours: Closed on Mondays. Tue-Thu between 3 pm and 10 pm. Fri-Sat between 1 pm and 10:30 pm and Sun between 1 pm and 10 pm
Price Range: $2-$8.75
What to Order: Anything – you honestly can’t go wrong. 

Saved my absolute favorite for last. I’ve honestly lost track of how many times I’ve been to Bang Bang but it does not get old. If you’ve never been there’s a chance you’ll think it’s over hyped because of how often it gets brought up as a must do but for once I can guarantee you this place lives up to the hype. Let’s start with the ice cream flavours. They’re listed on these tins on a wall (as pictured below) and there’s just so many of them! My absolute favorites are the earl gray and the lychee rosewater with raspberry but it’s worth sampling some of the uniquer flavours like avocado and espresso! Moving on to what you can get your ice cream in. You can get them in a cookie sandwich (which you can even do just a half of), in a cinnamon roll, in a puff or in a waffle (this is absolutely the best choice!!!). The cookies come in all kinds as well. From the everything to the ginger to the birthday cookie. Be aware though, line ups at Bang Bang are incredibly long and because of the sampling it usually moves slowly. Well, well worth the wait though!

   

I’ve been wanting to put this post on the best ice cream in Toronto together forever and I’m so glad I finally did! The ice cream scene in Toronto really is spectacular and you can’t go wrong with any of the places on this list. Did I leave any of your favourites out? How many have you tried in this list? Let met know in the comments and pin this post for your upcoming visit to Toronto to keep track of all the places!