The 10 best ice cream shops in Boston
This list covers ten places in Boston to get a cone or a sundae inside the city limits, from Hyde Park and Dorchester to the Fenway, the South End and the Seaport. It is written for residents choosing a neighborhood stop and for visitors who want a locally run shop.
The list favors shops that make their own ice cream or buy from a nearby maker, and it leans toward family-run places with long records. Few of these businesses publish prices on their websites, so none are quoted here. One shop closes for the winter and is marked as seasonal.
How we chose
The list is alphabetical, not ranked. Selection drew on each shop’s own published history, coverage and reader polls from Boston.com and other established outlets, years in business, and whether the ice cream is made locally. Every shop is inside the City of Boston; Cambridge, Somerville and Brookline shops were left out. Each entry was checked against the business’s website in November 2026.
Hours and prices below come from each business and change without notice. Call ahead if you are making a special trip.
Chill on Park
Alan and Wendy Issokson run this ice cream and coffee shop on Park Street in Fields Corner, around the corner from the family insurance and real estate office. The case holds 32 flavors made by Puritan Ice Cream in Roslindale, among them Grape-Nut, Graham Central Station and salted caramel truffle, and the staff turns any of them into a sundae, banana split, frappe or smoothie. Sorbet comes from Giovanna in Malden. The room seats 19, with chalkboard menus and a wall that sometimes shows artwork by neighborhood children. Phone ahead and the shop will hand-pack pints and quarts for pickup.
Hours: Monday through Thursday, noon to 8 p.m.; Friday through Sunday, noon to 9 p.m.
Address: 142 Park Street, Dorchester, MA 02122
Why they made the list
- Nearly everything on the menu is sourced nearby: coffee from Karma Coffee in Sudbury, baked goods from Haley House Bakery Café in Roxbury and tea from MEM in Watertown.
- The owners say they hire from the neighborhood, including through the Boys and Girls Club of Dorchester.
- Vegan customers can buy pints of vanilla and chocolate FoMu here.
- Seasonal flavors listed on the shop’s site include Dutch apple, eggnog, pumpkin Oreo and peppermint.
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Emack & Bolio’s
By the company’s own account, music lawyer Bob Rook started Emack & Bolio’s in 1975 as a late-night stop where musicians could eat ice cream after their gigs, first in a rented basement in Brookline’s Coolidge Corner. The name comes from two homeless men who were pro bono clients of the founders. The company’s location list now runs to New York, Florida, South Korea and Thailand. In Boston, the shops are at 290 Newbury Street in the Back Bay and 100 City Square in Charlestown. Hours are not posted on the company website, so call 617-536-7127 before a cold-weather trip.
Hours: Check current hours before you go.
Address: 290 Newbury Street, Boston, MA (Back Bay)
Why they made the list
- Boston.com readers voted Emack & Bolio’s fourth in a July 2022 poll of favorite ice cream places in Greater Boston.
- The company history says the founder worked closely with Aerosmith, The Cars and James Brown.
- Three more Massachusetts shops are on Cape Cod, in Orleans, Chatham and Wellfleet.
Far Out Ice Cream
New Zealand-style ice cream is the whole menu at Far Out: a customer picks a fruit, picks a base, and the staff blends the two to order. Fruit choices rotate with the season and include strawberry, blueberry, mango, raspberry, banana and a three-berry mix called Kookaberry. Bases are vanilla, chocolate, vanilla frozen yogurt, and vegan vanilla or chocolate. The founders tried the style on a trip to New Zealand and started selling it in Hull before opening a flagship in Brookline. Inside Boston city limits, look for the counter at Time Out Market in the Fenway or the shop at 1930 Beacon Street in Cleveland Circle.
Hours: Check current hours before you go.
Address: Inside Time Out Market, Fenway, Boston, MA; second shop at 1930 Beacon Street, Cleveland Circle
Why they made the list
- Yankee magazine named Far Out its 2024 Ice Cream Shop of the Year, according to the company.
- The company also reports a place on The Boston Globe’s Best of the Best ice cream list in 2025 and 2026.
- Blendies, the house blended drinks, come in flavors such as hokey pokey, salted caramel and matcha.
- Online ordering for pickup is available at each shop through the company website.
FoMu
Everything at FoMu is vegan. The signature ice cream starts with coconut milk and a blend of organic sweeteners, and limited batches sometimes use almond, oat or fruit bases made from scratch. Production happens in small batches at a commissary in Watertown, and the one FoMu cafe now listed on the company website is at 140 Brookline Avenue in the Fenway. Cookies are baked in house and ice cream cakes are sold grab-and-go with no reservation. Anyone with a nut, soy or wheat allergy should read the posted ingredient lists, because the kitchen handles all three.
Hours: Check current hours before you go.
Address: 140 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA (Fenway)
Why they made the list
- All products, toppings and condiments are free of dairy, egg and other animal-derived ingredients, according to the company’s FAQ.
- Local suppliers named by FoMu include Teddie peanut butter, MEM Tea and George Howell Coffee.
- The base contains no soy, though some mix-ins such as chocolate chips may.
- Pints are also sold at specialty grocers and scoop shops around New England.
The Ice Creamsmith
Two unemployed neighbors opened The Ice Creamsmith in Dorchester Lower Mills in June 1976, and the Mabel family has run the shop ever since; David and Robyn Mabel sold to their daughter and son-in-law in 2014. Ice cream is made on the premises in small batches and can go from freezer to scoop in as little as 24 hours. Regular flavors include sweet cream, a rum raisin with cherries, pineapple and apricots, and maple walnut, plus specials that change each month. This is a seasonal business: the family closes from Thanksgiving until March 1, so a late-November visit needs to happen before the holiday.
Hours: Noon to 9 p.m. daily in season; closed from Thanksgiving to March 1.
Address: 2295 Dorchester Avenue, Dorchester, MA 02124
Why they made the list
- November’s special flavors are pumpkin, peppermint stick and eggnog.
- A coconut-based vegan ice cream, dairy-free fruit sorbet and low-fat frozen yogurt are always available.
- The Sampler puts four junior scoops in one dish.
- Raspberry lime rickeys, ice cream sodas and malted frappes are on the drinks list.
J.P. Licks
J.P. stands for Jamaica Plain, where the founder opened the first shop in 1981 at age 26. The Centre Street store still does triple duty as retail shop, production plant and company office inside a former Victorian firehouse that the company calls the Mothership. Hard and soft frozen yogurt joined the menu in 1987 and accounts for about a third of sales, by the company’s count. New flavors arrive on the first Wednesday of every month; November 2026 brought pumpkin cheesecake ice cream and two affogatos. Six more Boston shops are on Boylston, Charles and Newbury streets, at South Bay, on West Broadway and in West Roxbury.
Hours: 7 a.m. to midnight daily.
Address: 659 Centre Street, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
Why they made the list
- Boston.com readers put J.P. Licks first with 22 percent of the vote in a July 2022 poll that drew nearly 2,000 responses.
- Everything the company makes and serves is kosher certified.
- Coffee has been roasted at the Jamaica Plain shop since 1999.
- The company counts 16 stores, all within 20 miles of Jamaica Plain.
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Lazy Bear Creamery
Opened in June 2023 on Neponset Avenue, Lazy Bear Creamery advertises more than 110 homemade flavors, with the selection in the case rotating daily. Vanilla and chocolate chip share the board with house inventions such as Lazy Forger, Rain Forest Crunch and Salty Sloth, and ices and sherbets cover dairy-free orders. The owner grew up in the Neponset section of Dorchester and runs the creamery with help from family. The room has indoor swings, a mural and a sloth figure hidden somewhere for children to find. On weekdays the doors do not open until midafternoon.
Hours: Monday through Friday, 2:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, noon to 10 p.m.
Address: 383 Neponset Avenue, Dorchester, MA 02122
Why they made the list
- Caramel sauce is made in house, and the hot fudge is sold as Nana Peach’s.
- Ice cream cakes are made to order with two layers of ice cream around a chocolate cookie crunch filling.
- The City of Boston included the creamery in its 2026 Neighborhood Business Guide, according to the shop.
- Homemade cookies and brownies are sold alongside the scoops.
See the full directory listing
Picco
Picco is a South End pizza restaurant with a serious ice cream program. Ice cream and dairy-free sorbets are made from scratch and frozen in the building, using milk from local farms and no eggs, high fructose corn syrup or artificial colors or flavors. The kitchen also makes the toppings and chips. Classic flavors stay on year-round and several seasonal ones rotate in; the brownie sundae is the dessert the restaurant singles out on the website. Picco has been on Tremont Street for more than two decades, by the restaurant’s own account. Walk-in seating can be limited, so book a table or order takeout.
Hours: Sunday through Tuesday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Wednesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Address: 513 Tremont Street, Boston, MA 02116
Why they made the list
- Pizza dough uses local flour from Ground Up Grain, according to the restaurant.
- The bar list includes a Picco Old Fashioned and an espresso martini.
- Gluten-free pizzas are available on request.
- A second Picco operates at 179 Main Street in Marlborough.
Ron’s Gourmet Ice Cream and Bowling
Scoops and candlepin bowling share one roof on Hyde Park Avenue, where Ron’s has operated since 1976. Ten lanes with automatic scoring are open to walk-ins, and the ice cream counter sells flavors made on site, including cherry vanilla with Bing cherry halves, caramel fudge brownie, Oreo cake batter and a dairy-free raspberry lemon sorbet. The Hyde Park kitchen also supplies Ron’s shops in Dedham and Westwood. Pizza, breakfast items, beer and wine have been added to the menu. The two suburban shops cut back to Friday through Sunday starting November 1, 2026, while the Hyde Park location lists daily hours and has parking.
Hours: Sunday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Address: 1231 Hyde Park Avenue, Hyde Park, MA 02136
Why they made the list
- Ron’s received a Boston Legacy Business Award from the city in 2023, according to the company.
- Boston.com readers ranked Ron’s third in a July 2022 poll of Greater Boston ice cream places.
- Lanes can be reserved online for leagues and parties.
- Catering brings the ice cream and toppings to off-site events.
Van Leeuwen Ice Cream
The one company here that did not start in Massachusetts began in 2008 as a yellow ice cream truck in New York City. Van Leeuwen’s Seaport shop at Pier 4 sells the full menu: ice cream built on milk, cream, eggs and cane sugar, a vegan line made with coconuts, cashews and oats, frozen yogurt, cookie sandwiches, sundaes and milkshakes. The company’s stated rule is short ingredient lists with nothing hard to pronounce. Local delivery and pickup can be ordered through the company website. The Seaport hours printed online contain an apparent typo, so confirm closing time before a late visit.
Hours: Check current hours before you go.
Address: 70 Pier 4 Boulevard, Suite 410, Boston, MA 02210
Why they made the list
- The vegan flavors are made with coconuts, cashews and oats instead of dairy.
- Ice cream bars are part of the company’s product line along with scoops and pints.
- Pints from the same company are sold in grocery stores and shipped nationwide.
See the full directory listing
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