These are the 5 best places to get ice cream in Portland

One of the things that makes life worthwhile is ice cream. And one of the things that makes living in Portland worthwhile is the city’s ice cream scene.

This city surely boasts some of the best frozen dairy and non-dairy desserts in the nation, whether it’s a scoop on a cone that takes you back to your childhood or a cup of gelato that takes you to a forest.

What is the greatest of the best, though?

I tried to figure out which Portland ice cream shops were the best this summer. Not the newest, the strangest, or the most well-branded. Which, however, offered the best ice cream?

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Some restrictions: I chose to leave out soft serve but add ice cream, gelato, and custard. My argument is that the ordinary person could distinguish between any of those and soft serve if they were blindfolded, but not between, say, ice cream and custard or gelato and ice cream.

Additionally, I made the decision to only look at stores that produce their own ice cream. I admire the game if they are combining someone else’s ice cream in different ways. However, I only needed ice cream produced by the ice creamery itself for this final ranking.

I also restricted myself to Portland itself. Excellent ice cream is one of the many lovely things that can be found in the suburbs. But somewhere I had to stop. There is one exception to this rule, though, and that is only because it also includes outposts inside cities.

I visited and returned to Portland’s ice cream shops for several days. I sampled new varieties at my tried-and-true favorites and visited locations I had never gone before. I asked my five-year-old daughter and my coworkers what they enjoyed while we visited various locations.

In the end, we came up with a list that we all largely agree with.

I ate a lot of ice cream for this piece, and the fact that I wouldn’t think twice about getting a scoop at any of the stores on this list if you asked me to right now is proof of the real power of content.

Without further ado, here are my official—and very subjective—top five Portland ice cream destinations.

5. Cloud City Ice Cream

Those who adore Cloud City genuinely like it. It was ranked as the 33rd greatest independent ice cream shop in the nation by Yelp in 2023. Additionally, our readers chose it as Portland’s greatest ice cream in 2024.

Out of a storefront in a strip mall next to the Safeway on Woodstock in Southeast Portland, Cloud City Ice Cream has been serving handmade scoops of fun flavors like Circus Friends (with frosted animal crackers), Sasquatch Tracks (like Moose Tracks but local), and Gold Digger (a chocolate peanut butter concoction) for more than ten years.

Cloud City is an excellent example of a neighborhood ice cream parlor. Although Woodstock doesn’t offer as many frozen dessert options as some other neighborhoods, Cloud City’s high-quality ice cream makes it worth ten times as much as other locations.

These tastes are inventive, but not so inventive that children wouldn’t like them. Actually, children adore this location. If my five-year-old assistant were creating this list, she would probably rate it first because of the Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel’s delicious chocolate and caramel swirl, the adorable décor, and the case’s uni-cones—sugar cones covered in sprinkles and dipped in white chocolate.

Stop by for a uni-cone—or anything really—if you’re in the Woodstock area this summer. Bring the children as well.

Details: 4525 S.E. Woodstock Blvd., Cloud City Ice Cream, open daily from noon to ten p.m., cloudcityicecream.com

4. Salt & Straw

I knew that by include our native dessert giant Salt & Straw, I would undoubtedly enrage some people who think the Malek ice cream empire is too corporate. My objective with this assignment was to honestly list what I believe to be the best ice cream in the city.

Guys, I can see your rebellious urge to say “damn the man,” but the fact is that Tyler Malek’s ice cream is consistently fantastic and fascinating, which is one of the reasons Salt & Straw is growing all over the world. That and his cousin Kim Malek used to be the Frappuccino Director at Starbucks.She has some business experience.

Let’s think about the ice cream, though.

Indeed, they occasionally provide varieties that include gravy or bugs, and occasionally those flavors are rather tasty. However, the standard flavors and hours open departments are where they excel.

For example, you can purchase the Chocolate Gooey Brownie every day of the week. I can always rely on Chocolate Gooey Brownie, a rich, fudgy chocolate with significant chunks of chewy brownie, if I’m craving chocolate ice cream and don’t want to waste calories on something that might not taste well.

Yes, Salt & Straw may draw a crowd, particularly when visitors are sampling every flavor. Here’s a suggestion, though: Breathe deeply, keep in mind that time is a myth, and that ice cream is at the end of this line. Then, pretend to be a tourist and sample each flavor for yourself.

Details: Salt & Straw, open daily from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. at various locations, saltandstraw.com.

3. Cornet Custard

The newest store on Portland’s ice cream block to be included on this list is Cornet Custard. However, the product is not necessarily new just because the storefront is.

When Ripe Cooperative was a temporary pandemic location, Portland culinary titans Mika Paredes and Naomi Pomeroy began producing Cornet Custard. Then, at the Colibri flower shop in Northeast Portland, they began serving weekend-only scoops and Cornet pints.

Pomeroy passed away in a terrible accident on the Willamette River in 2024, only two months after Cornet opened. Following Pomeroy’s passing, Paredes kept on the custard business and took a position as cook at L Echelle, a traditional French café next door. Pomeroy had dreams before she passed away.

The custard at Cornet always feels celebratory. With 12 eggs per quart, it’s opulently creamy, and the mix-ins—whether they’re chewy brownies, thick caramel ribbons, or crunchy peanuts—aren’t cut corners.

You will need to return time and time again to experience the full impact because the flavors here are always changing.

Details: Cornet Custard is open from noon until 9:30 p.m. at 4529 S.E. Division St. Wednesday through Saturday, from noon to 8:30 p.m. Cornetpdx.com on Sunday.

2. Lovely s Fifty Fifty

My family lived on the University of Wisconsin campus in Madison for six years when I was a child. At the Babcock Dairy Shop, I received my first taste of transcendent ice cream, Orange Custard Chocolate Chip.

Since then, I’ve been searching for that flavor.

Thus, you can only imagine how shocked I was to discover it once more on a lovely late spring evening after lining up for Lovely’s Fifty Fifty to open and then licking the Orange Agrumato tasting spoon.

Indeed, the texture was provided by olive oil rather than custard, the color was more subdued, and there were no chocolate chunks. I was reminded of the ideal scoop on the steps of Babcock Hall when I was five years old by the mellow yet tangy idealized orange flavor.

Even on a Monday, this lovely sister is well-known for Sarah Minnick’s top-notch pizzas and its Netflix-inspired lines. I will argue, however, for the ice cream, which is available for those who are not seated for pizza to scoop from a case off to the side of the main dining area.

Perhaps the flavor won’t transport you back to your most memorable ice cream moment. However, the complex yet delectable flavors and the smooth, creamy texture will undoubtedly remind you of why you adore ice cream.

Details: lovelys5050.com; lovelys Fifty Fifty, 4039 N. Mississippi Ave., open everyday from 5 to 10 p.m.

1. Pinolo Gelato

Even though Pinolo Gelato has been serving gelato on Southeast Division for a decade, I had never visited the sweet little shop until I started my work on this story this spring.

And as soon as I tasted their Foresta flavor for the first time, I realized I had made a grave error.

Therefore, please accept my apologies to Pinolo Gelato and the entire Portland ice cream community for my oversight. When I claim that this is the top ice cream business in Portland, I honestly have no doubts about where it should be included.

Yes, gelato is not technically ice cream. It has less sugar and less fat and is not quite so cold as ice cream, which gives it a softer texture.

But for our purposes, it s in the broad ice cream category.

Born in Pisa Sandro Paolini opened Pinolo in 2015 and still owns the shop and creates the gelato flavors. Each batch is made fresh every morning by another Pisan, Luca Profeti, using thoughtful ingredients and ingenious combinations.

We were blown away by a pistachio chocolate with a pistachio ganache that was available earlier this spring. And we tried a cherry flavor that was just like eating a really great cherry.

The specials at Pinolo generally rotate every two weeks. So if you find something you like is available, you should probably stock up.

One flavor you will want to keep an eye out for is the aforementioned Foresta, which tastes like a forest smells in the best possible way, and has been on my mind since I first tried it.

I call this a cult favorite, said Shelly Sullivan, Pinolo s manager. People come from all over the state to pick up pints of this flavor.

The process to develop a gelato that tastes like a walk in the woods is anything but simple.

Sandro forages for the new growth fir tips, Sullivan said. They are steeped with the juniper berries in a simple syrup to create the beautiful flavor.

Gelato, when it s bad, can be icy and lacking the flavor of a good ice cream. But when it s good, like it is at Pinolo, it s smooth, dreamy and, don t tell anyone I said this, better than the American version.

Plus, you just can t underestimate the combination of a small cup of frozen magic and a tiny, colorful spoon.

Open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., Pinolo Gelato is located at 3707 S.E. Division St.; their website is pinologelato.com.

Lizzy Ackercovers life and culture and writesthe advice column Why Tho?Reach her at 503-221-8052,lacker@oregonian.com.

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