Ultimate guide to the best places to get ice cream in Pittsburgh (2024)

Picking Pittsburgh’s best ice cream spot is like choosing the cutest puppy: They’re all pretty great.

Pittsburgh ice cream spans generations, from old-school ice cream parlors with devoted followings to unusual newcomers trying new flavors and approaches.

Here’s the scoop on the best places to get ice cream (while we’re all waiting for Dave & Andy’s to reopen this month in Oakland) that will leave you wanting a second scoop.

This post was updated in 2024. It was originally published on July 9, 2018.

In 2015, chef Chad Townsend left the world of line cooks and sauté pans to pursue a sweeter career. Along with his wife Lauren, Townsend launched Millie’s Homemade Ice Cream, selling at farmer’s markets and through a Community Supported Agriculture program. The inviting shops dish up seasonal flavors like Vietnamese Coffee, Rhubarb Sorbet, Kaya Mango Tango and Coconut Lime Sorbet, which are made with local ingredients whenever possible.

Begun by a doctor and his wife in Kittanning and specializing in the gelato they had enjoyed so much on vacations to Italy, Mercurio’s also is one of Pittsburgh’s best Neapolitan-style pizza places. The frozen Italian dessert is superficially similar to ice cream, but with less fat and frozen by a different method that makes it smoother and denser. Distinctive flavors rotate frequently, including Tiramisu, Stracciatella (vanilla with flakes of chocolate), Caffe’ Cannela (coffee gelato with cinnamon), Lemon Sorbetto, Black Cherry Bordeaux and Margarita Sorbetto (tequila, orange and lime, with a hint of salt). In 2022, they opened a location in Fox Chapel.

On June 29, 2024, Pittsburghbid a fond farewell to locallegend Gus Kalaris. Along with his wife Stella — the “Yiayia” inGus & Yiayia’s, who passed away on Oct. 26, 2016 — Gus and his ice ball pushcart were summer fixtures along the edge of Allegheny Commons Park for more than six decades. The couple and their cherished cart are even immortalized with their very own modelas part of another beloved local tradition, the Miniature Railroad & Village at Carnegie Science Center. Now managed by Mike Spanos, the cart will remain open Friday through Monday, from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. for the rest of the 2024 summer season. Just look for the humble orange cart and rainbow umbrella. Everything is heartwarmingly hometown — from the ice sourced from DiMartino Ice Co. in Jeannette to the house-made syrup flavors and the peanuts and popcorn that have long been on the menu.

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Wilkinsburg-based Leona’s Ice Cream Sandwiches distributes to more than 70 locations around the Pittsburgh metro area. Leona’s offers ice cream flavors including coffee, Lavender & Honeycomb and Cinnamon Oatmeal Lace.The sandwiches themselves are creative and seasonal: If a local farm has a bumper crop of strawberries, they’ll likely end up in strawberry rhubarb ice cream between layers of buttery shortbread. And all of the ice cream is lactose-free, meaning more people can enjoy the unique pairings. Leona’s is opening its first scoop shop at Lawrence Hall, 4609 Butler St., Lawrenceville.

Summer starts on the day Page Dairy Mart opens for the season. The beloved roadside shop has been scooping since 1951. Don’t miss the excellent banana splits and specialty sundaes, like the one made with warm chocolate chip cookies from Homestead’s Nancy B’s Bakery.

If ice cream isn’t quite rich enough for you, then it’s time to try custard. Though it looks like soft serve, frozen custard adds eggs to the mix, creating a thicker, less airy dessert. And in Pittsburgh, nobody does custard better than Glen’s. For almost 70 years, folks have flocked to Springdale for sundaes, cones and a few rounds of mini golf. And with a second location in Lower Burrell (which boasts a full menu of burgers and sandwiches), Glen’s won’t be making a last stand for custard anytime soon.

Antney’s looks like any other roadside ice cream stand. Take a glance at the menu, however, and you’ll quickly realize that Antney’s is something special. For starters, they make ice cream on the premises and the menu changes daily, brimming with flavors that you won’t find anywhere else, like Caramelized Banana and Lemon Poppyseed with Rose Petal Jam Swirl. In addition, Antney’s offers a rotating selection of frozen yogurt flavors, sorbets and nondairy vegan ice cream.

Summer in the South Hills wouldn’t be the same without this 1950s-style ice cream parlor (opened in 1984). Sugar and Spice features 24 flavors of soft serve, plus lots of hard ice cream. Flavors change frequently but lean toward the classics, like the Grasshopper, cinnamon and Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake. There is an array of sundaes and a surprising selection of cones. Besides the usual sugar and waffle, you’ll find pretzel cones, cones with M&M’s baked in and cones covered with chocolate.

People went crazy for rolled ice cream when NatuRoll opened. The ice cream style is common in Thailand, where a cream base is selected, spread onto a super cold ice pan, and then mixed with fresh fruit, Nutella, cookies and other ingredients. It freezes up very fast, and is scraped off the pan into little rolls of ice cream. They’re plopped ends up into a cup and covered with toppings. Try the Tortoise, which features ground pecans and a swirl of caramel.

Expect super deluxe scratch-made ice cream in amazing flavors like Lemon Rosewater, Smoked Maple Almond, Cannoli and Toasted Coconut Latte, as well as all the usual ones. They’ve also got a CSA that delivers four pints to your door for $25 a month.

They’ve always made the most delicious ice cream-filled milkshakes in town. But this humble chocolate candy and milkshake shop now has that same reputation across the country. At one of their Pittsburgh-area locations, try the Bananas Foster— a vanilla shake with caramel, fresh banana, toffee syrup, banana syrup and cinnamon and topped with whipped cream and a banana foster truffle. They also make great ice cream sundaes like the Cold Brew, with cold brew coffee poured over vanilla ice cream and crushed cookies-n-cream, topped with whipped cream and an espresso sea salt caramel.

The North Huntingdon destination offers all-season tubing, a beautiful miniature golf course, goats and sheep to feed — and some darn good ice cream. Kerber’s started more than 50 years ago as a tiny dairy farm and milk store. Since then, they’ve launched their ice cream line, making velvety hard ice cream unlike any in the supermarket. You’ll find all of the classics as well as signature flavors like the Cow Patty: chocolate ice cream with cookie dough, brownie chunks and peanut butter. It tastes a whole lot better than the name lets on.

For more local ice cream ideas: