Pittsburgh has many notable ice cream parlors to satisfy the sweet tooth of young and old alike. The city offers everything from traditional scoops to milkshakes and gelato in designer flavors. The next time you are in need of a cool treat, check out this list of Pittsburgh's best ice cream parlors.
Klavon's
This is the place in town that ships in ice cream from the famous Penn State Creamery where students of ice cream create the Coffee Break, Bittersweet Mint and Alumni Swirl, engineered by experts for maximum deliciousness. Klavon's serves up gigantic, custom-made sundaes. The shop is in a funky, cool old building, too.
Page Dairy Mart
Page Dairy Mart offers a great variety of frozen wonders, from soft-serve and dip cones, arctic swirls and massive sundaes to Hawaiian shaved ice. Check out the "Yinzer Sundae," comprised of Heath bar pieces, white chocolate chunks and chocolate in a warm blondie topped with hot caramel sauce. Paige Dairy Mart is an old-school Pittsburgh tradition, and it only opens seasonally. In the summer prepare to stand in line.
Millie's Homemade Ice Cream
Opened in 2014, Millie's is like a farm-to-table ice cream shop with treats made from all-natural, local ingredients. If the strawberry farmers in Pennsylvania are having a good year, you can bet the strawberry ice cream at Millie's will be fresh, homemade and outstanding. They do interesting things with new and different flavors, too, such as Vietnamese Coffee. It's a cute, kid-friendly place.
Dave and Andy's Homemade Ice Cream
You'll want to try the Cinnamon Toast Crunch yogurt and oatmeal cookie ice cream in a homemade waffle cone. This spot doesn't take credit cards, so bring cash to enjoy Dave and Andy's offerings.
Antney's
Antney's offers puppy cups for your dog. If that doesn't win you over, the ice cream selection includes flavors like pecan sticky bun, shoe fly pie, banana cream pie and vanilla turtle cookie. The store is tiny, so you might have to eat your ice cream standing up or sitting in the car. Antney's is open seasonally, from approximately March until October. Check their Facebook page for days and hours of operation.
The Milk Shake Factory
This family-owned store first opened in Lawrenceville 100 years ago. It's got trendy salted watermelon and chocolate raspberry truffle shakes along with more traditional flavors like chocolate and vanilla. Ice cream flavors include mint chocolate chip and cinnamon bun ice cream. The store also sells treats like chocolate-covered bacon, chocolate-covered strawberries, or both in the same cup. The gourmet shakes cost $7 if you want to splurge.
Mercurio's Gelato
This list would not be complete without gelato and Mercurio's is a family-operated pizza-and-gelato parlor worthy of mention. Mercurio's has more than 200 flavors that rotate. Featured flavors may include Coconut Pie, Death By Chocolate, Vanilla Custard and Dulce de Leche. The Neapolitan pizza is great, too.
Sugar and Spice
Family-run for more than 30 years, Sugar and Spice has soft-serve, hard dip, yogurt and ice-cream cakes. With its ice cream truck, the shop has hit the road the past three years, catering at businesses, schools and special events.