Petersen’s Ice Cream

Oak Park, United States

3

Closed now

20 reviews

Accepts Credit Cards

Contacts

QR code, vCard

Telephone:
+1 708-386-6131
Website:
www.petersenicecream.com
Address:
1100 Chicago Ave, Oak Park, IL, 60302
b/t Marion St & Maple Ave
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:
0.4 miHarlem & Lake
0.5 miHarlem/Lake Green Line Station (North)
0.5 miHarlem/Lake Green Line Station (South)
Categories:
QR code
Download QR Image Download vCard

Map

Streetview

Activate map

Bussiness info

Take-out
Yes
Accepts Credit Cards
Yes
Parking
Street
Bike Parking
Yes
Wheelchair Accessible
Yes
Wi-Fi
No

Today

Today 11:00 am – 9:00 pm
Closed now
Local time (Oak Park) 10:49 Thursday, 12 June 2025

Business hours

Monday 11:00 am – 9:00 pm
Tuesday 11:00 am – 9:00 pm
Wednesday 11:00 am – 9:00 pm
Thursday 11:00 am – 9:00 pm
Friday 11:00 am – 10:00 pm
Saturday 11:00 am – 10:00 pm
Sunday 11:00 am – 9:00 pm

Description

Specialties

We sell super premium ice cream through our retail location, as well wholesale distribution to select restaurants, country clubs, hotels & resorts, and café’s.

History

Established in 1919.

Founded in 1919 by Danish confectioner Hans Petersen, Petersen’s Ice Cream is dedicated to producing only the finest old fashioned ice cream. It is for this reason we have consistently won every major award in the industry for excellence, including the Blue Ribbon at the Illinois State Fair an amazing 9 times.

Related places

Explore similar places:
1
mi
Sally’s Original Pancake House & Restaurant
544 N Harlem Ave
1
mi
Oberweis
124 N Oak Park Ave
1
mi
Red Mango
1044 W Lake St
1
mi
YoGo Station
1000 Lake St Ste D
1
mi
Cold Stone Creamery
134 N. Marion St
1
mi
Kaleidoscoops
1031 Lake St

Nearby

Browse nearby places:
40
ft
Allstate Insurance: Gary Longstein
1106 Chicago Ave
100
ft
Oak River Cleaners
1112 Chicago Ave
120
ft
Clear Skin Dermatology
1050 Chicago Ave
140
ft
Oak Park Pediatrics
1107 Chicago Ave
140
ft
Forest Aviation Insurance
1111 Chicago Avenue
150
ft
Rave Wines
1114 Chicago Ave

20 reviews of Petersen’s Ice Cream

No registration required
Place rating: 1
Minneapolis, MN
Smells can be deciving. Freshly baked waffle cones fill the air, but you might end up eating yesterday’s cone. The brand of ice cream is generic and you can tell. I’m not a brand snob, but I have no other way of explaning why my chocolate chip ice cream cone was grainy. Ice cream should be smooth and silky. My friend described the black walnut and Mackanic Island Fudge as bland and mass produced. Her waffle bowl tasted like medicine and was yesterday’s creation.
Place rating: 4
Chicago, IL
Peterson’s would easily scored 5 stars a decade ago, when it was a restaurant/​ice cream parlor. The establishment has been reduced to a mere ice cream shop, about one third of the former size. The hours are much reduced. Peterson’s opens for business at 1:00 PM. The day I visited it wasn’t fully operational as of 1:15, when customers were beginning to line up. The ice cream is still pretty good, but this place isn’t what it was, when it had full seating, and even displays of antique ice cream
still warrants a visit, though, a little piece of what used to be Oak Park.
Place rating: 1
Oak Park, IL
The only reason I am giving this 1 stars is because the hot fudge is really good and the ice cream good. But, we will not go back because it is a very unfriendly establishment. The energy is exhausting. We live in the neighborhood so this is disappointing. :(
Place rating: 4
Forest Park, IL
The ice cream is really good and reasonably priced. The server was extremely kind and very inviting. My son loved it so much that he ate the remainder of my cookie dough ice cream cone and even dabbled in his father’s chocolate ice cream after devouring his own sugar cone. Overall I like the place.
Place rating: 1
Chicago, IL
Went yesterday afternoon mainly because of fond memories. The ice cream was tasty & portion was generous, but it was a bad hair day at the ice cream shop. The woman with the scooper had black hair. Near the bottom of my cone, there was a black hair. She should be wearing a hair net.
Place rating: 2
Chicago, IL
My wife and I are ice cream fans. We were not fans of Petersen’s Ice Cream. Ice cream lacked any real flavor and the cones were stale. One of the young employees was eating (not with any utensils, fingers straight into his mouth) while serving customers their ice cream.
Take the extra time and head to Forest Park for The Brown Cow.
Place rating: 4
Chicago, IL
This is a very unique ice cream place.
The ice cream tasted very good.
They have some interesting flavors. For example, my son loves the superman flavor ice cream which it has l a raimbow color to it. I had a strawberrie shake and it was super good.
The only thing that It could be better would be the attitude of the person that took our order. I’m not sure if it was the owner but she never smiled while we where there. As soon as we got there every one walked in, so there was a line behind us. She was very efficient and I didn’t see any one waiting too long. They should have had another person helping.
I will be coming here again. I loved the quality of the ice cream and the place is very nice and interesting.
Definitely recommend it!
Place rating: 5
Elmwood Park, IL
Old School Ice Cream parlor.
I guess Petersen’s has been here a very long time. It’s a very nice and clean ice cream parlor. My daughter loves coming here. I think they are open from noon to 10 pm. The young kids that work there are pleasant. I love that they have an extra tiny scoop for the toddlers.
Nice to visit if you are dining in Oak Park.
Place rating: 2
Oak Park, IL
10 yrs ago this was a great place to have ice cream. The ice cream was delicious and the sundaes wonderful. When the place was sold to a new owner the ice cream quality went downhill and the drinks became nothing more than flavored milk. It’s a great location but for those of us who remember what the ice cream used to taste like, what’s being served now is really mediocre.
Place rating: 5
North Hollywood, CA
Great ice cream. I Unilocaled ice cream when I was in the area. This came up. Had pistachio there. took a large container of mack Island Fudge & Butterscotch to bring to friends. The loved it!
Place rating: 5
Chicago, IL
Loved this little Ice cream place. It was such a cute little spot had such a «home-​y» (if that’s even a word) to it that it felt like it was family owned. It had such a nice décor made me travel back in time I loved it.
They have a variety of different flavored ice cream and it all looked so good they even had chocolate dipped waffle cones (my FAVE). But I played it safe which kinda doesn’t make me too adventurous but you can never go wrong with a Hot fudge sundae wit chocolate ice cream it was really good best tasting Ice cream I’ve had in a while. My date got a turtle sundae that also looked really good!
Price is reasonable for the quality of the ice cream
I CANNOT wait to come back!
Place rating: 1
Chicago, IL
I love Petersen’s ice cream. I have fond memories of going to Petersen’s throughout childhood with friends, after sporting events and plays. Though the current old time ice cream shoppe is barely a shadow of its former self… it’s sad really. There’s no sense of community anymore and the selection of ice cream pints is pitiful. The fridge is almost always empty every time I go and they are always lacking some staple ice cream flavour. The «updated» Petersen’s is such a disappointment.
Place rating: 2
Chicago, IL
So after everyone telling me how great this place was I finally went, and I have to say I’m not impressed. Small kid size scoops of ice cream for my double scoop sundae. Fudge was nothing special. Ice cream was nothing special. Sundae size extremely small. Service was ok but nothing special. Price’s are not worth what you receive in product. I would go to Margie’s any day over this place and save money by going there.
Place rating: 3
Forest Park, IL
Great ice cream okay service
Place rating: 3
Oak Park, IL
A year later and still the same. Again, went in here on a really warm spring night
They close at 9pm during the week (which they prob should close a little later)
Got there about 5 min to close and got the stink eye from the young girl
She reluctantly let us in. Then I got the typical
«Warm» service (I am being totally sarcastic! Woman that works counter … Owner?
Is ALWAYS rude) and to put the cherry on top (pun intended)
The ice cream is average and overpriced.
Place rating: 4
Wilmette, IL
Good quality ice cream and lot of nice choices and flavors to choose from.
Place rating: 3
Oak Park, IL
Old fashioned ice cream shop in Oak Park! The turtle sundae is splendid, with hot fudge and the most decadent nuts! The cinnamon ice cream is a huge hit with my family-​old and young.
Place rating: 3
Nashville, TN
It’s decent and local, but the server seems a bit stoic. I do love the handwritten chalkboard signs and quaint white tables. Great place to take a date for some local charm. The ice cream itself tastes fine, but lacks a certain something that Brown Cow gives… there’s less personality, I suppose. You can get one of several flavors and even samplers, but they tend to run empty on waffle cones later on in the day. Meh, overall.
Place rating: 3
Dundee-Happy Hollow Historic District, NE
I was like a drug addict searching for her next fix. Thanks to Unilocal,I found my sugar fix at Petersen’s.
It’s a cute, old school style ice cream parlor. The staff working that day weren’t so old school mannered, she didn’t even try to be nice. Must have been a long day because she was grumping hardcore, it must hurt to smile. I asked to try a few flavors of ice cream and got the distinct impression it was a chore (not her job) to assist me. I went with a small scoop of cinnamon ice cream, $ 2.25 (must have been a kiddie scoop). Talk about cheap fix for my little addiction.
With my blood sugar back in check it was time to concur the rest off the day.
Place rating: 3
Worcester, MA
Oh well, another Chicagoland favorite destroyed by new owners. The owner was talking to the patrons asking how everything was. He admitted they no longer make their own ice cream but still follow the same recipes. So, they send it out, have it made, then store it at the location. A lot can happen in that equation. Too expensive for what you get now.
Good points: The bathrooms are very clean, and they still use a great quality whipped cream in a proper dispenser, but have cut back on the amount.
RATS! Not rodents, just in a Charlie Brown sort of way. In other words, darn!