Penny Chocolates and Gelato

This location closed. There is one in Fairfax, Va

Located in a historic building, Higgin’s Tavern, with attached farmhouse, on property that used to be a dairy farm! I like the couple of tongue-​in-​cheek historical exhibits inside. Nice interior but very small. However there is a lot of nice wood benches for seating outside, with geraniums and sun unbrellas to create a barrier from the speeding cars on Georgia. The gelato was very good. They had pretty standard flavors so I had a hard time choosing. I went with the vanilla, something I NEVER do, just because there were copious amounts of vanilla beans mixed in– you could see little black dots all over the beautiful white creaminess. But Penny, if that is your name, could we get some Gianduia, please?

If you want some exquisite chocolates and a back-​roads ride, shoot down Rte 108 to Olney and Penny’s Chocolates & Gelato.
Penny’s is a little shop on Georgia Avenue in Olney. I wanted to love it. I wanted the gelato to be worth driving all the way from Howard County. But you can get ice cream for a summer night in many places. (You can even get Yogiberry yogurt in Olney.) The draw at Penny’s is small chocolates — different types of chocolate wrapped around caramels, nuts or flavorings of lemon, tea and similar exotics.
The chocolates are expensive. Like $ 1 each or more, but they’re absolutely delicious and a nice little treat if you’re driving through Olney. We make a special trip, and I was a little disappointed. I love shops like Capogiro Gelato in Philadelphia where they serve a serious treat with a sense of fun. Penny’s is just serious. Employees in little chef outfits. Nobody smiling. It’s impressive chocolate, but you can tell they’re impressed with themselves.

The Gelato here is little pricey, so it is not going to be something you all the time but it is good enough for a treat on a special occasion or b/​c it is Thursday afternoon and you have had a tuff week.
The chocolates are good but are very different then your standard mass produced chocolate. My wife got a caramel covered chocolate thinking it would be like a caramello bar and it was very different… it did not have lots of crap in it that the big companies add. It was actual fresh chocolate.
Penny is worth the visit for the desserts, i have not had the coffee but they are advertising lots of coffee drinks in the morning.

So I came here because I had a gelato craving and it’s pretty closeby.
I got there an hour before closing and I’m hoping the lack of flavor selection was simply bc of the hour. They only had 5 flavors to choose from and none were in the coffee flavor family which was what I was hoping for. I got 2 regular sized (their small) cookies and cream and chocolate chip. Each were about 4 oz (they weigh) and it cost a little over $ 7. It was good but my bf commented that we could’ve just gone to Baskin Robbins down the street for the same stuff. I tried to convince him that gelato is creamier and better, but he was actually eating it and wasn’t buying it.
The actual retail space is super small. It’s like a small front room with just the gelato and candy cases. I noted that most of the case was empty. There were labels for chocolates but many were unfilled. Again, not sure if it’s just bc it’s late or just bc those flavors aren’t at all available.
It definitely has that gourmet feel… the workers wear uniforms with white hats and they sell little crafts. I’d give it another chance in hopes of trying more gelato flavors, but this experience was just ok.

I’ve never really experienced much gelato, so I didn’t really know what to expect, mostly ice cream but better-​tasting. The structure is really charming, I must admit, but I’d say it’s pretty expensive for something that is really not so great. A 3-​oz is pretty darn expensive, and I probably could get a much larger portion of probably a similar tasting flavor at Coldstone…
I must also admit it’s a pretty bad location, since the shopping center is usually not very populated and whenever I drive by, it’s nearly always empty. 3 stars for effort.

I have been anxiously awaiting the reopening of this store for an entire year now! In the parking lot of the newly added Roots/​Bark shopping center stands a charming little house which is now the home of Penny Chocolates and Gelato. The banner advertising the store has had me drooling since I first spotted it. Apparently this is a historical site. They have just finished its restoration.
Originally, this business sold purely chocolate. They were located further up Georgia Ave. in Olney but closed so they could relocate. Now they sell gelato as well and they have at least 10 flavors for you to choose from.
I was completely enthralled from the moment I stepped in the door. I love the simple, country-​like feel to it. All of the chocolate and gelato are clearly displayed in well-​lit cases.
The ladies working there couldn’t have been nicer. There were plenty of customers inside, but they took the time to offer samples of the gelato — as many flavors as we liked! I sampled the hazelnut, chocolate, stracciatella (which is vanilla with chocolate pieces), and the lemon. I ended up ordering a regular-​sized stracciatella and lemon — absolutely divine!
They have also added a little patio outside the store with some chairs, benches, and umbrellas to sit underneath. The sun happened to be going down and it wasn’t too hot — just a lovely spot and time to enjoy our fresh gelato.
When I go back (and it will be soon), I would love to try some of the other flavors — they had grapefruit, pistachio, cherry, coffee, etc. Also the chocolates looked tempting.
Can’t wait till my next trip!!!