Smitten Ice Cream

Ahh this was so tasty! I got the small 5 ounce TCHO chocolate ice cream scoop and it was delicious. The ice cream is incredibly dense and even though I am nutty pants about ice cream, I was feeling pretty full halfway through-​in a good way of course.
It’s not light and fluffy like gelato, but if you go in looking to satisfy your inner fat kid, the creamy organic freshness will definitely hit the spot.

This is my favorite ice cream in San Francisco, maybe my favorite anywhere.
It’s made on the moment, 100% fresh. Their crème fraîche flavor a few months was to die for. I still pine for it.

Probably THE best ice cream made using liquid nitrogen that I’ve ever had. The texture of the ice creams are smooth and ultra creamy, and while they have classic flavors, they also have really unique seasonal ones as well. I ordered the crème fraîche with pear caramel and it was delicious! Super refreshing and yummy. It is a seasonal flavor in the fall though, but when autumn comes around, I will definitely order it again.
The people working here are super sweet too! When I visit the city again, I will be coming back!

OMG I’m so smitten by Smitten!
Swung by after having late lunch at Pizzeria Delfina next door… oh you didn’t know? According to my Lyft line co-​passenger, weekend calories don’t count.
Ambiance/​Décor: No line to speak of?! I mean … it was raining when I stopped by, but knowing how popular this place is, this actually threw me off a tad.
Food: I tried the cookie dough flavor which had traces of pretzel in it. I seriously can’t believe how good this ice cream was. I’ve tried Bi-​Rite, Humphrey Slocombe, Mitchells… this tops all of them. The creaminess and perfect marriage of sweet and salty flavor was absolutely divine. I also love how they make your ice cream to order. How dope is that?!
Service: Super sweet girls working the front counter and machines. As a first timer, I was a little confused by the whole set up and the lady working the cash register suggested with zero hesitation whatsoever that I try the cookie dough pretzel flavor. It didn’t sound all that appealing, but I’m so glad I listened!
Overall: Absolutely recommend! I am DEFINITELY going back. Pricey but worth it for the occasional splurge.

Cookie dough ice cream. You must try this! One of the best ice cream flavors I’ve had in the city. Been to Joe’s ice cream, Ghirardelli, Swensens, Over the Moon, Cold Stone, and Mitchell’s but there is seriously nothing that can beat fresh made to order ice cream. The texture and flavors are unreal!
Yeah, it may be a bit pricey but it’s definitely something to try at least once for the experience of seeing the ice cream being made in front of you. Everyone working there is super friendly which makes it even better.
Flavors that I’ve tried
–Vanilla: can’t go wrong with a classic, but taken up a notch with it being made from scratch
–TCHO chocolate: if you’re a chocolate lover you have to go with this one. Very creamy
–Salted caramel: they made the perfect balance of sweet caramel ice cream with not an overwhelming amount of salt
–Fresh Mint Chip: now this one isn’t your regular mint flavor ice cream you get in the ice cream aisle at target. This legit tastes like you bit into a mint leaf! It’s pretty intense. Not my cup of tea but could be yours.
–Maple Brown Sugar Pumpkin (seasonal): definitely should try it when it’s back on the menu it tastes like pumpkin pie in ice cream form!

One of the most popular ice cream shops in the city, and definitely the most unique way of making ice cream that I’ve ever seen.
If you haven’t heard of Smitten before, they make their ice cream using a machine that the founder designed to scientifically create a «perfect ice cream every single time.» And the real kicker? They make it using liquid nitrogen – so a guaranteed chill ever single time.
They have four flavors that rotate daily due to there being four machines stocked at a time. That would be one of the downsides – there isn’t the expansive selection you find at other ice cream shops in the city. And since they make the ice cream in little batches to order, it’s likely that sometimes they won’t have samples to try since there’s no fresh batch already made yet.
That being said, the quality of the ice cream is dope and definitely one of the top spots in the city. My favorite I’ve ever had was the earl grey with chocolate chips. Not too sweet, absolutely creamy, and stuffed in a waffle cup. Divine

Loved this place! Such a cute little ice cream tent. Fun to watch the nitrogen machines making the ice cream and I don’t know if it’s because of the fancy method but the ice cream definitely was creamy! There were so many unique flavors and sauce combos we had trouble ordering. The best was the cookie dough pretzel /​chocolate chip flavor. I was also pleasantly surprised that they didn’t mark up the ice cream a crazy amount. Would definitely come back if I was in SF in the area!

I usually never order cookie dough ice cream but the cookie dough ice cream here tastes soooooooooooooo awesomely good!

The tingles on a body part is a good thing, right? Their mint chocolate chip got me tingling down there… on my tongue! What did you think I was going to say? Get your mind out of the gutter! ;-)
What is it about ice cream that no matter how cold it is outside, you’ll still indulge in a scoop or two? I mean, this doesn’t apply to frappes or boba, but ice cream is just so special.
We were approaching Smitten and I saw a parking spot after 9PM last Tuesday. I’ve heard great things about Smitten and tried a shop in Burlingame that has the same concept, but never tried Smitten. It was a hard decision between mint chocolate chip and salted caramel, but I asked hubby, and the cashier and she highly recommended the mint if we like mint, since they use real mint loves when making it. So we went with the mint, and then, I saw the cookie dough and pretzel one.‘doh.next time! Cool that the cashier mentioned the Smitten guarantee, in which they’ll make another ice cream for you if you’re not happy with your purchase.
A small is $ 5 and looks like on scoop, a regular is $ 6 but three scoops so we opted for the regular. We were waiting awhile for our ice cream to be made, but that’s the whole deal with the made to order liquid nitrogen ice cream shops. It wasn’t green, so you know for sure they use all natural ingredients. It was white and super smooth with the chocolate chips in there. First bites, very minty but refreshing. After a little bit my tongue started feeling the tingles. The ice cream held up very well, as we were able to finish it without much melting.
I still love Bi-​Rite the most, but Smitten is a nice but kind of pricey treat every once in awhile. I’ll definitely want to try that cookie dough and pretzel flavor next time. 3.5 rounded up.

The first time I came to Smitten, I absolutely fell in love — I wanted to walk up all the crazy Pac Heights hills for Smitten and sacrifice all of my clean eating. I had the Crème Fraiche with Pear Caramel, the seasonal flavor, and it was totally unlike anything I had ever tried before. The ice cream itself had this wonderful, rich, creamy flavor that wasn’t too sweet, so it complemented the amazingly decadent pear caramel very well. Definitely worth the extra fifty cents for the seasonal flavor… And I forgot to mention that since I’m an aesthetic eater (i.e. food must look good AND taste good), the ice cream here definitely didn’t disappoint on the appearance front.
My first experience was so good that I dragged a couple of my friends with me a second time even though we were all stuffed from brunch. I told them that Smitten was too good to miss. Since we had three people, we went for the flight of three so that we could try a multitude of options. We chose the Tcho chocolate, seasonal maple brown sugar pumpkin, and cookie dough (with pretzels and chocolate chips) as our three flavors and were super anxious to try them all. Honestly, we were a little let down. My friends were really excited to see the liquid nitrogen ice cream process, but the ice cream itself tasted just like normal ice cream… nothing special. And for the flight, the servings are smaller than a normal scoop, so it didn’t look as aesthetically pleasing either. They were all good ice cream flavors, just nothing as extraordinary as the crème fraiche flavor that I had on my first visit there. I was so sad that my friends weren’t able to enjoy the same experience that I had my first time!
Overall, I think you’re paying for the experience. Smitten is definitely on the higher side of ice cream in SF… even more expensive than Bi-​Rite, Mitchell’s, or Humphrey’s Slocombe. For $ 5 you can get a small size ($ 5.50 for the seasonal flavor), and a flight of three, tiny scoops of ice cream is $ 9. I can get two large pints of ice cream in a supermarket for that price! I would say, if you haven’t had liquid nitrogen ice cream before, it’s definitely worth a try. I would also recommend trying the seasonal flavors because they seem to have the highest probability of WOW-​ing you. I probably won’t frequent Smitten as much as I initially thought I would after this second, not-​as-​amazing experience. Don’t get me wrong — the ice cream was still good, just not worth $ 5 for a small scoop!

Came here after watching a movie at kabuki theatre. It was a bit after 10 pm on a sat night and there was a short line of about 8 ppl waiting at smitten. The line moved quickly. We ordered two smalls, mint chocolate chip and salted caramel, both in waffle cones. The total was around $ 13. Portions were pretty big but pricey for 2 mini scoops of ice cream.
Being able to watch the ice cream ingredients being frozen with liquid nitrogen was pretty neat.
We got our ice cream in about 5 min. It seems like each flavor is made at a different station and made to order, which seems pretty inefficient once the line gets longer. The mint chocolate chip was light and refreshing but not very flavorful. On the other hand, the salted caramel was very flavorful and a bit too sweet. My fav is still scoop in Palo Alto. The waffle cones here were a bit on the thicker side and did not taste as fresh as the ones at scoop. The overall ambiance was very cute and there was even a smitten alley for additional outdoor space to enjoy your treat.

Love smitten. So glad they opened another location, around a bunch of other shops and restaurants. We’ve tried salted caramel, TCHO chocolate (did % change over time?), or cookie dough when they had it. I liked that they had seasonal flavors, but TCHO chocolate was by far my favorite. Like the liquid nitrogen texture enhanced the chocolate flavor. After some spicy caramel was added, it tasted like dream. Would definitely end up there again.

watching the ice cream being made is so fun! The place is very cute, and the workers are so friendly and generous!!! One of the workers offered us an extra scoop for having us wait for so long (which we gladly accepted hehe)
I am confident that all of the flavors must be very good, but I personally recommend trying the chocolate mint flavor. It is nothing like the normal chocolate mint flavor you get in other basic ice cream stores — it is at least ten times more minty!!! Besides that, the ice cream here is soooooo smooth and soft!

Really good ice cream and really friendly people! I ordered a small salted caramel ice cream with chocolate sauce (extra $.75/​topping) and it was delicious. The small definitely felt sufficient to me. I kept eating and eating and was surprised that I still had more! I only wish they had more flavors to choose from.

On the fly ice cream making. Way different and cool. Each flavor is a custom order.
Love the consistency and texture. Smooth and creamy.
Try the flight, 3 flavors…
Caramel had the flavor that was closer to a butterscotch, which was yummy.
Crème Fraiche is smooth and subtle. Perfect drizzle of the pear caramel.
Mint Chip has a herbal flavor more like a basil mint. This is the most different but kudos for uniqueness.
Delightful place for a after dinner dessert.

The hype here is real folks — Smitten Ice Cream is some of the best around (dare I say comparable to bi-​rite creamery?), and if you can afford it (the hype regarding the price is also very real), you absolutely need to come here and try all of the things.
Star 1: How were the service and atmosphere?
The location is wonderful, the concept is brilliant, and the patio arrangement plays into the whole bit. If there’s a downside here it’s that you can’t get samples, but know that’s because they literally make your ice cream to order — right there in front of you! Fantastic concept. Star Granted.
Star 2: How were the portions relative to the cost?
Alas, if you think it’s too good to be true it probably is, and if there’s a single downside to Smitten Ice Cream (and it is without question the only downside), it’s the price, which is already well documented within these reviews. A small scoop of ice cream here at Smitten Ice Cream is $ 7.00. Seven dollars as in, a dollar or so short of a Chipotle burrito, double the price of a standard HALF GALLON of Blue Bell at the grocery store, and enough to get you roughly two and a half million calories at Taco Bell. Plain and simple — it’s too much. Yes, I get that this is seriously wonderful ice cream, and I get that it’s made in front of you, but $ 7.00 is simply too much for what you get. No Star Granted.
Stars 3 and 4: How was the food?
Unf. The consistency is gelato without being gelato, and the flavor is pretty much unlike anything I’ve had elsewhere with respect to the density and the consistency. My salted caramel tasted as though I was actually eating spoonfuls of caramel, and that’s in no way a bad thing. My cousin’s mocha was equally good, and everyone else in my party was raving about their flavors. I don’t know how they do it, but this is seriously some of the best ice cream you can get. Dual Stars Granted.
Star 5: Would you eat here every day if you could?
If I could afford it? Yes — it’s better than Blue Bell, and that’s not something you hear often from someone who has spent any significant amount of time in Texas. Star Granted.

Aargh — what has this world become that people wait 10+ minutes in line to pay $ 7 for a cone of ice cream?! The ice cream tastes great, no lie, and the location is fun (mind the cooool patio!), but guys, seriously. I don’t care if this caters the hipster crowd or anyone who doesn’t mind shopping at the equally overpriced Mollie Stone’s across the street. Those prices are just ridic.
#end.

Unique fresh and tasty ice cream. The only downside for me is the price. A small scoop of ice cream with a cone came out to $ 7! It’s really good but that’s too steep for ice cream. The service is friendly and the place is cute. There’s several benches and seats to sit at inside.
I’m not a big fan of mint chocolate chip ice cream usually but the one here is amazing! The mint tastes fresh and the texture is very smooth. The waffle cone is one of the best I’ve ever had I could eat that alone next time.

I’ve heard such good things about Smitten and was really excited to finally be able to try it. I wasn’t sure what flavor to get so I asked the cashier which one was her favorite and she said fresh mint chip, so I decided to give it a try. I also added the chocolate covered crispies topping. Mint chip is one of my favorite ice cream flavors so I had high expectations.
I was eager to take a bite when my ice cream finally arrived and the second I ate it, I wanted to spit it out. At first, it tasted like very fresh mint leaves (which potentially could’ve been a good thing), but soon after, it just tasted like I had eaten a spoonful of toothpaste. I tried to take a few more bites but I just couldn’t stomach it any more.
Sadly, I’m quite disappointed. The best part of my first time at Smitten was watching the ice cream get made with the liquid nitrogen. If I’m ever in the area again, I’ll probably give it one more try with a different flavor but until then, I don’t see what the hype is about at all.

My friend was taking me home, and I commented on the long lines at Smitten. She didn’t know what that was, so I explained to her the process of how Smitten makes ice cream: ingredients quickly frozen with liquid nitrogen. It’s visually appealing while you wait for it.
She was intrigued and turned the corner to find a parking spot. The line wasn’t as long when we got there, as turnaround is pretty quick. I ordered the strawberry white balsamic with TCHO crunchies.
It’s a very interesting flavor. The strawberry flavor was very light. I didn’t get much of the white balsamic flavor. The TCHO crunchies were good, and I was given an extra cup since I ordered a small and the crunchies would topple over.
I like the texture of this ice cream. It’s very smooth and creamy, but not airy like gelato. I think if the flavors were allowed to steep overnight, it would have a much stronger taste to it. It’s a little more on the pricey side, but you’re also paying for the ambiance, even if you take it to go.