Dolcenero Gelato

Yum! After hearing a few positive reviews of this place, we stopped by to try it for an afternoon snack. The place had one other couple inside and a few seats available inside and outside. You can try as many flavors as you like before selecting (there’s a wide selection of about 8 – 10 gelato flavors and 6 sorbet flavors — interesting ones, not just lemon). We got the medium, so we could select two flavors. The serving size was massive! Our two flavors were:
— Cayenne Chocolate — Delicious! The server warned us this had a spicy kick to it and it did! But it was a nice mix of heat and sweet — definitely equal components of both. Not too sweet, as it was more of a deep, dark chocolate — my ideal!
— Cannoli — A nice contrast to the chocolate. Cool with a relatively strong nutmeg flavor to it. Good studs of chocolate bites throughout as well.
Both flavors were very smooth and the perfect gelato texture, not too heavy but perfectly creamy. They each also had hard chocolate drizzled over the top — a fun addition and crunch! Price was $ 5 for the medium we shared, but it was a very good size to split and we both felt full until dinner 2.5 hours later. The shop also had cute local things for sale — coffeemakers, etc. Parking is easy and a small lot is shared with a few other stores/​available right in front of the shop.

Best gelato in Santa Monica! It can be difficult finding parking as the lot is teeny tiny and Main Street can be super crowded, but it’s totally worth the effort. The gelato servers are always friendly and offering samples of their delicious, fun flavors. My favorite combo is stracciatella and mint chocolate chip, but you really can’t go wrong with any of the gelato or sorbet options.

I am an ice cream lover. However, dairy does not love me so I try to avoid it:(. I have not been a fan of Sorbet until I found Dolcenero’s chocolate sorbet! It is so rich, creamy and best of all dark… it should be called Dark Chocolate! I got the Mint Chocolate Chip Gelato for my man, who is a Froyo fan, and he was duly impressed by the creamy texture. Such delicious treats, we will return!
I really hope they will make a Vanilla Bean Sorbet!

Came here on a hot day and got a small cup with Hazelnut and Coffee flavored gelato. While it wasn’t the creamiest nor richest gelato, the flavors were very good. The hazelnut tasted natural and the coffee flavor was bold and even had little pieces of coffee beans in it. I would come back again if I were ever in the area.

OMG
The best sorbet (yes, vegan!) ever.
So soft, so creamy texture and so flavorful!
I had pink grapefruits, banana, cantaloupe, lemon, wild berry etc so far, and all of them were so good!
The perfect dessert after the spicy Thai food!

Driving through this area for the first time was first off a pleasent surprise. So many of my Unilocal bookmarks are around here. Right next to Dolcenero is Thai Vegan and right across is Urth Caffe. On the way, I also saw LifeFood Organic and Rawvolution! I could spend a whole day around here and probably gain more than a few pounds. Anyways, Dolcenero was also a cute, pleasent surprise.
As an SD native and big foodie, I do have my favorite gelato place in SD. Just like Dolcenero it’s a neighborhood gem and a quaint hole in the wall. However, now I can say I have found my LA gelato place — may even be better than Escogelato in SD. The gelato here is like Italy’s version of froyo. It’s very authentic, fresh, light, and airy. All the flavors were incredibly intense and oh so delicious. Before coming here, we decided to check this place out but in the end go and try Three Twins Ice Cream; however, after sampling their cannoli cream flavor and more importantly their tiramisu in a cup, I was sold. I told my dad that we were staying here. Their gelato take on tiramisu is, as my dad put it, «the bomb.» It was fluffy, delicate and yet full of volume, richness, and texture. This frozen like custard sits on top of soaked lady fingers and topped with cocoa powder and half a lady finger. It definitely ranks up there with my favorite tiramisus. I only wish it had more layers of soaked lady fingers or maybe some cookies in the middle.
However, if that’s my only complaint then I guess I’ll give Dolcenero 5 stars instead of 6. This place makes me feel special and their gelato makes me happy (maybe more so my stomach than my hips). Although it’s way lower in calories than ice cream, you’ll definitely want to eat a lot.

Fantastic, reasonably priced gelato.
If you want freshly made Italian deliciousness, authentic flavors, and a friendly staff, look no further.
Get the Ricotta Fig. Yep, that’s right. Ricotta! Fig! It’s as amazing as it sounds. If you have more room, try the wildberry cheesecake, or the pistachio. You really can’t go wrong with these flavors.
If you love dairy free, this store also has a great selection of sorbet flavors. They appear from a distance to be delicious, but I’m sticking to the cheesy deliciousness. And the cheesy jokes.
Parking: there’s a very small lot out front, or try to grab a spot on the street.
Of note, there’s an amazing ramen place next door! A great date opportunity, dinner/​dessert :D.

Had the dolcenero (dark chocolate). It was alright. A little expensive.

Great place, the Dulce de Leche was good. The gelato was the perfect texture, by far the best I’ve had. If you’re worried about the portions… don’t. My medium cup felt like a large because of how overflowed it was! Would definitely recommend this place.

Cashier let us sample a few different flavors before making a choice of coffee and wild berry cheesecake in a medium-​sized cup. Only $ 5 for gelato?! What a deal. I learned while we were there that gelato can have about 25% less fat than typical ice cream but it’s still very rich and flavorful. And they do not serve any gelato older than 24 hours so you know what you’re eating is fresh!
They’ve got pretty standard flavors with a sprinkle of unique ones like apple pie and «Grandma’s cookies».
It isn’t a definite winner over some other options like Ben & Jerry’s and Three Twins down the road but it was a good experience: a nice cherry on top of a date night out in Santa Monica.

Truly tasty gelato. My dad snuck in here and got a pint of two of my mom’s favorite flavors: chocolate and salted caramel. I had seen on the chalkboard outside that their chocolate gelato was a favorite… and a way to see if a guy was worth dating (Step 1: Buy chocolate gelato. Step 2: Bring to boy. Step 3: If he likes the gelato, he’s worth asking out. Pretty cute if you ask me).
So although I am trying to avoid dairy nowadays, I just couldn’t pass up some gelato.
Okay first off this is real gelato. Was really good. I loved the chocolate, it was dark and rich. The salted caramel is really good too but it’s pretty salty and not really what I’d think of as a desert gelato on it’s own, to be honest. However, with the chocolate it was great.
Only problem with this place is that it’s right next to my favorite vegan Thai place, so I’m always going to be tempted to come in and buy a pint to take home! Can’t wait to come back and try some more flavors.

We arrived to a front row parking spot, which was super sweet — especially in this area where I presume parking can be troublesome.
We sampled tons of flavors, and everything was pretty good. I ended up ordering a small Ricotta Fig and Blueberry Cheesecake.
My boyfriend ordered a Panne Cotta and Salted Carmel in a small size.
These were a nice afternoon treat but didn’t beat out my favorite gelato spot, Pazzo in Silverlake.
Staff was friendly as we sampled several different flavors :)

Unilocal 2015 Challenge #95
WHEE!
After leaving Urth Caffe, we decided we needed dessert. And we were going to go to a Ben and Jerry’s that was just down the street when my friend dot_​ham said «Ben and Jerry’s or Gelato» and we were like wait what gelato? He pointed across the street and up popped Dolcenero Gelato. A quick Unilocal search with a 4.5 rating? We’re in SM. Let’s try something different! So we scurried across the street and went inside to a somewhat small gelato shop. There were, I wanna say, at least 15 flavors in there, but we ended up with
Strawberry Sorbet– A little on the sweeter side for me, but creamy and definitely for people who love the strawberry taste.
Dolcenero– It’s dark chocolate. It’s luxirious, creamy, and tastes very sweet. Can’t handle the sweetness? It’s okay xD. But yeah since it was DARK chocolate here, it had less sweetness than the milk chocolate gelato one we saw. But it was really really good. :O Would totally eat again.
It was $ 4.50 for a small (one scoop) and they do accept credit card. They have some other things (like tea cups) that they sell, from other artists in the area, which is kinda nice as it gives it business and décor as well. They have a few tables inside to sit at, along with some inside :)
Come give it a visit, if you come after you visit Urth Caffe! At the time of this writing it has 33 reviews, so not many people know about it):

Hands down the best Gelato in town. If you are a person who loves Gelato you are in for a real treat. You can’t ask for a better selection of Gelato ice cream. The Gelato is made fresh here on site. Outside of Italy this the best Gelato on the west coast you will get.
You numerous unique flavors that you don’t get in normal Gelato stores. If you live in the area or visiting the are it’s a must to try. I highly recommend trying the Tiramisu or the mint Gealto. No questions this place is worth the trip. Very friendly owner and staff.

I saw Alan B.‘s review for this place that opened just about two months ago and after looking at other Unilocalers’ reviews, I knew I wanted to try it!
I went on a Saturday in the mid-​afternoon and it was a great time as there was only one other customer there. The selection looked excellent! The lady behind the counter offered samples. I tried the mascarpone and wafer, wildberry cheesecake, addictive chocolate, and coconut. All of the flavors were excellently made. The texture was smooth and the gelatos were very creamy. Each bite just melted on my tongue.
I opted for a small with two flavors — chocolate & mascarpone and wafer — for $ 4.50. I actually appreciate the cups that they use versus the typical dishes as they were easier to hold and they were able to pile the gelato in them nicely!
What a great addition to Main St.

You scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream.
My husband surprised me with a trip to this gelateria last night. Upon entering, I knew I was in for a treat. The gentleman who owns the store studied gelato in Italy. He makes all of the gelato right here on the premises.
I love the more unique flavors, and a couple of the exciting ones here included cinnamon cream, cheesecake, mascarpone, and grandma’s cookies. They also have the classic flavors like vanilla, hazelnut, and a wide variety of sorbets. The ice cream is incredibly light, not too sweet and so creamy. I love that gelato is so much less dense than normal ice cream. It enables me to eat more without feeling guilty!
For a medium and a small it was around $ 11. You can have two flavors in a small or three in a medium.

Excellent texture and flavor! I felt like I was in the south of Italy eating my Gelato next to the Ocean!
Highly recommended! Amazing costumer service by NICOLA! GRAZIE DI TUTTO! !! Just waiting «Mirto» icecream! Auguriiiiii! !!!

As I soon as I discovered that this is the next best competition to Grom. I rushed over to try it.
The owners are Italian from Florence and Sardinia.
I did a tasting and it was difficult to make a selection. I selected the dulce de leche and the Dolcenero chocolate. Everything looked and tasted so good. It definitely had the texture of authentic gelato unlike the popular Gelateria Uli in Downtown LA.
Located next to Ramen Jinya. I recommend after dining at Jinya to head next door to have a gelato for dessert.
Street parking or if you’re lucky to find a spot at the Dolcenero parking lot.

So I went to Main Street with my coworker to get some lunch and we were definitely in a food coma state when we left but decided to get some gelato on the way back to work instead of coffee from Urth.
And it was a great decision.
The gelato here is extremely true to real flavor. The butter salted caramel absolutely melts in your mouth and the chocolate… yeah it really is one of the best. I have to admit, to me, it’s lighter and fluffier than other gelatos that I’ve had before — but still retains a really solid texture. The prices are also great for a gelato place. A small/​kids filled me up and was about a dollar less than Grom in Malibu or other places I’ve been.
I had the mint gelato and it was so invigorating that I really didn’t need coffee. It definitely work me up in a delicious way.
I’m excited to come back (especially in this wonderfully warm weather) and see what other flavors are being swapped around.

This shop, run by authentic Italians, features authentic gelato and sorbet. The soft open is this Sunday, March 15. As such, I can’t comment on the storefront, but I was able to try a couple of their flavors at a party. And let me tell you, it was the best I’ve had outside of Italy. In fact, better than a lot of the places there. I’m not a lemon dessert person, but even I would buy their lemon sorbet. I’m looking forward to trying some more as soon as they open.