Polo Palo

This place is so cool! Gelato on a stick? Genius. The owner is really nice, and it just seems like a delightful place to enjoy an afternoon. My friend got the Reese’s and then decided she needed the tiramisu (which she enjoyed even more than the first one). I got a strawberry bar. They have lots of nondairy options if you can’t have gelato. You can get sauces and toppings for a little extra. This is a great place — check it out!

Stumbled upon Polo Palo a few summers ago and I’ve been obsessed ever since. Gelato on a stick — what a concept! Gelato is already incredible to eat on its own, but put it on a stick… and customize by dipping it and coating it with a topping? Oh my! With a huge variety of gelato or sorbetto to choose from and the many different toppings and dips to mix and match, you are bound to find a few that will satisfy your tastebuds. Everything is fresh and incredibly delicious. And the biggest plus of all is the fact that the owner Tony is genuinely the nicest guy you will meet in East Haven. I travel from Meriden at least once every two weeks over the summer to get my Polo Palo fix and I’m not ashamed!

I do NOT know why this place has four stars? It was a totally disappointing trip down there. All of their «gelato» are in Popsicle form! Hard and frozen with very little taste. Their frozen yogurt wasn’t bad but all their fresh fruit toppings were brown and rotten. Just a gross experience. We went down the street to Jennifer’s to get ice cream instead!

I wish I liked gelato, because this place is phenomenal. I can only speak for their smoothies (hello, a passionfruit smoothie served in a hollowed out pineapple? Yes, please!) and fresh fruit bowls, but both were super tasty and fresh. There’s a huge difference in a smoothie consisting of fresh blended fruit and a smoothie made of dairy, fruit juice, and sugary crap (looking at you, Smoothie King and Jamba Juice!)
There are literally hundreds of flavors here, the possibilities are endless, and apparently their gelato is imported straight from Italy. Again, I don’t like gelato so I can’t speak on the quality or flavors, but the smoothies were awesome and the owner was extremely friendly and it’s evident that he takes pride in his product.

They closed early on the day their groupon expired like a scum. 90% of the pops I had were old and frost bitten with a weird slime layer — definitely not fresh. I asked for the flavors that were made that day and they had to go in back to get them. Not impressed.

This place is awesome! All the fruit gelato has no sugar added & they are incredible. I tried one of the take home cups of non-​fruit gelato — amazing! I have not tried the various toppings available yet but enjoyed the coconut one. The place is cute, there are tables on the sidewalk (maybe too cold now for that) and the owner is very friendly, welcoming, courteous and patient with questions! Will definitely continue going to try all the varieties they have.

I am here at least once a week. Tony make the absolute best smoothies in the entire state. All of their ingredients are imported from Italy and when you eat there items you can tell.
You can tell that quality is a priority. The prices are reasonable and they serve more than gelato and smoothies. They sell cheese cake and other delightful pasties.
I can’t say enough good stuff about Polo Palo!

There Are Very Few Things In Life Better Than A Orgasm. And Honestly Polo Palo Is One Of Them. I Stumbled Upon This Gem When I Was Taking A Walk After Having Slices From Depalma’s With My Boyfriend, I Love Ice Cream But Gelato On A Stick? Sounds Interesting, Then I Walked Into Polo Palo To A Very Friendly Owner Named Tony.
I LOVEDDDD The Customer Service I Received Tony Was Able To Answer Every Question I Had About Ingredients, History On Polo Palo, & Which One He Suggested I Try First.
Now The Gelato On A Stick Is Nothing Less Than AMAZING !! So Many Different Flavors To Choose From, Different Dippings, And Coatings! And To Top It All Off? Everything Is 100% Natural No Preservatives; Can It Get Any Better Than That ?
I Ended Up Having A Regular Fruit Salad Bar (45 Calories? Hell Yes !!) Which Was About 2.50 It Was Practically Gone 7 Feet Away From Polo Palo
I Ended Up Walking Right Back In For A Second Round (Yes It Was That GREAT) A Fruit Salad Bar Dipped In Chocolate And Covered With Cookie Crumbs If Tony Suggests It Take His Advice He Won’t Steer You Wrong, I Even Left My iPhone And Tony Was There With It For Me.
Overall, Ill Be In 2 — 3 Times A Week, I Was An Ice Cream Girl But I’ve Found A New Love. Polo Palo.

I have always preferred my ice cream in a «chewy» sort of application (ice cream on a sandwich, with toppings, with bits, etc). so this stick concept really worked for me.
I had the rice pudding flavor, which I really liked — added coconut and oreo topping. My husband had the strawberry-​banana granola, which was probably mistake as it wasn’t too creamy. My nephew is lactose intolerant and had a fruit sorbet, which he ate right up. Others in our group tried chocolate and other flavors and we also sampled an ice cream sandwich, which was good.
The place is very clean, and everyone who works there is friendly and helpful.
They have some other gelato-​based desserts, which I would try next time. We didn’t notice them until it was too late, but the cannoli pie looked appealing.
As other reviewers have said, the portions are small and you could easily eat two (which is still affordable).
I’m glad they had a Living Social deal because we’re not local and otherwise wouldn’t have known about the place. We were able to visit while on a day trip to Yale.

Just stopped in for the first time and was pleasantly surprised. Agree with Kiran. Owner proud of ingredients and product, very engaging. Great variety of Popsicles and toppings. Clean and attractive shop. Like other poster wish they were a bit bigger! Definitely a place to visit.

Guy got all his stuff straight from the home country. And it tastes like it to. Toppings to boot. I went with the Oreo with dark chocolate and hazelnut toppings. Bella!

So we came here for the first time tonight. We ordered a coconut doped chocolate one that was phenomenal. My mother got one that had a chili mango thinking we would be different. That was gross tasted like pure salt yuck. So we went back in there and the owner is on the register and saw we were unhappy. He rang her up and made her pay for another one! Really you just saw her throw it away and you charge her again. The owner you can tell is only here for the money not the customer another money hungry guido in East Haven go figure!

What a great concept Polo Palo is! Its gelato on a STICK. There are 500 different combinations you can make between gelato and sorbets on a stick. Plus they have hard ice cream, frozen yogurt, and fresh fruit skewers, chocolate covered fruit, etc.
This is how the gelato/​sorbets on a stick works: you choose a flavor (all fruit sorbets are no sugar added so they are super healthy!), pick a dip (such as white chocolate or lemon) and then pick toppings (hazelnuts, almonds, coconut, and more). The gelato is so creamy, not too sweet, and I’ve never seen it on a stick before! It is fairly inexpensive at about $ 2 to $ 3 for a gelato bar. I tried the cappuccino gelato with dark chocolate and chopped hazelnuts. Definitely recommend it for coffee lovers!
The great thing about this place is that there are so many options. Literally something for everyone. Next time I will probably try the margarita sorbet, it comes with rum inside or non-​alcoholic as well!
Best of all, the owner is so extremely friendly and welcoming. For newcomers, he explains the product so well and is really passionate about gelato. He brought the business over from Italy, which is apparently very popular in Europe! My friend recommended this place to me and we came a little late, but he was willing to stay open for us. I will absolutely be coming to this spot again. It’s easy to find, right on Main St. I wish I lived closer or else I would come every day!

What i liked about this place:
**Very friendly owner, took pride in his product and really appreciated your business. Thanked you for coming in, made recommendations, asked if it was your first time in there and explained the way it works, etc.
**Tons of variety in flavors– some Unilocalers said this was a distraction but I think it works in the shop’s favor– once you have one flavor and you like it, you want to come back and try all those other flavors that you were eyeing.
**You can really customize what you eat for dessert– not only tons of flavors but also 6 different dipping sauces and 9 toppings! The owner’s fav was peach sorbet with choc sauce and cookie crumb topping. I had coconut gelato with dark choc sauce and my bf had nutella gelato with white choc sauce and oreo topping, all were delicious. Frozen yogurt also available in self serve machines, paid by weight.
The only thing I wasn’t crazy about was the portion size… the sorbet/​gelato portions are really small compared to your average sundae or cone anywhere else. BUT, you are paying for the amount you get; each pop was only about $ 3. You could always try a couple different pops in one visit, but I’m sure many people (mostly women) will be embarrassed to go back and order a second round, I know I was! I will def. go back, esp on a summer night after dinner. Sorbet is made from fresh fruit, no additives, so it is also a healthier option than say Ben and Jerry’s or Ashley’s.
I hope they last. Being located next to an established place like Sugar bakery will hopefully help them get more attention and business.

Just checked out the new place in east haven. Was very impressed. Thought it was different and healthy! It’s about time we had something new

I just noticed this place today and stopped in.
I love the whole concept! It’s fun.
I have to disagree with the previous comment about having too many things to offer– it’s like a candy shop– who wants to see just 1 or 2 different kinds of candies when you can see so much more.
I had Pina Colada on a stick and it was pretty darn delicious. My sister had Coconut and my niece had Vanilla… There were so many flavors to choose from! I can’t wait to head back.
The fruit skewers look great too– i’ll have to try them. And yes the frozen yogurt is much cheaper than Froyo and Nuvita– there are only about 4 flavors of frozen yogurt but personally i’m so over the frozen yogurt fad and I think this place caught onto the next best thing.
Only complaint is I wish the gelato on a stick was larger… when it comes to ice cream I don’t mess around.
Definitely check it out if your in the neighborhood! I do think they are located in a tough town… but the benefit is that they are located next to Sugar Bakery…
The owner was very friendly and easy to chat with.
I hope this place is successful. :)

This new gelato shop recently opened just two doors down from Sugar Bakery. It’s different because it’s not your typical gelato shop. Yes they serve gelato, but it’s frozen gelato on a stick. Yes, on a stick.
To be honest I’m not sure I’m really a fan. Call me a traditionalist because I’ve gotten used to eating gelato the usual soft and mushy way. When it’s rock solid you lose that soft and mushy texture. But I will say that the pistachio and peanut butter flavors are terrific. They supposedly don’t use any artificial flavors or corn syrup, so kudos to them. Each gelato on-​a-​stick is priced at $ 2.50. $ 0.30 extra for dippings and toppings.
They also have a couple self serve frozen yogurt machines. While their selection for frozen yogurt and toppings isn’t as extensive as Froyo World or Nuvita, their price is cheaper at $ 0.45 per ounce (compared to most competitors’ $ 0.49 per ounce).
And if that isn’t enough, they also sell sorbet on-​a-​stick and frozen yogurt on-​a-​stick. However, I think a large portion of their business is their chocolate covered fruit trays. The trays look very similar to the ones sold by Edible Arrangements.
I was talking to the owner and he seems like a really nice guy. He says the business is a take-​off from a franchise in Italy and this is the first one in the USA. He claims they’ve been doing good business ever since they opened. I hope so, because I kind of have some doubts about their future survival. Maybe they’re offering a little bit too much of everything and perhaps they would get more foot traffic if they were located on Wooster Street. But I wish them lots of luck in the future.