Carmela Ice Cream

It was a harrowing experience to crack open my $ 4 mini tub and be met with a ton of freezer burn. Nothing ruins ice cream like ice crystals! Luckily, the sun quickly turned the texture from icy to creamy, and I could start happily scooping away with the little spoon.
Strolling through the Farmers Market with a cup of this ice cream was total perfection, although I felt like a huge slob walking past all the first-​rate fresh produce while stuffing my face with dessert. The ice cream is rich/​high in milkfat, so the relatively small serving was actually pretty filling. The brown sugar vanilla bean flavor was definitely on the sweet side, so I would pick another flavor like espresso or meyer lemon if you don’t have a huge sweet tooth.
The guy working here was a little bit quirky to the point of being rude, but hey, I still got to sample the Intelligentsia espresso flavor with mini chocolate chips, so I can’t complain much.

Yummy ice cream with real inventive flavors. I don’t think it’s quite worth the cost, but it’s nice to have something different.

Really good ice cream. Fresh tasting and all organic. I ordered the salted caramel and the honey lavender, and both were amazing. I sampled the cardamom and the vanilla brown sugar, and both of those were great as well. Will definitely be back!

As a teacher I have been going to Carmela Ice Cream since I can remember.
A real summer tradition. The cream is the best, and the place smells amazing.
You can’t help but want to get one just walking by.
All the kids have grown up going there and they love it.
If your in the beaches and you want a taste of old fashion going out for an ice cream and you don’t mind the line ups, then Carmela Ice Cream is the place.
Just wish they had more seating but then the lake is just a block away!

Had the BEST vanilla bean ice cream I’ve ever tasted… well worth the price, and next time I’m definitely branching out to other favors, and stocking up on pints to take home. So glad the food truck is part of the Monrovia Friday Night Street Fair!

Waffles cones here taste like cookies you could munch on all day long. The chocolate ice cream is delicious with the perfect amount of sweetness. The sea salt caramel is also a winner, add some almond roca to this flavor and you will not be disappointed. I highly recommend.

When it comes to unique ice cream flavors and intense spot on taste, Carmela is by far the best in all of LA.
However, some of the flavors are just too «unique» for my taste buds.
Last time I had the honey lavender and it was just too «floral» tasting for me.
This time I sampled the cucumber sorbet, again just not a flavor I could have a scoop of and call dessert, not sweet at all, so I went with the brown sugar vanilla bean, lame compared to the rest, but for me, perfection.
Creamy, sweet, somewhat simple, but still complex and very satisfying.
Service is nice, it can get pretty full but moves fairly quick.
I love the smell of the freshly made waffle cones inside, though I passed.
Scoops are a bit small for the price, always double up.

I sampled a few flavors here, all which I found to be on the sweet side. We ordered a scoop of their lemon sorbet and found it was very unpleasant with with pockets of incredibly over-​sweetened syrup. The texture, too, was not that different than store-​bought italian ice. Overall, I found the sorbet to be very disappointing.

This place looks a lot like Ici in Berkeley but — joy– the ice cream is better and there is no line. We tried the mint with cacao nibs — you can really taste the cream perfectly– and we had the brown sugar vanilla — wonderful flavor, texture, no ice, no greasy mouthfeel that plagues so many of the fancy ice cream places like Bi Rite in SF. This is an exceptional ice cream and the home made waffle cones are a delight.

Carmela seems to be the best ice cream i’ve found in LA so far. I absolutely love the salted caramel. I’ve heard the ice cream sandwiches are amazing and will update my review once I try them. They do run out of flavors if you wait to buy some at the farmers market. I wrote a thorough review on the Pasadena location, check it out.

I’ve mostly frequented the Pasadena/​Altadena location, but having moved out to the west LA area, this is now the closest location to me.
I’ve long loved Carmela, particularly their sorbets since my stomach is sensitive to dairy. Their ice creams and sorbets are unique, seasonal, high quality, and delicious. My favorites include their mint chocolate chip ice cream –it really smells and tastes like mint leaves, the spiced strawberry sorbet, and their orange thyme cranberry sorbet.
I also really enjoy their ice cream cones — to me they taste a little like a cone version of a good crêpe, which I find to be unique for an ice cream cone.
Parking is on the street — it’s adjacent to the grove… but down the street a bit, and it’s not the prettiest street for a storefront, but still manages to attract customers — that should tell you something about the deliciousness of their food. To me, Carmela ice cream reminds me of the «molly moon» of LA, in terms of the seasonality of their flavors, and its simple awesome ice cream store feel. Stop reading, and go eat some ice cream and sorbet to cool off :)

another LA killer.
we walked away because of a group of annoying people (4) that had to sample every freakin flavor and every single time had to give each other a look and play by play why it was so good. maybe they were ben, jerry, haagen and daz. 15 minutes later we walked back and i’m glad we did. yes we did ask for a sample but there was no play by play just a look of wow that’s amazing. we settled for the orange vanilla bean and we were told that everything was local and organic and no underaged children were used to harvest the oranges. they really need a new catchphrase for local and organic cause its getting old.
best way to describe the orange vanilla bean, it was a creamsicle x100 and we can’t wait to try their other flavors. yet another thing we wished we had in SD. its weird because we’ve got tons of hipsters but they don’t like making anything L.a.O. i guess our closest would be Viva Pops.

Carmela seems to be a mainstream at the farmer’s market and this time I couldn’t resist and had to place an order for some ice cream.
I ordered the Guinness and I have to say I can understand what the fuss is about. It was sweet and had just the slight caramel flavor attached to it that is reminiscent of a good glass of Guinness melted in ice cream. I loved how creamy it was and god that stuff is addicting.
The guy selling the ice cream is super sweet and is probably the modern rendition of the ice cream man we all saw once upon a time when we were children of the 80’s. Really helpful and eager to hand out samples, I’m pretty sure I’ll be back here as my good bye stop from the farmer’s market every week now.

A charming ice cream truck offering quirky, organic, small batch ice cream in cup and sandwich form at the Farmers Market.
Having just been to a few restaurants with some crazy ice cream flavors (absinthe anyone?) I spotted this truck and had to give it a shot.
Single ‘scoop’ $ 3, double $ 5, pint $ 9, and ice cream sandwich $ 5. Apparently, due to city codes they can’t scoop at the market, so the cups are pre-​packaged and the sandos are ready-​made — no Guinness ice cream sandwich for me.
But in a cup works just as well and it was pretty delicious. I am encouraged to go to one of their two actually brick and mortars to customize to my little heart’s content.

Carmela, Carmela… oh how I love you.
I don’t eat much ice cream anymore. Oh wait, yes I do… but only when I get to come here with my love! The store front is small and quaint and it gets the job done (counter for ordering and a little bench for two right outside). The staff is always friendly and they let you try the different flavors (like Guinness ice cream!). The texture and taste are delightful and the sorbet are always light and fresh. The flavors REALLY come out with each bite and just when you think it can’t get any better, it melts in your mouth and the heavenly combination takes you to another level. Yup, it’s pretty darn good.
I’m a sucker for the Brown Sugar Vanilla Bean and Salted Caramel. And pretty much everything else on the menu. The price is good in the sense that it will really help you work on your portion control :)
The parking can get a little tricky around the neighborhood but generally I could find street parking within a block or two.

BEST ICE CREAM IN THE WORLD.
Lavender Honey is a sick sick addition. And my sick, I mean «sick» rad, not like «sick» vom.
At the Hollywood Farmer’s Market in a delightful truck with a delightful (and cute) guy dolling out the hand crafted yumsies. Mint Cacao Chip is also a HUGE fav, but lavender honey I could easily polish off a pint of in a sitting. A small sitting. Like a five minute sitting. Whoops.
And for Westsiders, go to The Curious Palate where they have a voat load of prepackages Carmela and Carmela ice cream sandwiches.
Have a mentioned the lavender honey?
K, good, thanks.

BEST LOCAL ICE CREAM (PERIOD).
I CAN ONLY TASTE THE REAL VANILLA BEAN IN THIS HEAVEN.
Sweet lovers, if you haven’t tried Carmela’s ice cream JUST YET, you have not lived, definitely you have not lived.
YouOnlyLiveOnce, and therefore, indulge and bury yourself in the world of sweetness. It’s true that we can’t buy happiness, but Carmela’s vanilla ice cream is extremely to die for.

I’m going through a ice cream sandwich phase. I don’t normally like to eat just ice cream on a cone or cup BUT if you slap two cookies on each side, I’m there!
I stop by the Hollywood Farmers market from time to time (Sundays). Each time I’ve seen Carmela Ice Cream truck parked near the corner of Selma/​Ivar but I’ve never tried it. Today, I saw the magic words «ice cream sandwich» and «salted caramel». There were about 5 people in line at 11AM. You can also get ice cream in a cup — some of the flavors were green tea, rocky road, earl grey and they had sorbets as well. They will give a little sample to taste if you ask.
Of course I ordered the salted caramel ice cream sandwich ($ 5) and it was delicious!!! The caramel ice cream was between two chocolate cookies with a little sea salt sprinkled on the actual cookies. The sandwich itself was on the smaller side but who cares! The guy selling the ice cream was so enthusiastic. He told us that everything was homemade, even the caramel they use to make my ice cream! My sister had the mint chip sandwich. He said the mint leaves were purchased at the hollywood farmers market and they also mix in spearmint. She LOVED it!
On a beautiful sunny day, eating Carmela’s Ice Cream and strolling the Farmers Market can’t be beat!

Carmela catered the ICE CREAM portion of my birthday party. I can’t tell you how cute the kids and adults were when that cart showed up! The smiles were kinda priceless. :)
The price list is not on their website. You have to email them with a few details about your event before they send it to you. Basically it’s a minimum of $ 300. That’s actually really good if you want artisan ice cream. Other ones I researched, including Lakestreet Creamery and Sweet Rose Creamery, were a minimum of $ 500. Here’s some of the pricing breakdown:
$ 25 — Set-​up /​Delivery /​Dry Ice /​Utensils and Supplies (could be more depending on the distance)
$ 50 — Server for 2 Hours
$ 50 — Ice Cream Cart with Umbrella or Vintage Ice Cream Truck (I opted for the cart. I thought the truck might be overkill for my backyard party)
$ 3 — Scooping Charge Per Person
$ 1 — Per Handmade Cone or Cone Cup
So here’s my one complaint… and it’s about the lack of clarity on the price list. Ice cream sandwiches are listed as $ 2 additional per serving. In reality each sandwich is $ 5 because, as they later explained, it’s $ 2 plus another $ 3 scooping charge. I say why not just list them as $ 5 each? Otherwise it appears I’m paying a duplicate scooping charge when I only have 50 guests. I was already paying the $ 3/​guest scooping charge for 50 guests. I wanted 25 of these guests to be able to get a scoop and a sandwich. But instead of paying an additional $ 2 per sandwich, it cost $ 5 ($ 2 + $ 3/​scooping charge, again). Confusing right? Oh well. I got tired of trying to clarify this.
You can choose up to four flavors. I went with:
* SALTED CARAMEL
* DARK CHOCOLATE CACAO NIB
* STRAWBERRY BUTTERMILK
* LEMON BASIL SORBET
They actually ran out of the pre-​made ice cream sandwiches I wanted so they brought the CHOCOLATE SEA SALT COOKIES and the MINT CACAO NIB ICE CREAM separately to make at my party. It worked out better because people ordered sandwiches with any flavor they wanted and could also order scoops of the mint ice cream.
All of the flavors were great! The dark chocolate and strawberry were my faves. The sorbet was very tart and perfect for those who couldn’t have dairy. The mint was amazingly minty! And even though I’m not a fan of salted caramel, I had to get this über-​popular flavor for my guests.
I’m really glad I splurged for ice cream. It was perfect for the very warm day I had my party and it was awesome to have it available for two hours! We all kept going back for seconds, thirds, fourths…

La petite mort. Aaaaaaah!

I may have a problem… I’m addicted to their salted caramel ice cream. Lucky for me, they always seem to be sold within a mile of me in the hippie neighborhoods I work in. Prices seem to vary at each location, but honestly, I never look at the price. I just know I need me some ice cream.
I’ve had salted caramel ice cream before, but this one is the best. While others have too much salt, leaving me parched, their rendition is a perfect balance between salt and sweet. I can’t even get myself to deviate and try the other interesting flavors.
I think I’ve said enough, I must go finish my small cup of ice cream and try to resist chewing on the styrofoam cup once I’m done.