Carmen’s Italian Ice & Cafe

One of the best if not the best italian ice store in southern Montgomery County. They have about 35 different ice flavors and 7 custard flavors. Although the store is tiny, they always have open seats and newspapers available. The store opens early for coffee and pastries for commuters and closes late. It’s in a quiet neighborhood, however when lots of people come it gets crazy. The staff is patient when you pick your flavors and the prices are affordable.
On every 8^th of the month, they have Jayden Day for the owners son where they have ½ of ices and gelatos.

I love carmen’s so much. I’ve been going here for 9 years now. It helps me destress before and after exams, and is a hot spot within the DMV area. If you come to roxkville and don’t come to carmens… you might be coo coo. The picture I took is of my fall gelati (brownie, didn’t really like it… heavy on the brownie… but just regular mango ice with chocolate ice cream is DELISH) in front of the various toppings uou can put on your gelati. The labels on these toppings are HILARIOUSSS!

Holy cow. This is a Rockville institution according to my wife who grew up about 6 blocks away.
The ice is always super smooth, tons of different flavors you can never get bored. The custard is almost gelato like in it’s richness. You blend that vanilla custard with the Strawberry crème ice and it is the greatest «milk shake» EVER.
The staff are always the best, they remember your name (at least ours, that might indicate something entirely different) and they somehow manage to take care of insane lines with deft efficiency.
Oh and the coffee! Go get a coffee in the morning, it’s a thousand times better than any of the chain spots around the area, and you’re in, out, on the road to work with a tasty beverage instead of garbage. Then, when you get off work and you’re tired, grab an ice. It’s the perfect end cap to the whole day.

One of my favorite treats in the region. The service is quick and polite; the portion is large that I can pretty much get satisfied with the smallest cup. The salted caramel is the only one I tried, but this one only makes me a repeater. Creamy and warm caramel topped with a scent of salt. The saltiness is the key that makes you wanna finish the cup without being suffocated by the sweetness.
They are offering autumn specialty that has warm cookie sandwiched between custard ice in a cup. The mixture of the just-​melt custard with the warm cookie was just so great. However, the combination with cookie makes it a bit sweet overall in my opinion and I would recommend a smaller portion or sharing with friends.

I drove all the way from College Park to get some of this goodness! I love the mango ice although it used to contain mango chunks which I LOVED and now it doesnt. Overall, still a great place

Cute little joint. I don’t normally get chocolate ice but I tried the chocolate peanut butter ice and it was the best I’ve ever tasted here. It’s a cute hole in the wall place but sometimes they don’t know how to keep it clean. But besides that. It’s getting cold and the hours are being cut short. I’m gonna miss it in the winter because I could always use a cold sweet treat any time of the year.

Came in after a quick hike/​lunch and boy were we in for a treat because it happened to Jayden’s Day, which means that pretty much everything is half off! They also invite other local frozen treat vendors who participate in a very affordable and tasty way! Everyone is super nice and patient with explaining the choices and it’s a good atmosphere overall. I love the custard and Italian ice combination, though by themselves they are delicious still! I’m not one for toppings but it looks quite extensive. Overall I highly recommend this place — I would visit this in any weather.

Wonderful establishment: great frozen treats at a fair price in a family environment. Staff are polite and attentive. Portions are large: a small is enough on most days, but you can always get a lid to save your water ice in the freezer for later. Tonight there was a line, but the staff moved it along very quickly.
They are currently promoting fall gelatis with a variety of warm baked treats in the center. We tried brownie and apple crisp, the apple crisp is fantastic.
I’m so glad we found Carmens! We’ve been in the area more than two years and only heard about it a few weeks ago from a friend.

I have been going here since I was born! Definitely the best Italian ice and soft serve EVER. Very affordable, very very tasty. And the Italian ice is dairy free! They also have a really cute topping bar that you can add to your purchase for only 1.50 and get unlimited toppings! My favorite is definitely the mango Italian ice. Other than that, they have the biggest variety of flavors, seasonal soft serve custard flavors and even a «fall gelati» that is your choice of soft serve custard with crushed up brownies, cookies, fantasy bar, or raspberry bar etc, it’s to die for!
They also have Jayden day on the 8^th of every month where all gelatis, custard and ice are half price!!! It does get awfully crowded on the weekends and on those Jayden days often with a line all the way out into the parking lot! But it’s worth it

I always get frozen custard and the icee on the bottom, flavors are a preference, and they will let you sample, but I always have liked every flavor I’ve tried… cause I know what I like.
I could use a cup right now…

It place is just OK. In this day and age there is no reason for artificial colors or flavors. Unfortunately the day glow colors let me know (before tasting a single flavor) that I was not dealing with a high quality artisan establishment.
Let’s finally be honest with ourselves, it is 2015 after all. We now know that the need for many of these added chemical dyes and flavorings are just another short cut to save a buck.
If you sell cherry ice and it is not made with real cherries than you are committing fraud in my book. By law you should not be able to call it cherry. You should legally have to reliable it so your customer knows that it is not pure.

Had a serious craving for Rita’s, but apparently there’s no Rita’s to be found in Montgomery county. My friend recommended Carmen’s and we finally went. Rita’s is also out of kustard because of the egg shortage. No egg shortage at Carmen’s! So good!

The best! My go to.

Carmen’s Italian Ice & Café has been around since ’01 — they offer Italian ice, frozen custard, gelati, drinks, shakes, smoothies, coffee, snacks (like brownies and chips), as well as even options for pups (a little freezer with ‘Puppy Pops’). After having a lunch date in the area, we came here to grab some dessert. I had the ‘Fall Gelati,’ in which you can opt for a Raspberry Crumb, Fudge Brownie, a Fantasy Bar, or a Daily Special, in which it gets topped with your choice of a custard. I had the Fantasy Bar, which is Carmen’s version of a blondie; you can request for the brownie to be warmed up; I had half of Salted Caramel, and half Vanilla; the Salted Caramel was pretty okay, and not too sweet; I wasn’t a fan of the Fantasty Bar, as it was actually very bland and not as moist and sweet as I expected it to be — it was actually more on the dry side T_​_​_​T I am thinking I should have stuck with the Italian ice? There are some seating inside as well as some little patio seating outside with some shades. Staff were friendly, and the place seems like a favorite for the locals. The lot is kind of weird, as there is one entrance (don’t get confused with the other entrance that goes to the bank).
+Salted Caramel frozen custard
+Puppy Pops: D

Came in after brunch with the appetite for a vanilla gelato & frozen custard with mango ice. My boyfriend not knowing what to get went ahead and asked Carmen to whip out a concoction of delicious things with the exemption of Apple being one of things in his gelato. Carmen got some cakes from her pastry case and went to the back and came out with this mysterious concoction of gelato &frozen custard.
Whatever she made was absolutely delicious. Our guess was some kind of brownie things with vanilla custard. If you want to try anything ask them to get you a sample. If you still don’t know what to get ask them to make you something, they’ll gladly recommend something or make you a mystery concoction.

Love this place for Italian ice and custard. The flavors are great and refreshing on a hot summer day. It’s always packed but the lines move quickly. This place is similar to Rita’s but has much more of a neighborhood feel and there are patio tables to sit, relax, and enjoy your treats.

Gelati is pretty good. I like the mango and vanilla custard. Prices are great and the service is friendly and fast. There are a lot of outdoor seating and some indoor seating with a little play area for kids that is stuffed with toys and games to keep them busy after they finish their treats.

Yum!
We were in the area and found this place through our Unilocal app. There is indoor and outdoor seating. Amanda was super sweet and incredibly helpful. We told her it was our first time here and she was very patient with us as we tried a few flavors.
The Salted Caramel frozen custard was awesome. The consistency was smooth and clean. A few of our favorite Italian Ice flavors were Cherry, Strawberry Lemonade, and Mango. I love that they have plenty of different flavors. The ices weren’t overly sweet and incredibly flavorful.
So glad we tried it out.

Carmen’s is quintessential East Coast style Italian ice. Sweet, fruity, grainy frozen flavored water. If you love frozen flavored water, you can’t go wrong here. If you hate frozen flavored water, you can get a frozen custard instead. If you love both frozen flavored water and custard, you might opt for what Carmen’s calls «gelati» — a misnomer for a combo of the two.
My grandfather, who grew up in the goldenage of granita in Waterbury, CT gives this place a nostalgiac nod of approval. While I much prefer the fluffy snowballs of New Orleans and the creamy sorbeto of the West Coast, a lemony granita from Carmen’s does the job on an intolerably humid summer day in the DC metro area.
Also, I was delighted to discover that their early morning coffee service has greatly improved. Not only is the coffee good, but the friendly lady behind the counter is always happy to bring my coffee outside so I don’t have to abandon my dog to order. Thanks!

3.5 stars. GELATI IS MY FAVORITE so how could I give it any less?
Basically like a mom and pop shop of Rita’s. Carmen’s delivers gelati, soft-​serve, and many other frozen treats to fit your summertime cravings.
The prices are decent. 2 small gelati’s came out to be $ 7 with taxes. I got the strawberry-​lemon ice with vanilla custard, my brother got the mango ice with vanilla. I think I preferred the mango better. Mine was kind of too sweet with the combination of the already-​sweet vanilla soft serve.
My only warning is to eat indoors, because the soft serve on the bottom of the gelati wasn’t edible by the time I ate through the ice layer. Unless ya really enjoy ice cream soup, eat your gelati’s and soft-​serves inside on a sunny and hot day!!!
Overall, pretty nice employee that helped us, and they give sample cups of flavors. Passing through, I’d come again, but I wouldn’t make the trip out to Rockville (I live 45 minutes away though).
Enjoy, gelati lovers!