Gray’s Ice Cream

I’d first heard of Gray’s several years ago when it appeared in a version of the Roadfood books by Jane and Michael Stern. My visit on a weekday in early September started with a great sandwich from Provender across the street. As I sat on their big wraparound porch eating my lunch I eyed Gray’s from across the street and thought it would make a satisfying dessert. I went with the black raspberry ice cream in a cake cone (my favorite way to eat ice cream, love that wafer taste with sweet cream). Another Unilocal reviewer mentioned the ice cream was very soft and melted quickly, even on a cooler day. Well, I had the same experience. If you like hard, cold ice cream, than this place is not for you. I enjoy soft serve, but it’s usually served colder than what I ate. While it satisfied my sweet tooth, I wouldn’t make a special trip back to Gray’s. Instead, I’d go try one of the amazing looking baked goods that were on the counter at Provender.
On the plus side, Gray’s does accept credit cards. You never know in a small town, and there was no ATM nearby.

Gray’s is hanging on to a past reputation and showing how tired it all is. Two recent visits this summer show that the ice cream (not actually «home made» but pre-​mixed) is about as tasteless as semi-​frozen 2% milk. Flavor choices, while many, show no flair or adventure. While the scoops Gray uses are generous large size, so is the price. And unless you enjoy sitting outdoors next to a reefer truck, don’t count on those scenic picnic tables (dirty, anyway), because Gray’s truck-​size reefer motors blast away at high decibels. Other than that, oh such fun. Disappointment, really.

Grays Ice Cream is part of my life story as an East Bay Rhode Islander, a New England summer lover and a generational Little Compton beach goer. Tradition goes, while still on the beach, «Are we stopping at Grays?» The answer is usually «yes.» I recommend stopping for ice cream when you pass by Grays. Heck, we have even stopped for ice cream on the way to the beach. My late mother loved the maple walnut, we honor her by eating a cone of maple walnut each summer at Grays.
The flavors are awesome and creative. The chaos of the parking lot and window lines add charm as you smell the sweetness of ice cream and decide which flavor will rule the day.
They are open in the winter time also when so many ice cream stands close in the NewEngland winter. Take home a pint or a gallon to eat at home by the fireplace!
I have only given 4 stars because yesterday I ordered the special pistachio with nuts and there were no nuts!

Average ice cream — certainly better than store bought. However, the attitude of the staff is terrible. Everyone we interacted with seemed miserable and annoyed at the people spending the money who pays their checks. Because of this, we won’t be back.

We’re from Brooklyn, New York and we wanted to try an authentic ice cream place on our last day in Tiverton. This is it! They have a variety and interesting selection of ice cream, ices and yogurt. The good side: their dairy comes from their own cows! Whoa! So awesome! The lady who served us was very nice, friendly and accommodating to our ice cream tasting spree. In the end, we had the ginger ice cream, grape nut ice cream and coffee Oreo ice cream. I highly recommend the GINGER ice cream. Also, I highly recommend this place to tourists who come to Rhode Island!

Their maple walnut ice cream has no walnuts in it, same with their pistachio– no pistachio’s to be found! Why not call it Maple/​Green? Having nuts in the name, leads you to believe that there will be nuts in the ice cream! And at $ 5.00 for a small, I want my nuts!
Will never go here again.

First off, the quality of the ice cream isn’t bad at all. It’s a nice texture and a nice flavor, but I do have a few complaints regarding the product and the service.
Least importantly, it was the quickest melting ice cream I’ve ever eaten, and I live in Florida. I don’t know if they need better freezers or if the ice cream is just softer in general, but I had to eat it quite quickly even though it wasn’t a particularly warm day.
More disappointingly, I ordered Coffee Oreo, the so-​called «special», and there simply wasn’t any Oreo in it. There were very few tiny, tiny dark grains (as in an amount that I could’ve kept count of if I really felt like it) but they added no flavor or texture at all. The coffee flavor was good, but there couldn’t have been more than two or three Oreos in the whole batch of ice cream.
Lastly though, is my biggest complaint and it’s in regard to service. My girlfriend got her ice cream first, and got Strawberry Cheesecake. I took a bite before I ordered my own and thought it was delicious. I proceeded to order a scoop of the aforementioned Coffee Oreo and a scoop of Butter Crunch. I was told that the Butter Crunch was out, and I asked if Butterscotch was similar. The young man replied, «Not really,» without any further explanation. Instead, I decided to also go for the Strawberry Cheesecake flavor. He scooped it, and came back with a product that was much pinker in color. I took a quick bite and could instantly tell that this was entirely different than what my girlfriend got. I asked him if it was the right thing, he said yes, I explained that it was much different than what she got, both in color and in taste, and he said hers had finished the batch and that he opened a new one for me. I said that it must be mislabeled or something, and was definitely regular old Strawberry. Rather than taking an attitude of «the customer is always right», he sought the assistance of another employee (or manager?) who continued insisting it was Strawberry Cheesecake. Of course they did offer a replacement scoop (to their credit), but it was silly to have a mini-​argument about it rather than acknowledging the possibility that there was an error in labeling or in mixing flavors and ingredients. In the end, I kept my two scoops of Strawberry non-​Cheesecake and Coffee non-​Oreo, which were nice if unspectacular. My girlfriend couldn’t finish hers, so I ended up with a couple of bites of delicious Strawberry Cheesecake.
4 stars for good, not great ice cream.
1 star for quality control, or lack thereof.
1 star for the dopey employee, who thought it was better to argue with a customer rather than accept a varied opinion, and who continually thought my party was with the party ahead of us, simply because we happened to be in line at the same time. Stay in school.

Be warned — they close at 7 on Sunday’s. The ice cream is delicious and I would give them 5 stars if they had their own website with accurate hours.

I stopped in today for the first time. I got chocolate and strawberry cheesecake on a waffle cone. I asked if I could get 3 flavors and she said no, just two. Other places I have been to have no issue adding a third flavor on a large waffle cone. It costs more than a half gallon at the store. The chocolate was ok but nothing special. The cheesecake was so bland I almost just threw it away as not to waste the calories, but the vanilla smell of the waffle cone encouraged me to finish. The taste of the cone was ok but it was a tad thick. No idea why they call that flavor strawberry cheesecake. I would only stop in again if I were in the area, and I would hope other flavors are better. This place is by no definition the best in the state. Three Sisters in Providence and Ice Cream Machine in Cumberland are way better. Both have amazing chocolate ice cream. I left wishing I had gone elsewhere.

A Rhode Island icon, and with good reason. I especially love the ginger ice cream. Grab a cone and stroll around Tiverton Four Corners while you eat it.

Visited this place this past weekend escaping the boat show people in Newport. Bummed on the lack of ice cream flavors, but the special coffee oreo was pretty darn good.

I expected this place to be a great ice cream place, but it wasn’t. I felt rushed (which I did have some people behind me), I thought the service was just a bunch of teenage girls that had better things to do than serve ice cream and I didn’t think the ice cream had much flavor to it at all.
I would give this place another shot, but because I’m rarely down here I think I would try another place prior to coming back.

My wife and I have stopped here many times but tonight was rather disappointing. I ordered a cone of Strawberry Cheesecake and my wife ordered Coffee Chip. We both found the ice cream had an unacceptable amount of ice crystals and the flavors were just ok. The coffee was barely detectable and the strawberry lacked any resemblance to cheesecake.
Must have been an off night.

The most creamy and delicious ice cream I’ve ever had. I’ve been looking for this place since my old CTY days at RWU and I’m so glad I found it. This Grey’s is located in Tiverton’s Four Corners. There’s a huge parking lot and plenty of chairs/​rocks to sit. The line moves pretty fast and the portions are huge. I got a large black raspberry in a cup and it was SO good. I even contemplated making another detour the next day for another cup. There’s so many great flavors you can’t go wrong but my favorite is their black raspberry.
Cash only!

The size of the ice cream servings are huge !!! I asked for Grape Nut on a sugar cone and it was very good. I wanted to get a sherbet, but they were not available yet for the season. I also wanted to know if they had something smaller than the Small Cone for $ 4. …Like a kiddie cone… The answer was no.
Good tasting ice cream…

Grays=Summer. Theres no other way to put it.
Every summer when I was a kid my grandparents used to load me and any friends that we’re visiting at the time into the car for a trip to Gray’s. Nothing has changed in the past 30 years (aside from the prices) Still the same walk up window to order your treat, then you go and sit on the stone wall and watch the cows walk around. and even 30 years later, going back there for a treat reminds me of those warm summer nights as a child.
I went to Gray’s today for the first time in about 4 years (and the time I went 4 years ago had been the first time in 20!) and its all still the same. except more flavors to choose from. I had half Grape Nut and half Coffee and my friend had half Cookies and Cream and I forgot what the other half was because it disappeared so fast. That’s the same reason why theres no pictures of our ice cream. We dug in within seconds!
The ice cream was as fantastic as always, we sat on the stone wall to eat it, just like years past, there were no cows today though. and it was a little too cold, but I refused to move until I’d finished my ice cream! It was a quiet day there, only 2 other cars pulled up while we were sitting there, not like a summer night where all 3 lines are 20 people deep. I like going during the day when its quiet!
Customer service was excellent as well, the girl working waited patiently while I made up my mind, I believe my friend had made up his mind before we even got there! Prices were average for the area, total for our large cups of ice cream came to $ 10.50, and it was well worth it. Gray’s is a treat, and treats (and reminiscing about the past) are always a fun way to spend an afternoon!

Whenever we need a trip «off island», we make it a point that it normally is to Gray’s. Going off island is kind of a big deal, and only happens rarely (Except for me to commute to work every day. However, going off island for a non-​work purpose, is indeed rare). Even if our adventure to the «main land» isn’t in the direction of Gray’s, we somehow make it. It is a pit stop to anything in the «main island».
The best thing about Gray’s, is the cows. Literally, the milk in the icecream you are eating, is from the cows in the farm next door. How cool/​creepy is that?! The smell of manure also just adds a kick to each bite of ice cream.
The ice cream is homemade, unique flavors, and they are open all year round. The only downside, as my father sees it, is that it is expensive. However, it is all homemade so it is worth the extra few $. And it ALWAYS makes it worth it to go over «the bridge of doom». It also has a unique, old fashioned general store attached. Quaint.
In addition, it is located in Tiverton 4 corners, which has a few cute little cafes, stores and in the summer they have great craft and local artist fairs.
Definitely make this a priority, it is worth going «off island», or out of your way for.

Classic
winter
scream
Grey’s Ice Cream has been sitting on this corner at the Four Corners of Tiverton forever. Or at least a large portion of forever.
Definitely a classic New England Ice cream place, you can even go and look at the cows that the ice cream comes from. Just watch out for all the manure.
A simple place without any fluff. Just really, really good ice cream and not much else. But of course with ice cream that good you don’t need much else.
Lots of different flavors and they are all made right there at the dairy. The portions are huge and the prices aren’t really bad all things considered.
Most ice cream shops around RI close in the winter but Grey’s is open all year long so you can get your ice cream fix in the coldest and nastiest weather. A New England classic that will probably be sitting on this corner for a long, long time to come.

Gray’s is a classic! You know, the real dairy that churns your stomach???
I’m not sure if it is as good as it was when I was a little kid but it is definitely a nice stopping point on a hot summer day, or sunny autumn day, or unseasonably warm early spring day — well, it is good any day you need an ice cream treat.
They have the basic flavors, plus a few old timey flavors like rum raisin, and butter pecan. I wish they jazzed it up a little and tried some newer, even experimental flavors!

Like really, who doesn’t love ice cream? On our Rhode Island adventure, we were lucky enough to find Gray’s IceCream in Tiverton. Gray’s is good oldfashioned ice cream at its purest. Nowhere to sit, just windows to order and pick up the creamy ice cream, a large parking lot, a mossy wall, and a bench by some fenced up cows.
When we arrived there were a few people already satisfied, enjoying their ice cream on a bench or sitting on the wall lining the paring lot. I was excited. They have a great variety of flavors and some seasonal ones, which were tempting (too bad it was the wrong season). Most of the flavors are the standards and the usuals, not many were creative or innovative. I decided on cookie dough, and it was amazing. The vanilla ice cream was rich and flawless, and there was the perfect amount of cookie dough sprinkled throughout. Usually, I rush and dig through my ice cream for the raw cookie dough, but my Gray’s cone was enjoyable throughout. I found myself just as satisfied with just the plain vanilla ice cream, as the chewy cookie dough. On a splurge, I got my hefty ice cream portion in a waffle cone, which was the icing on the cake (or cherry on top might be more fitting). It was crisp, fresh and sweet, giving a lovely diverse texture to the smooth cold ice cream. I was living an ice cream dream.
My boyfriend got a malt milk shake, in order to mix it up. The shake was smooth and malty, but had a tang that my ice cream did not. It was not my favorite malt, but still delicious. Unfortunately, there was only one size, large. It was a lot of shake to ingest and it became repetitive, but the quality was there.
By the time we were mid way through my cone, the parking lot was filling up, with young people and older folks alike, all looking forward to the joys of ice cream. The quality and precision of the ice cream at Gray’s is apparent. There is care and love put into all the recipes and processes. Even the people working at the windows were sweet and understanding, which is a mark that has vanished with all the ice cream chains. It felt classic and timeless, how every ice cream stop should be.