Soft serve ice cream in Atlanta: 5 places to get the best swirls

Caption

Chocolate and vanilla swirl waffle cone from Big Softie in Summerhill.

Credit: Provided by Big Softie

New York is said to be the birthplace of soft serve ice cream, thanks to Carvel founder Tom Carvel, born Athanasios Thomas Karvelas in Athens, Greece.

Carvel, who emigrated to the United States with his family in 1910, owned an ice cream vending business in Westchester County, New York. As the story goes, Carvel was driving his ice cream truck on Memorial Day in 1934 when it got a flat tire, stranding him on the side of the road. 

Ever the entrepreneur, Carvel opened the truck up for business, opting to sell the ice cream to people passing by rather than let it melt away, along with the day’s profits. He discovered during the accidental, roadside endeavor that people preferred the softer texture of the melting ice cream, thus turning an unfortunate mishap into one of America’s biggest soft-serve ice cream brands. 

Carvel would eventually create a “no air pump” machine specifically meant to produce the similar texture of melting ice cream while still keeping it frozen enough to last. Two years after the flat tire incident, Carvel opened his first ice cream shop and founded the Carvel Corporation. 

There are now 280 Carvel locations throughout the Northeast, with nearly 200 of those in New York and Connecticut.

But like any good origin story, there’s always another version. 

J.F. McCullough claimed he and his son invented soft-serve ice cream in 1938, leading to the founding of Illinois-based Dairy Queen. McCullough and his son were said to have created the mixture in their lab and believed the softer texture of the ice cream, served at a slightly warmer temperature, tasted superior to the harder version of the frozen dessert. 

The father-son duo would open the first Dairy Queen in Joliet, Illinois, in 1940. Fast forward 84 years, and you’ll find Dairy Queen in 5,700 locations in more than 30 countries. Over 4,200 of those locations are in the U.S., with most of those locations in the South. Georgia includes 215 Dairy Queens alone. 

Regardless of whether you’re Team Carvel or Team Dairy Queen (or Team Zesto, if you’re an Atlantan,) check out these five ice cream and dessert shops around Atlanta serving stellar soft serve.

Caption

Sweet corn soft serve in a croissant cone from Momo Cafe in Midtown.

Credit: Provided by Momo Cafe

Momo Cafe at Momonoki
95 8th Street, Midtown

Located inside Japanese and ramen restaurant Momonoki, and owned by Chef Jason Liang and John Chen of Brush, Momo Cafe serves coffee, creative pastries, and soft-serve ice cream in flavors like matcha and black sesame. The move here is to make your soft serve a swirl of flavors. The menu currently includes sweet corn replacing the shop’s popular black sesame as well as seasonal flavors like strawberry and yuzu. For something truly decadent, order your soft serve in a buttery croissant cone. Take a seat upstairs in the lounge or order from the takeout window on 8th Street. Keep an eye out for jazz nights at Momonoki on Friday evenings. 

Big Softie
66 Georgia Avenue, Summerhill 

Little Tart Bakeshop owner Sarah O’Brien tapped into her childhood and love for Dairy Queen when she opened Big Softie ice cream parlor in Summerhill. Growing up in a small farm town in Ohio, O’Brien frequented the Dairy Queen just down the street from her home. She remembers her mother taking the family there on Friday nights during the summer for chocolate and vanilla-dipped soft serve. Big Softie serves classic flavors like chocolate and vanilla, along with matcha and vegan oat vanilla. Expect seasonal flavors and one-offs, too, like Thai tea and sorbet in flavors like strawberry and peaches and cream. Milk used to create the soft serve at Big Softie comes from a local dairy. Toppings include strawberry and chocolate hardshell, chunks of crispy honeycomb, cornflake streusel, and toasted coconut among the choices. Follow on Instagram for new flavor drops and specials such as the soft-serve waffle taco. A new location of Big Softie opens soon in Poncey-Highland beside Colette Bread.

The Creamy Spot at Best End Brewing
1036 White Street, West End

Owned by Wendy Golding, The Creamy Spot serves vegan soft serve from a counter inside the taproom at Best End Brewing at Lee and White. Golding moved her soft serve and frozen desserts operation from The Met in Adair Park to Best End Brewing earlier this year. But she still slings her sought-after soft serve on Atlanta’s Westside offering flavors like blueberries and cream, orange creamsicle, and honey pistachio. To taste more than one flavor, make that cone a swirl. In addition to soft serve, The Creamy Spot also features ice cream sandwiches, milkshakes, and creamsicles on the menu. Everything is vegan with ingredients sourced locally from Black-owned farms. 

Izzie’s Ice Kreme at Grecian Gyro
1700 Northside Drive, Berkeley Park
3989 Lawrenceville Highway, Tucker
2735 Main Street, Snellville

The team behind Atlanta Greek restaurant institution Grecian Gryo opened this soft serve ice cream shop inside the Northside Drive location, conveniently located just off the exit ramp from I-75 South. Here you’ll find both Greek ice cream (pagotó kataifi) and creamy frozen yogurt, similar in texture to American soft serve. Order everything from a soft serve baklava and Nutella sundae and soft serve milkshakes to cones of soft serve dipped in chocolate hardshell and banana splits topped with baklava, Nutella, and sour cherries. Try Izzie’s at Grecian Gyro’s Tucker and Snellville locations, too. 

Matcha Cafe Maiko
5306 Buford Highway, Doraville
2131 Pleasant Hill Road, Duluth

This Hawaiian-based cafe features matcha as a main ingredient in its drinks and desserts, including soft-serve ice cream. Green (very young) tea leaves are ground down into a fine powder to create matcha. Rich in caffeine and amino acids, the verdant green color and bitterness make it the perfect ingredient for flavoring soft serve, toning down the sweetness to offer a balanced taste. Matcha Cafe serves both matcha and vanilla soft serve, which you should absolutely swirl. Look for other flavors, including ube, white peach oolong, and seasonal flavors like strawberry. Order soft serve in a cone, in a cup, as a parfait, or as an ice cream float.

This story comes to GPB through a reporting partnership with Rough Draft Atlanta.