The 14 Best Ice Cream Shops in Nashville
Cool off with ice creams, milk shakes, floats, shaved ice, and more.
Summer came early to Nashville this year, with one of the hottest Junes on record, so we might as well all embrace the heat by indulging in some delicious ice cream. Fortunately, Music City might as well be called “Moo-sic City” considering the plethora of excellent creamy frozen treats we all have access to. Just lick quick, lest your cup or cone melt before you can finish it.
Gulch
Weight Watchers be damned, The Nashville Sundae Club is all about excess and indulgence, and don’t you deserve a little of that right about now? The restaurant is technically divided into three “clubs.” The Ice Cream Club serves scoops from the Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream Co., a Wisconsin-based operation that provides delicious products to hundreds of small shops around the country. The Ice Cream Shop also offers soft serve, milkshakes and sundaes which are piled high with premium toppings. The Breakfast Club menu revolves around specialty coffee drinks and morning bites like muffins, cinnamon rolls and breakfast sandwiches. Finally, The Cocktail Club shakes up classic cocktails plus frozé, tipsy lemonade, and boozy milkshakes.
How to order: Step up to the counter or the bar and put in your order.
Downtown and Donelson
They keep it chill and Cotton & Snow with a menu of locally made ice creams, milk shakes, floats, shaved ice, and SnoBall drinks that come in all the flavors and colors of the rainbow. With locations near Opry Mills Mall and in the Assembly Food Hall at 5th + Broad, the two small restaurants attract a strong tourist trade, especially among families who want to placate their kids with a cone or selections from their cotton candy bar of flavors that change daily. But locals deserve a little sweet treat every now and then, too.
How to order: Shop online for bulk packs of cotton candy or order from the counter. The downtown location also offers online ordering for pickup or delivery.
West Nashville
Who says ice cream has to be bad for you? Not Kokos, that’s for sure. They make plant-based frozen treats using natural ingredients like coconut cream, organic cane sugar, and Himalayan salt to create exotic flavors such as lavender dream, pink rose salt, and moon dust. The mouthfeel has all the creaminess you look for in a good scoop, and most people would never realize that they’re eating vegan.
How to order: Order online for carryout.
West Nashville
Since 1951, the first cone of soft serve from Bobbie’s Dairy Dip dripping down your arm has been an annual rite of spring. Forget about the swallows returning to Capistrano, Bobbie’s annual reopening after winter break is what many Nashvillians consider the official kickoff of the season, and a burger with a chilly chaser is the ideal way to welcome spring back to town.
How to order: Walk up to the window and place your order to eat at a picnic table or use Grubhub for carryout and delivery.
12 South
Formerly a weekend pop-up, Fryce Cream is now open every day except Monday and Tuesday. The concept is based around the joy of dipping fast-food fries into the frozen chocolate concrete that passes for a milkshake. Fryce Cream elevates the concept by offering gourmet soft serve flavors served with crispy fries that you can order dusted with exotic spice blends like “Nashville hot” or shawarma seasoning. Dip them in your ice cream or in available dipping sauces such as wasabi aioli or “magic sauce.” Add on a drizzle of honey peach syrup for a complete treat.
How to order: There’s a small dining area inside, but most people just walk up to order and then carry their bounty across the street to enjoy it in Sevier Park.
Various
Since first arriving in Nashville more than a decade ago, Jeni’s has spread like mushrooms on the forest floor after a hard summer rain, expanding to nine locations around Middle Tennessee. It’s amazing what the power of selling high butterfat content frozen deliciousness will do for a company’s success. Their scoop shops almost always have a line of customers out the door waiting their turn to dive into a cup of rich, velvety ice cream featuring insane flavor combos like raspberry rose jelly donut, sweet cream biscuits and peach jam, or Boston cream pie.
How to order: Order online for local or nationwide delivery.
East Nashville
The premier scoop shop across the river from downtown is Pied Piper, a long-time neighborhood fixture that makes ice cream that tastes like you churned it yourself at a summer picnic. Fortunately, they do all the work crafting flavors like red velvet Elvis, s’mores, or caramel turtle cheesecake. They also make some fantastic ice cream pies if you call in advance to order one.
How to order: Dine in or pick up pints from Hunter’s Station a little closer to the urban core. You can contact them online for special orders.
Midtown
Before moving into a refurbished building next door, Elliston Place Soda Shop used to hold the distinction as Nashville’s oldest restaurant still operating in its original location. After more than 80 years in business, they deserved a bit of an upgrade, but the new dining area still exudes the retro cool vibe of the original. They’re best known for their shakes that are often smuggled into rooms in the many surrounding hospitals as a treat for a patient who is tired of cafeteria food. While it’s tough to beat the classic Neapolitan flavor trio of chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry, don’t miss out on other options with add-ins like Oreos, Butterfingers, or Nutter Butter.
How to order: Order online for carryout.
West Nashville
Whatever started the trend of over-the-top milkshakes with so many toppings that they loom over the rim of the glass, we can’t say we’re mad at it. At this cozy little shop in the L&L Market Food Hall, they create shakes that are total clickbait on the ‘Gram, even if they are pretty difficult to actually consume. With toppings atop toppings, you can turn a Gracie’s milkshake into a six-course meal, as long as that meal is dessert.
How to order: These pieces of culinary art wouldn’t survive carryout or delivery anyway, so step right up and order from the counter.
Downtown
Nashville’s original extreme shake shop, Legendairy is nationally known for their photogenic ice cream treats. Served in a glass jar rimmed with chocolate, marshmallow, peanut butter, or vanilla icing, these shakes are based on classic ice cream flavors and syrup drizzles that are then tarted up with any number of sprinkles, cookie crumbles, cotton candy, brownies, donuts, cheesecake, or fruit. Moderation is not something they practice at Legendairy.
How to order: You’ll need to be on-site to place your order, but you might want to preview the menu online in advance, because it’s, well, a lot.
Downtown
After years of attracting Nashville ice cream lovers to the ‘burbs to enjoy their luscious small-batch ice cream made from milk provided by local cows, Hattie Jane’s has finally opened their first location in the big city. Their stall in the massive new Assembly Food Hall is already introducing the masses to their brand of classic Southern flavors like brown butter pecan, nana puddin’, and Mulekick made with Muletown roasted coffee beans.
How to order: Hattie Jane’s isn’t taking orders online quite yet, but they intend to soon, so keep an eye on their website.
Donelson
This family affair has been around for three generations, with the grandson of the original Mimi currently in charge. They haven’t changed much about the place in all those years, but the nostalgic charm is what attracts tourists to the area around Gaylord Opryland Resort anyway. The kitchen makes two dozen old-school flavors by hand every day, and they take advantage of seasonal flavors like peach and pecans to whip up specialties at the peak of freshness.
How to order: Call 615-724-1201 in advance for carryout orders.
Midtown
Two friends from California looked at the ice cream market and decided they saw a gaping hole in the usual offerings: nobody was serving a real kickass ice cream sandwich. They decided to do it themselves by opening The Baked Bear, and eventually bringing an outpost to Nashville. The three-step ordering process involves choosing a cookie from a long list of options ranging from chocolate chip to red velvet, selecting from a dozen ice cream flavors to slide between those cookies and then picking either syrupy or crunchy toppings to finish it off. If you’re feeling adventurous, add the fourth step of asking them to warm it up for you.
How to order: Order online for pickup or delivery.
South Nashville
You don’t really know what ice cream obsession truly is until you visit a Mexican scoopery. Baskin-Robbins’ 31 flavors wouldn’t even take up the first page of the menu at La Michoacana, where rows of freezers line the walls filled with both familiar flavors and more exotic ones that are popular in Latin America. Step outside your usual comfort zone to experience flavors like passionfruit, rice and raisin, queso, and tamarind. You’ll be rewarded for your bravery with some truly unique ice creams that will expand your mind and tickle your tastebuds.
How to order: You really need to lay eyes on all those tubs full of ice creams, but you can order for delivery via DoorDash.