Daniel B.
Yelp
My wife and I finally made it to Andia's Homemade Ice Cream in Cary. We generally agree with what most others have said about this place. The ice cream here is excellent and, in my opinion, probably the best in the Triangle. That's all you need to know. If you want details, keep reading.
This Andia's location in the Cary Park Town Center (Harris Teeter shopping center) in West Cary is the original brick and mortar location that opened on July 27, 2017. Since then, three additional locations have opened: Southeast Cary, Raleigh (Raleigh Iron Works mixed-use development), and Durham (The Can Opener food truck park).
We visited on a Sunday around 4:45pm and stayed for about an hour. During that time, we saw two large waves of customers come in. Even though the shop was busy, the line moved at a good pace and customer service was great. Different members of the staff checked on us, which we appreciated. In hindsight, I'm surprised we stayed for about an hour, but it was mainly because we ate more than normal. We entered the line twice to put in two orders. Between the two of us, we had:
* One Sampler Flight ($7.75) - Baklava, Cake Batter, Oreo Latte, Ube, Malted Twix, and Rose Pistachio, topped with 2 waffle wedges;
* One Double Scoop ($8.00) - Cake Batter and French Vanilla, with free rainbow sprinkles; and
* Another Double Scoop ($8.00) - Rose Pistachio and Ube.
All of the flavors were outstanding. To me, what made Andia's stand out from the competition was the extra thick and creamy texture of the ice cream. It was dense, but not too dense, and super smooth. Also, I love how "sprinkles are always free." A couple things my wife liked about Andia's was (1) the flavors weren't too sweet, unlike Ben & Jerry's, and (2) the shop offered many creative and unique flavors, which reminded me of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams. Overall, the flavors were very authentic and tasted true to their names. For example, the Cake Batter contained yellow cake mix and the Rose Pistachio had chopped roasted pistachios.
During our visit, there were 24 flavors and 16 toppings ($1 each, except for sprinkles which are free) on the menu. Nine of the 24 flavors (37.5%) were sold out. That was disappointing because there were multiple flavors we wanted to try that were sold out.
To give you a better idea of the flavors we got and what makes Andia's different in terms of the effort and ingredients they put into their ice cream, here's how they were described on the menu in-store:
* Baklava - a nutmeg- and cinnamon-infused ice cream with chopped walnuts, baklava pieces, and honey
* Cake Batter - a yellow cake mix with rainbow confetti throughout
* French Vanilla - national red ribbon winner 3 years in a row!
* Malted Twix - malted chocolate ice cream with chopped Twix pieces and a thick caramel swirl
* Rose Pistachio - a light and refreshing rose flavor with chopped roasted pistachios
* Oreo Latte - our coffee ice cream base with Oreos throughout
* Ube - a creamy coconut milk base made with the purple yam from the Philippines
My favorite flavors were Cake Batter and French Vanilla. My wife's favorites included the Ube and Rose Pistachio, but really, she liked them all. I don't think you can go wrong with any flavor here. Andia's is also known for their decadent milkshakes served in souvenir Andia's mason jars ($16.50 each).
This location is sized like most ice cream shops with limited seating inside and out. We sat at the counter in the back. They have a sink in the back, outside the single unisex restroom, with water cups. Seating outside is on the shopping center's sidewalk patio.
