Garden Creamery
Ice cream shop · Mission
3566 20th St, San Francisco, CA 94110
Highlights
Asian-inspired ice cream, sorbets, and popsicles.
Asian-inspired ice cream, sorbets, and popsicles.
"Garden Creamery has phenomenal, mostly Asian-inspired flavors that attract daily lines to their storefront in the Mission. The menu changes, but expect to see thai tea, black sesame, butter mochi, and ume—plus a fruitier non-dairy section with coconut-pandan and orange creamsicle. Our favorites are the tea-heavy flavors like hojicha and genmaicha." - julia chen 1, lani conway, ricky rodriguez, patrick wong
"Garden Creamery is the Mission District ice cream shop that became an Instagram star for opening with churro-like chimney cones, made with sweet yeast dough baked and covered in cinnamon sugar. Garden Creamy offers an array of Hawaiian-influenced flavors (including some non-dairy options), as well as matcha with toasted rice, black sesame, Mexican and Manila mango, salted plum, and Thai tea. Keep an eye out for the seasonal flavors, too." - Paolo Bicchieri
"It’s hard to miss Garden Creamery in the Mission. If the bright red storefront doesn’t catch your eye, the constant lines likely will. The Hawaiian- and Asian-influenced ice cream shop usually has at least a dozen seasonal flavors on rotation, like lilikoi vanilla, haupia, hojicha, and ube pandan. Samples of their pudding-like ice cream are unlimited, so be sure to pack a sleeping bag in case you need to take a break. With just a few tables and barstools, seating can be challenging, but there’s no shame in joining the droves of people on the sidewalk licking orbs of dairy." - julia chen 1, patrick wong, ricky rodriguez
"Garden has all the ingredients to be a quiet, tucked-away, sleeper pick for best ice cream in the city. As it turns out, this is everyone’s favorite ice cream shop and it’s impossible to get in the door. Crowds swarm outside Garden’s pink corner lot for inventive flavors done well and simple flavors done right. The only foolproof way to beat the line here is to go when people don’t want ice cream i.e. mid-day or in the rain. Grabbing a couple of beers for the line and make an evening out of it isn’t a bad option either and it’s always worth it." - Matt Tillquist
"It’s hard to miss this bright red Mission street corner ice cream shop. For one, because it’s bright red, but also because there’s a never-ending line. The thick, almost pudding-like scoops at Garden usually come with a long wait, but it always feels worthwhile. Garden has a stacked seasonally rotating menu with at least a dozen flavors. You’ll find the usuals like vanilla and chocolate, but you’re going to Garden for their Asian and tropical-inspired options like salty kaya, lychee black tea, and ube. Plus, Garden also serves a handful of vegan options. Seating is limited to just a few small tables and stools, so plan to take your scoops on the go to Dolores or Mission Playground." - Patrick Wong
