Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream

This is a really great location. Though the Plaza is super busy, and the line at handles is long, they have several windows open, and it is quick. The staff there are super friendly, and the ice cream is fantastic, as always.

I love going to Handel's. They have so many flavors and cones to choose from. I tried Buckeyes flavor and it's delicious. Their price is so reasonable for the size of ice cream we were getting. I can't wait to try more flavors.

Been going to this location since before the Skydeck was even opened! Absolutely love their ice cream, but this location is our favorite. The staff are super nice and knowledgeable about their flavors, and they don’t skimp on portion sizes for “small” either. My favorites are the vanilla caramel brownie and Oreo cheesecake, wish y’all would bring that flavor back already! 🙏

The serving size at this place is very generous. They have all the classic flavors and more. It’s almost overwhelming how many flavors they have. That being said, the ice cream was delicious.

Amazing place with wide variety of ice creams. Super rich flavor and delicious taste! There's lots of seating in the Del Mar location along with multiple other restaurants to choose from.

Top shelf ice cream! Great selection of flavors and simple menu. Very affordable and the portions are great for the pricing. Cookie Monster was a hit for son, Chocolate Shake was hittin! Oreos n Vanilla delicious classic and of course the Banana Slit @ $7.50 and you get to choose any 3 scoops you want! It was a beast for the price and very flavorful!! Definitely be going there again.

The ice cream here is very delicious. Expect long lines during busy times, but not that bad. My daughter loves their strawberry cheesecake flavor on sprinkled cone cup. Servings are quite big but you can ask them to lessen it. Price is reasonable.

I have a new favorite ice cream spot! A lot of people recommended Handel’s. I also notice there’s always long line for this ice cream shop. So I have to give it a try. There’re soooooo many ice cream flavors and it’s pretty hard to make a decision. I randomly chose one - Monkey’s business. I asked staff how is the flavor and he explained it very detailed, bananas with caramel and brownies. The ice cream came out much bigger than I thought, but it’s super delicious and I definitely didn’t waste any. I just look forward to coming back for other flavors, which I believe will be delicious as well.

Ice cream is top notch It was absolutely delicious & did not disappoint, as Handel's normally serves up deliciousness by the scoop! Service, however, was a different story. There were many employees inside. I'd say there were about 6, at least. Not a single one was paying any mind to the counter. In fact, backs were turned as employees chatted w/one another & had to ask for assistance.

Plenty of parking at this location: front parking lot but also back parking garage. To use the restroom, go upstairs to use the restroom located in the back of the sky deck dining area. They have a variety of different flavors so be prepared to stand there to study the menu and try something new! I have yet to get a bad flavor. There are multiple windows you order from so wait in line and pay attention to the windows. When we went, the staff who helped us seemed to be a new trainee (without a trainer); she gave me the wrong flavor and the way she stacked the scoops were like the leaning tower is Pisa. There was also a customer after me whom I saw the whole entire ice cream fell off the cone into her hand because of it (she calmly just stacked it back on the cone like a pro) and she literally just got the ice cream and was still at the window. But this was a one time experience. Usually they are really good and generous about the servings so I always get a single scoop which is never a single scoop but more. I usually get the waffle cone but a lot of the time, the chocolate coated ones are a bit stale and not crunchy and the paper always gets stuck on the cone where they attach it. The cup might be the best way. They have a couple of tables with umbrellas you could sit and eat or walk around the mall. You could also go up the escalator to find more chairs to sit on.

really solid ice cream! i would highly recommend getting the 4 scoop sampler for the value. i'm a huge fan of graham central station and birthday cake. the hurricane is also good, but it can be a hit or miss since sometimes it's hard for them to churn the ice cream thoroughly. service is pretty good, all of the employees are quite nice. they used to not allow samples, but i believe now they are giving samples. there is no seating available at handel's, but there are lots of places to sit down and eat in the plaza. i love going upstairs and enjoying my ice cream at the sky deck area! i would definitely recommend if you're craving some good ice cream :)

We go there pretty much every night, when we visit Carlsbad. Ice cream is so good. The Keylime pie is my favorite!

Went to this place an hour before they closed, waited about 20-25 minutes to order, there's usually high school kids working there and one adult. Everyone was super nice and polite and had an upbeat attitude even in the last hour of it being open. The portions are huge, and every flavor we got to try was delicious. This is a cute little place, everyone should definitely visit.

Handel's Homemade Ice Cream located in Del Mar highlands offers fresh daily made Ice Cream with so many flavors to choose from. Handel's has been on my list for a while as Handel's as quickly expanded throughout San Diego. Service is fantastic with a friendly staff taking the time to help me a first timer go through some of their most popular flavors such as Graham Central Station, Salty Caramel Truffle and so many more. After sampling their most popular flavors, I opted for the Salty Caramel Truffle on a sugar cone as it provided a mix of salty and sweet. Ice cream was creamy and the portion was generous. I really enjoyed it and will definitely come back for some fresh homemade Ice Cream.

A great friend of mine got me a gift card for my birthday so I decided to come here with my family for dessert in San Diego area. There were tons of flavors to choose from. The menu can be overwhelming, but you can definitely check the website for the detailed ingredients. If you are not sure of the flavor, you can always sample it. They have vegan/sorbet, sherbet, Ice, Fat-Free and no sugar added ice cream. You can get a shake, banana split, etc. Their portion size is very generous. There is no indoor seating and very limited outdoor seating. Ordered: Monkey Business with Waffle Cone - banana cake batter ice cream using fresh bananas with caramel ripple and brownie pieces Banana Cream Pie with Waffle Cone - banana ice cream using fresh bananas with marshmallow ripple and sugar cookie gems Salty Caramel Truffle with Waffle Cone - salty caramel ice cream with chocolate truffles filled with salted caramel The service was great, and we enjoyed our delicious sweet homemade ice creams!

So inexpensive and lots of flavors to choose from. The 4 sampler is only $7!! Flavors I tried: - Banana Crème Pie: not a huge banana person but tried a bite (6/10) - Graham Central Station: yum! Love the graham bits and nutty flavor (8/10) - Coffee Chocolate Chip: not too strong coffee, with loads of flat chocolate chips (8/10) - Praline Pecan: some caramel and pecan bits (7/10)

A small is TWO AND A HALF scoops and they have sooo many flavors to choose from. This was my first visit to a Handel's and their Monkey Business was *chef's kiss*. I'm going to have to return to try many more flavors. Be prepared for a line but for good reason.

I heard amazing things about this ice cream shop when I moved to San Diego, and it doesn't disappoint at all! I wanted to take my boyfriend to try and made a trip for ice cream after lunch. The location that my boyfriend and I went to is on the first floor under the Sky Deck at the Del Mar Highlands Town Center in Del Mar. There's a parking lot with ample parking, but parking can be very difficult to find especially during lunch and dinner rush hours. $6 for a waffle bowl and four mini scoops (two scoops of cookies n cream and coffee chocolate chip each). Yum! The amount of ice cream + waffle bowl for only $6 is really a steal. The ice creams were also very creamy and delicious even on cold days. I would say my boyfriend liked it. Definitely will be back for more delicious ice cream in the future!

I love going to Handel's. They have so many flavors and cones to choose from. I tried Buckeyes flavor and it's delicious. Their price is so reasonable for the size of ice cream we were getting. I can't wait to try more flavors.

I ordered two ice cream cakes over the phone after stopping by the Handel's La Jolla Village and being told they don't make cakes. The female that answered the phone was so kind and patient as she helped me place my order. She helped me pick flavors and designs. Picking up was easy as well. I was told the cakes feed 10-12 people. The cakes could easily feed 20 each. They were beautiful and huge! Thank you for being so accommodating, kind, and delicious reasonably priced cakes!

There are many reasons I love Handel's first being that the ice cream is just delicious! There is good ice cream and great ice cream and Handel's is great! Second, I love that they have a sampler option that lets you get up to four different flavors at once. I'm the kind of person that has the hardest time choosing so to be able to order four different flavors is the absolute best! To be honest, it was even hard to narrow down to four with how many great flavors that they have! So good! Pair with a cookie from next door and you've got yourself the perfect treat.

We swung by to grab some ice cream on the way home. It may have been the time we were there (around 7PM) but they were out of a few of the ice creams on the board. Not such a bad thing I guess since it allowed us to step outside our comfort zone and try some new flavors. One perk, there wasn't as long of a line as we usually wait in. Perfect treat for a Summer evening and plenty of seating around the mall area to chill out for a bit before heading home.

We had a great experience here last weekend. My kids are huge mint chocolate chip fans and they have a delicious very natural tasting ice cream. The employees were super friendly and helpful and the portions were generous. Would definitely come back here again

My family's favorite Ice cream shop. There are so many flavors but our favs are Spouse like a house, Strawberry, and cookies and cream. The staff here are always friendly and helpful! It is located at Del Mar Highlands right next to Batch and Box,

This was a delicious end after dinner. The 4 sampler was a great way to try some fun flavors. They did not disappoint. Graham st station you definitely tasted the graham crackers but it didn't have the grainy texture. Banana cream pie tasted like the pie. I live watermelon and the sorbet was refreshing. But the best was orange cream dream as it had memories from being a kid long ago enjoying those bars! Don't miss this one. Give it or at least one flavor a try!

Delicious! We love Handel's. Their menu is more simple but has tons of unique flavors to choose from...over 45 in fact! They also offer a 4 scoop sampler for those who cannot choose or just like variety! Favorite Flavors: -Graham Central Station -Mint with oreo -Oree-dough

The person before us complained she was waiting longer and I let her go. her ice cream came and some dropped on the counter. Ew. The server wiped it up, but did not add ice cream. We ordered Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream. It had what looked like red food dye streaming through it. Ew. It had rectangular pieces of chewy rubber white sugar blocks that bore no resemblance to cheesecake in look, texture, nor taste. Ew. It was way too sweet. Ew. The next day we went to Calicream and ordered vanilla and chocolate. No drama and the ice cream was delicious and just right. I decided to write about this because I feel premium ice cream should not resemble Baskin Robbin's entry level ice cream and the customer service around it should be better. Not going back to Handels. Gross. Will go back to Cali.

Handel's is SO worth it! $6 for a single scoop and they give you SO much. They have a wide variety flavors (which may be overwhelming) but I would recommend getting their flight. The ice cream is a bit on the sweeter side and melts kind of fast. Service was quick even with a long line. Sadly they don't do samples and you can't see the ice cream itself but you do order at the window. Happy to be back if I was in the area!

After about a dozen quarts purchased over the past year, I find the product is very inconsistent. Just finished a quart of Mud Pie that usually is filled with Oreo cookies and fudge sauce. But this quart had only one small piece of Orea and not much fudge. Another quart of Coffee Chocolate Chip had about 1/3 of the chips in a previous purchase. Also service is pretty slow. Often a single server is working with many other employees standing back oblivious to the long lines forming. Exccellent ice crean when they get it right, but no longer worth the hassle and poor quality control.

Their servings are incredibly generous and made with fresh ingredients. You've the option of being served in a cup or a variety of cones. A single scoop has proven quite plenty for me. The four scoop flight is a steal at its current price. Other menu options I've enjoyed are milkshakes (chocolate malt, then later taro) and hurricanes (their take on the DQ blizzard). Compared to other Handel's locations, the customer service and friendliness is above and beyond. This is a spot to which I bring friends when possible and always recommend. Minor complaint: their web site does not seem to be updated for current flavors available. I'm the type who keeps an eye out for certain flavors and this helps me. It's not a hardship to read their extensive menu, however.

The line was long but went by quickly. I appreciated that they had dairy free options, the coconut sorbet was good and I was surprised that a single scoop was so big (see pic for reference)

Friendly staff and delicious ice cream! Many flavors to choose from and is reasonably priced. Always love coming here to get my puppy a pup cone

I think the ice cream here is probably not to my taste, but it was thin and super artificial tasting, like you could taste the extracts they used to make the flavors. It didn't feel or taste homemade at all, I really wish it were richer. The shop is also just an ordering window and you can't see or easily taste the ice cream like at other shops. It felt very industrial. I got a sampler with 4 scoops so I gave it a fair shot, but didn't like it.

absolutely love the flavors and can't wait to cool off by eating this amazingly yummy ice cream in this ridiculous heat. the summer's just warming up so i know i'll be visiting again soon!

Love this ice cream! It's real as real can be these days! My tummy says so! Great fun favors!

Been here twice. The first time we had excellent service and delicious ice cream for a party of six, including kiddos and a grandma. Each of us ordered two scoops either in a cone or a bowl. It came out quickly despite the long lines. We made note we would come here again b/c of the positive experience and pleasant staff. Today was our second venture, and while the desserts were still good, I had concerns about a 7 year old boy scooping out ice cream for customers and handling the register. In my head, I kept thinking: "Child Labor Laws." His mother was already irritated with the complex orders of a lady and her two daughters before me & so by the time I was at the counter, she kept getting my order wrong. She then proceeded to lecture me about how they don't do it by scoops but by size of the cup. I never had this issue on my first visit when I just requested two scoops either in a cone or waffle. It doesn't matter to me if you want to give it in a small or medium size cup. Just do your thing. No one is breaking the bank by an issue of the cup sizing. We can pay a dollar more or whatever but just don't lecture me when getting ice cream b/c it's supposed to be fun! But more importantly, I found it super disturbing to see a child doing labor under the age of 10. I don't know if a manager was on site or what the situation is. If you don't have childcare and you have to bring your kids to work, then have them sit in the corner and read a book. We understand this happens, but please don't make your child do your work. Pretty sure the 7 year old isn't trained on quality control or on sanitation practices. This place is a chain and not a mom and pop place where maybe regulations may be more relaxed. His mom ended up doing my scoops (pictured), but the kid did the scoops for my partner. I hope the owners of this location take child labor laws seriously as this was highly inappropriate and made our experience uncomfortable, compared to our first stellar visit.

3 stars for the friendly service we always get when we come! The quality is just not there especially when you have the amazing salt and straw across the street. The single scoops here are HUGE- definitely shareable. They do have fun flavors but for me it's just meh. Comparable to grocery store ice cream. They give you free pup cone if you bring your dog!

First time here and love their specialty flavors. Their ice cream were super smooth and creamy. Most of all, not overly sweet or artificial chemical like flavors. We got the smores, taro and pistachio. - Smores was good as it reminded me of a rocky road but lighter in flavors. - The taro i did not like as that was too sweet for me and i would change the name to ube instead of taro. Taro is a root while ube is a yam. So they are not actually the same or even the same in flavor or color. Taro are lighter with a nuttier flavor where ube is more vibrant in its purple color like this ice cream and also sweeter, again like this ice cream. So yea, i would call it ube instead. - The pistachio is good like the smores but i also had better. Ice cream was very natural with huge pcs of pistachio but the better ones i had, the actual cream would have the nuttier flavor also. We got them with waffle cones on the side. Unfortunately to say they were a bit staled and not good at all. Both adults, even the kids didn't care to eat it. Overall, not bad for a quick fix but not as a regular. What i fo recommend is getting the ice cream and hop next door to the cookie store and make a ice cream cookie ice cream. Now THAT made it that much more delicious as we got the snookerdoodles cookie to eat with it.

My FAVORITE ice cream place!!!!!!!! I love how there are literally 50+ flavors to choose from! The portion is HUGE. A single scoop is equivalent to 3 scoops at all the other ice cream shops! I highly recommend getting your ice cream in a cone because you get your moneys worth with even BIGGER scoops. If anything you can get a cup on the side if you want the cone as well as the ice cream. The workers here are mainly a younger crowd but all are very educated in flavors and mature. It's a good location with cute outdoor seating. There is no indoor dining, it's set up as if it's a in person drive thru. The menu is huge and the staff is very good at educating about all the different flavors if anyone has questions. I do recommend getting the Graham central station, that is my #1 flavor!

Our family came for a visit following a hot day. This location is at the Del Mar Highlands and next to Jimbos. Parking can be tough our front, so try parking in the parking garage behind the center. The walk up counter and the staff were happy to assist. At the time of our visit, there was a line but the line went really quick. There is so many flavors to choose from that I ended up getting the sampler $6 for my son and me. My daughter got a strawberry scoop and my husband got a raspberry chocolate chip. The sampler is is the best bang for your buck and you get to choose 4 flavors. We ordered the following: -Mud Pie: Chocolate with Oreo and chocolate swirls. -Coffee Chocolate Chip -Mint Oreo -Mint Chocolate Chip I lady behind the counter was so sweet. The flavors were all delicious and just enough sweetness. Def a fan of Handel's ice cream and so are my kids.

Cute ice cream spot tucked beneath the Sky Deck at Highlands! There was a short line when I arrived and the service was very quick. I ordered the Coffee Chocolate Chip and was definitely pleased with it. The coffee flavor was rich and they definitely did not skimp on the chocolate chunks, which I'm a huge fan of. The ice cream was creamy and smooth; really yummy scoop! However, nothing truly stood out to me here. I do prefer the ice cream at Salt & Straw, which is more unique in flavors and offers samples. The location of Handel's is great as their are many surrounding restaurants, so this is a great place to stop by for dessert if you're craving something sweet after a meal. The menu hosted a lengthy list of different flavors so if I'm ever in the Highlands and craving ice cream, I'll definitely try some other flavors.

I had the pleasure of meeting the manager, Spencer who was super friendly and had the perfect demeanor and personality to be working at Handels. He provided awesome Customer service! I was there for a Yelp Elite Event and tried their 4 scoop ice cream flight. I ordered taro, banana cream pie, salted caramel truffle, and upside down pineapple. The tarp and banana cream pie were sooo good! Handels Ice cream is high quality creamy ice cream with tons of flavors for the entire family to enjoy. I've been here a few times and there's always a line but it goes by quickly. My all time favorite flavor is Monkey Business which is banana and chocolate ice cream. Honestly you can't go wrong with any of their flavors they're all delicious !

I had a $25 gift card which I somehow could NOT use to try this awful, grocery store bargain brand syrup that Handel's calls "ice cream". Imagine that! Not only were they unable to accept my gift card because there was no manager working, their "systems were down" so I had to pay $5 in cash and they gave me back 5 nickels! Shame on this location and their poor management - leaving high school age kids to work this ice cream "window" on their own reflects poorly on not only you but your brand. Pro tip - Salt n Straw just across the street is 10x better. I can only assume this place survives off droves of sugar crazed kids who don't know any better and location alone. I have no plans of ever returning here and will be donating my gift card to charity.

New favorite ice cream spot--so many unique flavors, super creamy and chunky, doesn't melt fast, and there's outdoor seating! Currently not offering samples, but I think this may change because I know other locations do. $4.75 for a small cup, but the cup is stacked with ~3 scoops! Worth it, but I would recommend the 4 scoop sampler so that you can get more flavors and share! My favorite flavor is Monkey Business - vanilla, banana bread, and brownies! Chewy with the banana bread and brownie bites but overall creamy! Perfect for those who don't like it too sweet.

Came to the plaza for dinner at Sky Deck but had to grab ice cream on the way out after seeing the line! Waited about 10 min to order and got the black walnut ice cream in a chocolate dipped waffle cone. First, I was absolutely shocked by how big the standard size is. I didn't see an option for different scoops so didn't mention it when I ordered but was super surprised to see 3 HUGE SCOOPS in the cone. Black walnut is essentially vanilla ice cream with a ton of walnut pieces mixed in. I appreciate how large the pieces of walnut were but wish the ice cream had more flavor itself and after eating 2 scoops, raw walnut pieces seemed pretty heavy. I couldn't even finish it myself!

This is one of those businesses that I spend money at around once a month and couldn't believe I had not written a review for yet. Oh Handels, my bad boo! You're my fav so lemme make this right, right now! They have been around since 1945 and are now a franchise. The owner of this location does it up right! They make their ice cream at each location, so it's super fresh. Say it with me: Full fat ice cream! REAL ice cream! Ice cream to make my midwest roots proud! And the serving sizes? Holy Moly: It doesn't get more American than that! The small is three scoops. I've never ordered more than a small cone or cup and it's enough to share with my kid! Our go to move is stopping here to buy a few ice creams by the pint to bring to whatever gathering we're headed too. It's a hit at bbqs and dinner parties and we generally snag a variety. Want to invite us over now? I bet you do! My must try flavors include ORANGE CREAM DREAM It's the stuff your elementary school brain remembers: Orange sherbet and vanilla swirl. BANANA CREAM PIE banana ice cream using fresh bananas with marshmallow ripple and sugar cookie gems GRAHAM CENTRAL STATION graham ice cream with graham cracker ripple and chocolate-covered crunchies TIN LIZZY vanilla ice cream with chocolate-covered toffee pieces and butterscotch ripple S'MORES graham cracker ice cream with marshmallow ripple, chocolate chips, and mini marshmallows Hi-five for the key lime pie and the blueberry cobbler, too. PRO TIP: like Ice cream cakes for birthdays and celebrations? They make and sell those too and they are phenomenal! there is a large flavor of the month on susual, or you can call ahead and have it custom made.

Don't ever skip dessert and don't ever pass by a Handel's Homemade Ice cream shop. Possibly some of the best ice cream combinations selections. Delicious!!! Delicious!!! Delicious!!!

this place is the best ice cream place out here! they have so many unique flavors that all work well together and they are so generous with their portions. I ordered their single scoop and it looks like a double scoop!

Great that Vista, of all places, has a Handel's! Who would've thought. Came in at rush hour of a Saturday night and it wasn't too bad. The line looks intimidating when you first see it, but once you're in it, it goes by fairly quickly. Also, it gives you time to figure out what you want, which helps the line go by quicker. I will say that the staff is super busy, and I get it. But my single scoop was stacked sideways and I thought it would've been a little more considerate to at least have it scooped where most of it was not tipping on the side of the cone. But who knows, it could've been a bad day for the guy? Overall, I love Handel's and I'm so glad they have Frosty Paws as well. My dog LOVED it!

One of my favorite past times is checking out new dessert places. I've always passed by Handel's whenever I'm in this plaza and decided to try it. I came here with some friends on a Saturday night and there was a longish line, but it moved quickly. There are a ton of flavors here so my friend and I decided to get the 4 flavor sampler so we could try a little bit of everything. What we got: (4 scoop sampler) - Blue Monster (3/5): something that people might not know about me (or my ice cream preferences) is that I really love the textures in my ice cream. I like ice cream with different toppings/mix-ins. I really like Oreos and cookie dough in my ice cream and this flavor was the perfect combo of that. The cookie dough and Oreo chunks were good, but the ice cream sorta missed the mark for me. I felt like it was a little bland (?) - Banana Cream Pie (5/5): I love banana pudding and was ecstatic to get this one. It did not disappoint and definitely hit the spot for me. The cookie pieces, marshmallow swirl, and banana ice cream all weren't too sweet! I really liked how the banana flavor wasn't artificial tasting like their banana flavored items and was such a smooth flavor. - Banana Brownie (5/5): this was probably my favorite flavor, mostly because of the brownies inside. Similar to the banana cream pie, I also appreciated how the banana ice cream didn't taste too artificial. The brownies were soft, and chewy, and added a nice texture to the smoothness of the ice cream. - Black Cherry (4/5): I don't typically like cherry-flavored things just because they taste medicinal but this flavor was so good. It had a really fresh cherry flavor without tasting too sweet over artificial. All in all, the ice cream was very smooth and had a nice melt-in-your-mouth texture. I would definitely be back if I were in the area. TLDR: tons of flavors, good ice cream and large portions

This was my first time at this Handel's location. Parking was SO MUCH EASIER than parking at the pacific beach location. Enjoyed a 4 scoop flight which is a ton of ice cream! My favorite flavor was the birthday cake. We went at 9:30pm on a Wednesday and the line was at least 10 minutes. It looks longer after we ordered. There are so many flavor options here. Can't wait to go back and try some new ones!

Part of the yelp elite event, we were given a flight of 4 scoops of our choice. I brought my fiancé who is a more fruity pallet whereas I am more of a dessert pallet. We chose 2 fruit and 2 dessert flavors, we both agreed that the flavors we chose were excellent and tasted well made. The service is like a concession stand style, so there's no indoor walk in, it's workers behind a counter. The place seems really kid friendly, as there's a Gepetto's Toy Store and shops all around including Jimbo's grocery. There was ample seating, and there were also umbrellas to help with Sunny days. I noticed, that the area is very dog friendly, so feel free to bring your pups.

Personally I wasn't super impressed with the ice cream but maybe we just got the wrong flavors! Location: Located at the corner of an upscale shopping center, this is an ideal heavy traffic location. There's plenty of parking in the huge lot. There's a few tables for outdoor seating. Food: got the 4 scoop sampler, we got mud pie, French silk pie, fudge brownie, and one more. The French silk was surprisingly our favorite flavors. The others didn't really stand out and were frankly confused by the fudge brownie because it had a Graham cracker tasting base which we weren't expecting. I'm not sure I would get these flavors again. Service: friendly and helpful! No samples at this time

Handels is my favorite ice cream in SD! I've been to 3 out of their 4 locations here, I'm coming for san marcos next!! I'm kind of an ice cream snob lmao I've been to a LOT of ice cream spots in SD, you name it: salt n straw, hammonds, cali cream, afters....the list goes on. I've noticed that the menu at del mar is a lot smaller than santee and PB. If you are in PB, definitely hit it up because they have a flavor there called Monkey Business which is so goood! Not sure why all the locations don't have that, they really should. We always get the 4 scoop sampler and we've tried a LOT of flavors and never had a bad one. My personal favorites (that they have at this location): Strawberry cheesecake chunk Blue Monster Banana cream pie Blue moon But oh man, if you go to PB, the Monkey Business and Blueberry cobbler is to die for!

After dinner we stopped by Handel's for some homemade ice cream! We tried Handel's for the first time a few months ago during a Yelp Elite week event where each person with a Yelp account could get a sampler of 4 scoops any flavor! My dad has been wanting to come back here, but he hardly goes to Del Mar with us. Well we went to dinner in Solana Beach and he was beaming from ear to ear when we decided to get some Handel's since it was in the area. It was a cold night, but we didn't mind the cold! We were all too excited to pick out our flavors! My dad got the Black Cherry & Blueberry Crumble. I got the Blueberry Crumble & Dark Chocolate Chip. My bear got a dipped waffle cone with Dark Chocolate Chip. We were 3 happy amigos! If you want a great deal, get the 4 scoop sampler for $6.50! We didn't because it was too much ice cream and we knew we wouldn't have the willpower to not eat all 4 scoops! 2 large scoops per person was more than enough!

This key lime pie is DIVINE Super friendly staff! And I love their price for serving size -sorry not sorry to my old fave ice cream shop, I got a new fave!

I've had Handel's catered in the past and was a huge fan of their flavors and quality. That still didn't prepare me for the overwhelming amount of flavors they have (and this is only a window location with a limited menu??). So grateful they have all of the classic flavors and plenty of their own mouthwatering creations, though. I went with the cotton candy (cannot thank you @Handel's enough for having this flavor because it's my favorite flavor please never get rid of it), and it did not disappoint! The really fun bit was that there were little chocolate pastel chips in there so the entire pint I got was delightful through and through. It wasn't overwhelmingly sweet and didn't taste artificial in flavor either. I would absolutely come back for this alone, but I would also want to work my way through their menu because it all sounds so good. Service is solid; I just feel bad that these workers have to take the order then run around to find the correct flavor when there are so many. Prices are extremely reasonable. The wait wasn't too bad either (it's truly caused by indecisive people and not the staff). I don't have a refined enough palate to tell you that this is the better ice cream compared to x/y/z. It's just solid ice cream to me that doesn't disappoint and their flavors push them over the edge for me.