Hila Gelato Caffè
Ice cream shop · Mission
951 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA 94110
Highlights
Sicilian gelato, coffee, pastries, and gelato-stuffed croissants
Sicilian gelato, coffee, pastries, and gelato-stuffed croissants
"Look, we know, gelato is not technically ice cream, but hear us out: when it’s hot out and you’re on Valencia Street, this is the place to go. Chef and owner Iliary Biondo owned a gelato shop in Palermo for ten years and serves the real deal at her current San Francisco shop, Hila. Go with whatever flavor moves you — we’re partial to pistachio and gianduia — but whatever you do, get it stuffed into a walk and snack’able cannoli if you can." - Paolo Bicchieri
"The Mission has a wealth of dessert options, but Hila Gelato should be your first choice regardless of the temperature. The Sicilian-style gelato is incredibly creamy and the flavors rotate constantly. Our favorites usually lean on the fruitier side, like the blueberry that’s chock full of small berry bits that taste straight from a farm stand in the Central Valley. Consider this the perfect way to cool off on a 72-degree San Francisco day." - patrick wong, julia chen 1, ricky rodriguez
"It’s an ice cream moment in the Bay Area. The options are seemingly endless, but Hila stands out for the simple fact that one of the shop’s co-owners ran a gelato shop in Sicily before moving to San Francisco. Hila scoops gelato into croissants to make sweet and buttery ice cream sandwiches while dropping dollops alongside espresso for affogato. While the weather is warm, get a cannoli stuffed with mint chocolate gelato for a stroll down Valencia Street." - Paolo Bicchieri
"You have a wealth of dessert options to choose from if you’re in the Mission, but Hila Gelato should be on the top of your list, hot day or not. The Sicilian-style gelato is incredibly creamy and there’s a large variety of fun and always-changing flavors, like lemon delight, stracciatella, and cherry. Standouts are on the fruitier side, like the blueberry that’s chock full of small bits of fruit that taste straight from a farm stand in the Central Valley. But no matter the flavor, every gelato is fresh—and the perfect way to cool off on a 72-degree San Francisco day. " - julia chen 1, lani conway, ricky rodriguez
"Taking the place of longstanding Xanath Ice Cream, Hila brings the best version of Sicilian-style gelato to the streets of the Mission—and showcases just how good gelato can be when the focus is on the raw ingredients. Hila takes this commitment to the extreme by offering a wide array of seasonal fruit flavors like lemon delight, blueberry, and cherry alongside standbys like stracciatella and tiramisu. And if you’re feeling like you need a quick pick-me-up after a cup or cone of that gelato, get a shot of espresso or even another scoop, affogato-style, we know you want more." - Ricky Rodriguez
