Lil' Tiger Ice Cream

Hands down the best ice cream in Washington State; not even being dramatic, just the truth! The shop is clean, cozy, and ridiculously cute, with decor inspired by the owner’s dog (which makes it even better). The staff is wonderful, and the ice cream? Absolutely unmatched. That ube coconut flavor is so good I’d genuinely consider naming my firstborn after it. 10/10 recommend you need to try this place

Really delicious neighborhood ice cream parlor. The owner is very nice and you really feel the redness of his late basset hound. The flavors remind me of old school flavors in which the cream is thick and not too sweat. I love the pistachio, ube, cotton candy, and vanilla flavors. It’s great to see families and the after school crowd. The late night vibes is always nice to see and this shop brings lots of life to lake city. I’m a time where there are fancy ice cream spots like Salt and Straw and Molly Moons, I like Lil ‘Tiger the best because it’s simple and it brings me back to small towns and simpler times.

Better that's a good old days. This is not a diet place. They got high content, dairy fat, smooth as silk. And yummy yummy to your tummy. Do the double whammy on a waffle cone you can try everything in their place before you buy. How can you beat that? And that'll have that the hardest problem is which one to pick, because they're all good. Looking for décor has none looking for good. Ice cream every single one.

This is a cute and quirky shop! They had a lot of fun and unique flavors. I had the pistachio ice cream, which was hands-down, the best pistachio ice cream I’ve ever had. My wife had their Ube ice cream and added chocolate chunks, which I didn’t think would pair well, but it was actually super tasty.

I’m not a sweet or dessert person nor do I have strong feelings about ice cream. My favorite flavor is basic chocolate which is hard to mess up. But THIS PLACE..ice cream is amazing! Absolutely in love. Now when I think of ice cream, I think of this place.

Nice little neighborhood ice cream shop. I was at first disappointed that there were only two non-dairy flavors, but that was immediately forgotten once I tried the Ube Coconut nondairy. It was so good! They were also very happy to do multiple flavors on one cone. Delicious!

My husband and I took out of town relatives here for Father’s Day and everyone loved the ice cream. We always receive excellent customer service but they did an especially good job of making sure the dads felt special on Father’s Day. The owner recommended a pistachio and chocolate combination to us that was delicious. It was also fun to meet the mascot and their new puppy. Thank you for making us feel welcomed each time we get ice cream!

Excellent flavors and pricing! Friendly staff. The split scoop option might be the best thing I've seen at an ice cream shop. We got Tiger Caramel and Reese's PB Fudge scooped together and it was magical!

Honestly, there are so many "hot" ice cream shops, with fancy logos, and spiffy marketing. This is none of those things, it's a honest home made ice cream shops, that only wants to make good ice cream. The place isn't made up, it's not worried about being high class, because the service is amazing, courteous and it feels like they care about the customer. The food... I mean ice cream is... delicious. No notes. Go support a local family business. Worth. Every. Calorie.

I recently read the Eater list of best ice cream in Seattle and they specifically mentioned how Lil' Tiger Ice Cream makes their own ice cream base, which intrigued me enough to visit. This is one of only a handful of independent, non-chain scoop shops that I've seen make their own base. It's actually very difficult to do because FDA and state regulations (for Washington specifically, it's WAC 16-144-010) require the base to be pasteurized, which requires all sorts of expensive equipment. This is just a guess, but probably 90%+ of independent scoop shops purchase premade base to avoid the additional cost. Everyone running this shop is super friendly. On our visit, there was one of the owners in the back, making a fresh batch of banana and peanut butter mix, and the other scooping in the front, making friendly conversation with everyone walking in. Not to mention the two lovely Basset Hounds just lazing around on the floor! 1 Scoop, Ube ($6.00) - Woah! Super strong and rich ube flavor. Amazing, one of the best ube flavored things I've actually eaten, especially in terms of how powerful the flavor is. In the freezer, I saw ice crystals on top of the ice cream tub, but before serving us, Richard (one of the owners) scooped the entire top layer of ice cream up and threw it in the trash can. That's a sign of a great ice cream shop that really wants to do the best for their customers. The ice cream itself is very solidly low overrun and doesn't have much stretch, which usually means a low amount of stabilizers added. There aren't any ice crystals in the scoop itself. It's so thick that it's hard to actually get the spoon in! Definitely super premium. It's also not overly sweet. I do have to say that the scoop size isn't the largest; it doesn't even fill up the entire cup. We had a chat with Richard and he said they use purely ube extract and powder for this ice cream, and a ton of it at that to get that really full-bodied flavor. Super delicious ice cream. (5/5) I will be honest - the difference between a quality premade base and homemade base is probably small enough that I can't tell the difference. Still, it's always nice to see an ice cream shop go all out with their ingredients and technique!

This is your neighborhood is cream parlor. Everything is made fresh and you can see drawings of dogs from kids that colored them on the wall. The flavors are all solid and it reminds me of a small town old fashioned style. I've tried almost all of the flavors and have yet to try the ice cream burrito. You often see lots of families and cyclists that stop for a scoop. All the staff are friendly and it's a fun place to try.

Great flavors, open late, and nice people. We've been here a few times now and it's always been a good experience!

First time here and highly recommend. I went with the banana brownie and it didn't disappoint. Street parking can be tricky sometimes depending on the day/time.

Best ice cream shop in Seattle. My family always get great service weather it's a busy day or not

Review by my 7 yr old kid: Amazing service. The nice man was so fast at making the banana split!! The music was so good!! the ice cream was better than all the stores that I went to!!!

I knew I liked Lil tiger bc it's cute, they make their own fun flavors, and the owner is friendly but now I've been dairy free for a year and oh my, THE DAIRY FREE ICE CREAM IS THE BEST I'VE EVER HAD! Today I had pistachio and chocolate and it was so creamy and flavorful!!

Amazing homemade ice cream. My favorite is the dairy free ube ice cream. It is made with real coconut cream

Me n my gf's fav local ice cream in Lake City. We visited this store 14 times I the past 4 months and got a free banana split at our tenth visit. The portion of each scoop is huuuge. Highly recommend the blueberry cheesecake and lemon custard pie flavors!

Lil' Tiger Ice Cream is a great find! The ice cream is small batched with the ingredients thoughtfully sourced. The service was great, even had a good conversation with one of the owners about sourcing ingredients directly from the companies and appreciate the explanation of the process of making the making ice creams, toppings and sauces. The place ot self was warm and inviting and their lovely dogs were even there hanging out near the fireplace.

Absolutely delicious ice cream and waffle cones. I had the coffee and doughnuts flavor and was blown away. The toasted marshmallow topping is unreal!

Great little home made ice cream shop in Lake City. Wide array of ice cream flavors and toppings make for a yummy treat. They even had a cotton candy machine for that topping. You can watch them making ice cream in the glass windowed work area. Nice seating inside and out. Don't forget to pet the bassets if they're visiting.

the girl who served our ice cream was super friendly, welcoming and nice! i got the coffee doughnut flavor and i loved the bits of doughnut in the ice cream. my boyfriend got the chocolate ice cream in a cone and it was good! there's parking in the front and back and this place is an adorable little ice cream shop! they also serve malts :)

Delicious ice cream with creative flavors. Extremely pleasant customer service, and nice indoor and outdoor seating. The dogs are adorable! Will be going back here - tried the raspberry cheesecake this time, but there were several other flavors which interested me.

They got amazing ice cream, fun coloring activities and old DOGS. I had the milkshake with the ice cream of my flavor and it was amazing

I can't believe I just found Lil' Tiger. This little neighbor scoop shop has great homemade ice cream. I had vanilla, chocolate, strawberry and cherry chocolate chunk and all of them were delicious. Thee vanilla one was amazing, you can tell it's made from actual vanilla beans. Not your typical meh vanilla. For the chocolate one they use local Spinaker Chocolate, great classic chocolate. The strawberry one was so good too, it has some strawberry jam swirled into the ice cream. And my favorite one, the dark cherry chocolate chunk I think has become my favorite cherry ice cream. I love B&J's Cherry Garcia but this one is even better. Big cherry and chocolate chunks, smooth ice cream, tasteful, homemade, what else can I ask for? Oh yeah, the strawberry sauce. Get that too. The service was good, the staff was nice and friendly. The shop is cute and filled with children's drawings of Lil' Tiger. There's also parking in the back. Bonus point: if you're lucky, you might get to meet Lil' Tiger himself. One more reason to keep coming. Definitely a great option for ice cream in this area of town.

First time here and the gentleman behind the counter was very nice. Took his recommendation and tried the dark chocolate chunk cherry ice cream-yum! I normally don't like cherry anything so this was really good! Had that and the Tiger Caramel as our choice for the S'mores sundae. Toasted marshmallows and all, it was a good choice for us. Definitely going to be a favorite! Also please say hi to the dog, he's super friendly and is the face of Lil Tiger!

This is a great hole in the wall nothing fancy who needs decor when we got ice cream--all made in house with love and egg.yolks for that creamy dreamy mouth taste that.puts.a.smile.on your face-try the "Spinnaker melted Chocolate" (hand crafted single origin chocolate bars roasted by.removing the.shells of the cocoa beans first and just using the nibs) ice.cream --make.it a.double with "Dk Cherry Chocolate Chunk"then like the song you get to "knock on heaven's.door" single scoop @$5.25.two.scoops @$8.50 handmade waffle cone add $1. Split scoop @$5.75 kid.scoop @$4.25.This is the place that.started the slogan "Ice.Cream Ice.Cream we all scream for Ice.Cream" and ".Without ice cream there will be.darkness and chaos" -- Rich Rugout 75.year old curmudgeon, owner.and chief bottle washer- make the.trip- make the day-cheers.al

This is a nice place to get some good quality ice cream and you can always pet the cute lil tiger while you're there. The service is quick and respectful. The ambiance is pretty local vibe so definitely recommend to check out the place.

Delicious hard homemade ice cream with yummy specialty rainbow sprinkles !!! Helpful and fun servers. Fantastic deal with a frequent flyer card. Buy 9 and get the 10th ANY item on the menu for free. We will definitely come again.

I love this place! Stopped in today for the first time and it's my new favorite ice cream spot. Plenty of flavor options, and the store itself is super cute with both indoor and outdoor seating. There is street parking in the back and I had no problem finding a space. They have a lot of flavor options and offer samples to help you choose! We tried scoops of vanilla, cotton candy, and chocolate, and got a pint of blueberry cheesecake to go. All delicious and tasted homemade, soooo much better than anything I could get at the grocery store. The lady behind the counter was very nice and friendly. Can't wait to come back for a weekly treat!

Homemade style ice cream. About 20 flavors ranging from standards (vanilla bean, mint chip, butter pecan) to fun ones like pina colada. I tried coffee&donut and honeydew. The coffee&donut didn't hit with me as much as the honeydew. The richness/smoothness were good on both. 3 tables inside and a couple on the sidewalk make for fantastic summer relief. Staff was friendly and polite. This is definitely a go-to spot after any of the many restaurants along Lake City Way. Street parking is limited (parallel parking!) and there's a bus stop nearby.

Delicious flavors and dairy free options. Loved the raspberry cheesecake and dairy free butter pecan.

I have only stopped by Lil' Tiger Ice Cream in Seattle's Lake City neighborhood twice (5/25/21 and 6/1/21). That's on me for not stopping in more often especially during our summer heatwave 2021. But what stood out were the incredibly welcoming staff working behind the counter, clean and bright interior, and generous scoops provided. Two scoops were practically a pint from other sites or from the grocery store freezers, but without breaking the budget. Their ice creams are crafted onsite and walking in you get that immediate waft of freshly made waffle cones. Ice cream is delicious year round. Go treat yourself and support an indie local.

I grew up in the area and must have driven by this shop hundreds of times. I was desperately searching for somewhere to get a root beer float with my 5 yo grandson and Little Tiger came up. It was close-by so we went and had a wonderful experience. Delicious ice cream and my grandson had a great time watching the cones being made. Highly recommend!

Had a banana split, delicious! Chose own ice cream flavor, toppings, and sauces. Would go again!

Adorable locally owned ice cream shop, offering an impressive selection of flavors and toppings. They serve Cascade Glacier ice cream, which is handmade in Eugene, OR. You can opt for your scoops straight up, or in milkshakes, sundaes, sodas, and more. The shop is cute and pink, with a welcoming homey vibe. I love nostalgic flavors like their "Party Animal"; cotton candy ice cream with pink iced animal cracker pieces. It paired perfectly with the Lemon Meringue Pie, which tasted of lemon curd, and had pieces of pie crust and swirls of whipped cream mixed in. My husband got Moose Tracks, which had loads of mini peanut butter cups in it. All of the above were ultra creamy, and of high quality. Lil' Tiger is named after one of the owner's basset hounds, who we were lucky enough to meet. Highly recommended.

So many choices, so many fun colors, and I cannot wait to return! What a lovely addition to the heart of Lake City. A cute shop adorned with a chalk menu ( someone has exceptional penmanship). The staff was lovely and offered samples of the lemon meringue pie and something with caramel cups and chocolate. Both were very GOOOOD. Heck, maybe Tooo Good! I'll be craving their ice cream often...ugh, there goes the diet! Hubby tried 1 scoop of salted caramel in a cone and it has HUGE!! That will be my go... The brownie a la mode was delish with their brownie being extremely rich and warm gooey. I wish I had two scoops. The Brownies and ice cream sandwiches are sourced from a local Bakery. Must try the ice cream sandwiches next time because they were sold out! Kiddos ordered shakes and LOVED them! We will see you soon friends

Came here after having some good Mexican dinner. It was almost their closing time, their was only one employee and 2 cute doggos on the floor. Its a cute shop. Surely kid friendly, their were crayons and coloring pages with line art. Many different variety of flavors are available. All very similar to what you get in an ice cream shop. We had their:- Kona Coffee- I have had way better tasting coffee ice cream, the coffee flavor was not that good. Birthday cake- Lately, I have been on a spree to trying birthday cake ice cream of any ice cream shop that we go. This is definitely not the best I have tasted, it was overly sweet. Overall, its a cute place to try once but still on search for the best one. One scoop in their small cup comes with a lot of ice cream which is worth for what you pay.

The best pistachio I've cream in Seattle. It's so good. The chocolate hazelnut is also excellent. The two combined? Yuuuum. Not to sweet, you can taste all the flavors. I will come back for cheesecake cotton candy. Cuz that sounds Bomb

I've been here only twice, once for a shake and once for a scoop, and both times were delightful. My second time we actually ran into kids and parents from each of my kid's schools, within 15 minutes of being there, which leads to my main objective in this review- local businesses really can be a glue that stitches together community. Half of the tips went to a designated organization in the area, this occasion was Coyote North. Now we don't need to drive 10 minutes away for our calorie bomb.

Best ice cream I've had in a while, and there is a ready cute basset hound there too. Yum!

I'm so glad I finally got to try Lil Tiger. If only this was closer to where I live, since I'm in an ice cream shop desert! The prices are pretty standard for the area - not too high and not too low either. The best part of getting a milkshake is that you can get as many flavors as you want to mix together. I got a large milkshake with Cappuccino Irish Cream and huckleberry. My favorite ice cream flavor is coffee, so I had to get the cappuccino. The cappuccino here tasted the best out of all the other ice cream shops' coffee flavors I've tried, even compared to all the local ones (Molly Moon's, Bluebird, and Salt & Straw). The texture of Lil Tiger's coffee flavor was perfect, while Bluebird's is gritty and always makes me choke, and Molly Moon's has those annoying chips. The milkshake also had the best consistency I've ever had from a milkshake in the Seattle area. I'm so used to having uneven milkshakes that aren't ready to drink for 10+ minutes like from Baskin Robbins, etc. This one was ready to drink right away, and I didn't have to wait too long. There were other flavors I tried as well that I'd like in a cone or something next time.

The ice cream is delicious! We got there when they opened at noon. Everyone working there was very friendly. There are two huge Bassett Hounds that are inside to greet you. I am a dog lover & petted them because their so precious. Problem is they are smelly & dirty & it's hard not to get away from them. I don't think they should be in the small shop area. They have tons of crayons & pictures to color. We were with our granddaughters & each of us had a scoop of ice cream. Then we all had a hot dog. They were ok. I wish I hadn't seen the bathroom, it could use lots of work, rebuild & cleaning. I probably won't go back because of the dogs & hygiene from the dogs & bathroom.

Best chocolate ice cream we've ever had!! We also tried the orange creamsicle and it's delicious. Lil' Tiger himself was there to greet us and the shop has a shelf with games and coloring pages. My kids watched waffle cones being made from scratch while they enjoyed their ice cream. A customer ordered a root beer float that looked really good: scoops of vanilla in a cold cup with a bottle of root beer (I think Virgil's?) to pour over. Yum! If you can't find parking on Lake City Way, there's also street parking to the east directly behind the shop with a back door entrance. We will definitely be back to enjoy more of Lil' Tiger's ice cream flavors and get a pint of the chocolate to bring home. Support this sweet local business!!

Beyond the charming interior and welcoming staff this place truly has some of the best ice cream in Seattle. The owners love their craft and it's evident in how they do business. We will definitely be back!

Loveeeee. Such a delightful place in all times of the year. I love their honeydew, lemon crumble, and all berry flavors. A must try in Lake city!

Absolutely delicious. The owner was super nice and the variety of ice creams was great, would definitely come back again!

Delicate texture, high quality ingredients. One of the best handmade ice cream in town! Staff super friendly. Store is clean! Hidden local gem!

Cute little shop with street parking in the front and some parking in the back as well. There are a few tables inside to sit down that will likely fill up quickly as summer approaches. Ice cream has a lot of flavor and they give good portions. We got regular sundaes: my husband got s'mores ice cream and I got cherry amaretto and pistachio. Definitely make a stop here for your ice cream fix

Great ice cream and superb service. I recommend this place for a yummy treat! I loved the raspberry cheesecake ice cream, and my daughter enjoyed her cotton candy cone.

Made fresh on site ice cream! Best I've cream in town. Everything is so good. I had the almond joy and added Carmel sauce. They make the Carmel sauce too. I am a big fan! My grandson had a cotton candy ice burrito you have to see it to believe it. Love this place. Did I say the make their own ice cream here! Come try it.

Good food! Know the owner...Nice guy . I think he serves soup in the cold weather! Ice cream is fabulous!

If I could I would give negative stars. Not for the ice cream but the guy who was serving it. I really don't care if it's the owner or the employee but I would never ever come back here. The most disrespectful staff I ever met in my entire life. Extremely rude and annoyed by my presence. I felt disrespected and treated by a xenophobic staff. I was talking in another language and he expressed his completely unsatisfied by simply our presence (I was with some friends). There was this guy with his kid and he looked at me unbelievably on how we are treated. At the end he was soooo pissed at us asking for a cotton candy without ice cream that he just slammed it on the counter and said "it's on the house". I would never ever in my life come back to this place. I would never recommend this for anyone specially with kids. To the staff/owner : If you don't like your job or you business just quit it. Don't treat people like shit like you did because we are not stupid. Do better and treat people with kindness

This ice cream shop is delightful. It's a family owned shop on Lake City Way NE. It is reminiscent of soda fountains of the 1950s and 1960s. They have over a dozen flavors made onsite and always have at least one non-dairy option. It has SO much more flavor than ice cream at franchise stores. The family is very friendly, also like the Good Old Days. I like the lemon pie and the cherry chocolate chunk. If you're near Lake City and love good ice cream you gotta check them out.

New shop on Lake City. Bright and colorful decor is super inviting and eye popping. Definitely what this neighborhood needed! I've had a couple of flavors previously, and including today's visit, the Maui Wowie is still my favorite. This evening, I brought my husband by Lil Tiger so he could try it as well and we were not disappointed! The ice cream is thick and super creamy. Each bite loaded with flavor. We ordered a couple of double scoops tonight and the price was not anything crazy. Pretty on par with other large, chained, ice cream parlors. *cough* cold stones & baskin robins *cough*. The staff here seem to really enjoy what they do and seem passionate about the product they put out. I can't say enough about how just amazing this ice cream is. Come support a small local business with an amazing product!

I think folks are just happy to have a place like this in the neighborhood. But, this place isn't it. I've been a few times and have had odd experiences each time. The first was getting whipped cream, having basically liquid cream glopped on, they said, "oh that's just how our whipped cream is." I've seen workers take off gloves to do several things that you really want them to wear gloves for. Another time, they had to toss a vat of ice cream because I think there was mold or something in it. Ice crystals gather on top of some of their ice creams often. Another time, they served my daughter's ice cream on a cone that was obviously cracked and broken. (Which became an issue as she ate.) The older man who works there is so unfriendly and the other day, he came outside to sit at their (unclean) outdoor tables to smoke while the other tables were full of kids. I'm sorry to say, the place just gives off dirty and unfriendly vibes. I hope they can adjust these things. I want to like them.

Nice little shop but needs more communication between customers and associates. I asked if they had non dairy ice cream and the young lady told me sorbet and vanilla. I said "Definitely Vanilla" Maybe she didn't hear me because of my mask? I asked for one scoop and she stood there tapping her fingers on the counter while staring at me. Awkward. Another women was helping my husband get his ice cream. I am watching the lady get his scoops but my associate is still standing there staring at me. So I say again "Just one scoop" She asks what ice cream I want. I say again "Vanilla" and she walks back to get mine. I also am looking around for toppings because I wanted to get some on my ice cream. She comes back and hands me my ice cream. She never asked me about toppings? Once I turned around, to leave, I noticed them on the back wall.... I walked out so uncomfortable and confused. My non dairy ice cream even had some freezer burn on it... :(