Willard Scoops

Searching for ice cream, and this place came up as the one with the best reviews in the area. And with good reason! Best ice cream I've had in awhile, and homemade! They have interesting flavors like Sunburn, which is strawberry with habanero, and Honey I Luv You, which has honey and olive oil in it. I tried the chocolate sea salt and the peanut butter fluff, and I was in heaven! So creamy and bursting with flavor. I wish I lived near here! Except maybe not, my figure would SUFFER.

I LOVE this ice cream shop. This place gives Salt and Straw a run for its money. Worth every penny. The homemade fudge brings me back to sweet times with my meme and her homemade fudge recipe from the UK. Thank you so much for this great experience and a highlight of my bachelorette weekend.

Friendly staff and ice cream was delicious! Unique flavors that all taste amazing. I will definitely return when I am in the area.

Very good ice cream, very creamy. The consistency almost chewy, but smooth like soft serve. And on top of that, they load them good on their ingredients mixed into the ice creams.

This is my favorite Ice Cream shop in all of Maine. Mint chocolate chip and cookie coffee are my two favorites, but you can't go wrong. Every single flavor here is homemade, creamy, and super delicious. Also the staff is always so friendly and helpful. Highly recommend this place.

First time going to Willard Scoops! Chelsea and Elizabeth were incredibly friendly and helpful, patiently explaining all the flavors and offering delicious recommendations. The ice cream itself was amazing — some of the best I’ve had! Highly recommend this place for anyone looking for top-notch ice cream and outstanding customer service. Will definitely be returning :)

Delicious homemade ice cream in a sweet little shop! The pumpkin cheesecake was phenomenal!

My friends and I went in to Willard Scoops almost two minutes before closing time, hoping to still be served. Thankfully we were greeted with a kindness by Becca, Liz and Jayme. They were more than willing to help us. We all loved our ice cream and we will be coming back!

On my visit to the greater Portland area I tried the top ice cream spots in about a 30 minute radius of Portland, Willard Scoops was easily my favorite. As a southern boy I have to give them extra kudos for using REAL old school fudge (not the chocolate syrup that a lot of places use which is sooo mehhh) for their sundaes. Their ice cream was velvety smooth, rich, creamy, flavorful and pretty much exactly what you would look for in a good ice cream.

Small but MIGHTY! We loved our experience! My friend and I stopped just before dinner, so the crowds weren't bad. Always pays to have dessert first...just saying. Small serving area/counter area and a few outside benches (that are usually packed with kids/families). It's rare they are not occupied. Everything is clearly labeled and the friendly staff can answer any questions you might have. Try a sample if you are not sure...but only if you think you might want it....please for the sake of those in line. LOL Ice cream is made in house...and WOW, you can tell, so rich, creamy with amazing flavors. I had blueberry and coffee oreo....I know two very different flavors, but I wanted to try both and not in a sample size. LOL...and WOW... I absolutely LOVED it!!! We noticed a fun sign in the window, if you like them on Instagram, you can which the ticker/tracker update! My friend and I of course had to do it. To watch the sign change and to show our support of this amazing business. I am so excited to return. Highly recommend!!

Of the 5-ish ice cream places we've tried so far in Portland area, Willard is our favorite! I love that they still do sampling when other places have stopped. I've had some really amazing ice cream here, and the hot fudge is to die for! It's homemade and sooo well balanced and delicious. The service is always nice and lines move quickly. My husband loves that they'll split scoops into multiple flavors. I hope to keep supporting them in the off season as long as they're keeping accessible hours and a good flavor rotation. The shop is tiny but we always take our ice cream to go. Well come see you again soon, Willard Scoops!

There's a reason why Willard Scoops os an institution. What an absolutely amazing local ice cream shop! They make their own ice cream in-house and it rivals any other ice cream I've ever had. I had the salted caramel nut in a fresh waffle cone and my partner had their version of Almond Joy. Both were so wonderful that I forgot to get pics! The young staf was super cheerful and made it through a post-dinner rush very quickly. There's cute local art for sale, plus plenty of Willard Scoops merch. It's bright and cheery with lots of places to sit outside to enjoy your treats. Or, it's a quick walk down to Willard Beach. They also encourage composting! They have a receptacle outside that Garbage to Garden picks up. What a wonderful idea and a fantastic place!

Had such a fun experience here the other day. The ice cream is top-notch, and the crew is so friendly. My favorites were the mint leaf chocolate chip, and coffee Oreo. Everything is made from scratch and it shows. As a sidenote, I can't handle caffeine, and the coffee Oreo is one of the few coffee ice cream creams I've ever had that was decaf. We will be back. YUM!!!

I love the mint leaf chip at Willard Scoops and look forward to a trip there every summer. It's the only mint chip ice cream in the area flavored with mint leaves and is not electric green. It's ice cream perfection, in my opinion. They have a wide array of flavors; in theory I would like to go back and try the banana and the coconut, however, will probably stick with the beloved mint leaf chip. They also offer vegan flavors and the person I was with ordered the vegan chocolate mint and said it was excellent. The service is always prompt and polite, there are several benches outside, along with several composting buckets for waste. Parking is on the street. The Willard Square location, across from Scratch Bakery, is charming and seems to attract families from the neighborhood. See you next year, Willard Scoops, if not before.

This is my favorite ice cream shop in all of Maine! Mint chocolate chip and cookie coffee are my two favorites. But you can't go wrong, every single flavor here is delicious, creamy, and home made. Also the staff is top notch and always super friendly and eager to help. Highly recommend you check this place out!

The ice scream was amazing ( I had the strawberry cheesecake), the staff were amazing and super friendly. Small shop with nice Maine flair to it. They seem to support local artist. It's great ice cream, made well.

Such a cute shop with delicious ice cream. The apple crisp flavor is one of my favorites. You can tell it's a labor of love. David the owner is so friendly and inviting. Definitely will be back.

I've been here a few times while visiting my friend who lives in the area. The ice cream is amazing, and they have a wide variety of flavors. My favorite have been the fruity flavors, but I've tried a few others. I also tried the hot fudge sundae. I could have come here every day while visiting my friend, but I definitely do not need to do that.

Willard Scoops has been our favorite ice cream shop since we moved to Maine in 2017. Their blueberry is so rich and creamy and I have fallen in love with salted caramel. My husband and our two little boys are obsessed with Halloween flavor- it's seriously the best in the state! The owner, David and his staff provide great service every time we pop in and it's in the perfect location because Willard Beach is just a walk away!

This is the 'go to' storefront close to Willard Beach with both a convenient location and lovely young ladies doing the scooping. Feels like a neighborhood hub where no one is in a rush and most folks are laid back and very friendly.

Well there are no pictures but I went there a few times! You can get two flavors in a single scoop! You will be glad for that piece of information because the choices are amazing! I love the coconut and paired it with a different flavor each visit. The strawberry-mint was actually dairy free but I would never have guessed it. Strawberry chunks and mint leaves - amazing! Wild blueberry is a must try because you are in Maine, right? The lemon was not like any ice cream I have ever tasted! Do not miss it! It was perfection!! This is one of my all time favorite ice cream shops!

The best creamiest ice cream ever as good or better than Browns at York beach. Many amazing flavors to chose from.

Amazing ice cream in a great location. We tried carrot cake (in the photo) and thin mint. Both were fantastic and made in-house. The staff was very friendly, we will definitely be back this summer. Highly recommend!

This place not only has wonderful, homemade flavors, but they are very thorough in labeling the allergens in each flavor. Super helpful for Celiacs!! This is a must-do next time I'm back in Maine.

Just as good as Brown's. Maybe better. Fun, friendly people, great service, great atmosphere. Gourmet ice cream in a perfect little town.

This. This is the ice cream I've been looking for since moving to Maine. Delicious, creamy flavor explosion party in my mouth ice cream. If it weren't for the line, the long yet quickly moving line, I would've tried every single flavor they offer. It was very difficult to choose which to get! I finally went with Wild ME Blueberry on top of Reese's PB Choc PB Swirl. It was like a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich with chocolate in it The shop is very small but they do have a few chairs outside to sit in. It's in a cute location, very quiet and charming, about a 10 minute walk from Willard Beach. Follow them on FB if you want to get regular updates on what flavors they're dropping for the week.

Located on a quiet street in a neighborhood in South Portland. Small staff but worth the wait. When in Maine, I tried to eat as much of the local food as possible. Wild Maine blueberries is their thing aside from the fresh lobster and seafood, so I had to get the wild Maine blueberry ice cream. I've never had blueberry ice cream before so I wasn't sure how I'd enjoy it but I absolutely loved it. It was fresh, not overly sweet and creamy. I highly recommend trying out this flavor and visiting Willard Scoops.

Love this place! We come from Florida every summer and this is a must stop! So smooth and yummy! I'd have taken a photo of our ice cream but we ate it too quickly.

This place is great. Blueberry ice cream was phenomenal. They have been around for a long time and there's a reason for that.

Always the highest quality ice cream with great service. Wide selection of creamy goodness. The go to ice salted caramel with chocolate chips

Such a fun little ice cream shop in Portland! I would definitely come back here if/when I return. It's a small place and there was a line out the door on a Sunday night when we visited. The two workers were very nice and accommodating and let You try flavors. They have some pretty great flavors, and I thought the coffee Oreo was the best I've had in a longtime! I also tried the milkshake my sister got and it was so creamy and tasty, too tough to drink it slow! Fun and delicious spot with great seasonal flavors!

Great ice cream shop with delicious classics, as well as creative flavors on rotation. Everyone we bring to Willard Scoops says it's the best ice cream they've had!

As you can tell from the photo, this ice cream was delicious. The texture, the flavor & the service was great. Highly recommend.

ice cream beyond compare & fabulous hot fudge even available for single scoo. Wish they opened at noon or one in the fall!

Their homemade hot fudge sauce is out of this world! Delicious ice cream and a definite stop while you are exploring or anything!

Willard Scoops is a South Portland staple. A short walk to Willard beach, it is a quintessential locaI ice cream shop. And their flavors are delicious. I'm not usually a fan of out-of-the-box I've cream flavors, but I get their mint leaf chip, and it tastes like mint chocolate chips with the added freshness of minced mint leaves. We're thinking about buying a house in the neighbor so that we can walk to the beach and the scoop shop on summer nights!

Another local ice cream place here in South Portland. We've only been once or twice since we live closer to other shops, but the three star rating has more to do with the fact that on a Sunday evening they only have one person working!? When something eventually went wrong with the register, everybody had to wait for the person to call for help from the manager. I admit it was resolved relatively quickly and appropriately, but it doesn't make sense to have one person both portioning the ice cream and ringing everyone up. As for the ice-cream itself, this visit my husband had a dish containing Kahlua Heath bar and peanut butter, my dish contained cookies and cream and thin mint. Thin mint is the only one that had gluten explicitly marked on the label, presumably because it contains actual thin mint cookies. I found that slightly confusing since they also had ice cream which contained Oreos. The prices are not out of line for locally sourced ice cream and they do have pre-packaged pints of flavors for those who just want to get some to bring home.

Easily the best ice cream in Greater Portland! Until finding Willard Scoops, I'd been pretty disappointed with Portland's ice cream offerings with no Giffords, Houlton Farms Dairy or Stone Fox ice cream shops in the area. Stopped at Willard Scoops on a whim after a day at the beach with friends and had the salted caramel chip in one of their homemade waffle cones. Freaking amazing. Some of the best ice cream I've ever had! It's a must try if you're an ice cream aficionado. I've tried other flavors since, but the salted caramel chip is the best. Their waffle cones are great, too - wonderful honey flavor.

I hit this place up on a recommendation by a local that a friend and I met at a bar while in Portland. The place is tiny and nestled in a charming little neighborhood. It looks like the kind of place you'd like to raise a family.. but who knows.. I am 28 so maybe that's just my biological clock talking. Physiology aside, the ice cream was pretty delicious and creamy.. a definite recommend.

A great neighborhood spot for unique ice cream. Lots of flavors that rotate throughout the season. Prices are a little high: $4.50 for a small scoop. My favorite is "Preble Road"- a chocolate ice cream with nuts and big chunks of semi-sweet chili are.

Really wanted to like Willard scoops. A bit expensive: $4.50 for regular cone. Ice cream was a bit too sweet for my taste. Fast and friendly service and able to sit in shaded area next to the store.

So good. Salt Caramel Chip is by far one of my favorite ice creams that I've ever had. They have a ton of other rotating flavors and everything I've tried has been awesome. I pretty much only get salt caramel chip now but their peanut butter chip is also insanely good. The only unfortunate thing about this place is that they close in the winter! I would eat their ice cream all winter long if it didn't.

Who doesn't like homemade ice cream in the summer by the beach?? Well we decided to stop in during our stay in So. Portland. It was a charming little shop with some seating inside and out. There were ample flavors to choose from, but since the salted options and the sunburn were supposed to be standouts, I opted for them. A combination of Sunburn & Chocolate Sea Salt were my choices. I did love the Sunburn - it was a delicious combo of sweet and heat. The chocolate sea salt was a bit over bearing on the salt portion however. They both were very creamy indeed and I did enjoy them!

Scoop of banana cream was spectacular. Their salted caramel has a reputation for good reason - it's really yummy. Only miss was the Kahlua Heath - a bit bland.

This was the very last ice cream cone I ever had here. I gave it up after finally gave it up midway through the Salted Caramel Nut Waffle Cone. It was the best ice cream flavor quality I ever had. I knew it was time to give up ice cream after I was doubled over in pain the cone. Not Willard's fault I had become intolerant and I knew that if I could toss away half of that most delicious cone then I needed to give up ice cream. Wow though I went out with a bang. I don't crave ice cream ever never did so other ice cream is easier to turn down but oh if there was one that could make me give in and except the pain then it would be the Salted Caramel Nut for sure. Plus the setting of the street it's on is so quaint especially if you stroll on the beach with is near. What a memory

Don't believe the hype. It's regular ice cream. Nothing special. It's not bad, just not as awesome as everyone says it is. If you ask me, store bought baskin Robbins, Haagen Dazs, and breyers is so much better. We had the banana, blueberry cheesecake, and the coconut. Bottom line, try a differant spot if your looking for something awesome. If your fine with regular tasting ice cream then give it a shot.

Super quaint and a little small, it was a little crowded when we were waiting in line, but it moves fast. The ice cream was awesome and you could tell it's homemade! Delicious!

I would like to begin this review by noting that I am originally from Wisconsin, and therefore, I am probably somewhat of a dairy snob. That said... Holy balls - this place is incredible!! I took a road trip from Philly to Portland over this past Labor Day weekend, and I wound up visiting three times in three days for this craft ice cream!! At $4.50 for single scoop in a dish, Willard Scoops is a wee bit on the pricey side. That said, however, the rich, creamy, full-flavored ice cream here is worth every penny. Every flavor I sampled over the three days was completely delicious and satisfying - especially the sea salt caramel, coffee Oreo, and peanut butter. Wow - can't wait for my next visit to Portland!

Iced cream is delicious. This spot is within walking distance of Willard Beach. The vanilla ice cream and root beer floats are made with gourmet root beer and are delicious. This place is always a stop when family is visiting from out of town. I am not the biggest fan of the black raspberry, which is normally my favorite. I think the lime flavor over powers that of the raspberry. A single scoop and a double scoop with a waffle cone was $9 and change.

Ice creams are creamy and not too heavy. Lots of variety, with strawberry habanero being a really fun one to try. Salted caramel a little too salty but dark chocolate chips went nicely with it. Coffee flavor was also good. Waffel cone only 50 cents more, and the scoops were generous, even though I'd asked for 2 half scoops!

This place has the most amazing combinations of flavors and chocolate! The BEST in Portland!!! small and casual perfect for kids. The prices were good and the staff allows you to taste a bit if you are not sure about the flavor prior to purchasing.

Willard Scoops is one of the many ice cream shops in Portland and while they're doing a good job with flavors, they're price point is the kickers here. It's a small shop, so try to get in and out as quick as possible. They do a great job updating their social media accounts, so you can almost always find out what's currently in stock and on the "chalk board" for the day. They have one-three scoop options, however the three scoop option is a great deal more then the other two options (apparently, they don't like scooping three scoops, so management jacked up the price to steer people away. Guess that's one way to do it!) If you REALLY think you can eat three scoops, and believe me, some people can, just go for a pint! Overall, I don't think you'll be disappointed with your visit to Willard, I do recommend the coffee oreo, but your pocket book might have to make it a once every couple months type event.

My most recent mediocre experience at Willard Scoops encouraged me to write about it... The ice cream was tasty, but not distinctly different than MDI over the bridge (a little lackluster in comparison, IMO). Granted, Willard is 1) in SoPo, so caters to a suburban market, not the tourists (or the locals who care to brave the tourists) and 2) offers MUCH more available near by parking. Lots of families loitering outside the place at 8:30 PM made it nearly impossible to get into the shop without disrupting someone's conversation. No trash cans outside? What the heck? Oh well. Nice people behind the counter, terrible people in line. Again, not Willard's fault. I guess, in my quest to find the best ice cream around, I would say that I would only go to Willard if I was craving hard ice cream on the other side of the bridge. A big downer for me these days: credit card limits and cash only institutions. It's not 1976, we are ALL using cards these days, and asking me to spend dollars to do so isn't acceptable. I know the CC companies can gauge the clients, but it just rubs me the wrong way. But - as said in a previous review of another ice cream place, I'm way more likely to go to your establishment if you have a CC option. I'm looking at you Beal's.

I have never written a yelp review before but I feel compelled to write one for Scoops! This is amazing ice cream. The texture is rich and the taste is natural and so fresh - never any chemical taste at all like some ice creams. You can tell that they use the best ingredients. My favorites are banana cream and coconut. We live in walking distance and a small hot fudge sundae is my dinner once a week during the "season". I have to say though, that coco loco was my all time favorite and they haven't made it in a really long time. I don't need the macadamia nuts, which I guess were the loco part - I would be so happy just to have your coconut ice cream with choclate chunks. Give me the hot fudge with whipped cream and I'd be in heaven and your friend forever!

My favorite ice cream in Maine. All their salted flavors are amazing - salted caramel chip is even MORE amazing. Bit more expensive than Reds and Beals but WELL worth it.

Okay, I have heard from several friends that Willard Scoops gourmet Ice Cream is the best in Maine. Now I haven't been to every ice cream place in Maine, however this is the best I have had so far. "Salt Carmel ice cream :9 key lime pie ice cream :-9 will be enjoying ice cream there repeatedly!!"

I agree... This is standout ice cream. That's 5 stars even though he gave me the wrong flavor. Unusual flavors, all home made, including 3 types of sea salt - caramel, caramel with nuts, and chocolate. The smores looked great... Every kind with mix-ins was loaded with the goodies. Portion size is reasonable, not mammoth. Priced fairly.