Sundaes and Cones

Sundaes and Cones
95 E. 10th St., New York, NY 10003
(212) 979-9398
Sun.-Thurs. 11am-11pm; Fri. & Sat. 11am-12am

Sundaes and Cones has always been my go-to ice cream place in the city.  Trust me, I'm a dairy lover and I love me some (tasty) ice cream.  Sundaes and Cones reminds me a little bit of the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory except it is a lot more spacious and serves up a lot more flavors.  The shop is pretty open, with some chairs facing out the window.  They have magazines out by the sitting area, so you can browse through them as you devour your sweet frosty treat.  Anyway, let's talk about more important things such as the ice cream!  You know when you go to ice cream shops and peer through the glass at the different flavors and see that the ice cream is either semi-frostbitten, semi-melted, or semi-left?  Total buzzkill.  Thankfully, I never encountered any of the previous situations at Sundaes and Cones.  All their ice cream flavors are fresh and refreshing.  They offer a variety of flavors (some are staples, others are seasonal, some are rich, some are light) including green tea, red bean, black sesame, tiramisu, taro, corn, lychee, guava, pink grapefruit, and so many more!

The flavors I've had or at least remember having at Sundaes and Cones include green tea, red bean, peppermint, taro, and a few others which I can't recall at the moment.  The taro was tasty, but a little too sweet.  The peppermint was really refreshing.  It tasted like it was flavored with concentrated peppermint, so it's nothing like the candy cane peppermint taste you'd expect.  However, I think it was sugar-free and therefore lacked a little bit of the sweetness I was expecting.  Green tea was by far my favorite.  It's what green tea ice cream should taste like.  There have been so many times I've had green tea ice cream that was overly creamy and lacked the tea taste that it should have.  Sundaes and Cones's green tea was so rich with flavor that I probably got as much caffeine as I would have from a cup of green tea.  The cherry on top of Sundaes and Cones (haha) are people who work there.  Every time I've been there, they've been so nice about letting me try all the flavors, never rushing me to make a decision.

Though the warm (hot and humid, if you're in NYC) summer days are over, I still long for a nice tasty cone.  So, Sundaes and Cones, we shall meet again.  Cold weather, although you've put the  Big Gay Ice Cream Truck into hibernation, you've got nothing on me.  Bring it!  -2009

UPDATE:

It was unusually warm today so what better than to get some ice cream, right?  I swung by Sundaes and Cones around 11am (what's wrong with dairy for brunch?).  They had their Halloween decorations out - spider webs, spiders, scarecrows, and all that jazz.  Once again, the staff member who helped me was super nice.  This time I tried the black sesame.  It was very flavorful and not as sweet as I had expected.  It reminded me of Chinese black sesame soup (tong sui).  Except the black sesame flavor wasn't so strong that it overpowered the ice cream.  I also tried the pumpkin and ended up ordering a small scoop of it.  The pumpkin had all the flavors you'd expect - hints of cinnamon, nutmeg spice.  However, it was a lot creamier and sweeter than I had expected.  But if you're the rich, creamy ice cream type, you'd like this. -10/22/09

OVERALL RATING: * * * 1/2
FOOD:  * * *
SERVICE: * * * * 1/2
AMBIANCE: * * *
VALUE: * * *

PROS:

• Lots of flavor selections
• Really friendly staff
• Taste the flavor before you get it
  

CONS:

• Trying to pick one of many, many flavors!
  

SUGGESTIONS:

• Green Tea, Black Sesame ice cream flavors
  
• Take advantage of tasting different flavors you might not try - you might end up liking them, but don't forget to be nice back and tip the friendly staff