Ice Cream in Somerville, NJ: The Complete Local Guide

The Guide: Ice Cream Shops in Somerville, NJ

How We Selected These Shops

This guide covers Somerville borough only — not Raritan, not Bridgewater, not Hillsborough.

A business is listed here if you can buy ice cream to eat on the spot: scooped, soft serve, gelato, a sundae, a float or an ice cream shake — no matter what else it sells.

That last part is why this list is longer than any other. A bake shop, a Filipino café and two Main Street bars all sell ice cream in Somerville, and none of them appear when you search for an ice cream shop. Every entry was checked against that business’s own website or posted menu.

Açaí and smoothie bowls are not ice cream, so Playa Bowls is not here. Ice cream served as a garnish on a dessert is not ice cream either. Drunken Dairy makes ice cream in Somerville but has no counter of its own, so it appears where you can actually buy it. Sushi Palace on Division Street lists ice cream on its dessert menu, but the restaurant is all-you-can-eat, so the ice cream comes as part of a full meal rather than something you can walk in and buy on its own — it is not here either.

Listed alphabetically. This is not a ranking.

About This Guide

This guide is produced by Garden State Circle. Shops appear here because they meet the criterion described above — you can buy ice cream there and eat it on the spot. That is a test, not a judgment, and it is the only route onto this page. No business can pay to be included in this guide, to be listed higher, or to change what the comparison table says about it. Shops are listed alphabetically, and every detail in the table was verified against each business’s own website, posted menu or listing in August 2026.

Everything under the heading that begins this guide is governed by the rules above, on every guide we publish. Where a sponsor’s message appears above that heading, it is paid for and labelled, and it buys nothing in the guide. Garden State Circle is supported by the businesses that participate in it. Participation pays for our ongoing work: keeping a business’s entry accurate, re-checking its record, and publishing a page of its own details that the business maintains. There is no paid placement in this guide. Participation does not buy a place here, a position here, or anything the comparison table says. Ingredients, preparation and allergen handling change, and we record what each business publishes rather than inspecting kitchens. If you have a food allergy, confirm directly with the business before you order. Hours, menus and alcohol policy change often. Every detail here was verified on the date shown above.

Garden State Circle is published locally in New Jersey by Jake Slowinski and serves Somerville and the surrounding Somerset County towns. Contact the publisher at admin@gardenstatecircle.com.

Ice Cream in Somerville — Compared

Shop	Type	Known for	Made on premises	Monday	Dairy-free published
Baskin-Robbins (inside Dunkin’) 19 W Main St	National chain	Scoops in 2.5oz and 4oz, shakes, sundaes, ice cream cakes	No — national brand	Open	Not published
Blue Sheep Bake Shop 84 W Main St	Bakery and dessert shop	20 flavors made on site (16 core, 4 rotating), plus milkshakes, sundaes, custom cakes and handmade dirty sodas	Yes — confirmed by owner	Closed	Not published
Dolce Gelato & Espresso Bar 16 Division St	Gelateria	“Handcrafted with the finest local ingredients” — gelato, paninis, espresso	Yes — states handcrafted	Closed	Not published
Epic Desserts 63 W Main St	Cookie and dessert shop	Warm soft cookies, birthday cakes, hard ice cream $5.25	Not published	Closed	Not published
Fresh Tiki 15C Division St	Walk-up window	“Homemade ice cream. Fresh Baked pies inside of Ice Cream Sundaes. Fresh made Soft Serve!!”	Yes — states homemade	Closed — few days a week, seasonal	Not published
Kafe de Manila 120 W Main St, Ste B	Filipino café	Ube ice cream floats, Mango Float Ice Cream Sandwich	Not published	Not found by us	Not published
MilkShake Factory 189 W Main St	Shake and chocolate shop	“handspun milkshakes made with homemade ice cream”, sundaes, small-batch chocolates	Yes — states homemade	Open 12–10	Yes — states dairy-free options
Project P.U.B. 41 N Bridge St	Gastropub	Drunken Dairy scoops, flights, sundaes and floats. 5% ABV, adults only	No — made by Drunken Dairy, Somerville	Not found by us	Not published
Summer Ville Homemade Ice Cream 144 E Main St	Ice cream parlor	Rotating homemade hard ice cream, outdoor seating on Main Street	Yes — states homemade	Closed — open Thursday to Sunday	Not published
Sweet Parlor 72 W Main St #A	Small-batch parlor and bubble tea	Ube Brownie, black sesame and Sunday Morning flavors; sundaes in a bubble waffle; boba	Yes — small batch	Open 12–10	Not published
Tapastre 1 W High St	Tapas restaurant	Drunken Dairy scoops, flights, sundaes and floats. 5% ABV, adults only	No — made by Drunken Dairy, Somerville	Not found by us	Not published

Hours, menus and details were verified against each business’s own website, posted menu or listing in August 2026. Blue Sheep Bake Shop details were confirmed directly with the owner on August 28, 2026. “Not published” means we read their site and the fact is not on it. “Not found by us” means we searched and came up empty — it is a statement about our search, not about the business.

The Shops

Baskin-Robbins · 19 W Main St

Somerville’s Baskin-Robbins operates inside the Dunkin’ at 19 West Main Street, which is why it does not appear on most ice cream listings for the town. Scoops are sold in 2.5oz and 4oz sizes with shakes, sundaes and custom ice cream cakes, and there is seating to eat in.

Blue Sheep Bake Shop · 84 W Main St

A bakery that makes its own ice cream on the premises. The shop moved its retail location to West Main and brought its production kitchen back from Bound Brook, so baking, ice cream and drinks now all happen in the same building — which is why its owner describes the business as “turning more into like a dessert shop.” It carries 20 ice cream flavors, up from 12: roughly 16 core flavors plus four rotating wild cards, with two to four new ones introduced about every two weeks. Alongside the ice cream there are milkshakes, sundaes, custom cakes, coffee and specialty lattes, and handmade dirty sodas. The shop also appeared on the inaugural Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Spectacular, a Food Network special produced with Macy’s, which its owner dates to 2018. Open Tuesday to Thursday until 8 PM, Friday and Saturday until 10 PM, and Sunday 11 AM to 6 PM. Closed Mondays. It is not a nut-free bakery and does not follow nut-free protocols, which the owner states plainly and explains in our nut allergy guide. The address was previously Rita’s Italian Ice and then Even More Epic, both of which have closed, so older listings for 84 West Main are unreliable.

Dolce Gelato & Espresso Bar · 16 Division St

An Italian gelateria on Division Street serving gelato it describes as handcrafted with local ingredients, plus savoury paninis and espresso, which makes it the after-dinner stop rather than the afternoon one. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

Epic Desserts · 63 W Main St

Best known for warm soft cookies and birthday cakes, Epic Desserts also carries hard ice cream at $5.25 on its ordering menu. Closed Mondays. Note that a separate Epic Cookies at 92 West Main Street has closed and still appears in listings.

Fresh Tiki · 15C Division St

A walk-up window on Division Street selling what it describes as homemade ice cream, fresh-made soft serve, and fresh-baked pies built into ice cream sundaes. It runs a few days a week on seasonal hours, and its listed status is inconsistent across Google, Yelp and its own site, so call before you go. A customer review describes staff keeping separate scoopers for flavours containing peanut butter or nuts.

Kafe de Manila · 120 W Main St, Ste B

A Filipino café and bubble tea shop where the ice cream arrives inside something else — ube ice cream floats, and a seasonal Mango Float Ice Cream Sandwich layering mango ice cream with graham crackers. It does not appear on any ice cream listing for Somerville.

MilkShake Factory · 189 W Main St

Handspun milkshakes made with its own homemade ice cream, sold alongside small-batch chocolates made by a family of chocolatiers, with sundaes and stated dairy-free options on the menu. Open until 10 PM on Mondays, which makes it one of the few places in town serving ice cream on a Monday night.

Project P.U.B. · 41 N Bridge St

A gastropub serving scoops from Drunken Dairy, a Somerville maker whose ice cream is churned with alcohol at roughly 5% ABV — scoops, three-scoop flights, sundaes and floats. Adults only. Flavours have included dark chocolate martini, bourbon burnt honey vanilla, and strawberry daiquiri.

Summer Ville Homemade Ice Cream · 144 E Main St

The traditional scoop shop on East Main Street, running a rotating menu of homemade hard ice cream with outdoor seating. Its own Facebook page states hours of Thursday to Sunday, 1 PM to 9 PM — worth knowing, because several listings show it open on Mondays.

Sweet Parlor · 72 W Main St #A

A small-batch shop with an Asian-influenced flavour list — Ube Brownie, black sesame, a flavour called Sunday Morning — served as scoops from $4.75, in build-your-own sundaes, or in a bubble waffle, with boba drinks alongside. Open until 10 PM on Mondays. Google lists it as Reunion Somerville Sweet Parlor Small Batch Ice Cream; the sign says Sweet Parlor, and there is a sister shop in Hillsborough.

Tapastre · 1 W High St

A tapas restaurant on West High Street carrying the same Drunken Dairy programme as Project P.U.B. — scoops, flights, sundaes and floats at roughly 5% ABV. Adults only.

Common Questions

Where can I get ice cream in Somerville on a Monday night?

MilkShake Factory at 189 West Main and Sweet Parlor at 72 West Main are both open until 10 PM on Mondays. Baskin-Robbins at 19 West Main is open Mondays as well. Summer Ville publishes hours of Thursday to Sunday on its own Facebook page, and Blue Sheep, Dolce Gelato, Epic Desserts and Fresh Tiki are all closed Mondays. Search results disagree with each other on this — we have seen two different Google surfaces give opposite answers about the same shop on the same day, so this list follows what each business publishes itself.

Which places actually make their own ice cream?

Blue Sheep Bake Shop makes its own on site — the shop’s owner confirmed to us on August 28, 2026 that the production kitchen is in the same building as the shop. Fresh Tiki, MilkShake Factory, Summer Ville and Sweet Parlor all state on their own materials that they make it in house. Dolce Gelato describes its gelato as handcrafted. Drunken Dairy, sold at Project P.U.B. and Tapastre, is made in Somerville. Baskin-Robbins is a national brand.

Where can I get ice cream in Somerville if my child has a nut allergy?

One ice cream business in Somerville publishes a dietary accommodation that names nut allergies. None publishes a protocol for how that risk is handled. We checked all eleven. Fresh Tiki Bar’s About page says its menu accommodates “individuals who have nut allergies” alongside vegan and gluten-sensitive customers — it does not say how those items are prepared, stored or served, and no separation procedure, dedicated equipment or cross-contact handling is described anywhere in town. What exists online is patron reviews, a Facebook thread from 2019, and a national list whose Somerville entry is a shop in Massachusetts. A review of Summer Ville describes nut flavours kept separately and a clean scoop on request, and a review of Fresh Tiki describes separate scoopers for nut flavours, but those are customers reporting, not the businesses stating, and for a severe allergy that is not the same thing. Call ahead, name the exact allergy, and ask about scoops, bins, toppings and surfaces rather than about the ice cream alone. We are reporting this properly and will publish what the shops themselves say.

Is Even More Epic still open?

No. The ice cream and bakery shop at 84 West Main Street has closed, and Blue Sheep Bake Shop now occupies that address. Rita’s Italian Ice, previously at the same address, has also closed. Listings for 84 West Main are unreliable as a result.

What is the difference between the ice cream places and the dessert places?

Some of these shops are built around ice cream and some serve it alongside something else they are better known for. Blue Sheep and Epic Desserts are bakeries first — though Blue Sheep now runs baking, twenty rotating ice cream flavors and a handmade dirty soda menu out of a single building, which puts it closer to a full dessert shop than a bakery that happens to sell scoops. Kafe de Manila is a café. Project P.U.B. and Tapastre are bars serving an alcoholic product to adults. All of them will sell you ice cream; only some of them are ice cream shops.

Why isn’t Sushi Palace listed?

Sushi Palace at 34 Division Street does carry ice cream and fried ice cream on its dessert menu, and an earlier version of this guide listed it for that reason. But the restaurant is all-you-can-eat, and its own website describes the dessert as part of that meal. You cannot walk in and buy a dish of ice cream on its own, which is the test every other business on this page had to pass, so it was removed on September 3, 2026 after a reader pointed it out. If you are already sitting down to a full meal there, ice cream is on the menu.

Shop details, hours and menus were verified against each business’s own website, posted menu or listing in August 2026. Blue Sheep Bake Shop hours, flavor count, on-site production and Monday closure were confirmed directly with the shop’s owner in an interview on August 28, 2026.

This is not a ranking.

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