Hartzell’s

So Hartzell’s is what «Jiffy Treat», anyone who attended IU in the 80’s, 90’s, or 00’s evolved into. There used to be several Jiffy Treats all over town (I think it still exists by the mall and in Ellettsville), and it was initially a soft serve road stand, not unlike the «Tastee Freeze» that John Cougar Mellencamp sings about in «Jack and Diane.» It became a place with hard ice cream and a massive number of options for concrete mixers (cereal, any kind of candy imaginable). They started making their own ice cream.
Hartzell’s bought the old Jiffy Treat on Kirkwood, took it to the next level, and moved into the same space that White Mountain Ice Creamery once occupied. (Note to owners: please make the Baklava ice cream that White Mountain once made – it was incredible!)
So Hartzell’s dropped the walking tacos and other Indiana day barn classics, but they kept the massive number of mix-​ins, and they added innovative ice cream flavors. I’m not a big fan of all of the flavors (the Indian stuff that sounds like a game of thrones character isn’t amazing), but some of them are really good, and they get points for innovation.
And you can still get the sorority girl special – marshmallow fluff, banana, and golden grahams mixed into vanilla ice cream. I’m not a sorority girl, but I once went there with one and she told me to order something interesting. It was a big hit in her house for awhile.

Had the mint chip and it was awesome— so delicious. The best mint chip I’ve had, not so sweet, not overly minty and just the right amount of choc chips. Had the butter pecan and that was the worst I’ve had ever; tasted stale and the flavor was off. There melted peanut butter and fudge over your pick of ice cream is good if you like peanut butter. Service was pretty quick and a line up in a Friday night. Saturday after lunch was busy too, but they needed extra staff.

Better known for their ice cream than smoothies, but I had a blueberry smoothie and it was creamy, cold and delicious.
Every time I’ve been there, it hasn’t been too busy and we get served very fast.
Perfect for a hot summers day in Bloomington!

Terrific ice cream and speedy service!
Just enjoyed a «spinner» (lik DQ blizzard), chocolate soda and couple of ice creams. line moved fast

1^st ever Green Tea ice cream that I ever loved !! Yum!!! Well worth the wait in line.
REAL Home made ice cream. A lot of different selection of specialty flavors.
Ice cream are creamy… just enough to taste the flavor of the ice cream… and not watery nor too sweet.

I love the close location to IU. It’s a small-​ish shop tucked away on Dunn across from a park that I always see occupied with people. I’m not sure what they do there all day but I’m under the impression a number of them, if not all, are homeless.
There’s window seating perfect for people watching and other tables as well. The person wad really helpful and I got to try all the flavors I was curious about. They didn’t have many crazy flavors (I wanted to try the cherry Wasabi I read about in a previous review) on my visit, which was on a Sunday afternoon. I tried the ceremonial green tea which was pretty good but I prefer my matcha to be stronger (if you’ve had traditional matcha, you’ll know it’s ridiculously strong and bitter).
I ended up getting a small cup, which you’re allowed one scoop. However, I could get two half scoops of two different flavors, so I got the lemon custard and the dark chocolate basil. As a note, each one of those half scoops was a full scoop in my eyes, so the portions are big and prices reasonable. I’m glad I went small!
The lemon custard had a lemon flavor but nothing overwhelming. I used it to cut through the rich and dark tones of the chocolate that had a hint of Basil. The ice cream was creamy but there are some tiny ice crystals here and there.
All in all, good stuff and I’m always up for supporting local businesses. I would have liked more exotic flavors, but I guess they were going the more tame route this weekend.
Note: minimum $ 4 for credit cards. Also, it might be better to walk over. There is metered parking which are quickly occupied but no private lot from what I see.

Just visited for the first time last night. Reasonable prices and DELICIOUS ice cream! I got the Wine Pear Sorbet and it’s one of the best things I’ve ever tasted. So refreshing! Husband got chocolate sweet basil (weird but good!) And my son declared his twist to be the best he’s ever had. We will be back!

Great ice cream!!! Giant scoops, very friendly staff. It’s difficult to decide which flavor to order!

Good quality ice cream, but the choice of scoops is not as many as I expected. The green tea is the best! The frozen yogurt doesn’t feel like real yogurt, which is a bit disappointing.

I want to talk to you about chocolate basil ice cream. (You read that right) One word: WHOA! What crazy genius put these two unexpected ingredients together?! Did he/​she mistake the basil for mint? Could there even be a logical explanation for why one would use the same ingredient that one uses for a caprese salad in your standard ice cream shoppe? Regardless, THANK YOU. For someone who doesn’t care for chocolate ice cream, my mind has changed thanks to this pungent, refreshing flavor. If you see it in the case, don’t hesitate to at least sample it. You will be surprised in the best way possible. Yum, yum, YUM!
The other flavor I tried, bavarian cream, did not have as strong of a flavor as the chocolate basil, which I found disappointing since I was spazzing out over the first flavor. It reminded me of an underwhelming vanilla. However, I can’t be too harsh with this criticism, because technically bavarian cream is usually combined with alcohol or stuffed inside a pastry aka other flavors. Therefore, if you go with this flavor, make sure you have a second bolder flavor to complement it. Obviously you know what I recommend.

Excellent customer service and great selections of icecream! Will definitely be back!

So delicious!!! My husband had a pumpkin pie spinner, and it had a WHOLE piece of pie in it! Great prices!

The ice cream is great. However, the store plans on requiring a minimum purchase of $ 4.00 for debit and credit cards. I verified with the store employees that the owner plans on putting this policy into place for both debit and credit cards. The store will be in violation of section 1075 of the Dodd-​Frank Act of 2010, which only allows for minimum purchase requirements up to $ 10 for credit cards (not debit cards). Additionally, the store will be in violation of its agreement with Visa. You can report the violation at

Oh eeeeeeeem geeeeee. I forgot I even MISSED Hartzell’s until we went in and were greeted with a cute college boy touting freebie samples. Um… yes please! Although I said no at first, I couldn’t stand it and got the double chocolate dip. It was incredibly good. I love «real» ice cream. AVOID if you are lactose intolerant, b/​c this is the REAL deal. I love that they have really gotten creative in some of the flavors including basil, wasabi and other spices to liven up your every day cone. I am sad there is not one in Carmel, IN. That is all. Don’t skip this little hole in the wall just a block off campus.

So popular there’s a decent line even in the summer when the students are away, although I guess that’d be prime ice cream time. Lots of basic flavors, but some interesting ones, too, like cherry wasabi, chocolate/​sweet basil and ceremonial green tea. I tasted all three, and could have had a scoop of any. The cherry wasabi was Mae with reveal wasabi, and the flavors early worked. The scoops are generous and reasonably priced as far as small-​batch ice cream goes. The line moves pretty quickly, although they’re good with samples, which always slows things down (worth it). There’s metered street parking outside that probably is pretty busy during the school year.

What makes this place five stars? Creativity and innovation when it comes to ice cream flavors.
Sure you can get basic flavors like vanilla and mint chocolate chip… but that is not why you should come here. You should come here to try the flavors that you have never heard of before in your life or even knew it was possible to make into ice cream. Flavors like wasabi pea and chocolate & sweet basil. Every time I come here I see something new and unique to try. The staff that works here will also let you sample as many flavors as you like!
Today, I played it rather safe with Pistachio Nut, but it tasted totally delicious.
They also now offer vegan flavors! What more do you need to give this place a try?

What can I say about Hartzell’a that hasn’t already been said. It IS the best ice cream shop in Bloomington. Especially setting it apart is its adventurous selection of freshly made traditional ice cream flavors. They cater to tastes reflective of Bloomington’s diverse university community, and include flavors influenced by Indian and Chinese traditions.
Which is not to say that their chocolate and vanilla ice creams aren’t terrific too.
It’s so good you’ll want to go in the wintertime.

The only negative comment I could possibly make about Hartzell’s is that they have ruined all other ice cream shops for me. I find myself saying, «yeah it’s pretty decent. Not Hartzell’s though.» Friendly staff that doesn’t even mind if you ask to sample everything (and believe you me, I have sampled EVERYTHING.) Very reasonable prices for your portion. I always use the «buy one scoop get one scoop free» coupon, you can find it in the coupon books that float around campus at the beginning of each semester. That comes to about $ 2.50 for two massive scoops of perfection.
My absolute favorite is the salted caramel. Probably the best ice cream I’ve ever had. Very decadent, but somehow I can easily consume 2+ scoops. The texture is just indescribable.
A close second is the ceremonial green tea. Slightly bitter, slightly minty, not too sweet, very balanced and refreshing.
Other favorites are black raspberry, baklava, garden of good and evil, and butter pecan. My little brother always asks for lemon custard! But really, you can’t go wrong.

Be sure to skip over the boring commonly-​found flavors and go for the crazy unique ice cream you’d be hard pressed to find elsewhere. My absolute favorite is the dark chocolate basil, when it is in season. Other memorable flavors: olive oil, root beer vodka, the lavender-​honey-​vodka, blueberry balsamic, and thai coconut curry. The prices aren’t bad at all, and it’s much better tasting than annoying ubiquitous pay-​by-​weight frozen yogurt. Hartzell’s, I miss you so!

I really enjoy Hartzell’s and if I had more room in my grad school budget, I think this place would lead me to be a much larger person. It’s not pricey, especially for the quality and portion size, but I need to think of it as an extra cost. I went there twice in the last week while my boyfriend was in town. His medium ice cream with marshmallow sauce and my small cone totaled $ 7 exactly.
The times I’ve gone, I’ve ordered single scoops, which are enough for me. There is even an extra small size that is good, since the flavors are rich. Besides coffee ice cream, I’ve ventured and tried some more strange flavor concepts including sweet corn, olive oil ice cream (goes by a different name, for the specific type of oil), and a specialty ice cream with espresso and chocolate.
The staff is friendly about trying different flavors, and the variety changes. There are always standard chocolate, strawberry, etc. (and random note: there is always a lingering incense smell, since this places is located below a store called 420…) The ice cream is so good and the flavors so interesting, I think I’ll be back at least once a semester. Or month. But not more than once a week, I swear.