Ciao Bella

Great gelato and plenty of seating! If you’re into gelato, you need to try Mia Chef Gelateria btw 27^th and 28^th on 3^rd – best I’ve had outside of Italy.

Yummy good yea when you don’t want to eat it out of the pint from Morton Williams
Or ya know, just go to grom.

Their hazel nut milkshake is liquid gold. It has the perfect viscosity and tastes like a field of rainbows. Hands down the best milkshake I’ve ever had.

Great gelato. My favorite is the mango sorbet and the belgian chocolate. Can’t go wrong w/​gelato!!!
FYI.The pre packed ones tastes just as great!

Having always been more impressed by the savvy marketing and innovation of the Ciao Bella folks than I am a fan of the grocery-​store-​freezer-​bound product, I decided with some trepidation to attendtheir 30^th anniversary celebration in the ‘Gelato Garden’ @ 233 Mott St (BACKYARD OF THE OLD SCHOOL) down the block from shop (retro info @
from the 08÷15÷13 event). Their belgian chocolate gelato wasn’t bad but the event was better-​run, confirming the above disconnect.

Amazing selection of sorbets! The chocolate and coconut sorbets are divine.

I’ve been pretty obsessed with affogato lately, which is just a scoop of ice cream or gelato with a shot of hot espresso poured over the top. After a day of walking around Soho and enjoying one of the first day of springs, I was incredibly excited when we came across Ciao Bella, which looked liked a really cute gelato shop and café. I ordered the affogato with vanilla gelato. It was good, but not great. The espresso was a little too light for my taste, and there was too much gelato and not enough espresso.
Overall, I was happy to relax in this cute gelato spot and enjoy my affogato after a long day of shopping.

This place is an experience more than a gelateria. You’ll find this out quickly because the manager/​local crazy guy who was directing the place will make friends with you whether you like it or not.
The space is well arranged and can accommodate a couple, as well as a group of 8 or so without too much trouble. The bathroom is unisex but surprisingly large and well maintained. While there, my girlfriend and I had three total flavors in two different cups. Before choosing, we were treated to multiple samples of both gelato and soup. Ultimately, we went with a passion fruit sorbet with rich swiss chocolate gelato. That was a great combination. My only dislike was that the gelato was gummy.
Upon paying, Bob (?) who had kept our attention throughout, gave us a consolation biscotti pack as a belated Christmas gift/​he thought my girlfriend is beautiful. How can you argue with great free food? I might have been a little taken aback throughout, but sometimes you have to live the dream. Or, someone else will.

After having dinner next door at Mottsu, my friends and I were debating if we should get dessert or not. My best friend and I ended up getting dessert.
Ciao Bella definitely has a cute and comfortable look to it. I love that there are benches outside of this café/​dessert shop with bright lights shining from above.
They have a good amount of flavors to choose from, but I tried the Triple Shot Espresso gelato. It stuck out the most from the rest of the flavors. So… Triple Shot Espresso gelato … totally dangerous for me but it wasn’t strong as I was hoping for it to be. I really enjoyed it because it has a coffee-​like taste to it. I got a small cup, 2 scoops for $ 3.75. Not bad at all.

Love the triple espresso ice cream, could feel the caffeine rushing through my veins. I am a huge coffee ice cream lover and I haven’t found one that tops Ciao Bella’s yet. Spacious area to sit down and enjoy the air conditioning when it’s hot out.

Great location! Love that you can get your gelato and either sit inside or outside on one of the benches around the sidewalk trees. Espresso gelato is sooo good (but when is it not?)

Yum yum yum! I came here after a whole day of walking around and shopping and I’m so glad I did! The store is tiny and I heard that they got rid of the wooden bench in the front, but what matters is the gelato right? I got cookies and cream and the hazelnut flavors and they were both scrumptious. The hazelnut one tastes like a Ferrero Rocher.
The only qualm I have about this place is its price. Two scoops for $ 5.10 and that’s including tax. I contemplated getting a pre-​packed pint for $ 5 before tax, but they really had too little variety that day — I think they had one gelato flavor and four sorbet flavors available and I didn’t want to pay an extra dollar for a hand-​packed pint.
My taste buds had a great experience here, but my wallet didn’t so it’s a good place to try, but probably not visit very often.

The pistachio gelato is delicious. It’s the perfect treat for a warm spring day, something to savor while wandering around Nolita. I would say that texture beats taste in this case. It’s a perfectly nice gelato with perfect whole pistachios that provide that little punch of flavor that’s missing from most pistachio ice creams. The gelato itself is smooth and just rich enough with almost hint of caramel. It’s a mild flavor to match the mild indulgence of the treat and the cost. The best thing I can say is that you actually get a pistachio flavor and the base isn’t watery or flat which is what I’ve been getting in my hunt for the perfect pistachio ice cream/​gelato lately.
The matcha green tea gelato is nothing special. There’s definitely some green tea flavor but I get the feeling it might not be enough for people who really want green tea and it might be too much for people who didn’t realize what they were signing up for. It’s very green but somewhat muted in color. It’s just as creamy as the pistachio and while reasonably pleasant, it wasn’t something I was eager to finish. It’s the kind of flavor that tastes nice in that first bite in the store but that you don’t actually want a full serving of.
The strawberry gelato is nice but probably not worth the price as it tastes like regular strawberry ice cream. It’s a little sweeter and less subtle than the other flavors and the preserved frozen strawberries that they throw in aren’t my kind of thing. I don’t know, they’re just unpleasant to bite into.
I had a taste of the blood orange sorbet and the grapefruit. Meh. It tasted like it was derived from fruit juice. Too sour. Pear tasted unprocessed but I’m not sure if I want a whole cup of pear sorbet… I’d kind of rather just have a pear.
Best sorbet I’ve had so far is passionfruit. It has all the yumminess, tang, and sweetness of mango but with an added lightness.
I’m only ever there for a few minutes as the store is tiny and there isn’t really seating inside or outside. However, the people behind the counter seem very nice. Friendly service kicks an A-​OK up half a star for me. Don’t be shy about asking to try flavors.
A small cup is $ 3.50. With two scoops I think it’s around $ 5.

I love this place!
Cons– It’s tiny, there’s no room to sit, and it isn’t cheap.
BUT.
Pros– the gelato is phenomenal ! Your in one of the best areas for walking, and the flavors all rock! Did I mention the gelato is PHENOMENAL!!!

It was a while ago since I tried this place but it’s like any other gelato place. Good variety or range of flavors and toppings. I would say it’s a pretty solid place. Prices for this place is pretty high but what do you expect since you are in manhattan. Give it a try if you are around the area.

Campari & Grapefruit sorbet — one of the most refreshing combinations I’ve had in a long time. Especially after walking through the humid muck that is NYC in the summer.
And, if you’re with a cute guy and he buys you a gelato, you can sit outside in front of Ciao Bella and eat your gelato (or sorbet) on the little bench and chat and chill. Perfect.
I’m a fan!

Not the best gelato I’ve ever had… but pretty good. I had the Maple Ginger Snap and my boyfriend got the Mint-​both good in their own ways, mine with yummy ginger snaps mixed in and his with a very crisp, clean, minty taste.

I sincerely believe that CB has lost its chichi edge. I recently learned they are going to be selling in WalMart. Expanding because of success is one thing but not at the rep of one’s product. First they killed their unique packaging design and I do not think the quality is as good as it has been in the past. There are too many other options for frozen tasties. :(((So much for NFDF.

OmiGEE, definitely hands-​down to the Green Tea (Matcha) and Hazelnut (Roasted) GELATO!!!
1 cup is soso NOT enough. iii crave for more, more, more!!!
Some of the flavors are sold in pints which is a very good for me cause then I can keep them in the fridge and eat them whenever I want to… teehee.
PS: I have yet to try the SORBET but I’m sure it’ll be just as delicious!

Meet Peppermint Stick Gelato. This temperate December of 2009 inspired me to stop in, to see if they had any holiday flavors. The creamy peppermint was delicious! It was strewn with veins of melted candy cane– and pieces of crunchy bits.