Cloud City Ice Cream

Great ice cream! Cloud city is open late so it’s great for after games. The employees don’t seem to happy though.

Just found my new favorite ice cream shop! Move over Salt & Straw cuz Cloudy City is the best. I love their fun and playful favors like Circus Friends (which actual has Circus cookies in it) and Unicorn (Red Velvet cake, Marscapone and Strawberry jam). No sea urchin mint– seriously S&S what were u thinking?

I found myself finishing my last bite of a chocolate brownie ice cream in Salt & Straw and thinking to myself, «Cloud City is the best.»
Cloud City was under my radar when I was going to dinner in the neighborhood. In fact when we parked outside Cloud City, we thought its exterior looked a bit sad and run-​down. As we walked back from our dinner, we spotted a sizeable line in front of this place — our tourist mentality instructed us to get into the line asap, no question asked.
And this is how I found great ice cream! Having tried Salt & Straw, I think Cloud City lacked the wow factor as a business (i.e. fancy local ingredients, glamorous district, cool modern décor) and did not have as many creative flavors. But that has nothing to do with having good ice cream. IMO Cloud City beats Salt & Straw in the taste test — the texture of Cloud City’s ice cream was amazingly creamy and smooth, and the flavors were more traditional compared to Salt & Straw but nonetheless fantastic.
I had the most amazing pistachio ice cream in Cloud City and that pretty much informed me this is the place to come back for another scoop, and there may not be a line!

Outstanding local business. Since I’ve started coming here I’ve visited as regularly as possible. They have great flavors, and magically upbeat staff. My favorite flavor is «Unicorn». It makes me a little sad to see so many comparisons to Salt n Straw. I enjoy a variety of food; pizza from different places, I want to try every food truck, and like to change up my coffee places as well. In this great city both places can exist with no hostility, right? Cloud City is terrific, they have great ice cream, great staff, great flavors, and great service. Love it here.

The staff is so incredibly nice and the ice cream is to die for! I had the unicorn and even though I was stuffed after dinner I finished it and wanted more. We went with a girl who was a little high maintenance and the staff handled her without missing a beat. I love all the unique flavors would recommend highly

This is, hands down, my favorite ice cream place in town. The flavors are fantastic– all the normal stuff, but with a little something extra. And not the weird, flamboyant flavors of Salt and Straw (no offense, but I don’t want my ice cream to taste like my lavender dish-​soap). Salted chocolate chip cookie dough is THE BEST THING EVER!!! Moose tracks? Delicious. And they have a couple of fun, eye catching rainbow flavors the kids dig– the iced animal cookie one is really tasty! The servers all seem genuinely happy to work there, and the portions are huge! They also have fun, cool cones. And the mascot is a unicorn! Come on– what else could you want from an ice cream shop? It’s kinda perfect– just want a location in walking distance from my house– wait… maybe its safer if they stay on Woodstock. Thanks Cloud City! You’re the best!

I tried the sparkle magic, unicorn, circus animals, and lemon with black pepper marionberry jam. I expected to love the first three and they were just okay. The lemon marionberry though… incredibly delicious. I got it in a waffle cone, which was a tad stale. If you love lemon and berries, that one is a heavenly combo, and you have to try it!

Ice cream is good. Service is good. The shop itself is a little small (not a lot of room to sit). Though the ice cream isn’t as good as say, Salt and Straw, the lines are way better — as is the location.

Their wide selection of sorbets drew me in. It’s a sight for ice cream-​loving-​but-​dairy-​avoiding eyes. Also, they have gluten-​free waffle cones. For real, WAFFLE CONES.

I decided on the chocolate coconut sorbet and the Thai coconut sorbet. That’s right, I made it a double. Because you have to double while the gettin’s good (i.e. more than one sorbet. follow me!).
Their service line and tasting protocol was a little awkward because the sorbets are all the way over by the cash register and everything else aligns with the queue. My dairy-​able friend and I got split up because the sorbets were beckoning me. No big deal to us, but it seemed we might be breaking rules to the scooper people.
The sorbets were good– I’m not a fruity sorbet person, as you can see. These tasted substantial and I could momentarily pretend it was ice cream. The waffle cone was sweet and mostly crunchy– for some reason I had a small soft spot.
Yuhhm.

Amazing super rich ice cream. Skip dinner eat ice cream. Bonus no long lines.

Was this ice cream good? Yes. Was it the best I have ever had? Nope.
I came on a warm Spring evening, and the line was long. I didn’t like that I couldn’t see the flavors until I had to order. It was so crowded that I really couldn’t even see them all without holding up the line even more.
I tried the cookie dough. It was good, but it just tasted like cookie dough. If I wanted that, I would buy a pint of Ben and Jerry’s. I settled on ordering the cinnamon. While it was good quality ice cream, I wished it had something in it (hint: try adding snickerdoodles).
The prices are fair, and the shop is cute.
Honestly, it was good but not good enough for me to make a return visit. It’s worth checking out.

This review is for last fall’s trip to Portland and Seattle. We ate a LOT of ice cream in both cities so there are some major competitors out there. This place may not be as well known as some of the others, but oh YUM. Great great selection of interesting flavors. I mean, Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel? Earl Grey Blueberry? Yum yum yum. The way the falvors come through is really well done. Sometimes I feel like chocolate dominates any caramel flavor but I definitely got rich carmelized notes in the delicious dark chocolate. And sometimes tea in ice cream tastes either underwhelmingly weak or overpoweringly floral, but the earl grey was perfect and the blueberry was a really nice complement. I sampled a lot of other flavors that were super tasty too so it was a tough decision! My only regret is only being able to visit the one time.

I really, really like this place. The ice cream is great & the service is usually very friendly.
I’m knocking a star off because I was accused of not paying recently after I paid for myself & my sister.
Someone eventually came to my table in front of other people well after I paid. It was embarrassing & it was because someone helped me and then left the area & I didn’t catch her name.
It was pretty busy & I get it, but at the same time maybe check your records first before accusing someone of stealing? I didn’t get a receipt but I wasn’t exactly bolting either. I had my sister & 9 month old baby with me. We also ordered a banana split & no one else did so it seems like it would be easy to see that we purchased it.
The Nutella is great & I like the strawberry.

Everyone always heads over to Salt & Straw, that this ice cream store often gets overlooked. Probably hampered by the fact that it’s located next to a major supermarket store in a strip mall and not somewhere hip, I have never experienced a line here.
However the ice cream/​sorbet is delicious. Not like Baskin Robbins, but not Gucci and odd like Salt & Straw, all the flavors are great. The staff also is super friendly and always offering samples.
Definitely a great place to go to.

From the outside it doesn’t look like an ice cream shop you would stumble into without knowing about it. It is within a small shopping plaza across the street from a grocery store.
I wasn’t planning on going to this place but the original shop we were going to go to was closed until the new year. So, thank you Unilocal for directing us here. The ice cream baristas were super nice and had no problem letting me try a ton of ice cream and ask a bunch of questions. They’re all about the unicorns here, I think it’s cute they let kids color pictures and hang them up.
So the ice cream…
— The End Times: spicy kick at the end is good for a taste but not a full scoop unless you REALLY like spicy. I say try it but don’t get a full scoop.
— Lemon w/​Black Pepper and Maironberry Jam: SO GOOD, it was amazing and I would have gotten it, if it hadn’t been for the classic chocolate-​vanilla combo I wanted. I would definitely say get a scoop of this.
— Classic Bourbon Vanilla: DELICIOUS. Yes, it’s vanilla, but it’s better than that.
— Single Origin Chocolate: perfectly chocolate. Get it.
— Sea Salt Dark Chocolate: too salty but good.
— Caramelized Banana: +1 got it in a milkshake and it was perfectly smooth and fresh for a milkshake.
I enjoyed this place, but not as much as Salt & Straw. I think it’s good to try different places so I am happy with this choice! It’s not as modern as I liked, much more childlike but it’s got good ice cream and that’s what matters most.

Great place for ice cream in Portland! Very unique flavors. I tried the dark chocolate sea salt caramel. They also had others including chocolate-​based and fruit varieties, as well as more traditional flavors like pistachio. There is something for everyone here.

This is my second favorite ice cream place in PDX.
The service and quality are both great here.
The blueberry earl grey is my favorite so far, but they do have other good flavors!
Make sure you get the chance to color a unicorn while you eat your ice cream too.
UNLEASH YOUR ARTIST SKILLS AND EAT GOOD ICE CREAM.

I had been dying to try Cloud City based on the delicious sounding menu. We decided to stop by on a busy Sunday night. I will admit that I’m a devout lover of those other guys, you know the ones that rhyme with Malt and Bra? It was refreshing to not have to wait in line for 30 minutes, we were in and out in maybe 5 minutes.
We were greeted by a really nice man who offered us some samples. We fell in love with our first lick! I knew I wanted to try the Earl Grey Blueberry and I was hoping it was as good as it sounded. It was, I immediately ordered a scoop in a cup. The Earl Grey flavor was beautiful and bold, not subtle at all. The blueberry swirl added some sweetness and brightness. My husband was stuck between the Lemon with Black Pepper Marionberry Jam and the Caramelized Banana. He eventually settled on the Caramelized Banana, although I was secretly hoping for the lemon. The scoop was very generous, I was one happy girl. The ice cream is super flavorful and creamy. I’m so excited to try some more of the flavors. I like that they have some regular flavors like mint chocolate chip, but they also take regular flavors to new heights like the sea salt addition to the cookie dough.
I can’t wait to see Cloud City again, I seriously think I’m in love!

Portland, day 4, stop 6, after dinner ice cream.
Better than therapy — ⁴⁄₅
Totes magoats — ⁴⁄₅
Sasquatch tracks — ⁴⁄₅
Coffee Toffee — ⁵⁄₅
Overall, Coffee Toffee is «as good as it gets» for coffee ice creams.

It was the last day of school for Portland Public, and it seemed like every child in that part of the district was in line, and the line was out the door. Of course, if the children and their parents are like me, they’re glad to stand in line to get some of the great ice cream here at Cloud City. The line moved along quickly due to about four or five young ladies working the line. Every one of them was fast and friendly and had a big smile on their face for each customer. I chose «Better Than Therapy» (lemon curd whipped into vanilla ice cream and bits of ginger snaps scattered throughout). Well, I have to say this is the best kind of therapy for such a gorgeous day like Thursday. Nice flavor of vanilla up front and leaving off with lovely lemon essence at the end, and the ginger snap pieces were a perfect pairing.
The shop, as always, was immaculately clean. There’s plenty of seating for normal times, but this being the last day of school meant seating was tight. I managed to snag an inside table. A woman sent her two children over to guard the table and stare at me until I left so they could have the table. I gave their mother the high sign and asked to to call them off and I would let her know before I left so she could have the table. This is not Cloud City’s fault, and it was the only sour note of the visit. It was simply a young-​ish mother not well versed in good manners and had several children with her. I do understand the pressure she is under in that situation, but she is not a good role model for her children in terms of good behavior and manners, and I do prefer well-​mannered children (and children should and can be taught good manners with effort and consistency).
OK, being the paragon of virtue that I am, I determined I would savor my ice cream, children or not, while I made my plans to visit Red Fox Vintage. Now that’s the way to end a visit to Cloud City Ice Cream. Go see them soon and enjoy a classic treat during this beautiful summer weather.