Ruby Jewel

Ruby Jewel smells and looks as sweet as its name. As with all good ice cream shops, you can smell the bewitching scent of vanilla and sugar wafting from a block away– a telltale sign that fresh waffle cones await your consumption!
RJ has a few other things going for it. Its ace location downtown (a perfect follow-​up to a meal at Lardo, Bamboo Sushi, Tasty n Alder, or the gazillion other prime food joints nearby). Its lack of hour-​long lines. Its ice cream cookie sandwiches (Lemon cookies with honey lavender ice cream, anyone?) Its hot chocolate menu (!!) Its friendly scoopers.
I hoped to be swept off my feet by Ruby Jewel. I wasn’t, but the experience still left a sweet taste in my mouth. The vanilla ice cream was fragrant and rich with vanilla bean, but the chocolate and espresso ice creams were largely milky and sweet, which muted their namesake flavors.
The malted hot chocolate (topped with whipped cream, crushed malt balls & a plush, homemade marshmallow) was real eye candy, but the drink itself was lukewarm, and featured large clumps of malt at the bottom of the cup. I noticed that RJ uses a home kitchen-​style hot chocolate maker to warm & mix its drinks– switching that machine out for a commercial steam wand would elevate RJ’s hot chocolate recipe to its Platonic ideal.
When that happens, I’ll be back– and I’ll likely grab a lemon honey lavender ice cream sandwich to go with my hot chocolate. You know… well-​balanced meals are important. :)

Friends wanted us to try this place after Tasty n Alder. I was already too full! There’s always room for dessert! But after tasting cookies n cream, toasted hot chocolate, and cookie dough, I was thoroughly too full. Everything tasted great. But I just didn’t have room! Good enough tastings that I would totally come back on an emptier stomach though!

Why is Salt & Straw so special?
Yeah, I said it.
And i’m totally owning it as I’m still in the transplant phase.
First of all, there’s not a large line. Convenient location, so you can get a scoop of ice cream, then head to Target for some errands.
Really enjoyed some January 2016 seasonal flavors — the snowpocalypse, and the peanut butter with ganache. Sooo good, in their own special way.
Salt & straw IS good, but I feel like they try so hard to make such interesting flavors, that it’s either really good, or just okay. I mean, have you tried the kimchi fried rice one or the meat pie? They’re not bad, but clearly I didn’t love them enough to actually order a scoop. But all the seasonal flavors at Ruby Jewel? So, so good.

My friends and I stumbled across this place after we ate dinner at Grassa, and since we all love ice cream, we knew we had to give this place a try. I like Ruby Jewel because they have a lot of unique and seasonal flavors to choose from. I ordered a small ($ 3.50) with Peppermint Candy and Caramel with Salted Chocolate. I loved the Peppermint Candy because it tasted exactly like Peppermint Bark (well, duh) and the Caramel with Salted Chocolate was very creamy and not too sweet! My favorite part was the Salted Chocolate chunks inside the caramel ice cream. I definitely recommend if you love ice cream and you’re looking for a great place to satisfy a sweet tooth craving!

Definitely underrated in Portland due to the whole Salt n Straw craze but this place is kid friendly and adults love it too. They have flavors that warms your heart like salted peanut butter and ganache, toasted hot chocolate, and malted chocolate chip cookie dough. They also give you huge scoops and encourage you to try! The espresso ice cream was soooo good.

It may have been raining last night, but I couldn’t possibly leave Portland without sampling some homegrown ice cream.
Now, I live in Silverlake, so I know my artisanal ice cream… hehehe. The scoops at Ruby Jewel were excellent.
I chose an ice cream sandwich: brown sugar cinnamon strudel ice cream (with a sour cream base) on a ginger cookie. It was SO good! Prices were good, and the staff was great — thanks for the ice cream advice!
Totally worth the trek.

Great ice cream, wonderful flavors and texture, and giant sandwich cookies; Ruby Jewel is my ice-​cream choice over Salt and Straw!

Super creamy, interesting and seasonal flavors. $ 3.50 for a small gets you two scoops that can easily be shared between 2.
We came on a quiet Tuesday night, and the girl working was so nice! letting us try different flavors and was very accommodating to my indecisiveness.
The inside of this place is super cute! They have wooden tables/​benches on the side, and a bar you can sit at as well. Perfect for taking a dessert break
I opted for salted caramel with dark chocolate and one of their off-​menu flavors, almond with oatmeal cookie. I’ll say yes to anything almond
All their ice creams are HANDMADE: O and you can tell! I love the creamy consistency and they definitely pack the mix-​ins. There were huge chunks of chocolate in my salted caramel ice cream, and big cookie crumbles in the almond one!
They also offer ice cream sandwiches and milkshake flights! Totally would’ve tried that if we weren’t so stuffed from dinner

I liked the simple flavors and the cookie selection available. My cousins and I stared at the menu and the staff insisted we try some sample to help us decide what we wanted. They were very friendly, and more than willing to help us find the flavor we wanted.
I usually get the lavender ice cream with lemon cookie, but I stuck with the Amaretto in a cup because I was still full from my dinner. Their mint chocolate ice cream is also delicious, since the chocolate is folded in instead of being chunky.
Their décor is cute and friendly for groups. Water is available to wash down the sugar, and the bathrooms are clean. I definitely enjoy bringing people here!

The flavors are consistently good, especially their seasonal flavors.
But their staff seem unhappy when I ask for samples, and their ice cream is frequently inconsistent in texture. Particularly in the summer months, half the time I go, my ice cream is super icy. It’s not surprising considering the fact that they don’t seem to have very good air conditioning, and their staff leave containers of ice cream on the counter while it’s 95 degrees outside and the ice cream is being scooped.
It’s probably more convenient for them to do that, but my ice cream is FULL OF ICE AND HALF MELTED.
I live in the neighborhood and I really wish I liked this place more. Perhaps I could put up with the inconsistent product if their staff was friendlier, but that isn’t good either.
I wish I could combine Salt & Straw and Ruby Jewel into one ice cream place. It would have friendly service, great texture, and edible flavors.

After several other stops on this particular afternoon of adventures, I was craving chocolate and ice cream and didn’t even know it until I spotted the brightly lit sign for Ruby Jewel as I rode around.
They have a few routes to go — I chose the classic waffle cone and single scoop, lest Iget overwhelmed with dairy and sugar before the night had really begun. Upon further consideration, Imay hvae enjoyed the chocolate cookie ice cream sandwhich, made with my choice in iced cream, and had Ithe cash Iwould have certainly walked out with a bag of broken cookies for a few dollars. I’m not sure why those are cash-​only but the rest I purchased via card. *shrugs* The sometimes-​cash economy of Portland is confusing to me…
It’s in a great neighborhood and nearby many resturants, with no wait on a friday night for my visit (compared to some other spots). Skip the house cheesecake and get a waffle cone, and enjoy the walk as you eat it.

This may just beat out Salt & Straw. Don’t get me wrong — I love S&S, but sometimes I don’t want lavender blue cheese ice cream… I want cookie dough.
Ruby Jewel to the rescue! They are super friendly, offer free samples, are conveniently located in downtown, reasonably priced, and their Cookie2 (this month’s special) was so tasty and bustin out of the seams with chocolate chips and cookie pieces… SWOON!

Unfair. Totally unfair. Ruby Jewel makes waffle cones in-​house, and leaves their doors open (and garage-​door/​wall open in the summer).
That means you detect the sweet, syrupy waffle cones from blocks away, beckoning you in with it’s carby deliciousness like a siren song (er, I mean smell).
«Ok, so just one scoop and I’ll make sure I get my workout in tonight.» Sure, tell yourself whatever helps you sleep at night – you and I both know that isn’t happening. So you follow your nose to RJ, soon finding yourself surrounded by tons of delicious flavor mish-​mashes (strawberry basil, anyone)?
After eating your fill, you wander out in a kind of sugar high. I am a huge fan of Ruby Jewel, especially because I’ve never had to wait in line to get my cone on. (I’m looking at you, Salt & Straw).

My first visit Saturday night wasn’t so great. It was close to closing time and I think the staff was grumpy we came in for samples. Chill out we were gonna buy ice cream. Anyhow here’s what we had:
DOUBLE (3 Scoops) — $ 5
THE BEE STING
Bees and Beans Honey Bar chopped and folded throughout salted Honey Ice Cream, made with Bee Local’s Oregon High Desert varietal honey.
This one was very subtle in taste but I enjoyed the little honey bar pieces in it.
HONEY LAVENDER
Honey from Oregon’s own Glory Bee is blended with lavender ice cream.
It tastes exactly what it sounds with no additive colors. I appreciated that part hehe. It was ok.
The next day we had to come back because:
1.) We wanted to give this place another try.
2.) It’s National Ice-​Cream Sandwich Day!
This time the staff was apt friendlier and we actually didn’t bother to sample anything. We just went for it and had:
FLIGHT (6 Flavors) — $ 7
The flavors we chose were:
BROWN SUGAR SOUR CREAM w/​PEACH JAM
As featured in the cookbook, Scoops Adventures, this ice cream boasts caramelised and butter brown sugar with tangy sour cream. Ruby Jewel gave it a seasonal kick with house make peach jam.
Sounds like a mouth full right? It’s actually no as amazing and special as it sounds. I think the sour cream balanced out the sweetness from everything. There was very little peach jam in it. I was crazy about this one but it wasn’t bad either.
VANILLA BEAN
You really can’t ever go wrong with the simple flavor of Vanilla bean. You just can’t! I enjoyed this simple scoop.
PEANUT T BUTTER PIE
Peanut Butter ice cream with chocolate coated cookie crust chunks.
Now this was a rich ice cream flavor packed with a great peanut butter and chocolate taste! Makes it really sweet in taste!
FRESH MINT FLAKE
Local mint from Gales Meadow Farm and Lochmead Mint Oil packs a minty punch with dark chocolate flakes.
This was my favorite! Ice cream makers need to understand that pieces of chocolate NEEDS to be in flakes, NOT CHIPS nor chunks. Every bite was amazing – I wouldn’t say it was a punch of mint in the face… it was a good amount of mint flavor with tiny flakes of dark chocolate, which blended in your moth so lovely. Chunks or ships always end up tasting like wax to me and I hate it when chocolate chip mint ice cream is that way. This scoop was PERFECT.
ESPRESSO
Made with cold brew «Full Cycle» espresso blend from Nossa Familia Roasters.
This was my second favorite! It had such a wonderful sweet espresso flavor! Get this if you enjoy coffee… and if you don’t! (I actually hate the taste of espresso).
CARAMEL w/​SALTED DARK CHOCOLATE
Housemade caramel folded into ice cream, topped with chocolate ganache and a pinch of Jacobson Salt’s fleur de sel.
This ice cream had a wonderful texture of the chocolate ganache. However I felt it was very salty – overall it had a strong avor because we have the sweetness from the caramel, the saltiness Diem the salt and the slight bitterness from the ganache. It tasted fine overall and I’m sure many people would enjoy this. Perhaps I prefer a more simple and subtle flavor.
We also got the last of the ice cream sandwich they were giving out for free! I didn’t get to try it because of all the ice cream I already had and it was super hard to bite into. That was awesome they did that though.

Ruby Jewel tempts late night revelers along 12^th Avenue like an enticing Portland prostitute with her stripper name, seductive scent of fresh warm waffle cones, and promise of dream creams if you just come inside.
No need to be coy. She knows why you’re here. Step up to the counter. Choose cone, cup, or cookie. Pick a flavor or two. Ruby Jewel will take it from there. Simply pay her fee and accept her sexy sweet dessert. Then you can sit back and enjoy the creamy sensations that you desire.
Want a truly happy ending? Get your cone dipped.
I went all-​in with a Chocolate-​dipped Cookie Sandwich featuring a pair of ample Salted Almond Cookies nestling scoops of Pistachio Matzo Brittle Ice Cream and Chocolate Ice Cream with Salted Peanut Caramel Swirl.
Did I need such full-​service from Ruby Jewel to be satisfied? Probably not, but I had no regrets. I came. I saw. I was conquered. It’s ice cream. Don’t over think this … Like sex, there’s no such thing as «too much.»
Ruby Jewel is the epitome of seductiveness. All women want her. All men want her. In the end, we all scream for ice cream.

We went here upon the recommendation of a bartender who promised more reasonable lines than some of the other local ice cream shops. We stopped in mid-​afternoon on a weekend and, as promised, there were only 4 other people in line and the line moved quickly.
I went with the tasting platter, which is 6 scoops served in small plastic cups and arranged in a large, wooden ice cream cone ($ 7). For flavors I chose Horchata, Espresso, Fresh Mint Flake, Honey Lavender, Berry Cobbler, and a Salted Caramel Cream. They were all good and interesting but the only one that I loved was the Berry Cobbler. The other ones were fun to try but didn’t «wow» me enough to want to finish any of them.
This place is definitely a fun ice cream shop and the ice cream was good quality. They make their own waffle cones and cookies and have a good variety of interesting and unique flavors.

Ruby Jewel is a cute place for ice cream. The texture of their ice cream was smooth and creamy, and they offer flavors that are both familiar and unique. Both the familiar and unique deliver.
The staff are friendly and patient whilst you make up your mind. It was also cool to see someone making the ice cream during our stop. I recommend a stop here for some really good ice cream treat!

Ruby Jewel is a nice little ice cream shop worthy of notice.
The shop is plain but with enough trendiness to make it alluring. But forget the look, the ice cream and their waffle cones are the cornerstone.
They have their own signature creations to which you can add other toppings, and also have served over their house made waffle cones.
I had a scoop of the malted vanilla with pecan toffee; which was exceptional. It was creamy and nicely balanced with vanilla and toffee notes.
The prices are completely reasonable, especially for the quality you get. I felt it was quite inexpensive. So come for unique and high grade flavors at value prices.

There has been a rise in ice cream shops specializing in gourmet and unusual ice cream flavors this past decade. While its fun to taste exotic flavors such as pear & goat cheese or pork ice cream, there are times where I just want a scoop of a childhood classic. I personally have found this hard in Seattle with many of the chain shops shutting done (i.e. baskin robbins).
During my recent visit to Portland, my friend and I walked in here since she wanted ice cream. The lady working the counter was extremely friendly and we had a nice conversation about ice cream shops in Portland and Seattle. She told us that Ruby Jewel’s focus was to take classic flavors and either make them very well or with a twist. I eyed the menu and was pleased to find flavors such as raspberry heart shaped cookie, caramel latte, cookies and cream and Oregon Strawberry.
I ended up with a ½ scoop of the raspberry heart shaped cookie and a ½ scoop of the caramel latte in a waffle cone. The lady was spot on about her description of Ruby Jewel ice creams: Well done classics. I love the bits of shortbread cookies and the sweet creaminess of the raspberry while the caramel latte was the best coffee flavored ice cream I’ve tasted. I think Ruby Jewel has ruined coffee ice creams for me.
If I happen to be in the area, I definitely will return and get more of that caramel latte. Ruby Jewel is a great place for all ages, and for those who are aren’t into crazy ice cream flavors.

I came here for dessert after dinner after Unilocaling for a dessert place to go to after dinner. After sampling a couple other flavors, I decided to go with the espresso. Portland sure doesn’t disappoint when it comes to anything coffee related.
Overall, cute ice cream shop, friendly workers, and great ice cream. Would definitely have to keep this place in mind the next time I’m back in Portland.