The Penny Ice Creamery

Always delicious. Love that they’re not skimpy on samples and love that it’s open late!

Came here on Valentine’s Day! It was pretty packed and there was a long line. Wait wasn’t too bad though!
It was my first time here. The staff are really friendly and they were patient with letting me try their flavors. We ended up ordering the yogurt walnut jam with marshmallow fluff! It was so good! I can see why there’s so much hype.
Totally coming back when I’m in town!

Candy cup mushroom with the burnt marshmallow topping. Man. Maple goodness. Who would of thunk?

Bitter caramel was sooooo good (perfect caramel flavor and not bitter at all!) and their waffle cone was so tasty. Kids loved the mint chip in a kids cone. Great spot to hit after a visit to Bookshop Santa Cruz!

I’d been desperately wanting to try this place since seeing a really delicious looking cone on my Instagram feed many months back. Finally made it a couple of weeks ago and overall it was a good experience. As something of an ice cream connoisseur I can be a tough critic, but where the ice cream itself was concerned I’d give this place a solid 5 stars. I tried a couple of flavors before going for the Parsnip Nutmeg in one of their (delicious & perfectly crisp!) handmade waffle cones. The cream and cone were incredible.
The shop itself is really small and unfortunately it was a cold day when we made it here, so after spending 15 minutes waiting in line before we were even inside the door I was actually grateful for the next 5 minutes that we got to spend thawing out inside the shop before getting to place our orders. We were then lucky to find seats despite seating being limited.
Overall definitely worth the detour, and we’ll likely be back when we are in the area (although we may wait for nicer weather!)

Solid ice cream, but everyone stops here for the toasted marshmallow fluff. I like the fluff, but I can see it getting a little too overwhelmingly sweet if you get too much at one time.
Flavors rotate, but feel free to ask for samples. I think they do a good job of offering a good mix of unique flavors and standard flavors as choices.
For me, my favorite is the earl grey w/​the fluff on top. Kid size, which runs to about 3.50 total!
I also tried burnt caramel, but that was a little too much caramel… As you can see, not all their flavors are perfect for everyone, so I highly recommend getting samples.
Parking on the street.
Service isn’t that much except for when you tell them the size and flavor you want.
Sometimes there is a long line to wait in, so beware.
Super small store.
Worth a stop in SC if you have the time!
And it’s downtown, so lots of shops around to explore as you eat :)

This place also has many options that change daily and I was surprised that I liked Earl Grey. I chose that in a kid cone and added marshmallow fluff topping that was charred. I thought the fluff would be too sweet or weird with the ice cream but it actually went well together. It was also a great photo hehe.

MEEEH… the ice cream was ok… it melted too quick! and I’m not sure if its because of the fluff. but ice cream should not be melting faster than I’m eating it. The cone was delicious! Maybe next time i’ll get it in a cup rather than a cone.
i would give 5 stars if i just got the fluff! I loveeeeeee the fluff! it was a very unique to be a topping on an ice cream. Will come back just for the fluff!

Drove to Santa Cruz one night just because I wanted to try their infamous marshmallow fluff.
The waffle cones are goooooood. They’re crunchy, crispy, and not too sweet. I guess all of their ice cream are homemade in their stores? I opted for the cookies n cream with the marshmallow fluff. My bf got the verve coffee espresso ice cream with marshmallow fluff. Mine was better ;)
Lots of street parking available. It’s a small little ice cream shop. I can only imagine when it’s the summertime and how busy it gets. I went around 7:30pm on a Friday night and was prepared for it to be busy. But! They weren’t. I was indecisive and let a group of four guys go in front of us… BAD DECISION. Haha. I should have made them wait on me to make my decision cause they took too damn long!!!
I was a bit upset cause I saw one of the guys took the last of the cookies n cream but thankfully, the gal found a new batch in the freezer.
They only had one employee working that night behind the counter. Scoop up the ice cream, make the milkshakes, take the payment. Idk if they normally only have one person to man the place down… if they do, I probably wouldn’t have the patience for this place during their peak hours.
Ice cream is delish. Marshmallow fluff is delish. They make for great photos HAHA. Curious to know how their other locations are, in terms of size and staff on duty.

This is a fun place. It has good ice cream! There’s good street
parking and is a nice change from Marian’s. It is a good place to
support a mom/​pop store. A lot of hard work goes into it, and
the ice cream is delicious!

ALWAYS HAVE TO VISIT THE PENNY ICE CREAMERY! THE FLUFF! THE FLUFF!
The ice cream flavors are always changing from time to time and I believe some flavors are seasonal. The flavors are very different and exotic. Some of the flavor’s names don’t sound too appetizing to me, but when you sample it, it’s actually not too bad! You should definitely sample the flavors before making your selection. I believe that they have like at most, 6 – 10 flavors a day? I really don’t remember. They don’t have a large selection of flavors though.
Just get the ice cream in a cone, topped with the marshmallow fluff. You won’t be disappointed.

An ice creamery in downtown Santa Cruz very much reminiscent of Ici, though the execution is just a notch or two below.
Had a chance to try a handful of flavors including earl of grey, rum raisin, spiced pumpkin and peanut butter & jam. All were fairly good, just a little too sweet across the board. Settled on a scoop of spiced pumpkin in a house made gingersnap cone — great combination and worth a shot for sure.

Toasted Marshmallow Fluff.
I just had to get that out there first in case there was a chance you might not get it. I’m really confused why this marvelous idea hasn’t taken off yet in San Francisco much less globally.
This is the best ice cream in Santa Cruz.
You may be a little put off by the crowd of people but if great ice cream is what matters and hype doesn’t bother you this is the spot. I can’t tell you what specific choice to make as there is always something great but what ever you do choose get the Toasted Marshmallow Fluff.

surrounded by some restaurants and surf shops. There were about 12 flavors I believe? But I got the cookies and cream single scoop with marshmallow fluff.
Enough for two to share. The marshmallow fluff is generously spread on top of the ice cream and torched to golden perfection. Still with a gooey texture :) a single scoop was about $ 4.50. They also have free stickers!

3 words. TOASTED MARSHMALLOW FLUFF. Done. You guys are officially my most favorite ice cream place in all the land.
Don’t get me wrong. The ice cream here is solid. Made in house from scratch which is awesome. Seasonal flavors such as pumpkin spice which I sampled. Almost savory, that’s how full of spices it was and I like how it wasn’t made overly sweet. However, their ice cream alone doesn’t stand up to Humphry Slocombe or Mr. And Mrs. Miscellaneous in San Francisco. I feel like their flavors are less bold and not as creative. However, the toasted marshmallow fluff really elevates their ice cream to culinary gold.
Whoever invented the marshmallow fluff you are a freaking Jedi Master genius!
We paired the fluff with the whiskey custard (Ahhhmazing! So good. The burnt smoky taste of the marshmallow melded really well with the boozy sweetness from the whiskey custard) as well as the strawberry shortcake (good but unfortunately didn’t live up to its name). Tasted more like regular vanilla ice cream with a little bit of strawberry jam thrown in.
I did have a quibble with the waffle cone. I’m not normally a huge fan of them and this one even less so because it’s pretty thick and almost overpowers the ice cream. I ended up just using a spoon to eat the ice cream and foregoing the cone part and nibbling off pieces of it. I’m picky though so maybe I’m just being overly critical here.
I don’t think there’s ever not a line. We came around 5ish on Sunday and shared the wait with a bunch of Santa Cruz students. Considering that the line wasn’t all that long, it still took a good 20 minutes and there were some long moments when we wondered why the line wasn’t moving at all! It turned out there was just one guy handing out samples, scooping the ice cream, and cashiering so that explained the wait. Once I had my ice cream though, all was forgiven.

Okay so yes, the toasted marshmallow fluff does take freaking good in pictures. But remember it’s just fluff. Even toasted, it doesn’t have the sticky s’more effect that you might be thinking of. It’ll be more like a sauce.
The Horchata Blackberry ice cream was okay. Texture was a bit grainy/​chalky. I don’t know anything about how to make ice cream but I’m pretty sure most people like the smooth kind. I didn’t taste too much horchata but the blackberries were nice and not tart.
If you don’t want to wait in the long line, there’s a stand only a couple blocks away. It doesn’t have the full menu though.

Maybe it was the triple-​digit weather. Or maybe it was just hunger. But I thought the ice-​cream here was life-​changing. My cone of melon ice-​cream with toasted marshmallow fluff on top tasted like ineffable delight. I had never felt so gutted to finish a cone in my life! The flavor was a slam dunk. The texture was a perfect, smooth iciness. And the waffle cone was truly something special.
Every flavor here is worth exploring. And the toasted marshmallow fluff is a serious upgrade to any Plain-​Jane ice-​cream scoop… so just do it, you know you want to.
Sigh.
I know this review sounds way more dramatic than a Shakespearian play but, if it isn’t obvious, this is my new favorite ice-​cream shop.

Excellente crème glacée maison dans une petite boutique accueillante…
Les saveurs sont très originales et de belle couleurs. Pour les amateurs de café. Essayez l’effegago…

Esta tienda ha desarrollado el concepto siguiente: son helados caseros cuyo sabores cambian cada día y los hacen comprando las frutas a granjeros locales. Los helados muy buenas y los sabores originales y rafinados. Tampoco son muy dulces, lo justo.
El local es muy pequeño: puede sentar menos de 10 personas dentro y fuera un igual. Con lo cual, mejor llevartelas. El sitio también tiene mucho encanto. El martes, durante horario de happy hour, la tercera bola es de 1 penny por eso el sitio se llama «The Penny ice cream».
Una parada recomendable en Santa Cruz para embeberse del espíritu local.

First things first, I’m not a big sweets person. I don’t go crazy for pints of ice cream or chocolate bars the size of my head. I’m pretty sure I break the rules of all-​things-​stereotypical-​girl right there.
That said, The Penny Ice Creamery is awesome — even for someone like me, who asked her mom for a pork chop with candles instead of a birthday cake. (True story.)
We came on a Friday afternoon and waited in line about 5 – 10 minutes before being served. They are very liberal with samples, and I tasted all but two of their flavours before making my pick. Everything was far sweeter than I could handle a scoop of, so I settled on the Plum Sorbet, which was awesome.
Ironically, one of the two flavours I didn’t try ended up being delicious and not too sweet as well. My best friend got the Malted Vanilla Chocolate Chip. I made the mistake of judging it by its name and figured it would be really sweet, but it actually wasn’t. Had I sampled it, that may have been my choice.
Both of us got toasted marshmallows on top, and it’s worth it just to see them torch it in front of you. We couldn’t put our finger on what it was, but they were the best marshmallows either of us ever had. If grandmas in the 1950’s made marshmallows, this is how I would picture them. So, so tasty. Again, this is coming from someone who could (and does) happily live without sweets.
The Penny Ice Creamery is where I will always bring visitors from now on. It’s a small business done right.