This week we’re going to need you’re help, because we’ve surely missed the best local-Orlando ice cream shop. There has to be one in Downtown, or over by UCF, up in Winter Park or out in Oviedo that the three of us just don’t know about. If you’re kind enough, share the details of those places with us, so we can go sample. Thanks!

Chad
For this week’s favorites, I’ve got three places in mind. The first is a restaurant where the ice cream plays a supporting role in the dining experience. The second is an ice cream shop that everyone has been to at least once. The third is a local hangout.

Red Bamboo, a Thai restaurant, serves some of the best Thai food in Orlando. For today’s post, however, I’m strictly focusing on one of their desserts. Featuring sticky rice, fried bananas and mango ice cream, their dessert combination sampler is extremely unique. Taken all at once, the heat of the bananas contrasts with the cool (now melting) ice cream, which in turn contrasts with the dense, chewy rice. I’m not sure if any of the individual components are perfect, but the dessert as a whole - especially the ice cream - is a wonderful experience.

The second place, I’m sorry to say, is not unique to Orlando. But since it’s damn good, I have to include it as a favorite. Cold Stone Creamery offers ice cream that tastes amazing and a list of available flavors that includes some interesting choices like cake batter and cotton candy. My favorite is still chocolate chip, but like I said, they’re all good. Cold Stone has 15 Central Florida locations, with two more opening soon.

Finally, a place I have to mention when talking about ice cream is the Twistee Treat in Ocoee. There’s a long line every night of the week and on Friday’s you’ll need to bring your patience. The ice cream is simple, but the family atmosphere of a local hangout can’t be beat.

Amanda
The best place for ice cream in Orlando is an easy choice: Beaches & Cream Soda Shop at Disney’s Beach Club Resort. It is at Beaches & Cream that you can step out of the “real world” and into an old-time soda shop. Old-fashioned milk shakes, floats, giant ice cream sundaes, banana splits, and plain and simple scoops of delicious ice cream pairs nicely with whatever you order for your main dish (if you bother to order a meal at all). My suggestion is to go with a group (as long as you’re a tight-knit bunch and don’t mind sharing) and order the kitchen sink, an amazing blending of flavors that combines scoops of every kind of ice cream and every toping you can imagine (including an entire can of whipped cream) all heaping out the top of a giant bowl shaped like an actual kitchen sink. It’s a mess to consume, but it’s pure fun… and tasty too.

Jennifer
The best place to get ice cream in Orlando is by far Marble Slab Creamery. I know it’s a chain, but you can’t beat the unique flavors they offer. Additionally, they “mix in” your choice of crushed candy bars, nuts, cookies, fruits and more to create a sundae unique to you. With these “mixins”, you can turn your “birthday cake” ice cream (my favorite flavor) into a frozen cupcake by adding a few rainbow sprinkles on top.

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