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A cardboard tray holding three neat rows of three ice cream scoops each, a wedge of ice cream cone separating them.
Ice cream flight at Sarabha’s Creamery.
Sarabha’s Creamery

The 12 Essential Ice Cream Shops in Nashville

Cool off with cones and sundaes from old-school ice cream shops, Mexican ice cream specialists, and even a vegan vendor

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Ice cream flight at Sarabha’s Creamery.
| Sarabha’s Creamery

To say summers in Nashville are hot is an understatement: The city’s humidity can make the air feel so thick that doing anything outside is a daunting task. Fortunately, there are a number of ice cream shops in town serving frozen treats to cool diners off quickly. Here are Nashville’s premium ice cream scoop shops, from vegan specialists to Mexican ice cream specialists, kulfi shops, and old-school favorites.

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Mimi's Ice Cream & Coffee Shoppe

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The main attraction at this charming family-run ice cream and coffee shop near the Opryland? Hard scoop ice cream in dozens of classic flavors, plus inventive seasonal specials like peach, blueberry cream pie, cherry limeade sorbet, and oatmeal raisin. Sweets seekers can also choose from specialty sundaes, milkshakes, floats, and near-endless toppings.

Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams

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While Columbus, Ohio, will always claim Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams as its own, Nashville feels like the booming regional chain’s adopted home. The East Nashville location was founder Jeni Britton’s first expansion outside of Ohio, and now she has half a dozen scoop shops in Nashville alone, where you can pick up favored flavors like Gooey Butter Cake as well as limited editions like a Ted Lasso tie-in called Biscuits With the Boss and another featuring pieces of cream biscuits and peaches sourced here in Nashville.

Mike's Ice Cream Fountain

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This downtown ice cream shop is smack in the middle of all of the hustle and bustle, which means it gets packed with tourists. But don't let that deter you. Mike’s Ice Cream Fountain makes good ice cream — simple like vanilla or over the top like chocolate raspberry truffle — and serves as a nice midday refuge from the heat.

January 10, 2022: Exterior sign and giant sundae for Mike’s Ice Cream, a dessert shop in downtown Nashville.
Mike’s Ice Cream Fountain.
Shutterstock

Hattie Jane's Creamery

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Claire Crowell opened Hattie Jane’s Creamery in Columbia in 2016 before expanding to other Tennessee cities. Now you can also find the small-batch ice cream shop’s homey flavors — strawberries and cream, banana pudding, brown butter pecan, even some dairy-free and gluten-free options like coffee coconut — and whimsical, pretty aesthetic in Murfreesboro and at Assembly Food Hall in downtown Nashville.

Kokos Ice Cream Scoop Shop

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Kokos Ice Cream started doling out its vegan desserts from an ice cream bike but now has a West Nashville storefront at OneCity. Stop by for coconut milk-based ice cream scoops in flavors like chocolate, Key lime pie, and Dutch apple pie, some of which are seasonal and all of which are dairy-free and nut-free.

Elliston Place Soda Shop

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Holding it down in Midtown for more than 80 years, this sweets shop and diner is perhaps best known for its old-school treatment of shakes, malts, floats, and flavored sodas, but you can also get great sundaes, banana splits, and simple ice cream scoops in classic flavors of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry, plus toppings. And thanks to a recent move next door and a major facelift, Elliston Place Soda Shop now has a full bar.

The exterior of a building with a striped awning and a sign reading Elliston Place Soda Shop.
Elliston Place Soda Shop.
Elliston Place Soda Shop

Bobbie's Dairy Dip

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Bobbie's Dairy Dip is a Nashville classic, having been in business since 1951. Head to the West Nashville shack for no-frills ice cream scoops and milkshakes — but be prepared for potential lines and crowds. Diners in the know will always opt to speckle their heaping cones with rainbow sprinkles.

The Bee Ice Cream Shop

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On Nolensville Pike, the Bee Ice Cream Shop features Oaxacan ice cream, popsicles, agua frescas, and other sweet treats. Order scoops in a ton of fun flavors, from tequila and lime to elote. The shop also houses owner Katy Rodriguez’s other business, Frida’s Oaxacan Cuisine, in case you want to pair dessert with some of Nashville’s best Mexican food.

La Michoacana Premium

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Countless Mexican ice cream shops throughout North America share the phrase La Michoacana in their name (which has predictably led to some legal battles), including several along Nolensville Pike in Nashville. La Michoacana Premium near the Nashville Zoo serves a vast array of cold, sweet treats including paletas, ice cream, and sorbet. Think of a flavor and there's a good chance you'll find it here, from pistachio to passion fruit.

The Nashville Sundae Club

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This vibey ice cream shop in The Gulch offers its namesake dish and more: find espresso martinis and “hot” margaritas, frozen and blended drinks, and cakes alongside its ice cream offerings. On the cold treat side, scoops, soft-serve, milkshakes (regular and boozy), and ice cream sandwiches are available, and, of course, the sundaes, which come in flavors like cinnamon roll, s’mores, and classic banana split.

Fryce Cream

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Fries and ice cream — what’s not to like? This Belmont-Hillsboro shop not only offers both, but happily encourages fry-in-ice-cream dipping. Its soft-serve ice cream is served in chocolate, vanilla, swirled, vegan, or seasonal flavors, with candy and sprinkle toppings available. Add to that an order of seasoned crispy fries (flavor dusts include “Nash Hot,” French onion soup, and chile-lime), and you have a match made in salty-sweet heaven.

A manicured hand holding a French fry poised over a cup of swirled chocolate soft-serve ice cream topped with chocolate crumbles.
Fries dipped in ice cream at Fryce Cream.
Cristen Clemens

Sarabha's Creamery

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This Midtown ice cream haven specializes in Indian homemade ice creams and kulfi, a frozen dairy dessert that has origins in Delhi. Sarabha’s kulfi, served street-style on a stick, come in flavors like kesar (saffron) and chai spice. Its other ice cream flavors include coconut, mango, butterscotch, and Indian coffee; to try them all, opt for the ice cream slight, which places smaller scoops to sample on an elegant paper tray. Waffle cones and bowls, milkshakes, and coffee and pastries are also available.

A cardboard tray holding three neat rows of three ice cream scoops each, a wedge of ice cream cone separating them.
Ice cream flight at Sarabha’s Creamery.
Sarabha’s Creamery

Mimi's Ice Cream & Coffee Shoppe

The main attraction at this charming family-run ice cream and coffee shop near the Opryland? Hard scoop ice cream in dozens of classic flavors, plus inventive seasonal specials like peach, blueberry cream pie, cherry limeade sorbet, and oatmeal raisin. Sweets seekers can also choose from specialty sundaes, milkshakes, floats, and near-endless toppings.

Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams

While Columbus, Ohio, will always claim Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams as its own, Nashville feels like the booming regional chain’s adopted home. The East Nashville location was founder Jeni Britton’s first expansion outside of Ohio, and now she has half a dozen scoop shops in Nashville alone, where you can pick up favored flavors like Gooey Butter Cake as well as limited editions like a Ted Lasso tie-in called Biscuits With the Boss and another featuring pieces of cream biscuits and peaches sourced here in Nashville.

Mike's Ice Cream Fountain

This downtown ice cream shop is smack in the middle of all of the hustle and bustle, which means it gets packed with tourists. But don't let that deter you. Mike’s Ice Cream Fountain makes good ice cream — simple like vanilla or over the top like chocolate raspberry truffle — and serves as a nice midday refuge from the heat.

January 10, 2022: Exterior sign and giant sundae for Mike’s Ice Cream, a dessert shop in downtown Nashville.
Mike’s Ice Cream Fountain.
Shutterstock

Hattie Jane's Creamery

Claire Crowell opened Hattie Jane’s Creamery in Columbia in 2016 before expanding to other Tennessee cities. Now you can also find the small-batch ice cream shop’s homey flavors — strawberries and cream, banana pudding, brown butter pecan, even some dairy-free and gluten-free options like coffee coconut — and whimsical, pretty aesthetic in Murfreesboro and at Assembly Food Hall in downtown Nashville.

Kokos Ice Cream Scoop Shop

Kokos Ice Cream started doling out its vegan desserts from an ice cream bike but now has a West Nashville storefront at OneCity. Stop by for coconut milk-based ice cream scoops in flavors like chocolate, Key lime pie, and Dutch apple pie, some of which are seasonal and all of which are dairy-free and nut-free.

Elliston Place Soda Shop

Holding it down in Midtown for more than 80 years, this sweets shop and diner is perhaps best known for its old-school treatment of shakes, malts, floats, and flavored sodas, but you can also get great sundaes, banana splits, and simple ice cream scoops in classic flavors of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry, plus toppings. And thanks to a recent move next door and a major facelift, Elliston Place Soda Shop now has a full bar.

The exterior of a building with a striped awning and a sign reading Elliston Place Soda Shop.
Elliston Place Soda Shop.
Elliston Place Soda Shop

Bobbie's Dairy Dip

Bobbie's Dairy Dip is a Nashville classic, having been in business since 1951. Head to the West Nashville shack for no-frills ice cream scoops and milkshakes — but be prepared for potential lines and crowds. Diners in the know will always opt to speckle their heaping cones with rainbow sprinkles.

The Bee Ice Cream Shop

On Nolensville Pike, the Bee Ice Cream Shop features Oaxacan ice cream, popsicles, agua frescas, and other sweet treats. Order scoops in a ton of fun flavors, from tequila and lime to elote. The shop also houses owner Katy Rodriguez’s other business, Frida’s Oaxacan Cuisine, in case you want to pair dessert with some of Nashville’s best Mexican food.

La Michoacana Premium

Countless Mexican ice cream shops throughout North America share the phrase La Michoacana in their name (which has predictably led to some legal battles), including several along Nolensville Pike in Nashville. La Michoacana Premium near the Nashville Zoo serves a vast array of cold, sweet treats including paletas, ice cream, and sorbet. Think of a flavor and there's a good chance you'll find it here, from pistachio to passion fruit.

The Nashville Sundae Club

This vibey ice cream shop in The Gulch offers its namesake dish and more: find espresso martinis and “hot” margaritas, frozen and blended drinks, and cakes alongside its ice cream offerings. On the cold treat side, scoops, soft-serve, milkshakes (regular and boozy), and ice cream sandwiches are available, and, of course, the sundaes, which come in flavors like cinnamon roll, s’mores, and classic banana split.

Fryce Cream

Fries and ice cream — what’s not to like? This Belmont-Hillsboro shop not only offers both, but happily encourages fry-in-ice-cream dipping. Its soft-serve ice cream is served in chocolate, vanilla, swirled, vegan, or seasonal flavors, with candy and sprinkle toppings available. Add to that an order of seasoned crispy fries (flavor dusts include “Nash Hot,” French onion soup, and chile-lime), and you have a match made in salty-sweet heaven.

A manicured hand holding a French fry poised over a cup of swirled chocolate soft-serve ice cream topped with chocolate crumbles.
Fries dipped in ice cream at Fryce Cream.
Cristen Clemens

Sarabha's Creamery

This Midtown ice cream haven specializes in Indian homemade ice creams and kulfi, a frozen dairy dessert that has origins in Delhi. Sarabha’s kulfi, served street-style on a stick, come in flavors like kesar (saffron) and chai spice. Its other ice cream flavors include coconut, mango, butterscotch, and Indian coffee; to try them all, opt for the ice cream slight, which places smaller scoops to sample on an elegant paper tray. Waffle cones and bowls, milkshakes, and coffee and pastries are also available.

A cardboard tray holding three neat rows of three ice cream scoops each, a wedge of ice cream cone separating them.
Ice cream flight at Sarabha’s Creamery.
Sarabha’s Creamery

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