The Penny Ice Creamery

913 Cedar St, Santa Cruz
(831) 204-2523

Recent Reviews

Anthony B.

First time at this ice cream place. The flavors are amazing as well as variety to choose from. Ice cream is on point and a must go to when visiting Santa cruz

Megan Cheek

I enjoyed the vegan dark chocolate ice cream with toasted marshmallow fluff topping. Highly recommend!Vegetarian options: Vegan ice cream optionsDietary restrictions: Gluten and dairy free options

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 4

Service: 5

Carl Desoto

Always fun and fresh flavors. Great customer service. Street parking.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

john raya

Kind of pricey but worth it !!!?

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

david edler

Amazing homemade ice cream with variety of freah flavours, got the rootbeer float. Amazing.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Root Beer Float, Pint - Tahitian Vanilla Bean

Danielle M.

Great unique flavors using local Ingredients when possible. Homemade cones are delicious too!

S HdeL

Only Ice Creamery in Danta Cruz that makes the ice cream in house from locally farmed organic ingredients. Therefore, flavors change seasonally. Very small place so line goes out the door, but moves quickly.Parking: There’s a parking garage a short walk away.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Chocolate Ice Cream, Strawberry Pink, Strawberry, Ice Cream Cone, Toasted Almonds, Waffle Cone, Dark Chocolate Sorbet

Barry B.

How cool is it that this relatively small town has two places for homemade ice cream?! So- after trying both Marianne's and Penny Ice Creamery, the bottom line is both are great. A good comparison would be: Best for sitting down following - Marianne's (more seating) Best for range of flavors- Marianne's Best for unique flavors - Penny Best for lactose-free options- Penny Flavor-wise, I think I enjoyed my flavors more at Penny Ice Creamery (honey yogurt walnut was great, and bitter caramel was amazing- mind-blowing even, among the best flavors ever) but it also could be that I didn't select the best for me at Marianne's.

Todd Plummer

It's one of my favorite places in Santa Cruz! Their ice cream is delicious, and oftentimes, they have several dairy free options on the menu. Make sure to get the marshmallow topping too. Then, walk around the corner to Minnow Arts and see their gallery.Dietary restrictions: Gluten-free waffle cones and dairy-free ice cream! All made in-house...!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Gluten Free Cone Cone Only

Sydney H.

I love their funky flavors. I've never had a bad flavor here and I'm especially excited about their gluten free cones!

Cynthia Stephanie

Best damm ice cream I've had in my life. Making me consider moving to Santa Cruz just for easy access to this place. GET THE

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Lea S.

Seriously delicious ice cream! Amazing interesting flavors that change seasonally. I recently had the most delicious banana toffee flavor, but they had many other interesting flavors I was tempted by like quince sorbet, bourbon persimmon and chocolate orange, amongst others. They also have more classic flavors like cookies N cream and Tahitian vanilla bean. They are generous with allowing samples to find your perfect flavor. I recommend getting any flavor in their homemade waffle cone, topped with delicious roasted marshmallow fluff!

Amelia D.

Came here on a trip through Santa Cruz to Monterey; it was a great place to stop in and grab a snack. We appreciated the unique flavors, which included Meyer Lemon Ginger bread with ginger cookie bits inside, the vegan dark chocolate sorbet which was quite creamy, and the bees business which had a bit of honeycomb in it (though I wish there were more crunch and texture in this flavor.) The folks behind the counter were friendly and offered free samples. We got takeout but it looked clean inside and there were several people there on a Friday night.

Emma M.

A huge 15-20 minute line extends outside in heavy rain, and the hand-written menu is unreadable. After waiting for a few minutes with no one behind the counter, the lady eventually takes the order and money. However, instead of giving me the ice cream, she decides to work with the customer behind you first. When questioned about the order sequence, the response is, "It will take just a second," which, obviously, it didn't. This is classic Santa Cruzan service - extremely expensive mediocre ice cream. A bad deal.

Penny Moffat

Absolutely yummy!!!! Love the fresh, organic, local ingredients and they are so deliciously concocted into blissful ice cream! Gluten free available also!!!!

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 5

Service: 5

Load More