Ciao Bella Gelato

I love Ciao Bella Dark Chocolate Sorbetto! Being dairy sensitive (and a chocoholic), I can’t eat a lot of gelato, so I was thrilled to find this delicious alternative! I live in Connecticut, so I have to buy it at the supermarkets. Lucky you, Manhattanites!

I am a diehard Upper Westsider, but this is well worth venturing to the other side of the park as a destination! I have been going there for years — the staff is almost always friendly and knowledgeable — a big plus. The downside is that, at times, there can be a bit of a wait.

The gelato was delicious! I had the vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry flavors and they were perfect. However, the waffle cone tasted stale.

A bit pricy but a good option to catch some tasty ice cream on a sunny saturday if you are in the more northern part of central park. They are not greedy at all with the sizes of their portions. Go there if you are in the area!

Tucked away in the busy Grand Central Station food court, this place surprised me with some pretty good gelato. Tried the:
Banana: actually really good
Green Tea: deep real green tea flavor which I liked
German Chocolate: Rich chocolatey flavor
I liked that all the flavors were spot on. Nothing was flavorless or bland or watery like the flavors were missing something. I would come again for some good gelato.

Was great, delicious, a neighborhood favorite. However recently they took away most of the seating, including our beloved booths with the copper tops!
Ciao Bella on Madison and 92^nd street is not be the same. Please bring them back!
–Fionn and Dave, dedicated ice-​cream affincionados

My friend and I passed by this place a few times and always wanted to give it a try since we LOVE gelato, esp the location is so close to central park, it suppose to be a treat! The place look really decent and the galeto we got was fine, except the lady who served us has a negative attitude and sent off weird vibe as if she’s telling me I took too long to make my decision of flavor and it’s wasting her time. I didn’t like that and was about to walk out but my friend really wanted a galeto so we ordered. I don’t know about other sales people but whoever is working there on Sat, Aug 24 afternoon around 4 really pissed me off. I will never go back nor will I recommend this place to anyone. No one needs to take attitude esp there are so many other decent gelato places everywhere in NYC.

Pricey for a small scoop of gelato, but I can’t resist:
— Belgian chocolate
— Lebanese yogurt
Gotta come back on another afternoon stroll at Central Park.

Took a stroll over to Ciao Bella today with the wife and peanut, to get my gelato on. Having heard recently that the former owner of Ciao Bella sold the company (and now owns Il Laboratorio del Gelato), I had a feeling that the gelato would not be the same. Unfortunately, I was right. Gone are the days when Ciao Bella was rockin it down by Washington Square Park. I went in today, and there were the standard flavors, nothing interesting. I think the ice cream case at Fairway has more CB flavors in pints than this store has for cups and cones. I got the mint chocolate chip, and the caramel (admittedly, not the best combo). The mint choc chip was okay, but the caramel was much more like butterscotch. Which is not a bad thing per se, but both flavors were slimy, like they weren’t mixed right. The service was «meh» as well, it was clear that the counter girl was less than enthused to be working tonight.
My wife really liked her blood orange sorbet, so I’m glad for that, but Ciao Bella ain’t what it used to be.
In fact, there’s an Il Laboratorio del Gelato stand in front of the Guggenheim (which is actually closer to me), and they have much better gelato. As good as Ciao Bella’s used to be. I wonder why …

+5 stars for eating delicious gelato and walking through Central Park
–1 stars for the price and the fact that the lady at the counter always seems to be mad at the world

The gelato was genuinely good, but so pricey (1 scoop = $ 4) and I would only recommend that they remodel. The layout is a bit weird and confusing for first time visitors.
I feel like it will be busier in the summer, I went on a 50 degree, rainy day and I still enjoyed it.

Perfect for a walk through nearby Central Park! There wasn’t as much of a variety as I had hoped for, but I still loved the flavors I tried:
* BELGIAN CHOCOLATE GELATO
* CINNAMON GELATO
* MANGO SORBET
Rich, deep flavors all-​around. The only thing I don’t like is the pricing. At other places, you can order a small and still get 2 – 3 flavors. Here, it’s one flavor per size. Boo.

Walking back from the conservatory gardens in central park, and ran into this place. I tried the tahitian vanilla and West African Chocolate. I didn’t care too much for the vanilla but the chocolate was fantastic. Looking forward to trying their hazelnut!

Welcome to NYC where the current ‘Dessert De Jour’ is cupcakes, and they are everywhere! Then in a close 2^nd place is… GELATO. Seriously the gelato places need to give it a rest; they are pretty much all the same. However, Ciao Bella is completely and totally different. Their flavors are unique and fresh! I stopped by the other day and ordered the Passion Fruit and it was to die for! I haven’t had that kind of fruit flavor since I had a fresh Passion Fruit in Hawaii. You should definitively come here and try some others like Tahitian Vanilla and Blood Orange!
Also, I know, I know the grocer’s freezer has Caio Bella… but umm SHUT UP, come in and try the real thing!

Ok. The ice cream is good! However, what I’m about to tell you has not to do with ice cream, but everything to do with severe disappointment. It was the Friday of Memorial Day, the first official weekend of summer, my family and I were walking around and decided to get some ice cream. I remembered that we were close to Ciao Bella and started telling my very excited, young niece and nephew that we going to get some ice cream. It was going to be so great and yummy. You know all the things uncles do to spoil kids. Anyway, we arrived around 8:40pm. To my disbelief and utter embarrassment, the place was closed. Not health dept. closed or out of business closed! Just closed for business. Topped off by the young women in the shop cleaning and giving the universal symbol for closed «slicing the throat» in front of the crying children. After I picked up my jaw, I had to convince the kids that the world was not coming to an end. They were devastated! I couldn’t let this happen. After all, Uncle Manny always come through with ice cream promises. They just got good, old fashion, corner store ice cream. They loved it all the same. I got my pride back.
The moral of the story is that this is NYC! It’s the beginning of summer! What ice cream shop closes early on the first weekend of summer? What ice cream shop can afford not to have the greatest free advertisements ever? Smiling children!

Non-​chain, good ice cream/​gelato is basically impossible to come by on the UES. Ciao Bella slightly bucks that trend (though it’s still a chain). You know those Ciao Bella gelato/​sorbet cartons sold at groceries? Well they have actual stores where it tastes much better and fresher. The place is tucked into a corner so keep your eye out for this place.
Anyway, pretty straightforward setup: go to the gelato bar, look at flavors for the day, order. Outside of the usual mainstays, their flavors vary day to day, so if you’re looking for a particular one you might want to call. My personal litmus tests for ice cream are tried and true vanilla and my favorite flavor, cookies and cream/​oreo (which Ciao Bella doesn’t consistently have). Both are pretty solid here, not overly sweet, but also not as full or rich a flavor as I tend to like in my ice creams. Still good though. Also like that there’s a solid 2 scoops in the small, so I don’t feel totally ripped off ($ 4 – 5), but I do hate those tiny gelato spoons.
And an extra dollar for EACH topping, even sprinkles? Seriously?! Then again, I’m an ice cream purist and prefer no toppings marring the taste, but still, that’s ridiculous.
Anyway, while being a far cry from the best ice cream/​gelato in the city, it’s definitely the best around. Ciao Bella: good not great, and convenient if you’re around one.

Let’s get the bad part over with fast: It’s small, there’s nowhere to sit, the staff never never cracks a smile, it costs a million bagillion dollars for a scoop of ice cream.
Ok, take a deep, cleansing breath: The gelato is superb. It’s rich, and the flavors are intense. Yes, one «bambini-​size» scoop can take twenty minutes to eat because each tiny spoonful is bursting with flavor. If they have the chocolate/​hazelnut combination, you have no excuse but a nut allergy for not ordering it.
And the sorbet is no consolation prize. The fruit options are intense, and the chocolate is practically virtuous.
Turn around and note that there are pints in flavors not at the counter. I saw key lime on my last visit, and the memory makes me want to run out for some later.
The location is blissfully close to Central Park. In my family, we think the perfect Saturday afternoon activity is eating Ciao Bella while watching other people bike, jog, and otherwise work up a sweat.

Ciao Bella sorbets always deliver. How can you go wrong with the Alophonso Mango sorbet? You can’t.
What makes this establishment truly remarkable is its proximity to Central Park. There’s nothing like going for a stroll around the reservoir and ending the outing with a refreshing gelato or sorbet. Mmmmm.

Since I am not a huge fan of ice cream to begin with, going here was kind of a stretch for me. I took a 7 year old girl here and she was in heaven. My wallet was a lot lighter (it’s PRICEY), and my stomach not much fuller after my 1 scoop for $ 6.
It’s cramped inside and there is never anywhere to sit. It is in a convenient spot, but the staff are rude and unfriendly. Probably won’t be back until they 7 year old begs enough…

I actually went from the lower east side all the way up here to get a sorbet. I don’t know if that’s more indicative of its deliciousness or of my stupidity, as it seems that Ciao Bella is being sold in more and more places (COSTCO for example!!!). What I’m trying to say here is if you’re in the area, definitely stop by, but if you’re 90 blocks away, try to find a closer location.
The sorbet is definitely my favorite. It reminds me of making homemade blackberry sorbet with the fresh blackberries I picked near the river. It’s as if they have taken the essence of freshly picked fruit and injected it into through an IV into the product. My favorite is Mango — they use alphonso mangos from india, which are by far the best.
I only took away a star because I don’t think their icecream quite lives up to its sorbet counterpart, but that’s actually a good thing for me cause I can save that many more calories while being oh so satisfied.