John’s Water Ice

Great prices, yummy water ice. I had the chocolate — so delicious! The staff wasn’t the friendliest but it was a busy Friday night. The medium looked small but it was actually more than enough.

Great philly water ice, reminds me of the hot summer days growing up in Philly many years ago, delicious and refreshing

hidden in the surburbs… kinda middle of nowhere. a little sketch if youre heading here for hte first time and late in the night… from the bus
this was listed on one of the food/​travel channel… so figured. why not?
i got the cherry ice and it was good… simple and reminisce of my childhood days going to the carnival.
I got a decent amount for the price i paid
its cherry syrup and ice. im not sure what else to say about it lol

Will go there every time I visit Philly. I like how you can taste the pineapple in the water ice. (even though it taste like the can pineapple) It’s also really cheap so you can get one for yourself and not have to share.

Cherry FTW — if you’re a classic cherry fan like me, you won’t be able to finish a chocolate. Just go with the cherry.

The taste hasn’t changed a bit. Seriously, maybe it got better? Or maybe it’s just been too long. I need to load up on pineapple quarts before they close.

Definitely the best water ice I’ve ever had! Way better than Rita’s! The lemon and the cherry were both out of this world good, flavorful, refreshing, perfect just slushy enough consistency, and not too sweet. Just what I needed on a 100 degree Philly day. So glad I discovered this place!

Best water ice ever. I ordered the cherry gelato and it came pretty fast though the menu is small it still is a wonderful treat on a hot summer day

This is hands down the best place in Philly for water ice. It’s a family owned, no frills walk up with a few flavors and ice cream. I only ever get lemon, but I’m sure the other flavors are great as well. You have to stop here on a hot day in South Philly.

Multiple attempts to figure out when this place was open and the stellar reviews led me to over-​anticipate just how good it would be. Would this be the greatest water ice or the greatest dessert in general of all time?
One taste quickly settled the debate.
The cherry water ice combined the metallic, artificial flavor of a years-​old decarbonated diet cherry cola with the consistency of cough medicine and chalk. It was just shockingly bad from the very first bite.
I threw it out after forcing my way through a third of it (it had to get better… but didn’t) and went to Rita’s, whose wild cherry was a million times better.
Not sure what happened here.

Ive always drove by this place and have never gotten the chance to stop by until the other day. I stopped by with my friends and ordered chocolate water ice and a pretzel rod which were 5 for 50 cents. My friends ordered the same thing. The water ice was good but lacked some flavored when compared to the other homemade water ice places around south Philly. The pretzel rods completed the chocolate water ice adding some salty to the sweetness. They were a bit stale but still did their job.
I would deff come back and recommend.

I’ve lived in Philly for a long time and finally go to try John’s. Ordered the lemon water ice and wasn’t disappointed. It was a tad too sweet for me, but overall it hit the spot. I’m not sure if I would come out of my way to get it, but I’ll need to try the ice cream!

We ordered cherry and mango flavor water ice. The cherry flavor tasted like medicine and it tasted very blend. Mango flavor on the other hand was a lot better. Definitely tasted some real mango inside. I wouldn’t say it’s better than Ritas but it tasted more natural.

Great water ice that’s clean and delicious. The lemon is great and not too sweet. Texture is a little more icy than George’s but definitely refreshing on a summer day. They also have weekend special flavors so be sure to check it out!

Love John’s. I used to walk for over a mile to get there with my grandfather 50 years ago. It still remains one of the best.

Had lemon and pineapple water ice. Great texture but the flavor was very chemical tasting. Bitter and overly sweet at the same time. I’ll stick with Pop’s.

Gelati craving satisfied! Cherry/​Vanilla cup of gelati for $ 3.50 beats any pricey restaurant dessert on a warm day. The cherry water ice was better than Rita’s. The vanilla ice cream had a perfect consistency. I had a taste of the mango water ice and tastes just as good. Definitely the water ice spot to come to when in the city.

I tried all of the flavors, and found them to be too sweet. The exception was lemon, which was perfect for a hot summer day.

You hear about something for so long and wonder if it really measures up to the hype.
John’s Water Ice lived up to its reputation.
I base this only on the chocolate ice I enjoyed. Others in my party seemed less than impressed with their fruit-​based flavors which they deemed too artificial.
The chocolate water ice had a perfect, delicate, mild chocolate favor. It did not taste artificial and it was not cloying. The perfect treat on a hot July night. I would be so happy to indulge in that chocolate again sometime very soon.

In searching around for things to do and eat in Philly, I’d bookmarked John’s but it didn’t look like it’d fit in to our itinerary. But, as we were driving out of town back to where we came from, I saw a store on the corner that said water ice, so I hopped out to give it a try.
The only place I’ve had italian/​water ice from is Rita’s, so I was looking forward to a non-​chain, original type deal. The texture at John’s was almost like a snow cone, and their preparation seemed to be similar, so watching it, I was sure it’d be great.
However, despite the staff being nice (1 star and letting me sample literally all of their 4 or so daily flavors and the 1 special flavor of water ice for the day, I was not impressed but ordered a small because it’s cheap (1 star) and I felt bad. The flavors felt bland and artificial, and instead of sample spoons I ended up with five full size spoons full of ice and had to awkwardly juggle them until I could make my way to the crowd to find a trash can.
I had no idea President Obama had ever been here until I saw the Unilocal pictures. Guess this is one of the few things I’ll have to disagree with him on.