Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream Truck

So I went to this ice cream shop with two Unilocal elites. Like legit ones. One is apparently the Unilocal king of Huntington Beach or something (look him up, Brandon C.). Anyway, we were those obnoxious people who tried all of the flavors and the moral of the story is, they picked the lame flavors and I chose the pistachio. Which we all agreed was the best flavor and I know is the best pistachio ice cream I’ve ever had. Suck it Unilocal elites with your chosen sucky flavors and snooty comments. HA!

Their vegan ice cream is the best. We especially love the banana walnut and the caramel ones. If you are lucky enough to find this truck somewhere in LA, definitely give it a try.

Found this little truck outside the Broad.
Best vanilla ice cream I’ve ever had! I don’t think eating ice cream ever made me this happy. I got one scoop of espresso, and one scoop of vanilla.
My friend got the scoop of pumpkin (its eh)

The picture I’m posting with this review does not do this place justice. Normally found right outside the main Little Tokyo plaza (on E 1^st Street). I love coming here after eating a nice bowl of ramen. Ice cream is always a great way to end the night.
I wouldn’t make the drive all the way to LA for this ice cream, but if it’s conveniently nearby, I’ll definitely get me a scoop. Their smallest size, a regular, comes with two scoops. You can either get one flavor or two. I got the earl grey tea and the strawberry. Both flavors were amazing, but out of the two, their strawberry is definitely a winner. Unfortunately for my friend, I found myself eating majority of the strawberry leaving very little left for her. She was definitely not pleased. I’ll need to come back another time and buy my friend and I our own bowls.

I’m not Vegan. but if it means I’ll only have Vegan Ice Cream. I might consider it!
Coconut Oil and Raw Cocoa Butter?
Had me dreaming about it for days after I had my first bite.
Find this truck parked outside of the one of the best sushi places in lil’ tokyo.
Smooth, creamy goodness in a cup is waiting for you!

Friends and i were on a dessert hunt in Little Tokyo when we stumbled past. Girlfriend said she had it before and said it was good. Without hesitation, we flocked towards the truck like a swarm of bugs struck by bright light. There were so many awesome ice-​cream selections to choose from, but we settled on ginger, earl grey tea, and espresso. They were all equally outstanding, but if i had to choose, my faves were a toss up between the earl grey tea and ginger. They tasted like the real deal! The ginger ice-​cream had small but mighty chunks of ginger which was super cleansing. As you guessed, espresso tasted like i was having espresso and same with the earl grey tea flavor. Two average sized scoops were $ 5, but totally worth the price. I could care less about vegan, artisan, cocoa butter since to me they are just marketing buzz words to describe food, but i think they are true ingredients in the ice-​cream so i’ll throw them out there for those who care. Maybe they do matter after all, b/​c it was some of the best ice-​cream i’ve had.

Spotted the Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream Truck parked outside The Broad while we were waiting in line to get into the museum.
They have 8 ice cream flavors — we chose to go with the Vanilla with Oak Barrel Aged Bourbon and the Pistachio — Both were Dlish.
They also have Vegan ice cream available — I believe there were 4 flavors.
A cup or cone which included 1 – 2 flavors runs $ 5.50 and the vegan ice cream is 50cents more. You have the option of getting a cup with a cone on top for the same price. Toppings are $ 1 extra.
I would have given them 4 stars, but the dude who helped us had a «displeased» look on his face and didn’t say a word — complete turn-​off.

Ice cream is 4 stars — great flavors and consistency. Service gets 2 stars. Upon walking up to the truck, I was not greeted and when I asked for a sample, the gentleman didn’t even smile at me or tell me about how they make the flavors or what to expect. Granted, Van Leeuwen ain’t no Salt & Straw, but they could at least provide SOME customer service. Upon purchase, there wasn’t even a «thanks» or «come again.» I liked the ice cream but was completely underwhelmed with the service…

Popped by the Brewery Art Walk and was so glad to see that this truck was parked outside. I’m on an eating regimen and can’t eat dairy or sugar but vegan ice cream was a compromise I was willing to make for this serendipitous occasion. The BF and I both got the Vegan Mint Chip. It was so good. It wasn’t too sweet but still creamy like ice cream.
My only gripe is that it was $ 6 for a cup. The scoops were tiny! I mean $ 6 is asking for a lot. I’d definitely try it again but I’m not out hunting for it.

We were enjoying a nice Sunday morning bike ride from Manhattan beach to Abbot Kinney and made a pit stop at this ice cream truck for a creamy earl grey flavored treat.
There was a tiny line which allowed us to take some time to throughly peruse through the flavors of the day and make a selection .
When I tried to check in on the Unilocal app the business was declared closed. Humph! Obviously it was not closed. I notified the Unilocal gurus to bring the business page back to life. I am happy to see it resurrected.

Tried it in Little Tokyo on a Friday night. Very cool little truck, which was what caught my eye in the first place.
After trying a bunch of flavors, including the vegan options that night, I went for the Strawberry. Strawberry flavor was spot on. Super creamy and smooth. Had some of the vanilla too (which is usually my default), and immediately I regretted not getting the vanilla. Too good.
Van Leeuwen is not a truck I’d chase after, but if I see it again, definitely getting some ice cream!

I get so excited every time I see this truck. I’ve had their ice cream in Brooklyn so tasting it reminds me of New York. Great, rich tasting flavors and one of the best ice creams in LA!

I got the pistachio ice cream and the chocolate vegan ice cream. Both were tasty but nothing special. Maybe I’m too spoiled with the unique and textural tasting ice cream from other places such as scoops. The cost is quite expensive also. About $ 5 for 2 tiny baby scoops. Meh. It was good but not great.
Pistachio was flavorful. The nuttiness stood out with a bit of sweetness. Well done.
Vegan chocolate was surprisingly rich in the chocolate taste. It did have a creaminess about it without tasting too heavy. I wish it didn’t melt so fast.

Saw this bright yellow truck on the Arts District near Black Top Coffee. I walked near it and to my surprise it was an Ice Cream truck that I have never heard of. Of course, before I even I considered ordering I had to check Unilocal.They had good but limited reviews so I gave it a shot. I sampled the Goat Cheese ice cream and the flavor was just too strong. I ended up getting the Ginger and Early Grey flavors.
Earl Grey was actually melted… would’ve been nice if we were given a heads up that it was melted so I would’ve considered choosing a different flavor. The taste was good though. Ginger was surprisingly strong. It was so strong my throat started feeling funny.
I guess its not bad for being Vegan, but I rather stick with what I know and like.

Saw this truck in Little Tokyo and decided to try it out after dinner. It was either this or Ice Cream Lab and I’m glad I went with Van Leeuwan Artisan Ice Cream Truck!
I ordered half Vegan pistachio and Earl Grey.
The Earl Grey tasted exactly like how I imagined it to be. A little bit on the sweeter side, but still good! The Vegan pistachio has a chunkier and thicker texture (not as creamy) to it, and it was amazing!!! It was probably the best Vegan ice cream I’ve tried so far.
The only downside is that the price is a tad bit on the high side for ice cream. I got a regular and it came out to be $ 6 :O
Oh well, No Regrats.

Excellent ice cream and vegan ice cream!
LOVED the brown butter pecan. All the vegan flavors were excellent — did not taste like coconut

Tried out dessert from this gem! They had vegan options too, pretty crazy. Anyways I taste tested the goat cheese with berry swirl special and it was super tasty but I also tried the candied ginger and that was just so amazing I had to get it! I love ginger beer & ginger when I juice. But ginger in ice cream!!! Best idea ever. I’ll def be coming back, very unique flavors. Although they don’t have much of a selection and not sure they change but I loved the options I tried!

Located in the art district in front of shops, this truck place is really popular. The truck is actually from New York. My BF was really excited to try since he likes ice cream.
We tried the pistachio and the cream cheese flavor. I cannot really taste the pistachio because it was way to buttery and the buffer just took over the taste. I did not try to cream cheese but my BF did. He did not get that eventually so i guess it was not that good.
We ordered ginger and earl grey flavor. Earl grey was good. It tastes a little bit tea flavor there but still the buttery taste just dominate the whole thing. Ginger was okay. I do not like ginger and the good thing is there is not too much ginger flavor in there.

Deliciozo!!!
One would think that after having some deeelicious sausages at Wurstkuche that it would be enough to fill the grumbling stomach. wrong!
On our way back to our car, this inconspicuous yellow and baby blue Ice Cream truck just caught our attention especially it’s unusual gourme’ish Ice Cream Sundae combination printed all over the trucks wall!
Our first question before ordering was.“Do you accept credit cards?” and to our delight «Yes I do» hooray!
It didn’t take long for our group to place our order, the selections are clearly printed on the side of his Ice cream truck and I guess the new additions were plastered like paper plates stuck on with a tape.
The Ginger Caramel Ice Cream Sundae that I order was AMAZING! The subtle hints of ginger harmoniously blends with the sweet caramel and the creamy delicious vanilla ice cream, I also love the crushed cones topping that gives this sundae a wonderful crunch and texture! Yum!
Since this is the first time we tried Van Leeuwen’s Ice creams, sharing and tasting is a must! (no hogs allowed lol) My sister’s Vegan Pistachio & chocolate Sundae was wonderful! Creamy and spot on pistachio flavor with crushed walnuts for texture! My friend’s New Yorker Sundae was like espresso frozen in a bowl! I love it especially the coffee nibs that gives this sundae a wonderful coffee bite and crunch! The Curried Caramel Nut has a delightful taste with prominent touch of heat coming from the curried peanuts! Sweet, Cold & Hot– weird combo but it works! Yum!
Overall, we were very satisfied with this after lunch treat! The selections are fantastic! and as an Ice cream lover, his sweet treats was surely approved by my taste buds with flying colors!
Thumbs up for Leeuwen’s!!!
Catch him if you can!

My sister, an ex-​New Yorker and lover of all frozen desserts, mentioned to me Van Leewen Artisan Ice Cream months before they actually were here. Talk about ice cream fanatics! I’ve been ignoring this ice cream truck every since they’ve come out West from the East Coast afraid I might like it and get addicted to it.
We were in the Arts District looking to get some earl grey pie at The Pie Hole only to encounter a line out the door from the Bloomfest Festival that was going on. Impatiently, we walked out and crossed the street only to run into Van Leeuwen.
My Unilocal sense were calling me out.
Looking at the menu, my senses smelled earl grey rishi black tea with bergamot citrus ice cream and ginger small kettle candied ginger. Talk about complicated flavors. There goes the days of chocolate, vanilla, strawberry. I got a single composed of both flavors. The earl grey ice cream was very good. It’s more than subtle, it has a strong earl grey and citrus flavor. The ginger ice cream was unique in sense that candied ginger were soft enough to chew and frozen with the ice cream. Great taste and very different.
You can tell the ingredients are fresh with a higher level of cream in their concoction. The ingredients are vibrant and fragrant. A bit pricey for $ 5.50 for a single especially coming out of an ice cream truck. $ 7.50 for a double. Most definitely NYC prices but great ice cream nonetheless. If I ever run into this truck on the freeway, I’m tailgating and forcing them to pull over to give me a scoop!