On a mobile device? Try our mobile site, optimized for faster browsing.
Category: Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt [Edit]
Neighborhood: North EndHaymarket (Orange)
North Station (Orange, Green)
Aquarium (Blue)
The gelato is expensive but great.
But the customer service is horrible. Talking about the little anex one at the end of Hanover Street basically in the Citizens ATM.
Rude, inattentive come to mind.
And no take out pint containers. Gotta get a cup or walk to main store further down Hanover St. This new location is primo, so why not capitalize on it !? It's small but stocking togo pints and covers should be a no brainer and they'd be getting me to buy a larger portion to take home.
So great product, bad service and bad planning on how to capitalize on the new mini location leads me to drop 2 stars off the rating.
2 words: limoncello gelato.
1 word: AMAZING!
they have so many flavors, as kenny said, it's like the baskin robbins of gelato (well played kenny). i had the hardest time deciding upon which flavor to try, but ultimately the limoncello won out. excellent decision. on a 95 degree hot sticky nasty day, it was the most amazing flavored cooling thing i could have possibly eaten, and that includes berryline!
cash only.
People thought this was:
My gelato day has a work problem.
I usually trek over to the North End at least once a week for some cold, creamy deliciousness. Gelateria's flavors are some of the most authentic I've had this side of the Atlantic. Try the Bacio (chocolate-hazelnut), coconut, pistachio and their grapefruit flavors. At $5 per dish, it's a little pricey, but not bad if shared.
Think of Gelateria as an alternative to that daily mocha latte -- with an even better sugar rush.
Meh. I have definitely had better gelato. Even in the US. There were ice chunks in it. I went with around 10 people and we all had ice chunks. Not great.
Plus a small gelato is $4.95 which seems a tad expensive for sub-par product.
IMO this is the best Gelato you can get in Boston. I really like the Limon or the Stracciatella flavors. Pistache is nice too! It's a little pricey, but that's the North End for you. The service is also lacking, but who cares...get your gelato and go on your merry way.
People thought this was:
Um. Why aren't their prices posted anywhere? Oh that's right. Because they're ABSURD. I guess it was partially (PARtially) my fault for not asking, but I walked in here last night to get some gelato to go with a cake I made. I got a pint of vanilla, and my sister got a little cup of grapefruit. In what world does that mean it is FREAKIN $17?!?!?
In typical Italian "whaddyawant" attitude, the man behind the counter said "it's like getting one cup free in the pint. it's like 3 cups" to which I *wanted* to reply "um, at $12 for 3 cups you are most certainly NOT getting one for free. You're getting a bit of a discount on 3". But, I didn't want to be chased out so I paid my absurdly high price and left.
Anyways, it was pretty good gelato which is the only reason this tourist trap isn't 1-star. Save your money and head down to Cafe Vittoria and you can get a (booze) dessert drink and a cannoli and still have money for the T home.
People thought this was:
I LOVE gelatos!!! If I werent lactose intolerant I'd eat these everyday! I did a combo of coconut and hazelnut. I went nutty with it! Delicious! Kinda pricey but who cares! Gotta live a little! The portion size for the small was just right!
People thought this was:
I passed on dessert at Artu, and was in the mood for some gelato. It was drizzling outside, and the better sense in me told me to skip this indulgence and head out to the car before the drizzle turned into rain.
But once again, my sweet tooth over came my common sense. Mike's Pastry was too crowded, so cannoli was out. Something cool instead. Gelateria is located on a corner along Hanover St., and it servers +25 varieties of sorbettos and gelatos. Only one size, for $5.00
I had a cassata Siciliana and a stracciatella. The cassata has bits of candied fruit, while the stracciatella had bits of chocolate mixed in with vanilla ice cream. Pretty tasty, but the texture was not as dense as I expected.
I liked the variety of flavors, but overall, OK. Need to try others in the North End to compare.
People thought this was:
We've decided: they must be shipping this stuff in from Italy. This is the best Gelato place we've been to on the East Coast (incl. NY, MA and FL).
NOTE: We observed one of the waitresses caughing while serving gelato--a major turn-off.… Read more »
I refuse to be ashamed for liking the Gelateria, even with these angry Yelpers talking junk on it.
After spending quality time living in Italy, I was sad to come back to Boston because I thought all gelato would be a shell of its former self. Thankfully, there was the Gelateria. Yes, it's almost five bucks. BUT. You can choose three different flavors, which are packed in there with no room for air, so you know, you're getting your monies worth.
And the gelato is delicious. I have not encountered a flavor I dislike yet.
And those server ladies are not rude. Y'all are smoking crack if you think that's close to Boston-rude.
Also, you can tell the artificial and inferior kinds of gelato by looking at the color of the flavors and whether or not they are stored in metal or plastic serving containers. And everything looked very legit here.
Please don't hate this gelato until you try it, readers.
People thought this was:
My strawberry gelato tasted a little like watermelon and a little like mint.
Someone is not cleaning their utensils properly and for $5 a pop that is just not acceptable.
People thought this was:
I'm a little torn about what I want to rate this place, so hopefully after I write this review I'll have come up with something.
Of course, located in the North End, it IS a bit of a tourist trap because of its central location. They try to make it convenient by having three different places you can order your gelato, out front, inside, and at the back. They have a lot of flavors to choose from (Kenny is right, they are the Baskin Robbins of gelato). The girls that work there are NOT the nicest, not by a long shot. They will generally grumble when you ask what a certain flavor is (We all don't speak Italian you know...)
The prices are a little astronomical, however, being the North End, not surprising. It's almost $5.00 for one size. I HATE that there is only one size, I mean, it's not like this particular size is huge or anything, but it's still substantial. We spent almost $15.00 for 3 gelatos, yikes.
I think I'd rate this place a 2.5 but I'll round up because I did enjoy my amaretto and coconut gelato and my parents enjoyed theirs as well.
People thought this was:
I have to say - I am a fan. I come for the grapefruit and for the limoncello. I also try several other flavors so I can see what I am missing out on - one of these days, I'm getting a baccio and chocolate combo and then passing out by the Paul Revere house (only because they have benches there).
The "serveuse" are ruder than most places I've been to in beantown, but the gelato makes up for iffy service. I love my gelato!
People thought this was:
Boston in the summer becomes a magical place; the harsh resolve that gets Bostonians through the winter gives way to a good-natured appreciation of the 10 weeks of perfect weather. Don't expect a "Howdy" on Boylston Street, but if you live in the city you must take advantage of the season.
I hopped on my bicycle and took a leisurely pace down Memorial Drive right over the river, and crossed over Mass. Ave. onto Comm. Ave. I decided to head over to the North End for some ice cream; Boston consumes an infamous amount of ice cream in the summer and I had never tried the city's Italianized offerings.
I knew I was getting closer as I started to bike over the confetti remains of the Celtics victory parade, and crossed over the newly submerged Central Artery onto the tourist-infested Hanover Street. I shouldn't complain -- I came here of my own accord, but I soon realized why I don't frequent the area. I stopped at a trendy-looking spot called Gigi and picked out a few flavors.
Only one size is offered for $4.95 including up to three flavors; I tried "Bacio" ("kiss" in Italian) which is reminiscent of the Perugina chocolate of the same name. With it I included the old stalwarts of strawberry and pistachio.
The mistake was mine; I long ago learned to never trust an establishment whose pistachio ice cream is green. As I slurped down the first spoon of the Soylent, all I could taste was noxious chemicals. The strawberry tasted like frozen Nesquik strawberry powder. The Bacio was a mild consolation after the tablespoon of Red 40 I must have ingested; even its hazelnuts were coated in a slimy chocolate which I now realize must have been shoddy execution rather than artistic license.
Stay away! If the crusaders against food additives are right, your internal organs will thank you. Unfortunately, I can't recommend any alternatives in the immediate vicinity, but if I can muster up the will to try the frozen offerings at Mike's or Modern I will report back in these pages forthwith.
People thought this was:
The price was a bit high, and it's silly that you can only get one size. I think the product itself is pretty good but there is a concentration of gelato places in the area - it's worth scoping out other places unless your need for a gelato fix is so great that a huge tub of it for $5 seems reasonable to you. The inside is cute in a sort of cheesy 80s way, but there's no air-con so it's a bit uncomfortable inside.
That being said, I had 1/2 caramel 1/2 passionfruit and it was perfect! I also liked that when a grouchy tourist in head-to-toe Boston-related gear asked "What is this? What's "gelato?" Is it like ice cream?!?!?!?!" ...the woman behind the counter did not even try to hide her disdain. "It's Gelato. It's Italian ice cream......[long pause]...would you like to try a sample?" The horrid tourist woman looked at the flavors "pistacchio? Who would want that?!?!?!?!" and promptly left.
People thought this was:
Good consistency gelato. The boy and I stopped by after picking up some goodies from Mike's to get two scoops of gelato. You can get up to 3 flavors in the one size cup they have. They do have some flavors where you can't really determine by looking at them what it would taste like. We got a scoop of cassata siciliana, which was made up of chocolate, vanilla, and hazelnut, and a scoop of tiramisu. The cassata was delicious. Nice, nutty flavor, although the vanilla and chocolate aren't mixed. The tiramisu was okay. We ended up having a lot of the powder stuff in ours, which gave it more of a bitter taste. I think a cup of gelato was about $5, which I'm not sure is expensive or what, but compared to ice cream, it's definitely more.
People thought this was:
The gelato was tasty enough, but the two big problems I had were with the prices (really only one price) and the selection. $5 for the one size they serve is just a tactic for extracting the most money out of their customers. I understand that gelato is a fairly expensive dessert, however the woman who served me gave me a disgusted look when I asked for a small size. And as far as the selection, at least when I went, the gelato tubs were mostly empty, which can either be a clue that certain flavors are better and more popular than other, or the management really wants to scrape the last bits of product from each container. I would have asked if they had any more of a certain flavor, but I refrained from questioning the surly woman. Next time I'm in the North End, I'll spend another 5 minutes looking for a different gelateria.
People thought this was:
One size fits all gelato cup for $5. Decent flavor selection. OK quality. I'd re-visit if I happened to pass by it again, but I wouldn't make a purposeful trip here.
People thought this was:
After reading the other reviews, I suddenly feel quite self-conscious about my love of the Gelateria. I hadn't thought about the high price and I'd dismissed the fact that some of the flavors (tiramisu, I think) are not great. It's just that this is the first gelato place I've tried in Boston and the one I hold dear.
So now, although I will go back, I guess I owe it to myself to try a couple other places as well. But still, I enjoy this place and am craving it right now...
People thought this was:
Awesome place for gelato. A lot of choices and the ones I have had so far kick ass.
I recommend going here on your walk back from a meal in the North End or while walking on the Freedom Trail. Awesome, but very...very small, if you can grab a seat outside, sit and people watch while enjoying a cool treat.
People thought this was:
The first think I thought was, this place looks great! But, unfortunately, the gelato wasn't that great. It had ice crystals in it, and that is bad. Also, it was expensive at $5.00/cup, one size fits all. There are a lot of flavors for picky flavor people or adventurous types, and I suppose one could say I need to go there in the summer when the gelato is a'rocking, but c'mon, you're open! Quality over quantity, please.
People thought this was:
For a place that bluntly calls itself the Gelateria, I had high expectations that were never met.
It's whatever whatever.
So many flavors.
You will probably have a pretty hard time deciding which flavor to order. I decided to sample the mango gelato and it was too sweet for my taste. So I decided to go with the mixed berry gelato. It was so good!
People thought this was:
Just opened - - The place where you always went to get gelato in the North End is no longer the same place!
This is from the Boston Herald:
"Gelateria is the latest venture by Frank De Pasquale (Mare, Umbria, Bricco). It will serve 50 flavors, hand-crafted by Italian gelato-makers Giovanni Gagliotta and Nello Caccioppoli, both of whom recently moved to Boston. The decor is bright, breezy modern Italian, with a streetside counter to tempt Hanover Street passersby. The gelato selection will change seasonally; each cone or cup will cost $3.75.
Gelateria is now an entire shop dedicated to gelato. Amazingness. It is hard to decide what flavor to go with but for some reason I am always a fan of the fruity gelatos more than the ice cream type flavors.
People thought this was:
Good, but not impressive. Goes with my theory about Chicago-style pizza that the further away you are from place of origin, the less inspiring (and authentic) the food. Oh well... I'll still eat my way through plenty of double-scoops of tiramisu and mint chocolate gelatos!
I liked that this place had so many flavors to choose from, and we actually found a table for six on a Saturday night. Dug the color-changing wall behind the gelato counter, too.
People thought this was:
The 31 Baskin Robbins of gelato!
When I was walking along Hanover St. during my first few weeks in Boston, this place stood out as THE place that sell nothing but gelato in the North End! I stopped at their sidewalk counter and had a cup of their tiramisu gelato and it was not bad; I finished the whole thing before even walking back to the T. The cost was around $4, which I though was it a little expensive. I could have gotten the same amount at Christina's for a little over $2! I believe gelato at Mike's Pastry was $2 per scoop.
When I left, I found out that there were tons of other flavors in the actual store inside. Oh, well! There's always next time...unless other Yelpers want to try the other gelato places in the North End, wink, wink, nudge, nudge :)
People thought this was:
Lets get the record straight, this is decent ice cream, but by no means gelato. Just because you scoop the product out of a traditional gelato vessel with a spade, and charge me 5 dollars for a scoop, does not make it good or worth the price.
My first and last time here, my boyfriend and I tried the frutti di bosco (mixed berries), tiramisu, chocolate, and chocolate hazlenut flavors. The frutti di bosco was akin to Breyer's strawberry ice cream. It lacked flavor, and any discernible pieces of fruit were encapsulated with ice, yummy.
The tiramisu and chocolate hazlenut were mediocre, and also lacked the creamy, smooth, soft consistency that gelato should possess. In all fairness, the plain chocolate flavor was the closest in texture to real gelato and had a good, rich, chocolate flavor.
I noticed that 3 of the 4 flavors were in one freezer while the chocolate was in another. It is possible that they are not keeping the product at the proper temperature for gelato and it is becoming too similar to ice cream. The golden rule is that you may serve ice cream from a gelato freezer, but never the other way around. I believe that this is the problem at Gigi. The gelato is probably good when extruded from the machine fresh, but the freezer is too cold to keep it the proper consistency.
The flavors here can range from "OMG, I JUST HAD AN ORGASM" good to "Are we done yet?" not so good. However, they'll let you sample the various flavors so you don't make the mistake of ordering something you absolutely hate.
And size does matter. They charge you $5 for a small but when I saw the small, I was scared at what was the large. It was massive! So I can understand the price, though I wish they'd bring out a kiddy size or something.
If you go, I recommend the grapefruit, tangerine (or was it orange) and the hazelnut/chocolate/vanilla combor (forgot the fancy Italian name for it).
People thought this was:
having grown up in europe where "ice cream" equals gelati, i love coming in for a few balls. i do miss the super cheap options that exist in europe ( 75 cents per ball? if only i could find that here), but the quality of this gelato is great.
i will always be up for some :)
People thought this was:
:( Disappointing. Dragging Hanover street down, man! jk. Sort of.
Anyway, I had a small cup of stracciatella here for $3something (sort of more than I'd like to pay, but I guess that's kind of average for the city), and I don't know if the guy didn't clean off the scoop, or whether their flavor is kind of funky, but there was some sort of citrusy thing going on with my gelato. The first three spoonfuls were weird, then in the middle I was starting to like it a little, but then when I got to the bottom the weird fruit flavor was back. It was weird. Also not quite as silky smooth as I'd want it to be. Especially since I liked Mare, I thought this place would be better (run by the same guy, has the same modern-urbanish thang with the neon wall). Oh well. Normally I don't review a place until I've had a couple of experiences there, but I feel like their gelato on a whole just wasn't for me...
Gelato is an occasional treat for me, so when I see it in some place I've never been before, it better be good. The Gelateria pretty much fit the bill.
The Gelateria certainly offers a wide array of flavors, with one side of the case devoted to fruit flavors and one devoted to the creamier side of the spectrum. Being a tropical fruit kind of person, I went with watermelon and passion fruit, while my dad went with the chocolate chip. Other interesting flavors included a brightly colored limoncello, a tasty looking zuppa inglese, and a big vat of Satanic looking tiramisu. Works for me.
So how was it? The passion fruit was creamy and mildly flavored. It was good but it didn't possess the slap yo' momma intensity I've had from passion fruit flavor out in Hawaii (which is where it really belongs.) The watermelon was much more successful, bringing an intense and crisp flavor to the table - none of that washed out subtlety often encountered in watermelon freezes. My only complaint is that it was rather icy and thus chunked to a degree the passion fruit didn't, although that's probably because it had a higher water content. The chocolate chip was good enough and certainly full of hearty flecks of chocolate, although the vanilla undertones could have been stronger.
Overall, this is pretty good gelato that could use some more intense flavors (except for that watermelon.) But if you want something cool, tasty, and vaguely overpriced in the area, this is the ticket.
Another disappointment for me. I dont understand the hype. Bostonians need to come to the San Francisco to try Marco Polo gelato (sunset district) and Galateria Naia (in the north beach district).
I tossed my cup after a couple of spoonfuls. What a waste!
I'm not sure if it's Italian-run since everyone working there seems to be Russian. On the one hand, it's less authentic than some of the other spots on Hanover for gelato, but then again, there's a cafe in the Natick Mall that has gorgeous and ginormous, glistening globs of gelato in a glass freezer; not exactly Little Italy--but it's really the taste that counts. Gelateria seems to be the most consistent of the lot, so I've been getting my fix a couple times a week this summer. My go-to selection: large cup; 1/2 Peach, 1/2 Coconut. Delicious.
People thought this was:
it's true. its only one size, but it's abig one. Big enough to share and sometimes they are so busy in there i am not surprised they run out of gelato. I know they always have more in the back. I am a regular customer there! It's the only homemade authentic gelato in the north end. all their base product comes directly from Italy. Try the hazelnut!
I like this gelato but I think experience here is really up to your flavor choice. Some gelato is good but not necessarily last that good flavor. In my experience, the sweeter flavor, the easier to get bored that taste.
I like Lemon sorbet because usually I can easily eat all.
So they claim to fly in there gelato from napels each week, I can tell you it is one of the best gelato places in the states.
While I love the concept and think the place is adorable, it just wasn't the best gelato I've had around here. I had the tiramisu and it wasn't particularly creamy - like when you go to an ice cream shop that offers 50 flavors, the ice cream is never as good as the smaller shop that only has 10 that are all homemade and delicious.
People thought this was:
best gelato in boston, great espresso, and a true european atmosphere.
if you're in boston, you NEED to check this place out.
The sandwich shop across the street.. Panino Express (same owner).. is also fantastic, they use really really high quality olive oil...which definitely does the trick. The cold subs are really worth the trip.
I guess Saturday isn't the day to stop into a pastry shop and grab some quick treats in the North End. Gelateria ended up being our back up place; however, now I'm glad the pastries didn't work out! This gelato is awesome! They have tons and tons of flavors. I wanted to go out on a limb and try a crazy one, but went with the standard chocolate. Mygod was it good! Their small sizes are fairly big (considering some other ice cream places). Definitely stop in here after your North End adventure.
People thought this was:
$5 for a tiny cup of fragola (strawberry) that tasted like NOTHING. i hate waste and this was a waste.
Neighborhood: North End
Category: Restaurants
Neighborhood: Kendall Square/MIT
Category: Vegetarian
Neighborhood: Harvard Square
Category: Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt
Boston, MA
Category: Bakeries
Neighborhood: North End
Category: Bakeries
Sure to satisfy any major sweet tooth cravings!…
My local dry cleaner, watering hole, deli, cafe,…
Where to get good grub for under $7! Yes, that's…
In search for some froyo? A refreshing scoop of…
Ice cream and frozen yogurt (also some shave ice…
Loading...
