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Category: Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt [Edit]
3437 W University AveMon. 3:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Tue-Thu. 12:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Fri-Sat. 12:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.
Sun. 12:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
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Probably the best ice cream that Gainesville has to offer... though the Dairy Store at MSU is proving to be a tough competitor.
With flavors such as Blueberry Pie, Guava and Cheese, Mojito, and Watermelon and Basil, you cannot go wrong. They have unique flavor combinations for all sorts of palates. I have personally tried the 4 flavors described above. My favorite being a tie between the Blueberry Pie and the Guava & Cheese. The Blueberry Pie is a berry explosion in your mouth with delicious bits of pie crumb. The Guava and Cheese has guava flavored jelly with cream cheese. It's basically like your typical Cuban guava and cheese turnover except without the turnover. Gotta love it!
This is a average sized ice cream store and is very family friendly. They have booths as well as outside seating. The writing style of the ice creams on the black board is just as funky as the flavors they make. All flavors are made with local ingredients which is awesome! I fully take pleasure in supporting the local scene, especially when it comes to food.
Sweet Dreams also has sorbet options for those who are lactose intolerant or vegan. The Mojito and Watermelon & Basil sorbets are refreshing options to eat on a hot summer day in Gainesville.
Do not leave the Gainesville area without having some ice cream from Sweet Dreams. As a former Haagen Daz employee, Sweet Dreams is by far the greatest ice cream there is in the state of Florida.
I have been all over the damn place, and I haven't found anywhere that compares to Sweet Dreams. Not in San Francisco or LA, not in Tokyo (though I did have a rockin' sweet potato sundae at Jonathans in Shibuya...), and not anywhere in Brazil. Nowhere else in Florida, for sure.
Sweet Dreams is one in a million.
Who else innovates like this? Outside of haute cuisine restaurants like El Bulli, where else can you find someone pushing the envelope so hard?
I remember with almost painful detail how good their Crazy Flavors night was. I'm a huge dork so I took notes. Sweet Rice, Lavender Blueberry Honey, Sangria...they knocked my socks off. There were misfires, sure, but it was all in the name of the culinary adventure. Sweet Dreams is on a quest, and you've got to be intrepid to tag along.
I can't recommend Sweet Dreams enough, if you care about exploring what your taste buds can do. I'm visiting Gainesville for the first time after four years, and this place is at the absolute top of my list.
I'm a Haagen-Dazs girl (rawr, corporate), but their toasted coconut is almost enough to convert me.
This has quickly become my favorite place to get dessert in town. With a wide selection of amazing ice cream, it's really hard to go wrong. During most evenings, the place is bumping with couples, families, visitors and just a great mix of people coming in for some creamy goodness.
One of my favorite things about the place is that, except for standards like chocolate and vanilla, you're going to find a different mix of flavors every time you walk in the door (and they won't scream a disingenuous hello like at Coldstone.) I've had cinnamon honey, salty Mexican caramel, chocolate strawberry field, blueberry cheesecake, and about a dozen other flavors that are wonderfully creative and deliicous.
They are happy to let you try anything and prices are more than reasonable (especially a pint...level some off there, take the rest home and chow down on the couch tomorrow.)
If there is any downside it's that the place is sort of messy. Typically the seating area is well-maintained, but a look behind the counter yields piled up dishes, overly ripe bananas, and clutter. However, the good karma and great ice cream more than make up for a few dirty scoops.
This is a place we drag most out-of-town friends to and whole-heartedly recommend.
I was expecting many more interesting flavors than they actually had. I tasted a few of the traditional flavors, like the min chocolate chip and it was really bland. The Lavendar Flavor tasted like shampoo; it would have been nice if they mixed with a tea. However, their Sweet Rice flavor is amazing. I do not recommend their sorbet flavors, also because they are really bland and too sweet, like the Lychee Coconut flavor I had.
Flavors I recommend they try to make are:
-Tea Flavors mixed with fruits or jasmine, or just a nice strong green tea flavor (I have made this at home and it worked quite well, just steep the tea in the warm milk before tempering the eggs)
-Indian inspired flavors like Kheer, Mango Lassi, and Chai
-Asian flavors like Halo-Halo, Che Ba Mau, Sour Yogurt, and Five Spice
-Spanish flavors like Caramel Maduro or Horchata
-Sorbet flavors like Sour Grapefruit or Ripe Mango with Coconut Milk
The list would go on and on, but you get the picture.
Did something happen or is it just me? I could swear that their ice cream now has less overrun. I stopped by the other evening and found that, in addition to a more dense product than I remember, there seems to be more flavor in the flavors! Perhaps they are using better ingredients? Maybe new recipes? Maybe it's me?
Whatever the reasons I'm happy it's still moving upward.
Don't stop Sweet Dreams!
They have nailed chocolate! Other flavors are hit and miss. Sorbets are a bit too "icy" for my… Read more »
By far the best ice cream shop in Gainesville. Flavors are unique, always interesting, and often changing--even a bit edgy sometimes, but always delicious. In addition to being meticulous ice cream creation professionals, the owners are locally minded and friendly.
This place is so freakin' good. Turkish Delight (honey, pomegranate, fig, pistachios)? Spicy Mayan Chocolate? Salty Caramel? Guiness Stout? Thai Sticky Rice? And those are just the flavors I can remember. They have the classics too, but why come here and settle for strawberry? There's a Publix right across the street if you want to play it safe.
I haven't been able to visit the stonefront, but I was able to taste some of Sweet Dreams' ice cream… Read more »
This is truly excellent ice cream. While they have sorbets and various other frozen treats (all homemade here), the pure, true ice cream is the star. Every flavor I have tried is marvelous, creamy, natural tasting, subtle, never overwhelming, lucious.
And before or after you visit Sweet Dreams, stop by Goerings and buy a book. For crynig out loud, two good things so close together -- why not support both of these local businesses? I only say that because I love good bookstores, and we have very, very few of them. Just like great homemade ice cream, a great home-town bookstore is well worth having.
trying other places around town, sweet dreams just doesnt appeal to me
Sweet Dreams is alright, they have pretty decent ice cream. Their prices are pretty fair, maybe a… Read more »
Food-Its okay
Service-Great friendly service
Atmosphere-Like walking into a hospital with ice cream. I think they were going for the whole ice cream shop look but fell short on budget.
Price-Awesome
Overall the ice cream was just not great. The staff seemed great. Had a chocolate ice cream and it was okay. You can really tell the difference between a chocolate gelato and chocolate ice cream. The sorbets are watery and hard.
Besides the ice cream, the draw of Sweet Dreams is seeing all the miserable parents who bring their screaming kids. Should have left Gainesville when you had the chance.
Not only is Sweet Dreams the best ice cream in town, but the owners are community conscious and shop local. Don't just take my word for it, read the full article in the Sun (http://gainesville.com...), then go out and treat yourself.
World's best ice cream. Well worth throwing your diet away. I especially like the exotic flavors--honey lavender, cardamon, rice.
Homemade Ice Cream! The flavor list changes with the owner's mood, but when they have them, try these favorites: Guinness (it does taste like beer, but in a *good* way), Mayan Chocolate (spicy!), Blueberry Pancakes & Ginger Snap. YUM!
Incredible stuff. just got back from their twice-yearly Chocolate Night - THIRTY TWO different flavors of chocolate!! outrageously good homemade ice cream that constantly change and are some of the most inventive I've ever seen. If this place were a gelateria in Italy, they would be in every guide book as the best in the nation.
Kinda disappointed. Great reviews from everyone but the ice cream was just okay. We have a good gelato place in Jacksonville called Funaris and they had similar stuff, but Funaris was amazing and this place not so great. Their sorbets were icy and tasteless. Their ice cream......okay. I think I am going to stick with Coldstone....at least I get what I want.
For years I complained that Gainesville didn't have a real ice cream shop. I mean Ben and Jerry's is *okay* but they use tons of fillers and other junk that just shouldn't be in ice cream, as much as they like to remember their hippy roots they've been sold to another faceless corporation and their quality has gone down as a result. Sweet Dreams is almost two years old and it's incredibly successful and it warms my heart because not only do they make delicious ice cream, sorbets and cream ices they are great people. Go sometime during a weekday afternoon, sit down and talk with Mike and he'll talk about all the flavors that he wants to try to make and in turn you can give him ideas of things that you might find good-you never know he may actually use your idea. What sucks for me is that I went to their first chocolate night (the first person in line) and since then I've been out of town for every single one. I don't know how I do it. Support local businesses especially ones that are so much better than the corporate ice cream (Cold Stone sucks). Damn, it's 2AM and now I'm craving some Sweet Dreams. I wonder if I still have some Kulfi in the freezer?
Far and away the best ice cream in Gainesville. Mike and Lisa seem to whip up some great out of left field flavor every week. The service is consistently great. These people love ice cream.
Gainesville, FL
Category: Desserts
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Gainesville, FL
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