10Below has become an NYC stable in the ice cream game, which is not an easy thing to do by any means.
In a city that has a different ice cream vendor on nearly every corner, to become a go-to you really have to differentiate yourself beyond just being yummy. 10Below has managed to do that in the unique way they create your ice cream in front of you. Liquid ice cream is rolled onto a cold plate, which freezes and then is rolled using a bench scraper into the sheets you see below. Pretty cool right?! You get to choose unlimited toppings and watch the whole process/Snapchat and video to show off to all of your friends of course (we all do it, it’s okay).
If I were to give this a rating, maximum 3/5 stars. I give this to my picture here as well since it won’t upload right side up!
This is very different from the Yelp rating you might see which hovers around a solid 4.5/5 stars. The reason being, I’ve had ice cream in almost every hyped up to unknown ice cream spot in the city. The actual taste of this one just does not make the cut. Now the experience is a different story. There was a point in time where people waited in line for up to THREE hours at the Chinatown location for their own 10Below experience. Not only is the rolling of the ice cream creative and fun to watch, there is loud music and the locale is hip but appropriate for all ages. At the end of the day though, we are here for one thing and that is delicious ice cream.
Our three orders were the Cookie Monster, S’mores Galore, and Matcha Made in Heaven.
The Cookie Monster received an extra helping of Oreo’s and Teddy Grahams and a marshmallow. S’mores Galore we added strawberry, coconut, chocolate and a marshmallow to as well (not very traditional but why not). These two were by far the most disappointing. The flavor of the ice cream itself did not come out, meaning you could not get a hint of cookies or s’mores. Since the method they use to make the ice cream is raw there are no preservatives added, a great thing! However, I’m wondering if this is what compromised the taste, which for these flavors was practically the same and lacked any resemblance to what they claimed to be.
The Matcha is a green tea ice cream which we topped with blueberries, strawberries and an Oreo. This ice cream itself is the truest to the flavor. You can taste the green tea immediately and if you are a fan, you will like it. With a bit of a health kick and a real freshness to it, this one was the best of the three we tried- difficult for me to say considering my disliking of green tea and cookies being one of my top 3 favorite things to eat.
At $7 a cup, for $21 worth of ice cream, I recommend taking your money to Ample Hills or Morgenstern’s down the street. I hate to plug another location but these are ice cream places that have you coming back over and over (and over and over) again.
