THE SPOT: I couldn’t help but feel that Gelatoville, a growing local chain, felt very chaotic and rushed. It also felt European but not Italian. I was thinking Greek, but upon research it turns out this is a Turkish owned business.
Also turns out the owner got into some legal trouble a few years ago for running an illegal short-term rental business.
After reading that, I remembered at how shocked I was at the prices of this gelato. Granted, ice cream and dairy products are more expensive than ever and the location we visited is prime real estate on Ninth Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen. But I still couldn’t get over that a small cup of gelato was $10!!!
Putting all that aside, this is gelato after all and the shop, which featured a long counter and a roomy seating area in the back for families, friends, and tourists, was hopping.
It didn’t feel quite as clean or sanitized as some of the newer shops in Lower Manhattan, but I can understand on a busy night and if the gelato was good, I can forgive (most) of the other issues.
FLAVOR: I asked a few questions about certain flavors, but instead of answering my questions, the staff was clearly trained to just offer a free sample. No wonder everything is so expensive. After two questions, I had to stop them since I didn’t want to overdo it with samples. I tried both the vegan pistachio and the Chocolate Hazelnut and both were way too sweet. T
MOUTHFEEL: The chocolate hazelnut also had this really rich fudge running throughout which seemed too much for me. It made the ice cream rather cloying and stopped it from being smooth throughout. Aside from that, the mouthfeel was creamy, but heavy and tended to linger for a bit afterwards.
It’s still pretty good gelato, but I just expect for that price tag this to be flawless mind-blowing gelato. And I’m afraid I can’t go quite that far.
| GELATOVILLE |
| 692 Ninth Avenue (between West 47th and West 48th Street), Hell’s Kitchen (201) 913-9393 |
| gelatoville.com |
