Ice cream is a very popular dessert among many ages. This generally enjoyed sweet comes in a variety of flavors, with people creating many different flavors and ways to change the textures. Which are the best shops to satisfy your cravings in the Santa Clarita Valley though? Scroll staff writer, Lola Gagich, and I tried a few spots here and can confidently recommend the best!

If you would like to try organic, exotic, and affordable ice cream, Pops is the perfect option. This family business on 24480 Main St (POPS CREAMERY) has flavors ranging from almond avocado to simple vanilla bean. Vegan cookie dough and honey lavender stuck out the most to us while viewing the many, many flavors. To our surprise, the vegan cookie dough had no odd flavor or weird texture. It had an authentic cookie dough flavor and was generally very enjoyable. Personally, this was one of our favorites. The honey lavender was definitely shocking as well. Although it was delicious, it had a surprising floral and fragrant taste to it. The lavender was very strong and had the perfect hint of honey. These two flavors with very generous scoops of ice cream only came out to $5! Overall, the ice cream was extremely smooth, delicious, and we would consider it a 9/10. Expect your jaw to drop during your visit!

Of course we had to include Menchies in our list of establishments to review. This frozen yogurt is a classic option, you can never go wrong with their variety of flavors and toppings. Depending on your frozen yogurt and topping ratio, it could be very affordable, with each ounce being .51 cents. We got their special flavor, cheesecake, and they really matched the flavor. We wouldn’t recommend it if you aren’t a fan of sweets though. We had to get classic cake batter as well. It was good as always with the batter flavoring and perfect balance of sweetness. We got oreos, gummy bears, and popping boba on top and it was delicious! We only ended up spending about $6 and would definitely rate it a 9/10.

If you’re looking for a fun place with a nice ambience, you might enjoy Wafflecomb. Located at 26240 Bouquet Canyon Rd, it’s easy to make a quick trip and enjoy smooth ice cream with a unique waffle cone. While you would expect the waffle cone to be hard, it’s soft, like a real waffle and made fresh in the store. The homemade waffle cone does cause your ice cream to take a little longer to get to you, but it is fairly worth it. We found a couple issues besides the time the ice cream takes to be made. The taro ice cream leaves something to be desired as the flavor is more coconut than taro. The waffle cone, although it could’ve just been a bad batch, tastes a lot like eggs. Another arguable flaw is the price. While homemade waffle cones are obviously worth more than average ice cream, the price was a little much for two flavors. Vanilla and taro ice cream in a vanilla waffle cone was $9. On the positive side, the vanilla ice cream was really good. Vanilla is easy to make correctly, but it was exceptional. Both were very smooth and overall the experience was about a 6/10.  

We of course had to get fast food ice cream to compare and we ended up at Chick-fil-A. We got a vanilla ice cream cone and holding it to the same standards as the other tested ice creams, it was nothing special. It’s just as you would expect it to be. It had a good texture and since we got it as a side it was pretty affordable. We got fries as well and would definitely recommend using the ice cream as a dipping sauce. The cone was also nothing special, but it was nice. It was airy and somewhat refreshing after eating only ice cream. The service was good and the ice cream got to us fast. The experience was average, but it was nothing marveling. With that, we rate it a 7/10. 

Of course, Grace and I’s opinions and tastes can be different from yours! We would definitely recommend giving each of these places a try. Whether you’re a fan of new flavors, or familiar classics, there’s definitely a place for you not too far away.