Almare Gelato Italiano — Restaurant in Berkeley

I don’t think I can express enough how much I love Almare. I’ve been almost 2000 miles away from them since COVID started, and I still talk about them at least once a week minimum. I’ve found nowhere else that makes rose gelato, and theirs is literally crack cocaine. I carve the 800ish calories in a pint out of my daily diet because once I get my hands on it I develop the primal urge to eat the entire thing every single time without fail. Probably in the top 5 best foods I’ve ever had, honestly probably in the top 3 I’m just being stingy. All of my boys have tried rose gelato, I leave no tastebud unturned; I’ve never had a reaction worse than “it’s good”, with the scale going all the way up to friends who were visiting from across the country who still regularly angst about nowhere else having rose gelato and being thousands of miles away from Berkeley. If it were feasible physically, I’d pay an embarrassing amount to send myself rose gelato. Almare’s also super cute and nice to patrons, the works, but even if they were the scummiest rudest most overpriced place in Berkeley they’d still keep my patronage on rose gelato alone. I’m an Almare simp to the point where it’s a default fact about me that people in my regular life know. You don’t even have to trust my word on this, just get like a scoop of it and you’ll get...

You will find this place just outside the BART station. Very convenient if you come from a long ride and want something cold and refreshing. The place is really small (take the ice cream and go eat it outside, there are only three or four tables if I'm not mistaken), but has what you've come for - gelato. A proper gelato. The staff is friendly and patient, even if you have a hard time deciding (and you will have a hard time deciding).

They have different tastes (I can't for the love of god remember how many they had last weekend, when I was there, but I'd say at least 16 different ones). They also have a sign outside of their establishment that will tell you the "specials" for the season. I'll have to come again to see how they change.

I ordered rose, vanilla and pistachio. All three were really good! You can have them in a cone or in a cup (better choice, if you don't want to get all "ice creamy"). The price is by the amount of scoops you'll have and it's pricey, yes (this is Berkeley, don't forget that), but then again, it is a very tasty gelato.

They also offer hot chocolate, coffee, tea and some other nuts and chocolate, if you're not into ice cream, but that's not the point.

Will come back for more,...

Almare is delicious and conveniently located! I go once a week at 8:30 pm and look forward to it each time! BUT— I am getting a bit tired of the two recurring things that have made me leave without getting anything multiple times. First, I am there well before closing and several times they have empty containers advertising flavors that have been scraped completely clean. I understand that sometimes flavors run out, but employees have said that they just do not want to thaw out the flavor. . . Second, they’ve gotten progressively stingier with the portions. The scoops get scraped down to be perfectly flush with the top of the cup (sometimes even pushed concave into the cup), and for the most recent price increase bringing a medium to $7, I’m starting to wonder if it is worth it.

Edit Thank you for your response Simone! Of course I will be back! I can’t miss my...