Emack & Bolio's Ice Cream — Restaurant in Chatham

IMHO, this is the best ice cream in Boston. It’s very high quality, it’s ice cream that you can bite into. It’s not gritty or over churned with lots of air. It’s dense. It doesn’t melt in five seconds. It’s something you can chew. I love that. I can’t give it 5 stars when shops like Molly Moons in Seattle or Big Dipper in Montana have far more inventive flavors. However, this is very good quality ice cream. I just wish they got more creative with flavors of base ice creams. That said, they also need to take plastic at all locations. The Cape Cod location has an ATM inside and I abhor that. Just install a POS machine and if you won’t pay the fees add it to the bill. You’re killing your employees tip money when you make people pay usurious fees for ATMs in your establishment. I am guessing the business gets a cut of the fees or why else make customers jump through such hoops? Nobody carries cash anymore. Get with the 2020s. That’s why I knocked down the atmosphere score. That said, the ice cream itself...

Great ice cream. It's hard ice cream but on the softer side. I had the vanilla bean speck which has a strong vanilla bean flavor and good creaminess. On ice cream alone I'd give it 5 stars since it's one of the best vanilla beans I've had. However, there are no samples (hard to know what to get without trying), you can't split scoops (must get the biggest 2 scoop size to try to kinds), there is no bathroom, and it's cash only. So lots of inconveniences but great ice cream. Worth a stop if you know what you want or are willing to take a chance given it will likely be good. Prices are also slightly higher than other homemade ice cream places on the Cape I've been to ($5.35 for a...

Go to the location in Orleans instead— the staff is much friendlier.

The owner/manager made a snarky comment about us wearing masks in the store (we are still in a pandemic and the CDC changed it’s guidelines because of an outbreak that happened on Cape Cod). He was extremely unfriendly and people who came in after us were served first. I wish we had just walked out. I have been coming to this location for years but after this experience I do not want to come back. The ice cream was just ok— the ice cream we got in Orleans a couple days later had more stuff in it and was just a better...