Anita La Mamma del Gelato — Restaurant in New York

While I have walked by plenty of times, I have never noticed Anita Gelato. But when you enter, it is a completely different experience. There was a mini line forming, and we waited a couple of minutes.

Upon entering, I noticed the teal wall color with accents of gold, brightly lit with beautifully displayed gelatos, and clubby music. How I could not have noticed a place with such a distinct presence, especially using Penn Station very often, I would never know. The seating is across the gelato station with wooden chairs and marble print tables that had a pleasant contrast to the vibrant energy of the serving station. While it was surprisingly bigger than I had thought, I also thought it would be nice to sit outside in public seating on a breezy day as well, since the music did become a bit much later.

There were a lot of selections, almost too many. It was a bit hard to navigate because we wanted to see all the flavors, but could not because there were people in front of us. I do not know if there is anything that can be improved so that customers can see all the flavors without feeling rushed, like a menu name list you can look at in line or something. We tried some samples, and chose a large size to try four flavors, which were the pistachio, lemon pie, hazelnut and chocolate, and strawberry with mascarpone.

I am not a huge gelato fan, and while nothing truly stood out to me, I did like the strawberry with mascarpone and lemon pie. The pistachio got lost and I could barely taste it amongst the three other flavors, and the hazelnut and chocolate was too sweet for my preference. Regardless, they were fine; it might be a me thing since I am not particularly into gelato.

The service on the other hand, was great! The one scooping my gelato was chill, and helped me try flavors without a second of annoyance. He even suggested the flavors when I asked, which was nice of him.

There was no public bathroom, which was annoying, but I understand since it would probably be hard to maintain, especially with people possibly coming in without buying anything.

While I would not come back because I do not personally like gelato, if a friend wants to go, I would be down, and would recommend it...

I ordered a large gelato with 4 flavors from this location today at around 9 pm. I was deceived by the long line assuming that this place was popular for a reason. I was very wrong. Two of the flavors from the 4 I selected were incorrect and disproportionate as there was a very large amount of one flavor over the other. I specifically sampled the flavors before choosing so that I could get the ones that I wanted. However, when I realized that two of the flavors were not the ones I had asked for and informed the server about it, he refused to change the flavor for me. He kept arguing with me and saying that I am wrong and that I had asked for dark chocolate instead of nougat. As a customer who knows what they ordered, how is the server going to tell me what I ordered when I know exactly what I said. That is just crazy. Also, was given cake batter flavor instead of pistachio which tasted nothing like pistachio. He also argued that we had sampled pistachio and that is what he gave. It is impossible that they were even the same considering I was the one sampling it not him. Extremely bad service and very rude servers who will give you attitude over their own mistakes. Also the price is very overpriced and not worth it. A "large" cup of gelato was almost $13 which is insane especially when I had to throw out two of the incorrect flavors. Will never return to this place and was very disappointed. To make matters worse i found pieces of plastic in the gelato as well. I have attached pictures of the piece, which i bit and almost broke my...

We were on our way to Times Square on 7th Avenue, and near Madison Square, we saw this gelato shop. Looks fascinating, and there was a line as well (what’s with the line these days..? every shop suddenly becomes famous or what ?)

Anyway, it was a 10-15 minute line outside the shop. We entered and one can see the beautiful décor of this joint. After waiting patiently in line, when it is your turn, you have a dedicated person helping you. And you can taste as many flavors as you want.

Anita Gelato offers a selection of more than 150 different kinds of 100% homemade gelato, sorbet, yogurt, and toppings. We ordered Cheesecake biscuits and pistachio flavor.

Though I can’t say it feels like Italian gelato it was good (better than sugary ice creams). You can order a small, medium, or large in a cup or a cone. A small comes with two flavors and a large with four, but when you see the small, it is not small. The portion sizes are very generous.

Being a fan of history, I asked and learned that it is a proper gelateria, but it is not Italian. It originates from Israel, by Anita in 1998. What started as an activity to make at home with her son Nir has grown worldwide.

After their gelato became popular among neighbors, they sold from a cart on weekends and then opened their first shop in Tel Aviv in 2002. Today there are four stores in Israel, as well as in Australia, Spain, Puerto Rico, and Cyprus, and now in the USA as well.

Try it, I know you...