Magic Fountain — Restaurant in Town of Southold

This place is a Mattituck staple; a must-see for every friend that has ever visited me. Magic fountain boasts some of the most creative, homemade ice cream flavors on the North Fork. They are constantly churning out new creations that are no less than delicious. Yes, they also have one of the longest lines, but I assure you it is worth the wait.

The three star rating is specifically for their vegan ice cream flavors. For all my friends who have since become dairy free, developed intolerances, or choose to be vegan for another reason, this is for you.

About three years ago now, magic fountain started experimenting with vegan ice cream flavors (thank you for being inclusive). They started out with a “pomberry” flavor and I pray to God they never have it again; it was so awful and for the longest time it was their ONLY ONE (coming from a place that has maybe 50 different flavors of traditional ice cream). To this day I’m not really sure what the flavor is supposed to be, but it was bright pink and tasted similar to potpourri (to me), was not smooth, and had a somewhat icy consistency.

Fast forward to 2019 when I was taken out in a date to Magic Fountain (still vegan) and was slightly terrified at the thought of having to spoon down another kiddie sized cup of “pomberry” just for the sake of ordering something. THANK GOD they introduced THREE other flavors: a coffee flavor, a chocolate flavor, and some sort of banana flavor (I believe...). I was so thankful I ordered two (the coffee and the chocolate) and they were much, much better than the pomberry disaster (which I don’t even recall them offering at the time). Although the flavors were better, the consistency was about the same; I remember my date describing it as being “cold and sweet like ice cream but still not ice cream”.

Another year later (2020) I showed this place to a friend that was visiting. They were down to two vegan flavors; one mango and one coffee I believe. I tried the mango because it was new, and the consistency was much better, but again the flavor just wasn’t for me. Why can’t magic fountain just have two traditional flavors!? To me, if you’re only going to offer two options for vegan customers, you’re better off sticking to something like vanilla... vegan is already a niche offering and now on top of that you’re asking people to like either MANGO or COFFEE... what!?!? Seems like they skipped a step... maybe if they can get one really good vegan chocolate flavor going they’ll make better specialty flavors down the road, but until then I suggest working on your vegan ice cream BASE first. I’m sure that Magic Fountain did not grow into the mad successful flavor scientists they are now before perfecting their standard ice cream base so I’m not sure why vegan flavors would be any different.

If you’re looking for good vegan ice cream, “Flavors” vegan vanilla ice cream in Greenport is probably the best I’ve had so far. As my date would say, it’s still “not ice cream”, but it’s sweet, not as icy as some of Magic Fountain’s flavors, and tastes kind of like vanilla cake frosting (which in my opinion is a good thing).

UPDATE: oat and cookies flavor is so much of an improvement; happy to see even my “non-vegan” friends enjoying...

We took a ride out east along the North Fork, and stopped at the Magic Fountain Ice Cream Shoppe in Mattituck. On weekends it's jammed, but it's worth the drive. AND, they show EACH INGREDIENT that's in each flavor. Sue, who can't have dairy, had a Blood Orange sorbet that was incredible. I had 2 scoops..1 called Northforker, made with blueberries, lemon zest, and cheesecake! The 2nd scoop was called Kulfi, made with cardamom, pistachios, and rosewater. Just fantastic. I met the owner, Ali, and congratulated him. When I first came in and told them about Sue's issues with dairy, unlike every other ice cream Parlour (including one nearby who shall remain nameless), all I spoke with were concerned about cross contamination simply because the sorbet and vegan ice creams were in the same chill unit as others. They take great care. At the store and on the website they list every ingredient and check for dairy, nuts, gluten, etc. Plus the ice cream is just fantastic. Ask anyone on...

Positives: The staff was really friendly and chill even though they were quite busy. The ice cream was amazing and unique. Places to sit outside.

Negatives: Parking was a bit of a nightmare (we had to park in another business's lot). I ordered a waffle-cone (which was around $6) and they only gave two, small scoops, there was more cone than ice-cream. I have been to other, similar small-business ice-cream parlors whose ice-cream is also homemade and just as good and their waffle-cones are the same price (about $6) but they not only fill the cone but also give you quite large scoops. I feel the price was too much for the amount of ice-cream you get.

If you like quality, unique ice-cream then I definitely recommend this place and I'll probably be back but the small amount of ice-cream was a disappointment, especially...