Happy Ice Cream — Restaurant in Washington

Wonderful little ice cream cart presented by the team at Gemini. Located in the heart of Dupont Circle, this mini ice cream shop may not be able to bring you long-term happiness, but it's sure to at least give you a temporary serotonin boost. They usually offer only three or four flavors, which include their classic labne and olive oil ice creams and then one or two seasonal options. It's, admittedly, quite pricey; one scoop is $6, but the ice cream is phenomenal. Plus, you can get a second scoop for just $2 more, which feels like quite a steal in comparison.

I stopped by Happy Ice Cream with a friend on a blazing hot July day. We were barely surviving DC's swamp weather, so we paused by this lovely dessert cart to split a double scoop of their labne ice cream and seasonal nectarine sorbet. There was a pretty long line, which is mostly because the staff was super friendly and let everyone sample the flavors before settling in their final choice, so both the sample and the final product were entirely worth the wait. The labne ice cream was rich and slightly tangy, and I loved that it wasn't overly sweet. The rich, creamy flavor also paired beautifully with the nectarine sorbet, which was tangy, slightly sour, and packed with flavors of this summer fruit. There wasn't any space to sit, so my friend and I enjoyed our ice cream as we walked...

One of Washington, D.C.'s best ice cream shops is a cart in Dupont Circle along popular 17th Street N.W. Check Happy Ice Cream's Instagram Story Tuesday-Saturday for their daily flavors and get there a few minutes before they open to snag a scoop. My five-year-old daughter and I went on a Tuesday right at 4:30 p.m. Here's our experience:

1. Ice Cream: They usually have four different flavors each day they are open. When we went, they had Popcorn, Olive Oil, Buttermilk and Lemon, and Uber Banana. My daughter got a scoop of the Popcorn with coffee caramel and corn cake mixed in. My Olive Oil ice cream came with cocoa crumble. Wow. Both were really good and we both devoured our scoops, complete with fresh waffle cones.

They sell pints of certain flavors inside Happy Gyro, the restaurant the cart is in front of and connected to.

2. Price: It's very pricey, even for D.C. A small (and it's small compared to Ice Cream Jubilee and Jeni's) scoop is $6 and a large is $8. Over a dollar extra for a small waffle cone.

3. Service: It's friendly. The man behind the cart was very kind and asked us about our days/summers while he scooped our order.

4. Neighborhood: It's along Dupont Circle's 17th Street NW with street parking, Stead Park, murals, bars, and restaurants nearby. Rainbows decorate...

Happy Ice Cream is life-changing. You think you know what good ice cream is until you try theirs, and then they blow your mind with crazy different flavor combos. We’ve been enjoying their ice cream for a long time so we actually hired them to come and serve ice cream at our wedding! From the get-go Anne was super excited about the event. She sent us a link of flavors one month out from the event and we picked a list of flavors we thought sounded good. Then we got to go and try all the flavors out and narrow it down to four flavors. We even got to customize the A-frame signage! They were communicative throughout the process and were the easiest part of our wedding to plan. The day of the event, none of our guests knew that an ice cream cart was coming but everyone was truly delighted when Happy Ice Cream showed up. The ice cream was, needless to say, an absolute hit and our friends and family are still talking about how delicious the ice cream was. Thank you Anne, Ben and the Happy Ice Cream team for bringing so much joy and flavor to our special day. It was a pleasure working with you all. We 1000% recommend hiring Happy Ice Cream...