Black Dog Gelato — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

I went here on a Friday afternoon at about 4:30 with my kids. I Googled ice cream near me, and this was the closest location with good ratings. This gelato did not disappoint!

This location is right on a corner. Parking was pretty simple on a residential street. Walking up, I noticed a small patio area. Maybe 4 or 5 tables. They were all full. Walking into the shop, it smelled amazing! It is a small space inside. There are no tables for sitting...the flavors are definitely not your normal chocolate and vanilla. We decided on strawberry watermelon, Italian cookie, and malted vanilla pretzel.

The strawberry watermelon put me in the mind of a sherbet. It's very refreshing. The vanilla pretzel had a good balance. I enjoyed the surprise crunch of chocolate and pretzels. The vanilla ice cream reminds me of a New York vanilla. The winner of the 3 was the Italian cookie. It was so creamy and tasted like Cookie Butter. Very light flavor, not overly sweet. There were little cookie butter cookies in the ice cream. I liked this so much I went back for a pint!

The only complaint I had was the pricing. For 3 scoops my total was $18. I could see if the size justified the price buuuuut, the sizes are tiny compared to the price. The cookie butter was so good that I decided to grab a pint for my mom. The pint was $10. The mini scoop was $5. 2 of those DO NOT equal the size of the pint. Compared to the mini scoop, the pint is definitely the better option. I'd recommend getting a full pint instead of a scoop when you go. Also, they have that tip option on their credit card machine. I hate that. Especially when the worker is watching as you sign.

I'll be back before...

Walked into the little shop having heard a lot of hype about this place but honestly it was a little underwhelming. First of all it was a real trek getting here from the train, so I would definitely recommend looking into the bus or driving/ubering or something. After the walk probably exasperated the hype even more, I looked at a lot of the flavors and was excited because they sounded really good! When I tried them though they were a huge let down. The sorbets were kind of watery and melted with weird flavors that didn't quite work and the other fun flavors were a little too creamy or just okay. Ended up getting the almond olive oil which was good, but would definitely need a more tart flavor to balance it out, like the blackberry one which was also pretty good. There really weren't that many fun flavors and the service was also not too friendly. Although this would definitely do the trick on a hot summer day if you happen to be in the area, I would probably go to other gelato places like some in Wicker Park (which are also more accessible). Also important to note that this place...

I'm a pretty friendly person and I love being served by friendly people, good customer service, well this place isn't that. In fact this place had turned me off completely. I walked in, wasn't greeted by the girl with the dark brown hair and glasses but was given the "why the hell are you here" look. I said hello she said nothing. There was another guy already in there with boxes and he didn't look too friendly either. When I finally made selection she didn't say anything and just filled my over priced cup and slammed it down on the counter where some of it fell out. I paid and reluctantly gave her a dollar (since everyone works for money) And left. No have a nice day or good bye she just turned back to her phone. And what's worse is the gelato wasn't even worth it, it pretty much tasted like Turkey Hill Ice Cream from Marianos. Its a shame but the place is cute, lots of selections but just has Crappy service from a cashier who didn't...