The best water ice and gelati in Philadelphia and the suburbs

Cherry’s is a gelati wonderland, but it didn’t start that way. When Carol Mohollen converted her balloon business on Haddonfield Road, near Cherry Hill High School West, into a takeout window in 1995, the aptly-named Cherry’s was known for homemade water ice and frozen yogurt. Now 31 years later, Cherry’s has moved into a plaza behind the Cherry Hill Mall, where it pushes the boundaries of just how many ways you can combine soft serve and water ice. Cherry’s 2.0 has three soft serve machines running at all times to spin nine flavors that include toasted coconut, strawberry, and pistachio. The latter pairs excellently with the establishment’s cold brew water ice to create a Dubai chocolate dupe. Also on offer: 48-ounce pails of gelati that customers are known to take down the Shore, and tortes that sandwich a sheet of water ice between two layers of ice cream. Each torte — which come in 8” and 10” varieties — is also frosted to hold candles and decorations. “You can serve them like a traditional birthday cake,” said Donna Clark, one of the managers at Cherry’s and Mohollen’s eldest daughter. Traditionalists need not worry: Cherry’s has 18 flavors of water ice that staffers manually pump with air twice a day to keep the texture consistently just-creamy-enough.

Christopher D’Emilio keeps it old school at his year-round shop on East Passyunk Avenue, where he adapts his grandma Betty’s lemon and strawberry sorbetto recipes to create denser, more intensively-flavorful water ices. D’Emilio keeps a tight menu of mostly fruit varieties — think black cherry, blood orange, and grapefruit — but the real star is his Shirley Temple water ice. The flavor combines cans of Canada Dry ginger ale, Dell’s Maraschino Cherries, and both the zest and juice of lemons and limes. It tastes uncannily similar to a crisp Shirley Temple from a banquet open bar, only with the electricity of a Baja Blast. Cream ice devotees will be delighted to know that D’Emilio also serves a take on spumoni — the tri-colored Italian semifreddo popularized in ice cream form by the Brooklyn neighborhood joint L&B — that uses a coconut cream base and is heavy on the cherry vanilla. Be warned, though: D’Emilio is a one-man show, which can lead to long lines and variable opening times.

Fred Cooper got into the water ice busy early, selling scoops and hot dogs from a pushcart in front of John Bartram High School before going all in on the original Fred’s location on Chester Ave., in 1988. Now, Cooper’s shop has four locations across Kingsessing, West Oak Lane, Frankford, and Folsom. The stores are known for their catch-all boardwalk-style menus, where savory items like mozzarella sticks and hot dogs share space with deep fried oreos, funnel cake, and gelati. Fred’s water ice roster is 20+ flavors deep depending on the time of the season, and encourages mixing — think tangerine and sour apple, piña colada and rum, or Swedish Fish and watermelon, which hovers just below being too sweet to finish. I recommend visiting the first Fred’s location for a true taste of West Philly summer. Open until midnight Tuesday through Sunday, you’ll see families and couples congregating at picnic tables over late night treats until close.

Yes, this Christian Street institution has gone new school in recent years between accepting Venmo and selling not-at-all-gimmicky freeze-dried versions of its signature water ices. And yet, John’s still remains perfect as it ever was, its small cherry Dixie cup the platonic water ice ideal: smooth, sweet, and just red enough to stain your lips. John’s core menu of lemon, chocolate, cherry, or pineapple water ices never changes, though seasonal flavors cycle through on a weekly basis, like bright honeydew melon and tangy lime and grapefruit Paloma. Third-generation owner Anthony Cardullo still uses the same basic recipe — fruit, water, and sugar — as his grandfather John Cardullo did when he opened John’s in 1945, even as the store has expanded to include locations in Huntingdon Valley, Ocean City, and Wildwood, N.J.

This cash-only water ice stand operates underneath a rowhome on the border of Philadelphia and Millbourne, where lines are known to wrap around the block during peak after-school hours. The hack, according to one Morrone’s regular, is to spend $10.00 on a quart of rainbow ice to keep in the freezer for a rainy day. Say the magic words and an employee will scoop a little bit of Morrone’s 16 flavors into a cup, stacking mango atop blueberry atop sour apple atop passionfruit (and on!) in tight layers to create a concoction with delightfully punchy and tropical flavor in every spoonful.

Filippo “Pop” Italiano (yes, that’s his real name) opened up shop in 1932 in his South Philly garage after serving water ice from a pushcart in Marconi Plaza during the Great Depression. Now, his grandchildren are keeping the fruit juice-flavored water ice tradition alive with a location on Oregon Ave. and another in Havertown. There are no surprises at Pop’s — the most adventurous water ice flavor is root beer — which is part of the magic. Regulars tend to come with their $3.00 cash for a small cup already in hand, so the line moves fast. Plus, those looking for a more adult experience can head to Popi’s Italian Ristorante in Packer Park for pineapple, strawberry, or lemon Pop’s water ice martinis.

Joe Straineri, 73, pulls double duty daily inside his turquoise-colored Roxborough storefront, cooking up no-frills breakfast sandwiches by day and scooping buckets of all-natural water ice in the afternoon. Straineri bought Rose’s from a friend in 1993 and has committed himself to creating the perfect creamy, never-quite-frozen water ice ever since. Straineri has 56 flavors in his arsenal, though Rose’s is only able to cycle through 10 at a time. “I can make you water ice out of anything,” he bragged to The Inquirer. Straineri is proudest of his once-in-a-blue-moon fruit cocktail version — which combines chunks of six different fruits he chooses at a whim — and his line of “super flavors” that intensify standard pineapple, strawberry, and peach flavors with real fruit pieces. Customers are known to walk up to the window for a bacon-egg-in cheese in the morning and a gelati in the evening, making Rose’s perhaps the only place on this list suitable for a full day of eating.

Siddiq Moore started his water ice business while a student at Temple University in the 1990s, but it took more than two decades for him to turn his fleet of trucks to a Cobbs Creek brick-and-mortar that anchors the neighborhood. Moore’s water ice places an emphasis on real fruit to create vivid flavors like punchy mango-berry and cantaloupe, which tastes like sipping juice straight from the melon the more it melts. Siddiq’s also has a near equal following for loaded funnel cakes that come piled with whipped cream, flecks of cereal, or rainbow jimmies. “We stimulate the feel good in people,” Moore told the Inquirer in 2021, likely describing a sugar rush.

Owned by Manayunk Pizza operators Nikos Antonogiannis and his cousin Chris Rose, South Philly Ice is the newest establishment in the gelati hall of fame, having just opened around the corner from Pat’s & Geno’s in 2024. Make no mistake, South Philly Ice is a spectacle. The gelatis are large — the smallest is a whopping 12 oz. — and customers can have their soft serve swirled onto pretzel, chocolate chip cookie, or M&M-flavored cones. But the store also sells an excellent black cherry ice with flecks of real fruit and a churro variety that tastes like the milk at the bottom of a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. An added bonus: South Philly Ice excels at delivery, with its own side-window dedicated to DoorDash and Uber Eats drivers. The trick, Antonogiannis told the Inquirer, is to keep the freezer extremely cold, so by the time the dessert arrives at your doorstep, it’s the right consistency for digging straight in.

This water ice storefront and wholesaler in Germantown is beloved by neighbors for its menu of more than 20 water ice flavors, though owner Tom Green will tell you that regulars know the real move is to pair a cup of water ice with one of Tranzilli’s pepperoni pizza pretzels, made hot to order. Be prepared for long lines but a high payoff. Tranzilli’s still uses co-founders Nobile and Olimpia Tranzilli’s original water ice recipe, which was made to melt slowly in the heat for the storefront’s first clientele of nearby factory workers looking to make the most of their lunch break.

Three words: water ice cakes. That’s what this longstanding South Jersey establishment has been known for since second-generation owner Victor Morella’s grandfather Ralph Skidmore opened up shop on Evesham Road in 1987. The factory’s water ice creations have Cake Boss level whimsy, with three-tier, five-tier, and seven-tier varieties on offer. Morella won’t get into the specifics much (“My grandfather told me not to tell anyone our recipe!”), but the key is patience. Each layer freezes for several hours before Morello covers them in uniform scoops that can be arranged to look like anything from the craggly blue North Mountain for a Frozen-themed birthday party to the American flag for a July 4th cookout. Still, you don’t need a special occasion to try the factory’s 38 water ice flavors. Among their most eclectic: ultra crisp cherry Coke and slushy margarita, which Morello recommends buying by the half-gallon to spike with tequila for a Cinco De Mayo mix. “Some people bring in a little shot and say, ‘This is for later,’” Morello said. “We just laugh about it.”