Emack and Bolio’s

Skip the cone (flavorless), the toppings (typical), and go straight for the mud pie ice cream (coffee + chocolate + oreo).
It’s good, light, satisfying, and only sets you back 170 calories for a half cup. Since you’re in a shop with the «Stoned Cold Dreamery» option of inventing the most obscene sundae you can think of, be strong. Just get the mud pie. You actually won’t regret it.

Terrible!
I can get a quart of Brigham’s and is much better than the ice cream here. They use to have a very good reputation but that stuff is not good. Not creamy, doesn’t taste rich like a premium ice cream should.

I am totally feeling Jason M.‘s review of this place. Our niece and nephews wanted ice cream (yay — ice cream) and we knew that from the Boston Common that this place was probably the best bet.
This place was an extremely average ice cream shop. My low fat miky way wasn’t as good as a Skinny Cow cup can serve me and the milk shakes were fine. No one raved, no one really even commented on the ice cream. We all just sortof ate it and got it over with. Extremely forgettable.
Now if I only had some cake batter…

Not as good as they claim. And for the prices they go at? JEEBUS.

I agree with the others that the service is pretty sub-​par especially compared to the great staff at the Newbury St location, but the ice cream is passable. Not much better than store bought ice cream. Skip the frozen yogurt if you can, I ordered the Oreo hard yogurt as I had a craving and it had an off-​tasting sweetness…

I bought an ice cream cake and asked for happy birthday to be written on it. Staff grabbed a green marker and asked, «where did you want me to write it?» We clarified that we wanted him to use icing to write on top of the cake, not on the cake container itself. He said, nope, we don’t have icing available to use?!?
To top it off, he tried to fit a plastic cake container within a cake box. It clearly did not fit and his actions made me very, very confused…

My co-​workers adore this place.
I don’t… so I lie about it.
I’ve walked in a number of times and am constantly turned off by the staff. They’re neither nice nor helpful. I typically walk in and walk right by out. Why do I keep coming back? Because I’m a glutton for punishment.
Every time we go I make up this lie about how I am overwhelmed by all of the flavors, toppings and waffle cone options. The truth? I’m bored by them. Nothing sounds or looks good.
And seriously… they have a chocolate waffle cone with gummi bears trapped in the chocolate. The poor gummi bears look so helpless and pathetic trapped in the chocolate, like they’re screaming for release.
The one time I had ice cream there… it was okay. I’d rather have Ben & Jerry’s.

Ever since cold stone closed and I heard a new ice cream place had moved in I’ve wanted to come in a try. Ice cream is my 2^nd all time favorite dessert right behind bread pudding! I’ve heard of Emack & Bolio’s but never had a chance to try it at the Newbury St. location. So I figured one night when walking by why not. I had their version of death by chocolate ice cream. It was alright, i’ve had better. The choice list is really small. I saw peanut butter custard or frozen yogurt on the list and thought omg yum, but then was told it’s just a mix in so I pouted a little and got the chocolate. I guess I expected it to be this superior ice cream (especially with praise i’ve heard previously) that I would absolutely fall in love with and crave. But not so much I still love me some ben & jerry’s and cold stone’s. so I’ll probably not be back since there is a Ben & Jerry’s on the way to this place and strawberry cheesecake calls my name when I’m will to splurge on the calories w/​minimum guilt.

Very disappointed. Ice cream had crystals, sundae was very light on toppings. No walnuts, only some nut blend — which was stale.
Ice cream options looked great, but the flavors we tried had almost a chemical aftertaste. Don’t know if we caught them on a bad day, but I was wholly unimpressed.
Considering the pricing, you’d be better off going elsewhere.

So, I love Emack and Bolio’s (the concept), but my visit to this particular shop was a bit subpar. Maybe the ice cream scooper was new, but the service was really slow and something like… a few sandwiches short of a picnic. Also, the ice cream wasn’t as creamy and smooth as I was expecting from E&B.
In any case, I love the options: waffle cones with rice krispy treat, chocolate drizzles, marshmallows, etc. And, I love the zillions of flavors and the happy vibe of the chain.

So excited that they decided to put in another icecream shop after Coldstone randomly disappeared :(
Really great flavors to choose from. The peppermint patty was soo tasty with big chunks of peppermint patty in it, not too creamy. The cake batter was also really good just not sure if it was actual batter in it or pieces of cake, but it was yummy. Lots of toppings and interesting waffle cones. The sweets case looked AMAZING — different types of homemade candies, dipped confections and cakes, wanted to try one of everything.
They only have two cup sizes but you can choose one, two or three scoops? Good size scoops though, two was just enough.
A little expensive but not too different from Ben and Jerrys or Coldstone, definitely will return though, good addition to the area.

Interesting competitor to Ben and Jerry’s, this place was around the corner from our hotel in Boston, so we tried it out.
The ice cream was good, the flavors were unique, but the signage was very weak– it was impossible to tell what was in the weird names for ice cream flavors, and the staff had no idea when asked.
They also advertised being the first to dip waffle cones, so I tried a waffle cone dipped in nuts, it was ok but kinda soft and a little stale.
Besides ice cream, they have a sweets case with chocolate-​dipped twinkies and devil dogs, etc. I tried a dipped twinkie, and I think it tasted a little stale to me. It might be the kind of thing you have to get freshly dipped, not sitting in a case.
Overall, interesting idea, but not someplace I’d go to all the time.

A new Emack and Bolio’s has moved in where the old Coldstone’s used to be (good riddance). It’s a good sized space, larger than most E&B’s, and there are some tables and chairs outside.
The ice cream itself is the perfect balance between firm and creamy. It isn’t icy, but lacks the unpleasant melty frosting quality of Coldstone’s or B&J. The flavors are pretty innovative, too. You’re unlikely to find old standbys like cookie’s and cream or chocolate chip, but there are extravagant compilations of flavors you won’t find anywhere else. Unfortunately, they don’t offer very many different flavors at a time.
The hedonism extends to their cones: they have waffle cones that are delicious on their own, but even better dipped in chocolate, nuts, or rice krispie treat.
The biggest downside here is it is SO. FREAKING. EXPENSIVE. I am not one to complain about small portions of ice cream, heck, the prevailing medical opinion seems to be that the world would be a better place if there were smaller portions of ice cream. The thing is, their «medium» is more expensive than anywhere else in the city, and the same size as most other ice cream place’s «small». Maybe the ice cream is made with mermaid tears or unicorn hair or the wishes of orphan children, but it’s just not good enough to be worth the huge mark up.