Brown Cow Ice Cream Parlor

Huge portions! I would’ve given it 5, but the kid that rung me up could have let me know that one serving is more than enough for two. I would have saved the additional $ 10 for the sundae.

I was in the mood for an ice cream and being in Oak Park I was going to Coldstone creamery. I decided to Unilocal it and I found this jewelry. Friendly service and a good variety of options. Also important is a local business. #buylocal is good for the neighborhood and for the local economy. Recommended!!!

Friendly old-​fashioned ice cream parlor on Madison Avenue.
Lots of different ice cream flavors, toppings, and cones.
Good service. Try the peanut butter topping. :)

On the coldest Sunday of the year, we threw a birthday party for a 7-​year old boy and fifteen of his classmates. I’ll admit some nervousness; you want these events to go off without a hitch, and there’s always variables: Was the start time too early? Are people going to find the place? And the most important question:
How the in the blue hell are we going to wrangle a good time for sixteen first graders?
Brown Cow delivered. Better put: they overdelivered. From the time we hit the door, they took care of everything. We went with the waffle sundae option (homemade, right there in the shop); we brought homemade treats for the parents and Brown Cow provided the coffee. Once the kids got done coloring the large table, they were brought into the side room to play games while we got to chat up the parents. Then the sundae station rolled up; each of the kids got a smock, and got to press and top their own waffle sundae. Lights were turned down, songs were sung; the kids had another whole round of play including a Limbo contest. Gifts exchanged, thank yous and two hours later the boy’s mother and I smiled at each other; relaxed instead of stressed, with the rest of our Sunday to celebrate.
I can’t decide which I’ll stress more; the service provided by our two wonderful hosts, the down-​home personal setting and environment, or the quality for the buck. Brown Cow is comparable to many of the competing establishments pricewise (and cheaper than a quarter of them for the same amount of kids). Plus we got to support local business. I’ll have to go back for ice cream proper; in the meantime I recommend if you’ve got an event, you ought to give them a ring.

Amazing place for treating yourself or your kids. Open late. Good after dinner spot if you are eating on Madison street. Reminds me of a place in Andersonville (Chicago) called Georges.
Get the ice cream sandwich.

Love this place! Great ice cream, milkshakes, awesome staff!

This place is a town over, and yet my boyfriend and I find that we end up coming here more times than not. The ice cream here is delicious and I’ve only found one other place in the Chicagoland area that has ice cream of this quality. My favorite is the Vanilla Soy. Go to Brown Cow!

Old timey looking ice cream shop is the best description you’re gonna get. Since that’s the look the owners were hoping for as explained on their website. «An old fashioned soda fountain.» Obviously time and a great deal of effort when into the composition of this business. I really dig it and I think families would dig it as well. So bring the wee ones.
If this were my neighborhood ice cream shop, it’d be where I’d bring guests and friends. It might be the accents detailed around the shop, the paint, the wood, their choices in decorations or the chalkboard advertising all of their homemade flavors and offerings. There’s much to admire here and its not only in their physical location.
Flavors-​wise, you’ll have to ask for samples. At this time in my life, its all about milkshakes. I sampled a few ice cream flavors but they won me over with a 2 flavor milkshake. Mint and chocolate with all the regular toppings. Next time me thinks though, double chocolate with peppermint!

I’ve been there a couple of times. The service is polite and outgoing, but sometimes slow. The last time I was there, I ordered a chocolate malt — I happened to see the guy making something like that on their «shake machine» — but given what he put in it, I knew it wasn’t mine — or so I thought. When They brought the drink over to me, I asked them if it was a chocolate malt — no it wasn’t, time for a «do-​over». Well, that didn’t go too well either — had specified NO whipped cream a couple of times… yep — gave me the whipped cream.
Ice cream is good — but no better or worse than Oberweis. I’ll stop in again every now and then — but there are other places out there that do as good if not better to take care of my ice cream fix.

Ice cream is really good. Gets a bit crowded but that’s what happens.

I’ve been going here since I was a sophomore in high school. Their ice cream is great, and I always he the Ellie’s Turtle Temptation because it’s my absolute favorite thing in the world. They have a lot of seating options, so even when I went after a shows opening night, it could accommodate a good chunk of the cast and crew. Still try to come here when I get ice cream cravings.

I really enjoyed Brown Cow when I visited the other day. I don’t know how I hadn’t been here before, but probably because I’m not in the area very often.
I couldn’t decide what to get, so I opted for 2 flavors — pistachio and strawberry — I didn’t know 2 scoops would be sooooo huge, but I eagerly ate it all! Delicious.
The store was really cute and the staff was all very friendly.
Definitely worth a visit for some delicious ice cream and a nice little treat.

This is the ice cream spot for the Oak Park/​Forest Park area. Chocolate Peanut Butter and Cookies n Cream are my top choices, both are homemade. Outside of traditional scoops, they have a large selection of malts, shakes, sundaes, and cakes. Stop by, grab a scoop, and walk around downtown Forest Park!

Helloooooooo Soy Cookie Dough
I don’t know what is better, the homemade flavors or the great customer service. The staff is always pleasant. Has one should be when serving ice cream

I live in Austin and had to put together a last minute corporate event in Chicago for 70 people. Connie was friendly, efficient and on top of her game from the get go. She had no problem making arrangements for Brown Cow to deliver and serve ice cream for everyone within one business day. She even coordinated with me over the weekend.
I will use them again. Oh, and the ice cream was delicious. Ya heard.

Remember when you were little and the ice cream truck would pull up on the block and then came the biggest decision in your life?
I was surprised they were still open after I had left a nearby bar for dinner. They stay open to 11pm!
Brown Cow has an old school ice cream parlor that feels like it’s being run like a mom and pop shop and not fake old school cooperate mom and pop shop (coughs Oberweis cough)
The extra two rooms they have are really neat and could really see kids getting a kick out of that for birthday parties. Notice a photo of a custom star war ice cream cake they did and now I want one for my birthday! Very awesome detail in that cake.
Although I didn’t try one of the homemade flavors on my first visit (praline and cream) the flavor was really good and had no problem buying a pint to take home. Can’t wait to try out the other flavors.

I’ve loved coming in for ice cream and I’m sure so many reviews already speak to that – but I’m here to recommend their ice cream cakes. They worked to create a custom cake for us that was not only delicious so creative. We had a Star Wars themed party for our daughter and asked that the designer get creative. She created a memorable cake that was such fun and great element to our event.

Fantastic local ice cream place. Far better than that sham they have in Oak Park. A bustling place once the weather turns. Great for kids and adults alike. The ice cream quality is better (dare I say it) than Braums down south. Perfect on pies in November in addition to the regular cones and sundaes that you crave in the summer heat.
If you come out to Madison street for any reason. Dinner, drinks, etc. Make it a point to grab a sweet treat at the Brown Cow. I’m not paid to say this. I just really really like the ice cream.

This is the absolute BEST ice cream I have had in a long time! Brown Cow is easily my favorite ice cream in the suburbs. Yum! Even though it’s 8 in the morning as I’m writing this review, I’m imagining the last time I had ice cream from Brown Cow and now I’m really craving it. I discovered Brown Cow on a 2012 list of best ice cream in America and it was #12 on the list – very impressive. I couldn’t believe this parlor is right next to the suburb where I grew up and I never tried it! When I posted a picture of my ice cream on social media, many people commented saying «that place is the best» or «dream of my childhood.»
We found street parking and came here before dinner on a weekday. I decided to get chocolate peanut butter because it was on the list of Brown Cow homemade ice creams (and also was the ice cream featured in the article). The ice cream arrived in a cute glass sundae container (I asked for it in a cup). The portion size was GIGANTIC. W-​o-​w. This may have been the most ice cream I have ever consumed in a sitting. I’m still honestly in shock that that was the serving size for ONE SCOOP. My boyfriend decided to get two scoops of pistachio and his was twice as big as what I already considered a huge portion. I ended up just having ice cream for dinner that night because my appetite was done for. I assure you, I did not complain about that one bit! The ice cream completely lived up to its reputation. I absolutely loved the pistachio also; it had plenty of real pistachio nuts throughout the ice cream.
I also love that this space is so big. There’s plenty of seating, too, which is a major plus. I can see this place getting much busier as the weather heats up. You can bet I’ll be here many more times this summer!

I’ve had ice cream from Brown Cow a few times when I was younger, as someone who grew up in the area. I had the ice cream for the first time in a while a few days ago because my girlfriend, also a native of the neighboring suburbs, had never been here. She insisted on getting the chocolate peanut butter because she had read an article that declared it the best ice cream in the state. I opted for the pistachio (two scoops) in a dish.
At first I was a little skeptical that it would cost $ 6 for two scoops of ice cream. Then I saw the portion size and was reminded of one of the things that makes Brown Cow so amazing: generous servings! The pistachio was homemade in-​house and it had a very rich flavor. In addition to a generous helping of real pistachios throughout the ice cream, creating a delightfully crunchy texture, there was also a very smooth, sweet, rich consistency of pistachio ice cream. This was the first time I had tried this flavor and I’m definitely a fan.
Previously, I’ve tried the homemade cookies and cream and cookie dough, but I didn’t find them to be anything particularly special. The pistachio probably stands out as the best I’ve tried to date at Brown Cow.
I’ve made it my mission to come back here and eat the trough. I want to get my name and picture on the wall! I’m sure we will be coming back this summer, so maybe I need to start prepping for all those 21 scoops of ice cream now…

Nice vintage ice cream parlor. Gives you the unique feeling of how it was in the early 1900’s. Everyone was nice and attentive. The ladies behind the counter very friendly.
No other place seems to match the cookie dough ice cream.