The Shaved Ice Shop

I wish I could give this place zero stars just for the bad service alone. Carson needs to take a class, ASAP. I planned to take my 5 year old nephew to the Hester Street Fair and promised him shaved ice from the Shaved Ice Shop. I went as far as emailing Carson early that morning to see where he would be within the fairgrounds. No response. My brother and I both called him and he shadily answered the phone, as if we were the cops or something. After asking a number of patrons walking the fairgrounds and getting multiple responses of idk, I decided to call him back (again with the shady bit, picking up without saying anything) he simply tells me they were closed that day. No apology, explanation… nothing. just a disappointed 5 year old.
Bad customer service will get you nowhere — regardless of how good you think your product is. The guys at Wooly’s are ALOT friendlier and judging by their reviews, they understand the importance of keeping customers.
Carson, keep your shaved ice. My nephew deserves better and he got it.

I may have to say that the Shaved Ice Shop is one of the best tasting Taiwanese shaved ice that I have tried so far in NYC. It is extremely delicious & abundant! I truly love the creator’s modern interpretation of a Taiwanese shaved ice! Besides it being extremely tasty, it looks like a work of art.
Love the choice of flavors (mango sorbet or green tea ice cream), and topping choices (fresh fruits (mango, strawberry, watermelon, kiwi), frosted flakes, grass jelly, matcha mochi, fruity pops, caramel corn, bar nuts, azuki beans, phoenix rolls, and granola). After you receive your mountain looking shaved ice embellished with your choice of flavor and toppings & drizzled with sweet condensed milk, and take a bite of it — your tastebuds will be so delighted!
Highly Recommended!

Unbelievable and uniquely totally unexpected. You would think it would be like an italian ice or snow cone from the name, but when you see it and taste it the shock and awe ensues. The soft creamy consistency says its like ice cream but its totally different. Unreal, try out the Green Tea shaved ice, try out any flavor.

The best part of the Hester Street Fair! My friends and I have been wanting to try «The Shaved Ice Shop» stand for over two years now. We had attended the Food Truck Festival on Governor’s Island two summers ago, and had waited in line for shaved ice, only to have them run out of all the toppings, and the ice cream. We had been told that they were at the Hester St. Fair every weekend, and if we wanted to try it, we could find them there. Since we have not had a chance to attend the fair together until attending Grub Street Fair, this experience was two years in the making!
The Shaved Ice Shop is a Taiwanese inspired dessert that is made of snowflake like shaved ice, fresh cut fruit, unique toppings, drizzled sweetened condensed milk, and a scoop ice cream.
With each order, you are given the choice to choose 3 toppings, which include: strawberry, watermelon, mix jelly, fruity pops, caramel corn, bar nuts, granola, mango, red beans, phoenix rolls (cookies crumbs), kiwi, frosted flakes, and matcha mochi (homemade sweet rice bites). Also, you get a scoop of mango sorbet or green tea ice cream.
The shaved ice is made from getting shaved in the ice cutting machine.
I ordered this mountainous snowflake dessert with strawberries, match mochi, Phoenix rolls, green tea ice cream, and sweetened condensed milk. The mochi, which I’ve always ordered ever since my Pinkberry days, give a nice soft, gummy texture to the dessert, while the Phoenix rolls add a nice crunch. The condensed milk soaks into the ice giving it a very sweet unexplainable flavor. All in all, this was the most refreshing dessert that I have had in a while! I hope that I can find them somewhere else, now that the fair is closed for season. :(
So tasty!
See you next year at the Hester Street Fair!

When I used to go to Hawaii for family vacations, we always looked forward to hitting up their shaved ice shops. The scoops that they would give you were ginormous, and the syrups that topped the ices were always homemade and to die for. There’s really nothing like the Hawaiian shaved ices. When I stumbled upon the Elizabeth Street Night Market this past week and saw that they’d be there, I was experiencing a trip down memory lane.
Well, I didn’t exactly get that. But I’m not too heartbroken.
I was never aware that Taiwan did their own version of the shaved ice, When I saw that you could choose three toppings and a scoop of sorbet or ice cream, I was slightly surprised. Still, I pimped out my first ice (mango sorbet, cookie crumbles, caramel corn and strawberry) and was eager to eat when they drizzled the condensed milk on top. From the first spoonful, I was infatuated. The sweetness of the milk perfectly complimented the ice, and all of my toppings and sorbet blended really well together. By the time it all melted into ice soup, I simply drank it from the bowl without hesitation.
A shop like this shaved ice joint isn’t common in a big city like New York City, but I’m glad it’s around. Give this place business, will you people?!

My NYC plight for shaved ice continues.
I love the idea of ice cream with shaved ice. That being said, I don’t really like the way that the mochi is cut into teeny tiny pieces. I’m used to the soft giant gobs of rice flour. The mango seemed like it had probably seen better days… many days ago. The red bean was undercooked, and probably the worst tasting red bean I’ve ever tasted. The green tea ice cream was generic tasting and lacking in flavor.
The upside? The ice itself was pretty finely shaved.
Meh. Exactly.

Nothing beats an authentic shaved ice on a hot summer day in New York City. It is lighter than regular ice cream and much more fun than Italian ice! It is milky, light and has toppings like red beans, green beans and tapioca balls to choose from!
I am so glad The Shaved Ice Shop exists so I can get my craving for my hometown even though I am thousands of miles away!

Best shaved ice I’ve ever had. Leaves Slurpee, Sno Cone and Italian style in the dust.
At $ 6, a little pricey, but on a hot summer day when you’re willing to sell part of your soul to cool off, you might consider it a bargain.

Not to take anything away from the 4 ½ star average rating here, but I’ve noticed that most of the reviews come from people who’ve been looking for this kind of thing and have the nostalgic factor that I don’t. I don’t know whether that makes me more or less qualified to rate this, but here’s my opinion.
The presentation of this stuff is great and makes anyone who sees it will be curious to try it. It looks like there’s really a lot going on here when you look at a serving. But let’s really break this down.
For $ 6, you’re getting…
1) A huge pile of ice (i.e. frozen tap water chopped into a more edible format)
2) A few squirts of condensed milk
3) Three toppings — in my case, some pieces of caramel popcorn, a spoonful of jelly bits, and a few small chopped mango pieces.
4) One scoop of green tea ice cream (or mango sorbet) that seems like it probably came out of a carton from the supermarket.
On the plus side, condensed milk is always great and the salty caramel popcorn gave the whole thing some interesting flavor… but when all is said and done, your $ 6 is going into exactly what I mentioned above, and I can think of lots more that I could get with $ 6 than that. It was decent and good to try once, but nothing I’d go out of my way for. The condensed milk, popcorn, and presentation earn it that third star.

There’s nothing better than authentic Taiwanese shaved ice on a hot, hot, hot summer day.
So what makes shaved ice Taiwanese?
– Light and fluffy ice with a swirl of condensed milk, but not too much because you don’t want to overpower everything.
– Good sized portions of toppings, ranging from beans to matcha mochi (super yum!) to a serving of ice cream of your choice. YUM!
For $ 6 it’s not a bad deal at all. The dish is larger than what you can get at Pinkberry or Red Mango (so learn to share), and it’s not as fattening as desserts from other places (c’mon, ²⁄₃ of your dish is FROZEN WATER).
I’ll definitely try to come here every Saturday if I’m in the area.

Taiwanese food is hard to find in NYC so I didn’t even think to look for Taiwanese shaved ice. I learned about this place from a newsletter and decided to check it out. Soooo glad I did!
They offer traditional toppings (red bean, grass jelly) and some American toppings (granola, caramel corn), plus either mango sorbet or green tea ice cream. Then they top it off with condensed milk. YUM.
They pile on the toppings and are pretty generous with the ice, so one order is definitely enough for two people to share.
I haven’t tried any other shaved ice place in Manhattan, but I’ll be coming back here. The owner is really nice and the shaved ice is delicious.
What better way to stay cool on a hot summer day?

So. Good.
The closest thing to West Coast bao bing that I’ve been able to find in Manhattan or Brooklyn. I checked them out at the Hester Street Fair, and in addition to serving big piles of fluffy, condensed-​milk drenched, topping-​loaded deliciousness, the guys that were working were very friendly. The location is good too, with a nice tree shaded lawn behind the main fair action so you can chill while you eat.
They’re only open on weekends though, so you can get your weekday fix at Wooly’s Ice should you so need. But Shaved Ice Shop’s variety of toppings, dollop of ice cream, and generous condensed-​milk drenching means that they’d be likely to win in a face-​off with Wooly’s, so don’t be afraid to hold out till the weekend to check these guys out :)

110 degrees days like this made me wish I lived close to flushing where there are more authentic taiwanese food and desserts… like shaved ice aka bao bing aka chua bing. I’ve grown up eating this stuff during summer visits to taiwan at the night market. While not much like the traditional flavor profiles, the Shaved Ice stand is a decent substitute on the lower east side — a short bike ride across the manhattan bridge for us.
The Shaved Ice stand (don’t look for a brick and mortar store, it’s in the back of the flea market) is a nod to the traditional dessert. They have interesting toppings like fruity pebbles, caramel corn and mochi. As for fruit, they have diced up strawberry, kiwi, mango, watermelon. Most of their toppings you would find in the fro yo shops these days. Their more traditional toppings are red beans (the large kind, which I like less) and grass jelly (the black one). They also serve it with a scoop of either mango or green tea ice cream. Wish there was an option not to get ice cream and pay $ 1 – 2 less. To top it off, they drizzle a bunch of condensed milk.
The texture of the ice and condensed milk really hit the spot — like a mouthful of freshly fallen snow melting all over your tongue. However, for $ 6 it is pricey and really left me craving the real thing. I wish they mixed in more traditional toppings (that could be construed by westerners as innovative and new.) like boiled peanuts, tapioca, green beans, etc. along with more quirky ones.

I finally found you. Not a «shop,» but a little stand on the corner with friendly service… very helpful, thank you.
You get a big bowl of shaved ice with 3 different toppings + drizzled with condensed milk. YUM, I LOVE CONDENSED MILK. The granola was tasty too. I finally had my shaved ice fix. (But I still think class 302 was the best I’ve had so far)
The only downside was that it was a sweltering hot day and a lot melted ;(while sitting on the benches.

I received a free shaved ice with toppings and ice cream thanks to Tenka. They did not have the matcha mochi that day :(, I was definitely looking forward to trying it.
But I had fresh chopped mangoes pieces, mixed jelly and red bean and a scoop of the delicious green tea ice cream!
It was yummy but too bad my shaved ice melted real fast and looked like a soup. I had a generous amount of condensed milk and it became a bit too sweet in the end but it was still a sweet delight!

There’s something about Bao Bing (Yes, I know they changed their name, but they will be forever known as Bao Bing to me.)
It could be that small business feel that keeps me interested and looped in, but it’s definitely the people behind the business that keeps me coming back for more. They are so grateful and appreciative of their fans and really put everything into making that simple shaved ice. Super genuine people who really do care about their customers and it’s that kind of service that keeps me coming back for more.
Now back to the shaved ice… I’ve had it now about three or four times, and each time, it’s just as I remembered. It’s hard to find a place that is consistently good, but they’ve come to master that. The only let down is that they do run out of toppings fast, but it’s expected.
All in all, I really do love this place and it’s a great snack for the summer.
Oh and this is shaved ice from Taiwan, not Hawaii… just saying…

When it’s hot I crave hot pot and when it’s cold and rainy I pine for shaved ice. It just so happened I tried this shaved ice stand for the first time on a nice and sloshy New York day, perfect. Nothing like crisp shaved ice and sweet condensed milk to set your soul on fire.
I’ve been to several shaved ice places in my lifetiime and I must say this is one of the best! Everything was really fresh and the topping options were aplenty. I know most shaved ice stands probably get more business on a hot summer day when the rest of the world enjoys their shaved ice, but let this serve as a testament that you will always get a quality bowl whether you come here rain or shine.

I tried their shaved ice once at Hester St Fair and it was a pretty good experience. Unlike the other food places there, the shaved ice shop lets you see a show! You get to see them making the shaved ice from a vintage-​looking machine and then see them put on the toppings and condensed milk and ice cream. My friend and I shared one which was enough for the both of us. The matcha mochi was really good even though they were a bit skimpy on the toppings. Otherwise, they would’ve gotten five stars.
I still recommend this place if you want a nice, refreshing afternoon snack.

Normally I hate anything sweet. As a gym rat, spring and summer signifies a time to diet and therefore I tend to stay away from desserts and treats.
However, walking through the Hester Street Fair (every Saturday), I came across the Shaved Ice Shop and was definitely intrigued. First of all, it was not ice cream, rather the bulk of the dessert consisted of shaved ice. Moreover the majority of the choices for toppings were fruits (at a very reasonable price).
After giving it a try I can safely say that it is both delicious and nutritious. I have been going back to the Hester Street Fair on a weekly basis just for the Shaved Ice Shop.
The line is usually long as there is a high demand for this delicious dessert but Carson’s service is extremely fast and the line moves rather quickly.

Yo, this ain’t the same «Shave Ice» from Hawaii!
Man, I’ve been spoiled.
Fine…on a hot day, its worth a try (I had the mango) if you’re never gonna hit up Hawaii.