Lisa’s Homemade Italian Ice

LOVE IT– nice folks, great low fat –low cal Italian ice — the chocolate and banana are the best and the itty bitty ice cream cone is amazing.

Love (d) this placed! A little upset that I wasn’t able to use a Living Social deal before they closed. Walked up to an empty store with a big sign explaining they are moving.

Oh yeah! chocolate Italian Ice. I am dairy free now which makes my dessert choices a little limited. I was so happy to find this place and its yummy chocolate ice. It tasted like a fudgecicle.
I only gave it three stars because I didn’t feel comfortable sitting inside. The girl behind the counter had a friend hanging out and they were more interested in catching up with their personal business than providing friendly customer service. This is one of my pet peeves. I sat outside on the bench and ate my ice.

Ooops! We have been going to Lisa’s Italian Ice for several years now. I cannot believe that I have never reviewed Lisa’s Italian Ice before. This is a great place to go to on a hot and muggy Chicago summer! The flavors are varied and some are seasonal flavors. You will definitely discover a fab-​u-​licious flavor that will blow your pallette away. Enjoy!

Just went to Lisa’s and I’m glad I have this spot close to home for italian ice! Yum!
A cute little home-​town shop, not much more to say about it! Simple stuff!

Not much to say other than «delicious»!
Tried their passion fruit Italian ice and apple pie ice cream. Loved the ice – light, refreshing, and not overly sweet. The ice cream was also addicting and loaded with apple pie flavor. The apple chunks were a bit on the icy side, but on a 90 degree day, no complaints here. Since the man and I both ordered larges, I wish I would’ve known you can mix the flavors because there were so many more ice flavors I wanted to try.
I’ll be back!

Here’s what I like about this place: great food! The ices are flavourful and the popcorn is fresh and tasty. Fun place to stop by when you are in uptown! Rock on Lisa and LuAnn!

I had some Lisa’s at a festival in Evanston about a month ago and I’m still thinking about how good it was. I’m going to have to make the trip to their Park Ridge location soon. It is the best Italian ice I’ve had. Of course, I’ve only had store bought and crappy Mario’s (by UIC) Italian ice.

Was able to try the strawberry italian ice over the weekend at a street fest in Evanston, very tasty, looking forward to try the other flavors.

This is it! Since Lisa’s is a seasonal shop that closes for fall and winter, they have a season-​end closeout sale on all their remaining inventory of Italian ice by the quart. This weekend (Nov. 14^th) is the closeout sale. If you do go, make sure you save some of the mango and lemon left in stock, since I want to buy those!

Just remembered that I’ve kept forgetting to review this place for many months, but better late than never to do so. (yay that Unilocal allows the saving of drafts of reviews) I went to Park Ridge several times in 2008, and this place definitely stood out enough for me when funny enough (and as they also had a booth at the Taste of Park Ridge), I walked here to escape the Taste crowds. I enjoyed this place so much then, that I purposely made 1 – 2 extra trips back to Park Ridge later last summer to try more of their flavors. The staff and family that work here are great, too.
This place definitely gets italian ice right, in my opinion. Love that the flavors here aren’t too sweet, or too unsweetened. From what I did try, I really enjoyed their cherry, orange, and banana flavors. They also have some untypical flavors you may not expect, such as coffee, and ones that have seeds in them (which isn’t my cup of tea, but more power to others).
I’m already itching for spring to come, so I can enjoy this place again. Not to mention, also cheaper and healthier than going to Oberweis. (as much as I love them)

Found this place by accident — it’s right next door to Dominic’s Kitchen Store in Park Ridge. The daughter was asking for ice cream, but I was curious to try the Italian ice.
Now, I’ve never been to Mario’s in Little Italy, so I don’t have that frame of reference. But even still, this was great. Hit the spot and not too sweet (and not too many calories, so it was a guilt free indulgence).
They have a variety of flavors and it is exceedingly unusual for me to pass up chocolate. But I did and I’m glad. The red grapefruit was just about perfect. Perfect tangy goodness. It was subtle — the taste was mostly in the aftertaste. My husband had the mango, which was a bit too sweet.
I shared the red grapefruit ice with my toddler — they have a toddler cup serving, for $ 2. It looks small but it was surprisingly filling. I imagine this place is packed to the rafters in summertime.
Mike O’s review says that they close for the season, so I’m going to have to return soon to pick up a quart of red grapefruit to take home. Maybe two, to tide me over.

I was excited to try this place but was disappointed. I ordered a chocolate and watermelon for my kids and a lemon for me. The watermelon was ok. I was hoping for more flavor. The lemon had a weird after taste.

My wife was craving Italian Ice and I didn’t want to trek down to Little Italy to Mario’s. With that, I googled Italian Ice on my phone with our local Glenview Zip. Thankfully Lisa’s came up. The staff is very attentive and helpful. All three of the Ice’s that we ordered were excellent. They had my favorite, Pina Colada and the lemon was also very good. With a long summer ahead, we will definitely return.

Great little shop. Staff is very friendly, and the italian ice is great!
They give lots of samples and have a wide range of sizes available for decent prices. You can even do ½ and ½ flavors– the strawberry/​banana mix was great-​with REAL banana taste!
I have *heard* from many people the espresso italian ice is to die for so I’ll definitely be back!

Italian ice has a lot in general to recommend it. It’s cold and sweet, but unlike ice cream, it has no fat, and in many cases, the ingredients list tops out at only 3 items: fruit, sugar, and ice. It’s also vegan, but it doesn’t taste fake or substitute like a lot of vegan desserts can.
Lisa’s is newly opened on that strip of Northwest Highway right around the corner from the Pickwick, in an area that’s rapidly being taken over by chain establishments like Starbucks and Panera. I really wanted it to be the best Italian ice I’ve ever had, but sadly it was not. However, I have to give them credit for a novel idea in a cool location.
Also, something really needs to be said about their funky flavors. While the lemon/​strawberry combination cup that I got didn’t set off any bells and whistles, there are such exotic flavors there as chocolate, vanilla, espresso, passion fruit, and banana. My husband got a cup of chocolate/​espresso, and it was really yummy, especially the espresso flavor (Yes, I’m serious).
One final note: The owner plays her IPod over the speakers. Let’s just say her taste in music is… eclectic. You might want to take your cup of ice and go for a walk.