Marco Polo Italian Ice Cream

Marco Polo is my all time favorite ice cream/​gelato spot. They have a wide variety of Asian flavors (my favorite!). Some of the more common flavors include strawberry, coconut, red bean, green tea, and vanilla bean. They have more «rare» flavors too, like jackfruit, mangosteen, sesame, durian, and arcobaleno (which is a vanilla, pistachio, almond, and chocolate mix). They let you sample their flavors, so feel free to try everything! I think I did the first time I came here lol. My favorites are lychee and guava.
It is definitely on the pricier side. A small (about $ 4) gets you 1 – 2 flavors, medium is 1 – 3 flavors, and a larger is up to 4 flavors.
In summary:
— High quality ice cream/​gelato
— Unique flavors
— Cash only
— Pricier (I still think it’s worth it)
— Parking can be difficult
— Little seating, but there’s a sit-​in fee, so just take yours to go!
I’m always impatiently waiting for my next trip here. Luckily, my boyfriend lives only a few blocks away. So when I come to the city to visit him, this is usually a pit stop.
For those of you in South Bay, they recently opened a location in San Jose!

Oh god, so good. DON’T ACCEPT CARDS and rather expensive for ice cream in such a horrible location, Bi-​Rite across from Dolores Park charges less and gives you more… They also have terrible customer service, but it’s on Taraval and 25^th ave so you’ll probably never go there again unless you live next door.
The only time I go here is after Ocean Beach, there’s an L stop right in front of it. They have a few little tables inside to eat if you’d life as well. They serve home-​made gelato — in house, freshly scooped or packed in pints to go. Pints are $ 11 and the smallest size cup is almost $ 5 with $.50 for a stupid stale cone. The kid packs it in the bowl and scrapes it all off the top so you get exactly the cup size (which isn’t much).
They’ve got tons of interesting flavors — which is mostly why I’ve come here more than once. Thai Tea, Mango, Vanilla Bean, Guava, Strawberry, and Double Chocolate are a few of our favorites.

Durian ice cream
Durian ice cream
Durian ice cream
Durian ice cream
Durian ice cream
Durian ice cream
Durian ice cream
Durian ice cream
…Their ice creams taste like heaven!

Marco Polo is one of the ice cream highlights in SF and is a must try. The main reason is for their Asian influenced Gelato. Mangosteen, taro, mango, lychee, and durian are a few examples. You must try the durian once in a life time– it’s one of those novelties that you can laugh about trying in that given moment. Fresh durian notoriously smells like fart, but just try this durian gelato (it tastes nothing like how the real thing smells). Yes, I am convincing you to try it. Taro and mango are rich, and do not taste artificial. There ares also «normal» flavors like strawberry and double chocolate. Everything tastes fresh and you just know it’s made from scratch.
No surprise that you will see a crowd outside even when it’s cold! Maybe ice cream tastes better in the cold than the heat. It won’t melt of course.
The server lets you try all the flavors you want. Cash only! So pop out your emergency cash.

I’ve only been here once but this place is easily one of my favorite ice cream shops in SF. They offer a variety of Asian flavors that I’ve never seen anywhere else.
A small will run you $ 4.15 but you can get 2 flavors! I got taro + mangosteen, which were both delicious! The taro was creamy and had real taro chunks. The mangosteen was freshing and had chunks of fruit in it as well.
¹⁰⁄₁₀ would return regularly if it wasn’t so damn far. Sigh
CASH ONLY

Veer away from your typical or hyped up ice cream spots and come to Marco Polo! Such rich and flavorful gelato with many unique flavors. Some of my favorites include: arcobaleno, soursop, mint chip, mocha chip, coffee, vanilla bean… ok, you get the point. Can’t go wrong. Try something new!
One thing I would advise the owners is to rearrange or get new tables and seating arrangement. It’s a small spot so gotta be creative so that more people can enjoy your gelato inside rather than the chilly outer sunset.

I love their variety of ethnic ice cream flavors. There was durian, taro, mangosteen, Jack fruit, guava, mango, lychee, and so forth. I love all of these flavors because I would always eat them with my family while growing up and these flavors reminded me of him. I got the durian, guava, and taro flavor! The ice cream texture was smooth but not creamy. I love their durian ice cream. My friends hate durian and I have my Italian friend a little bit of it because she never had it but she spit it out haha she couldn’t handle the taste but I just love durian. I like how this place added taro bits in my ice cream and lychee bits in my friend’s ice cream. It’s nice to have that sugary deliciousness from the ice cream but also some healthy and refreshing fruit pieces. I want to come back here again for their taro and durian flavor! I want to try their Jack fruit next time.

I been going here as a kid and it’s my favorite place to go to after a day trip to SF. My parents usually go for the durian, but my favorite is their jackfruit, mango, and lychee. They have a lot of tropical fruit flavor, which is unique from other gelato place.

Black sesame is my absolute favorite flavor here, and it’s one of the only places where I can even find black sesame ice cream! It’s so nutty yet creamy, with a lightly sweet toasty flavor. It’s wonderfully dense and not gritty at all. So yummy.
Also, can’t go wrong with taro flavor, so creamy and delightful.

After a heavy dinner, I made sure to have room to try this «Italian» gelato. We came about 10 minutes before closing (yes, one of those people…) so I made my choices quick. Green Tea and Lychee. HELLO flavor! I loved that the Green Tea had real matcha flavor to it rather than the artificial crap. And the lychee had bits and pieces of the fruits in every bite.
It was a perfect way to end the SF part of my trip (despite being super sad about it being over… both the trip and the gelato cup). This is definitely on my «must go back» list so I can try the mangosteen and the durian next.

Let me start off by saying the name of this store is misleading.
I definitely was expecting some Italian flavors but the store has some great unique Southeastern Asian ice cream flavors. Worth a try because of their greatly executed, creamy, ice cream/​gelato special flavors.
UNIQUE FRUITY FLAVORS: Durian (soo good!), Soursop, Mangosteen, Jackfruit, guava,
Also has the more basics, but delicious Lychee, red bean, black sesame, green tea, red bean, etc.
Cons: CASH ONLY & kinda pricey (small = 1 – 2 flavors for $ 4.15) & runs $ 13-​$ 15/​pint for the special flavors.

One of my husband’s and my favorite ice creameries in the SF Bay Area (the other being Tin Pot Creamery in Palo Alto).
I love that Marco Polo is unlike any other creamery in SF, focusing on Asian flavors instead of the more traditional American flavors.
My favorite flavors are: Mangosteen (a mildly sweet/​tart fruity flavor), Guava, Jackfruit (a slightly more «mealy» fruit — sounds weird but is really delicious), Cantaloupe, Lychee, Black Sesame, and Mango.
I tend to avoid the generic flavors like chocolate, pistachio, vanilla, etc. Why come to a fabulous place like this and get the boring flavors?
They are generous with the samples so try some of their exotic flavors you’re unsure.

There’s durian ice cream here!!! and black sesame! So many exotic flavors! The cantonese guy serving the ice cream allowed us to sample various flavors. I ended up getting a small cup of durian and black sesame (two flavors I really love, but difficult to find in ice cream stores). The ice cream was super creamy and flavorful. I could tell they made the durian ice cream with fresh fruit– there were a few bits of pulp in it. There are a few tables and chairs to sit at to enjoy your ice cream. I also recently discovered that they have another location in San Jose, so definitely come try the ice cream here, especially if you enjoy exotic flavors (they even have jackfruit as well~)

Amazingggg and almost otherwise unheard of fruity gelato flavors. From mangosteen to durian to guava. Sample them and explore.
Easily one of my favorite ice cream shops ever for the gelato alone.
–1 star for cash-​only.

So random to have an Italian gelato place in the middle of Chinatown (the real Chinatown), but it’s so ridiculously good. I’m so glad I found this place! They have a variety of flavors from your regular strawberry, to exotic flavors like durian. (My friends love the durian, but it’s not for me.) My favorite flavor is the taro! It’s sweet but not too sweet. The taro bits give it a good texture too. Yummy in my tummy!
The place is really small, there are only about 4 tables inside, so definitely not a good place to go if you have a big party. I reckon you can order to-​go and just loiter in the streets? Like many other places in this area, it is cash only, but there is a Chase down the street.

My favorite ice cream shop! There are many fruit flavors, unique flavors, and traditional flavors! Marco Polo has been open for many years and I haven’t had the chance to come back here until today. My friends and I wanted icecream but we wanted to go somewhere with easier parking and seating for 10 people. I can’t wait to come back again to try the other fruity flavors.
Flavors: I wanted to try flavors that are a little bit different today instead of staying on the safe side. They have flavors I never heard of before like Mangosteen and Soursop. I sampled the Durian and I really wanted to get that, but my friends thought the flavor was too strong and they don’t like the smell so I got different flavors for their noses =p
I ended up sharing a Medium with flavors of Mangosteen and Lychee. I really like how there are bits of fruits mixed in the icecream and the flavors of icecream are strong. It is not overly sweet and very fresh. You can choose more than one flavor if you want a small as well!
Small = 1 – 2 flavors, Medium = 1 – 3 flavors, large, Large = 1 – 4 flavors
Ambiance: The icecream shop is actually owned by Chinese instead of Italians. The name might trick you but there are Chinese words in the storefront and on the menu. There are plenty of seating which is convenient for a big party to hang out at. For the unique flavors, there are pictures which makes it convenient. However, the walls are a little runned down.
Service: The gentleman scooping our icecream was patient with my big party and gave us many samples.

Marco Polo is a small gelato joint. If you’re planning to sit inside, you will have to pay for sitting tax. Beware; this place take CASH ONLY.
Customer service was very basic, can’t expect too much out of places like this. It’s a small in and out kind of place.
If you’re in the Sunset Area and are craving for some regular yet exotic flavor of gelato, this is the place to go. My all time favorite is their DURIAN and GUAVA.
Other flavors I do recommend is Lychee and Pistachio.
Worth it.

$ 4.15 for a small sounds a little pricey to me. But my mom LOVES their coconut flavor, so whatever the price is, I’m gonna pay it! In reality, a small is really two full scoops of pure bliss. I really liked the Arcobaleno. The coconut is definitely a go to and I will occasionally get the black sesame. The green tea wasn’t potent enough for me. I really like that hard hitting green tea flavor. I occasionally get pints to go to bring home for my mom, who can devour a whole pint in one sitting. Beware! This stuff is amazing!
Pro-​tip:
Cash only establishment. Order to go so you don’t have to pay a sit in tax.
TLDR:
A small is more than enough. Can never go wrong with coconut.

I came about this place through Unilocal after having a deep craving for ice cream and I was glad to come across this place. It is very small shop but the variety of exotic flavors that make this place worth coming to. A lot of the flavors are distinct that I have not seen at any other ice cream parlor such as breadfruit, and durian to name a few.
The durian was definitely one of the best flavors they have there, and any durian lovers will really love it. With each bite, I kept thinkin to myself why didn”t I pay more and upsize my cup, but my stomach kept on telling me to stop! The only bad thing is that the ice cream here is kind of expensive for the amount that you get, but I am not complaining. I really really loved the durian ice cream here and I not wait to come back and eat it. Maybe this time I will get the bigger cup with 2 scoops of it!

Marco Polo is one of my top picks for gelato in the city! The gelato is homemade and the texture is dense, creamy, and packed with fresh flavor. It’s simple and perfect! What makes this unassuming, no-​frills shop really unique compared to other gelato shops is their variety of Asian flavors, including red bean, green tea, durian, lychee, guava, jackfruit, and mangosteen (my favorite!).
Marco Polo is easy to overlook in a city that is obsessed with gourmet ice cream and such, but they are worth the trip! There’s hardly ever a line and if there is, it’s usually a temporary after-​dinner wave. I’ve been coming here for 10 years and the quality and prices have stayed consistent and reasonable. I love coming here after a dumpling dinner on Taraval. Prices range between ~$ 4 – 7 and there are a few tables inside to kick back and enjoy your scoops of creamy bliss. Get ready to have a great night!

This place is expensive for gelato BUT every time things are more expensive than usual in SF, i think one thing… SF RENT. Gotta pay for the rent some how right –_–
Anyways, this place is really good for home made gelato. It is not ice cream so don’t expect that type of creamy texture. Every flavor is very flavorful and they have a huge variety to choose from.
I used to always go to this place after eating dinner at 8Immortal w my family. This place keeps it traditional and definitely is a great place to go for some gelato in the sunset district :)

I love gelato so I knew that I had to try this place with all its exotic flavors. I came in with a group and there was no line. Yay! The employee told us that the minimum to pay by debit/​credit card is $ 20, which is a bit inconvenient, but doable. We tried the different flavors like lychee, black sesame, durian, jackfruit, thai tea, pistachio, red bean and green tea. The employee was patient with us which we appreciated. I went with durian and lychee, flavors that you don’t find at most ice cream shops, let alone in gelato form. The durian is on point and pungent too. I kind of regret getting it as after about 4 spoonfuls, you get sick of it. The lychee on the other hand has a pleasantly mild flavor and is very delicious.
The service was somewhat lacking though. Yes, the employee was patient with us, but also cold like the gelato they serve. Right after serving our group, he went to the back and was on his phone or laptop. People started to trickle down as we were finishing up and they had to yell for the guy to help them.
I would come back again for the gelato, but I wish the service was a bit better.

Hidden gem on Taraval Street, the exterior of the store is unremarkable and there are only a few small tables inside, but the gelato is pretty good!
They have all the standard gelato flavors, and some special Asian fruit flavors such as mangosteen, dragonfruit, and durian. I got a small cup with 2 flavors: Venetian coffee and black sesame, both are really good. The Venetian coffee tasted strongly of coffee and slightly sweet, and the black sesame gelato flavor is bold. $ 4.50 for a small size is pretty standard for gelato and their quality is pretty good, so I will definitely come back to try the other flavors for sure!

Favorite flavors: green tea, red bean, guava
They have so many delicious flavors that you’d never find anywhere else! They also had hard to find flavors like: black sesame, lychee, durian, taro… I think you get the idea. They have your usual chocolate, but they also have flavors for basically any fruit you’d find in asia! I loved the selection of flavors.
I love how the ice cream remains true to the flavor/​fruit. The fruit flavors are very fruity and sweet, but not in a super heavy/​creamy way. All the flavors that I tried seemed high quality and full of the fruit/​flavor.
Ambiance and décor is very basic. It’s just very practical and didn’t really do much to add to the experience. But I guess when your ice cream is that good, you don’t need to.
Service was nice. They let me sample a few flavors and never complained or seemed annoyed. I always appreciate when employees are nice and wait for you to try the flavors!
Side note, $ 4+ is a little pricey for a small scoop of ice cream. But it does seem pretty high quality and full of fruit!

Hands down my favorite ice cream/​gelato place of all time!
I have been coming here since I was a little kid. I use to live nearby and my parents would always take my brother and I here for some ice cream. Now that we have moved away and are much much older now, I am still finding myself driving all the way out to Marco Polo just for the Durian gelato. Being a huge fan of Durian, this place makes the best Durian gelato EVER. I remember when a pint of the Durian gelato to take home was $ 8.00, but due to it’s popularity, it has now raised to $ 15.00/pint. They have a variety of flavors that you may not find in other gelato/​ice cream places as well. Flavors such as guava, mangosteen, taro, etc.
I love this place and will continue to come here until it runs out of business!

Dieser Laden liegt zwar am Arsch der Welt, aber er ist auf jeden Fall einen Besuch wert: hier gibt’s nämlich meiner Meinung nach das leckerste und wohl auch ungewöhnlichste Eis der ganzen Stadt. Und wenn ich ungewöhnlich sage, dann meine ich das auch. Für jemanden, der an einer Eisdiele in Deutschland auf sein Erdbeer– oder Vanilleeis nicht verzichten kann, für den ist das hier vielleicht nicht der richtige Laden. Wer aber experimentierfreudig ist und bereits einen Faible für fernöstliche Speisen hat, für den ist Marco Polo genau das richtig.
Meine Liebling-​Eissorten hier sind Sesam, Litschi und Azukibohnen (Azuki oder Red Beans sind eine typisch-​asiatische Nachspeise; jene roten Bohnen werden in Zuckersirup gekocht). Ich muss zugeben, dass ich mich selbst noch nicht an die Sorte «Durian» herangewagt habe: Durian ist eine Frucht, die auch gerne Stinkfrucht genannt wird… denn stinken, das tut sie wirklich! Viele aber lieben den Geschmack… ich erkläre mir dass so: es wie bei uns in Deutschland mit dem Limburger oder Munster Käse — der stinkt ungemein, aber für manche Leute ist er eine absolute Delikatesse!
Andere — ungewöhnliche Eissorten — sind: Taro, Annona… Einfach mal ausprobieren… ich werde mich demnächst auch mal an die Durianfrucht heranwagen!