Max’s Best Ice Cream

I miss Max’s, and like another reviewer, will always.
The flavors were fabulous, and the owners lovely. I expect I’ll never have ice cream as good again, and have a wonderful memory of eating ice cream there with one of my best friends.
Elise Yousoufian
Bethesda

Obviously there’s not much new to say here since the location is closed, but I just want to write that I will forever miss Max’s. The owners were always so friendly and always remembered my family and me. No more delicious maple walnut ice cream in the fall.
I may not live in the District any more, but mark my words: I will disown this neighborhood if something like a Coldstone opens up.

Max’s is closed permanently and Max is retired. His presence will be missed.

NOOOOOOOOOOO this place is closed now :(
They had delicious home made ice creams, home made whip cream. The sundaes were absolutely amazing.
Max was a sweet man, he was always friendly and patient even when I took forever to decide which flavor i wanted.
I will miss Max’s.

Best ice cream I’ve had in DC. Its real ice cream rather than the gelato knock offs that are more en vogue now. Great flavors and Max is a nice guy to boot. Definitely worth going out of your way to check it out!

I feel bad giving this place a bad review because I like to support locally owned businesses and who I assumed was Max seemed really nice and sweet. The ice cream was good also.
My qualms with this place are about the INSANELY small portion sizes given the price. It was almost comical how tiny the single scoops that the girl behind the counter gave us. It reminded me of trying to scoop rock hard ice cream with a plastic spoon when I was a kid. Maybe this was an anomaly, or she just didn’t have the arm muscles needed for scooping ice cream, but if you are going to charge $ 3.80 for a single scoop, please don’t make your customers feel like they are being ripped off. T Sweet’s down in Georgetown is also expensive (I get that this is DC) but in my experience the scoops there are decent sized and you never leave feeling ripped off.
Sadly, I will not be back to Max’s.

Best ice cream around made with heart and soul. Max and his family are wonderful. A friendly person and great neighbor.

I’ve visited Max’s twice since I’ve been in DC. Each time the ice cream has been wonderful — it’s a little expensive for ice cream but you can definitely tell it’s all homemade. I would recommend it to anyone in the area.

I have lived in DC for 2 decades and went here once, maybe twice and have had only a bad experience. It is waaaay overpriced for the tiny, mediocre portions. I do scrutinize ice cream more than average because I was lucky to grow up in New England where every town had at least one homemade ice cream store. My husband is from the midwest and thinks Klondikes are top of the line.
To top it off, the owner has been rude the times I did go in… which sealed my boycott on the place. The negative reviews on here from Rebecca S., L.C. and Nadine are more akin to what I have experienced. Poor Rebecca! It is almost comical. The positive reviews seem to come from parents with kids, so maybe he puts on a show because he knows that is his bread and butter.
I find Thomas Sweet, Ben and Jerry’s and Trader Joe’s (just the vanilla that is made by Rainbow in San Francisco — but I hear their chocolate is good as well) to be the best you can get in DC. Still not up to par, but I’ll settle for what I can get.

We enjoyed our first trip so much, we decided to pop in for another visit. The first time I had the chocolate orange choc-​chip cone and it was so yummy I told a few people about it! The second time, I was sad that Max had changed out the flavors. I chose the pistachio and it was probably the best pistachio I have had since I lived in Spain — not too sweet, and nicely speckled with nuts.
My son had the same thing both times and devoured his oreo and chocolate chip combo.
We’ll definitely go back next time we’re in town.

Joe Biden approves and you should too.
Best ice cream I’ve had in DC. Living a block away is dangerous. Always buy a pint.

My boyfriend and I are moving to Glover Park in a little over a month, so we ventured over from Van Ness to check out the neighborhood a little on a nice summer Saturday evening. We were in the mood for ice cream, so I was very happy that Max’s Best existed when I did a search before we left.
I was kind of surprised that it was cash only, but there’s an ATM in there if you don’t have any. The scoops are a little pricey, but it’s DC and it’s homemade ice cream, so that’s forgivable. I got a scoop of the Mexican vanilla and it was fantastic. Just the right amount of cinnamon. It reminded me of the flavor of a sopaipilla, which basically means it was delicious.
My boyfriend got a sundae consisting of vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, and M&Ms (his usual anywhere he gets a sundae). He said it was good, but not amazing. I think that’s because he got plain old vanilla ice cream when there were other more unique flavors to be had.
Also, the O’s vs. Nats game was on, and I am a huge O’s fan… so it was great to be able to watch the game while we enjoyed our ice cream. Max seemed nice. And I saw their pies in the case and those were some legit looking pies.
We’ll definitely be going back at some point, but we’re going to try to not make it a habit for obvious reasons.

This is a fun place is Glover Park. The owners are very friendly.
I like the vanilla ice cream sundae. Very creamy and perfect for summer. :)

’”Ooh, this is so good — what’s in this?” the answer invariably comes back, «cinnamon.» Cinnamon. Again and again’ — Jerry Seinfleld. I wouldn’t dare disagree with with Jerry but he left a few things out — truffles, mushrooms, and Graham Cracker. Let me tell you, the Graham Cracker Honey Ice cream at Max’s Best Ice Cream held true.
The honey delivered a perfect amount of sweet and complimented a perfectly smooth, creamy texture topped with graham cracker. I actually appreciated that the cracker was not too crunchy and was added during the freezing process rather than as a topping at the end. You can’t miss this one.
My other choice was a Mocha (chocolate coffee). Also not overly sweet, the coffee was a bit overpowered by the chocolate, hiding and only showing itself near the end of bite (or lick).
There is no question that I will be back — often. This place beats any of the ‘gelato’ places in DC I have been too and I love gelato. A unique plus, Max (or the older guy working) was charming and kind. He chatted with everyone, remembering many of their names — this place has many regulars.

There’s loads of character in the ice cream as well as the warm staff in this small, wonderful, mom-​and-​pop shop in Glover Park. The ice cream is full of flavor, and there’s an outstanding selection of flavors, many of which are a little or a lot away from the norm. The staff (the owners?) are friendly and patient, and they’ve decorated their place with pictures of children and well-​known faces who’ve come by to enjoy their ice cream, along with years of articles praising the quality and personality of Max’s Best. (I’m not sure what would make this five stars for me. .. maybe I’m just being unaccountably stingy. Regardless, four or five stars, this is an excellent ice cream shop that I’ll keep returning to.)

Four and a half stars. We almost missed it until I caught a glimpse of the neon signage. Good luck with street parking in this area. After we sampled, I pondered arm-​wrestling Sahar for the last scoop of Hazelnut & Cream, before grudgingly agreeing to a large Toffee Coffee milkshake. Apparently a smoothie was out of the question? Flavors were money and the ice cream had a lusciously creamy texture. Our only beef with these treats was how quickly they melted on a balmy night. I’ll definitely be back, even if it is cash only!

Love these mom-​and-​pop ice cream shops!!! Seasonal flavors, big plus. It’s pretty pricey though for a scoop (~$ 4) and not a very big scoop at that. but they are homemade and I like supporting local businesses. Had the cappuccino ice cream, was decent. my friends all thoroughly enjoyed their cones too.
CASH ONLY, and the ATM in there wasn’t working when we went. guy said it’d run out of money. Not sure if he was kidding.

I am so lucky to have stopped in for a dessert after dinner. We ordered a large ice cream sundae, and were disappointed how «small» it was, but we got to choose 3 ice cream flavors. Luckily we were there when they were offering spicy pumpkin, and boy it was awesome. We got homemade whipped cream it just made the sundae so much more special. No whip aerosol bottle here. Overall, the flavors were very delicious and the atmosphere was really inviting. Nice to out of towners.
I highly recommend this place for anyone looking for some delicious ice cream, and for those watching their waist lines, they also have frozen yogurts.
Oh yeah, CASH ONLY!
Plan to visit once more before leaving DC.

Awesome. Glover Park is lucky to have Max there.
Ice cream is pretty good, especially their vanilla flavor. My girlfriend really enjoyed the choclate coffee or something flavor that I didn’t as much because I’m not a chocolate fan. Ice cream Sundaes are $ 8.95 but well worth the price with 1 large banana, 3 scoops of ice cream, whipped cream, cherries, and optional caramel/​chocolate fudge to top them off. The combination is a very good desert on a hot day if you can spare the 2 934 823 098 432 095 047 397 670 912 billion gajillion googlillion calories in each Sunday. Best ordered with two-​three people per sundae.
Normally I pay very little attention to customer service and friendly staff, but this place goes beyond the usual and deserves praise. Max and Neda should be, if they are not already, Glover Park icons. My guess it that they already have that status as evident pictures on the walls. One of their patrons was Joe Biden.
On a Saturday, I came into the store asking if it was possible to produce a cake in 24 hours. The answer is no, and will take a week. Problem: Girlfriend’s birthday celebration is the next day and I thought I had no choice but go to Cold-​Stone at this point. (I had planned the week before to come here for a cake but had problems with transportation of cake, etc so that didn’t happen). I presented this problem to Max and he suggested that I have an Ice Cream social there instead with 4 ice cream Sundaes in place of a cake. He would bring the last one out with candles for the birthday girl.
After dinner the next day, 8 people came down for the ice cream social and Neda knew we were coming. Things didn’t go exactly as planned because my girlfriend ended up ordering her sundae first so we couldn’t bring out the sundae to her with candles. Instead, after everyone ordered, Neda gave me candles and matches to use. Then she brought out a plate and wrote Happy Birthday in chocolate pudding decorated with sprinkles. My girlfriend really enjoyed the plate just as much as Neda enjoyed making it. Neda offered helped us take a few group photos as well.
I’ve come to two conclusions. 1. When you combine amazing Ice Cream and a extremely generous owners, a simple ice cream experience can be magical. 2. An ice cream social is actually a crazy great alternative to a birthday cake. Not only is ice cream awesome, individuals can personalize their request.

Spicy Pumpkin Yogurt = Amazing.
They also have this seasonal flavor available in ice cream as well. And at $ 3.50 for a cone, that makes it cheaper than most frozen yogurt in this town. And unlike that fro-​yo, you can tell the sweets here come from the heart.
Cash only.

I’m not really an ice cream kind of person. I’ll take a Potbelly’s oatmeal chocolate chip cookie over ice cream any day, but Max’s Mint w/​Oreo pieces ice cream may just have me changing my tune.
It is so good and so satisfying! I wish I had a bigger freezer! My scoop was huge compared to the pared down version from my nearby B&J’s. I think I’d be a regular here if I lived in the neighborhood. I just may become an ice cream girl after all. Except, I’d still have my stash of chocolate in my ‘Have a Nice Day’ cookie jar.

Forget Larry the ice cream nazi in Dupont, Max’s lives up to its name.
The collage of pictures on the wall, the handmade signs made with markers, and Max serving you himself make me feel like a kid in a neighborhood ice cream parlor. But then there are the deliciously adult flavors: maple walnut, mexican chocolate, café vienna, etc. All the ice creams I have had have been creamy and flavorful, but not too sweet.
I don’t usually go out for ice cream but I make an exception for Max. So many ice creams to try, so much more time at the gym I need to spend.