Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory
The Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory is fantastic. The view is unparalleled and the ice cream, though limited in flavors, is excellent. The portion size is huge! (take that, Hagen Daaz!) Unfortunately, the very expensive milkshake was disappointing. Bottom line? If in the neighborhood, you may find me there again, especially on a nice warm day. But, I'm not sure I'd wait in an hour-long line, or come to Brooklyn just for a cone. Try an ice cream in a waffle cone.
Atmosphere
Housed in a 20's fireboat house directly under the Brooklyn Bridge and overlooking a magnificent NY skyline. The Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory undoubtedly has the best view of any ice cream store, EVER! But, the inside isn't bad either. With white tin ceilings and an old wood floor, the space is kept simple, airy, and easy, like an ice cream parlor of yesteryear, but without trying too hard. The old low counter is wide and accessible, as is the sign of limited, but handcrafted, flavors suspended from the ceiling. Several small cafe tables are inside but, of course, the best place to eat your ice cream is looking at the fantastic Manhattan skyline. We went on a chilly weeknight and walked right in, but on a nice day you can expect a long line.
Service
Very friendly and accommodating.
Food
Being accustomed nowadays to so many sophisticated and complicated ice cream flavors, I was surprised at the limited and extremely simple choices here: vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, coffee, butter pecan, peaches & cream, vanilla chocolate chunk, and chocolate chocolate chunk. That's it. But, as I thought about it, there is never anything wrong with a good vanilla (always my personal favorite anyway) or strawberry ice cream, especially if they are done expertly well.
That said, I still have no idea why I chose the most complicated ice cream on the board: chocolate chocolate-chunk. I guess I was thinking that the chocolate would be top quality and probably not too sweet and, for some reason, I was in the mood for chocolate. I asked for a simple single scoop ($3.50) on a waffle cone (.50 extra), and it came as more like a triple scoop, ice cream bulging over the little homemade cone. Really, it was huge! The ice cream itself was rich, intense, creamy, and tasted completely of cocoa, as in not too sweet. The chunks were excellent-quality dark chocolate, my favorite! The cone was so fresh and crisp, it fell apart with each bite. It was perfectly crunchy and not too thick or sugary. After gasping at the size, I had no problem eating all of it, though I did feel a little sick (in a good way) afterwards. If I had known the cone was going to be so big, I would have stuck with a simpler flavor.
James tried a strawberry milkshake ($7.50) that was a little less enjoyable. Though tasting of very fresh strawberries it was too thin and milky, making it more like strawberry milk than a milkshake. For so much more money than the cone it wasn't a good value, especially since he didn't enjoy it very much. We both agreed that the strawberry ice cream alone, though, would probably have been delicious.
That said, I still have no idea why I chose the most complicated ice cream on the board: chocolate chocolate-chunk. I guess I was thinking that the chocolate would be top quality and probably not too sweet and, for some reason, I was in the mood for chocolate. I asked for a simple single scoop ($3.50) on a waffle cone (.50 extra), and it came as more like a triple scoop, ice cream bulging over the little homemade cone. Really, it was huge! The ice cream itself was rich, intense, creamy, and tasted completely of cocoa, as in not too sweet. The chunks were excellent-quality dark chocolate, my favorite! The cone was so fresh and crisp, it fell apart with each bite. It was perfectly crunchy and not too thick or sugary. After gasping at the size, I had no problem eating all of it, though I did feel a little sick (in a good way) afterwards. If I had known the cone was going to be so big, I would have stuck with a simpler flavor.
James tried a strawberry milkshake ($7.50) that was a little less enjoyable. Though tasting of very fresh strawberries it was too thin and milky, making it more like strawberry milk than a milkshake. For so much more money than the cone it wasn't a good value, especially since he didn't enjoy it very much. We both agreed that the strawberry ice cream alone, though, would probably have been delicious.
Cleanliness
Immaculate.
Pros
Beautiful setting overlooking the Manhattan skyline, nice atmosphere inside and pleasant friendly service. Wonderful hand-crafted ice cream and delicious cone. Cone prices are a great value.
Cons
So-so and very expensive strawberry milkshake was disappointing.