Ice Cream Shops in Cincinnati, OH With Vegetarian and Vegan Options
Seven Cincinnati ice cream shops name a dairy-free item on their own sites, and at four of them it is something creamy rather than a fruit ice. Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams in Norwood, Hello Honey downtown and Simply Rolled Ice Cream in Over-the-Rhine make vegan ice cream, and uGOgelato by Findlay Market makes vegan gelato, while at Graeter's on Fountain Square, Dojo Gelato and Aglamesis Bro's in Oakley Square the dairy-free choice is sorbet or Italian ice. Every shop here works for a vegetarian, so the table is really about the vegan in your group.
That creamy-or-fruit split matters more than the ratings, which only run from 4.0 at Simply Rolled to 4.8 at uGOgelato. If the person skipping dairy wants what everyone else is having, pick one of the first four. A group set on the Graeter's flagship or the old Aglamesis parlor can still go, and the dairy-free friend orders a lemon or raspberry ice.
Our picks
- Widest choice of vegan flavors: Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams (Norwood). A full coconut-cream line, including Texas Sheet Cake, Dark Chocolate Truffle and Cold Brew, plus a patio and easy parking in Norwood.
- Creamy vegan gelato: uGOgelato (Findlay Market). Plant-based gelato gets equal billing with the traditional kind, and its 4.8 is the top rating in the table.
- A dessert outing with kids: Simply Rolled Ice Cream (Over-the-Rhine). Two vegan bases rolled to order on a frozen plate while you watch, in a sit-down room a block off Washington Park.
- A 1913 parlor with dairy-free ices: Aglamesis Bro's (Oakley). The Oakley Square room opened in 1913, and its eight Italian ices, from lemon to pineapple, are each listed as dairy-free.
At a glance
| Option | Address | Neighborhood | Dairy-free option | Style | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 511 Walnut St, Cincinnati, OH 45202source | Fountain Squaresource | Sorbetsource | Scooped ice creamsource | 4.2source | |
| 2755 Park Ave, Norwood, OH 45212source | Norwoodsource | Vegan ice creamsource | Scooped ice creamsource | 4.5source | |
| 137 W Elder St, Cincinnati, OH 45202source | Findlay Marketsource | Sorbetsource | Gelatosource | 4.4source | |
| 725 Race St, Cincinnati, OH 45202source | Downtownsource | Vegan ice creamsource | Scooped ice creamsource | 4.6source | |
| 32 W 12th St, Cincinnati, OH 45202source | Over-the-Rhinesource | Vegan ice creamsource | Rolled ice creamsource | 4source | |
| 3046 Madison Rd, Cincinnati, OH 45209source | Oakley Squaresource | Italian icesource | Scooped ice creamsource | 4.4source | |
| 1733 Elm St, Cincinnati, OH 45202source | Findlay Marketsource | Vegan gelatosource | Gelatosource | 4.8source |
How deep each shop's dairy-free menu goes
Among the creamy four, Jeni's goes furthest, with a whole coconut-cream line treated as full flavors. Simply Rolled keeps two vegan bases, a cashew-and-coconut vanilla and a dark chocolate, and rolls in whatever mix-ins you choose. Hello Honey's current board has one creamy vegan flavor, a cookies and cream, beside mango lemon and strawberry sorbets. uGOgelato's list changes daily through summer and weekly in winter, so the vegan flavors you find depend on the day.
On the fruit side, Dojo Gelato is the steadiest bet, with at least three vegan sorbetti always in the case. Aglamesis lists eight Italian ices, including champagne and cranberry. Graeter's has sorbet in lemon, raspberry, strawberry and mango, but the vegan Perfect Indulgence line it launched in 2020 no longer appears on its site, so an older list that sends you there for a non-dairy scoop is out of date.
Two dairy-free stops at Findlay Market
Findlay Market is the one spot where a dairy-free visitor gets a choice on foot. Dojo Gelato's original stand is at 137 W Elder St and uGOgelato is a few steps from the market at 1733 Elm St, and between them they cover both sides of the split: Dojo for fruit sorbetti, uGOgelato for vegan gelato. Dojo also takes its espresso seriously, which makes it a market breakfast stop. uGOgelato keeps short hours and closes on Mondays, so check before building a trip around it.
Where a group can sit, park and linger
Jeni's, in the Factory 52 development on Park Avenue, has a patio and easy parking, which is unusual on this list, though weekend evenings get busy and its prices are the highest here. Simply Rolled is a bright sit-down room. The two century-old names are the tightest fits: Aglamesis has a handful of tables under its Tiffany lamps, so a big group will be standing, and the Graeter's Fountain Square shop is small and quick, a place to take your cup to a bench out on the square.
The options in detail
Graeter's Ice Cream (Fountain Square)
Cincinnati's best known ice cream, made since 1870 in two-and-a-half gallon French pots, one batch at a time, which is what gives it the dense texture and the boulder-sized chocolate chunks in Black Raspberry Chip. The Fountain Square shop is the downtown flagship: small, quick, and best enjoyed on a bench outside on the square. For anyone skipping dairy the answer here is sorbet rather than ice cream, in lemon, raspberry, strawberry and mango. The vegan Perfect Indulgence line Graeter's launched in 2020 no longer appears anywhere on its site, so do not count on finding a non-dairy scoop.
Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams (Norwood)
An Ohio company (Columbus, not Cincinnati) whose local shop sits in the Factory 52 development on Park Avenue in Norwood, with a patio and, unusually for this list, easy parking. Jeni's runs the deepest dairy-free range of any shop here: a coconut-cream line that includes Texas Sheet Cake, Dark Chocolate Truffle and Cold Brew with Coconut Cream, treated as full flavors rather than a consolation. Every scoop comes with a piece of waffle cookie. Prices are the highest on this list, and weekend evenings get busy.
Dojo Gelato (Findlay Market)
The Findlay Market stand is Dojo's original, and everything in the case is made by hand in five-gallon batches at its Northside kitchen. Flavors rotate constantly, so it is worth asking what is in today rather than arriving with a plan. This is the most dependable stop on the list for anyone avoiding dairy: there are always at least three dairy-free, vegan sorbetti next to the gelato. The espresso is taken as seriously as the gelato, which makes it a good market breakfast as well as a dessert stop.
Hello Honey (Downtown)
A downtown shop making everything on site since 2012, waffle cones included, which you can usually smell before you get to the door. The rotation runs to honey lavender, banana honeycomb and brown butter caramel, and three of the current flavors are non-dairy: a vegan cookies and cream plus mango lemon and strawberry sorbets. Staff are generous with samples, which helps when the board changes. Hello Honey has two other shops, on Madison Road and Ridge Avenue, but Race Street is the one to aim for on a downtown evening.
Simply Rolled Ice Cream (Over-the-Rhine)
Ice cream poured onto a frozen plate, chopped together with your mix-ins and scraped into rolls while you watch, which makes it as much a small performance as a dessert. The two vegan bases are the real draw for dairy-free visitors: a vanilla built on organic cashew milk and coconut cream, and a newer dark chocolate blending cocoa, cashew and coconut cream. It is a bright, sit-down room a block off Washington Park, good with kids. Worth knowing that the shop is too small to keep separate equipment, so it cannot promise an allergen-free preparation.
Aglamesis Bro's (Oakley)
The Oakley Square parlor opened in 1913, built with Portuguese marble and hung with Tiffany lamps, and it is the closest thing Cincinnati has to a preserved turn-of-the-century ice cream room. The family has been making ice cream and chocolates to the same recipes since 1908. The dairy-free option here is Italian ice rather than a non-dairy ice cream: lemon, lime, red raspberry, strawberry, champagne, cranberry, peach and pineapple, each described on the menu as a dairy-free frozen dessert. It is a small room with a handful of tables, so a big group will be standing.
uGOgelato (Findlay Market)
A few steps from Findlay Market, run by a second-generation Sicilian gelatiera who makes every batch on site, with the recipe list changing weekly in winter and daily through summer. The shop puts plant-based gelato on equal billing with the traditional kind rather than tucking it into a corner of the case, and regulars single out the vegan flavors for texture as much as taste. Expect to be offered tastes before you choose. Opening hours are short and it closes on Mondays, so check before making the trip.
How we researched this
The test for this list was each shop's own menu or website: it had to name a dairy-free or vegan item in words we could quote, and 7 of the 48 candidates we looked at made the final list. That rule is why Cincinnati's creamy whips, Putz's, Zip Dip and a dozen others, are missing: several serve Dole Whip, but none states a dairy-free claim on a page we could cite, and a dietary restriction is the wrong thing to guess at. Buona Terra, which still tops vegan lists traced to a December 2020 magazine article, is gone. Madisono's sells pints rather than running a shop, Eishaus in Covington sits across the Kentucky line, and Buzzed Bull Creamery and Whipty-Do in Maineville are about 22 miles out, past the Hamilton County line we drew.
Each business appears once, though Hello Honey also has shops on Madison Road and Ridge Avenue and Aglamesis has Montgomery and Hamilton. Every rating comes from Restaurantji so the numbers compare, but the review counts behind them run from 74 for uGOgelato to 340 for Aglamesis, so the top score rests on the fewest reviews. There are no blank cells, and no price column because none of the seven posts a per-scoop price. The table records what each menu calls dairy-free, not how it is made: Simply Rolled says its shop is too small for separate equipment, so anyone with a milk allergy should ask at the counter, and with flavors rotating at several of these shops, ask what is dairy-free in the case that day.