Chaps Ice Cream

Charlottesville, United States

3.8

Open now

20 reviews

Accepts Credit Cards
Free Wi-Fi

Contacts

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Telephone:
+1 434-977-4139
Website:
www.chapsicecream.com
Address:
223 E Main St, Charlottesville, VA, 229102
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:
0.6 miCharlottesville Area Transit
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Bussiness info

Accepts Credit Cards
Yes
Parking
Street
Bike Parking
Yes
Wi-Fi
Free

Today

Today 8:00 am – 10:00 pm
Open now
Local time (Charlottesville) 8:38 AM Thursday, May 29, 2025

Business hours

Monday 8:00 am – 10:00 pm
Tuesday 8:00 am – 10:00 pm
Wednesday 8:00 am – 10:00 pm
Thursday 8:00 am – 10:00 pm
Friday 8:00 am – 11:00 pm
Saturday 9:00 am – 11:00 pm
Sunday 9:00 am – 10:00 pm

Description

Specialties

Chaps Ice Cream is an old-​fashioned ice cream parlor in Charlottesville, Virginia with all of the charm and fun of yesteryear!

All of our ice cream is made onsite and we custom create flavors to fit every request or desire with a huge variety of toppings available. Chaps Ice Cream is available in the store (which has a great, classic 50’s ice cream parlor feel) and we also make ice cream to take home! Not only do we make our own homemade ice cream, we make our own doughnuts too (family recipes that have been around for over 75 years!) Our fun-​loving crew values our customers and takes pride in their work and creating a cozy, delightful experience.

Looking for more than just a sweet treat? Chaps serves up some of the best bites around including burgers, sandwiches, shakes and coffee!

Need to take your event or special occasion to the next level? Ask us about serving our ice cream at your restaurant or special event! We would love to put smiles on your guest’s faces!

Chaps Ice Cream: more than a dessert, it’s a gourmet’s delight!

History

Established in 1949.

Chaps Ice Cream has been serving Charlottesville, Virginia since 1949.

Our mission is to provide delicious food in a classic, 1950’s-style, and friendly environment.

With over 65 years of success, we look forward to adding you to our long history of happy customers.

Meet the Business Owner

Tony L.

Business Owner

Tony has been in the old-​fashioned, ice cream business for as long as he can remember.

Growing up, Tony had an interest in making great food and the classic, retro-​motif familiar to Chaps that persisted to adulthood. Naturally, Tony chose to work in the nostalgic old-​fashioned ice cream parlor business.

Tony enjoys being able to serve the public at Chaps Ice Cream where exceptional food quality, service, and creating an authentic experience is the driving force of the business.

Tony hopes to provide you such a positive experience you’ll remember to return to Chaps Ice Cream when you’re in need of a great time and great food.

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Vicinity

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20 reviews of Chaps Ice Cream

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Place rating: 2
Charlottesville, VA
Ice cream is fairly decent.
The only thing worth mentioning is that I found a hair closely resembling a pube in the middle of one of my scoops. Rest assured, it was not mine.
Place rating: 2
Boston, MA
This used to be my favorite place for ice cream in town, but it has gone downhill. Several times in a row now, the ice cream has been icy, almost like it’s freezer burned. I always order cookie dough, so possibly it’s a quirk of how they make that flavor. By the way, the ice cream also rarely has actual chunks of cookie dough, just chunks of chocolate., so a big disappointment.
Place rating: 4
Arlington, VA
Yum! Their coffee ice cream claims that it’s best in town and I agree! It was delicious! And cheap! One scoop is about $ 3 with tax. The server was really nice. She kept her smile even when we asked her to try different flavors several times. Only downside of this place would be interior. It’s vintage.
I recommend this place if you’re around downtown cville!
Place rating: 4
Washington, DC
Walked into chaps with a big disappointment (because other ice cream joints we wanted to try in the area were all closed), but was pleasantly surprised by their ice cream! Very cheap, quick service and delicious. Their black raspberry is my personal favorite.
Place rating: 5
Charlottesville, VA
My friends and I were in and out quickly, which was nice. The ice cream was bomb diggity — I got the heath bar one. It was the perfect close to a Saturday night.
Place rating: 5
Reston, VA
Superb ice cream!!! Anyone who gives two stars because this super premium ice cream is ‘too expensive’ needs to take Econ 101. There’s a reason this place is hopping!
Great flavors (Deep Belgium Chocolate Cherry and the best Cookies ‘n Cream on earth).
Any ice cream lover should put this place on their buc
Place rating: 4
Charlottesville, VA
Stumbled upon this place because there was a long line of customers waiting to order. It was definitely busy on a Friday evening. The place is small but has booths for small groups to dine in but I’m pretty sure most of the people I saw came for the ice cream. The place itself has an old school 50s or 60s feel to it. It reminds me of the café in Back to the Future when Marty travels back to 1955 and encounters Biff bullying his dad at Lou’s Café. I ordered a scoop of pistachio ice cream in a cup. The flavor surpassed my expectations. This is one of the best I’ve had. Must try if you are a pistachio lover! Service was super fast. The time in line went by fast because you spend your time trying to decide what flavor you want to order and the next thing you know you’re already in the front of the line.
Place rating: 5
Deep River, CT
Delicious high quality creamy ice cream… Great atmosphere… Inexpensive
$ 2.50 tax included for creamy delicious super creamy (did I mention creamy!) ice cream. my vanilla is spotted with the vanilla bean, has a quality cone, well… Had I ate it all and seriously want a second.
Lovely service on a hot, busy Saturday.
fun diner atmosphere that doesn’t look too polished, like real antique coke machines in use, cracked tile floor and dinky signage with the plastic lettering. A real ol gramma is working the line too.
Quite a nice contrast to the super polished outdoor mall and neighboring stepford stores.
Place rating: 4
Chapel Hill, NC
Good vibes ice cream place. Black raspberry and cherry vanilla were both really good. Nice outdoor seating in a perfect location!
Place rating: 5
Henrico, VA
I usually go here for parking validation. Today I had the mocha chip ice cream with the four c’s chocolate ice cream in a homemade waffle cone. It tasted so good that I did not want my treat to end. Price is average around a $ 5. It’s cheaper if you don’t get the waffle cone.
But it’s so worth it. They hand make it and they try to do it so well, one time I saw an employee get burned from it. So basically a lot of effort goes into making these things taste good and I appreciate it.
Place rating: 4
Charlottesville, VA
Great atmosphere, good ice cream but my favorite part was actually the waffle cone. Very authentic, throwback feel with really friendly service!
Place rating: 4
Lewiston, ID
The ice cream was soooooo goooooood! The lady at the counter was very friendly and fun. The only reason I shorted the place a star is that it’s kinda pricey-​$ 14 bucks for 3 double scoops. That may or may not be expensive. Anyway the ice cream is great and the atmosphere is also great.
Place rating: 5
Silver Spring, MD
Stopped in with my girlfriend yesterday, after having the place suggested to her by a friend. She was not mislead!
The atmosphere was that of a small town 1960s diner, of which I am a fan. We were met at the counter by «Granny», who made the lunch experience fun and made us out-​of-​towners feel welcome.
On to the food. My girlfriend got their famous black bean burger, and it was obviously home made and utterly delicious. I got the pastrami sandwich, and I can honestly say that it was hands down the best I had ever had. Loaded with meat and on some great slabs of rye. Nothing crazy, just a darn good sandwich.
After a filling lunch, we still saved some room for ice cream (even in February), and it did not disappoint. It was perfectly creamy without being overly sweet or heavy.
I highly recommend finding some inexpensive parking nearby, and spending an afternoon wandering the promenade shops and starting or finishing with a stop at Chaps.
Place rating: 2
New York, NY
We came here after striking out at a few other places on the promenade for brunch, and with a retro diner feel to the décor, we thought it would be pretty standard fare. And it is — pretty solid breakfast and lunch options for very good prices as well (certainly cheaper than some of the other spots we were at). However, I think that the food simply wasn’t well attended to in most cases, I went with the standard two eggs with bacon and toast, along with a side of hashbrowns. Aside from being a bit pricey ($ 2.25) given the size, the hash browns were way overcooked. The crispiness was nice and different, but it was too dry. Same problem with the bacon — cooked way too long, so much that all of the strips were curled up and crunchy. The eggs were fine, and the toast was okay (although I wish I had gotten some jelly — but there was only one person manning the entire front of the store, so I didn’t want to bring it up because she was hardly around due to being too busy). I got some ice cream on the way out, but it was pretty average, and I wasn’t a huge fan of getting chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream that had zero cookie dough in it.
I do want to like this place — it’s a smaller joint that doesn’t stick out as much as a lot of the other spots in this part of town — but I have to say that I was disappointed with the quality overall. I’m a fan of diner food, but not when it’s apparent that attention wasn’t paid to a few of the items on the plate.
Place rating: 4
Centreville, VA
We stopped here after having dinner downtown. When we walked in, we were greeted by a worker. We had a sweet lady taking our order. She was super friendly and kind of reminded me of my granny. I got the butter pecan, my absolute favorite flavor, and enjoyed it. This is a cute local ice cream shop with good ice cream and I’d definitely visit again for a cone.
Place rating: 4
Triangle, VA
This place has a nice quaint cjarm and atmosphere about it. Good food, faor prices and a friendly staff. It’s also a great place to stop off for a home cooked meal. I had the eggs, sausage and hash browns while my daughter had the Philly cheese sandwich. Only knock is the Philly cheese had a lot of gristle.
Good place to stop.
Place rating: 3
Charlottesville, VA
Visited a couple times just for the ice cream because of the label of «homemade» and the fact that it has been around for more than 70 years intrigued me or my companions.
Flavors tend to be fairly generic and quality of it doesn’t seem as creamy or rich as other homemade ice cream I’ve had.
However, the service is friendly, the ambiance has character as it is a blast from the past, and cost is affordable compared to more pricey cold sweet treats in the Downtown Mall that serve gelato or froyo.
Place rating: 4
San Francisco, CA
Chaps has an Oreo ice cream that is just so good. The young man scooping ice cream cheered when I made my selection. Chaps is a feel good diner that looks like it has pretty decent food, and the ice cream is the perfect ending to a stroll around the downtown mall.
Place rating: 3
Egg Harbor City, NJ
Very good Ice Cream but expensive. The place has character.
Place rating: 2
New York, NY
$ 4.50 for a small cup with two scoops of ice cream. I guess $ 2 is for sitting in a cramped, peeling booth with cushion springs poking through under exposed beams as teenagers mack wetly and the person sitting behind you insists on slurping up the very last dregs of ice cream out of his sugar cone. The other $ 2.50 is for the homemade ice cream that has a little bit of a chalky aftertaste and isn’t creamy so much as watery. Tons of your run-​of-​the mill flavors (black raspberry, cookie dough) and two specialty flavors that they rotate out. Samples are allowed so don’t be shy to ask for a spoon of something before you make your decision. Extensive list of regular food.
I feel a little bad dumping on a local institution, but they seem to have made a name for themselves — almost every restaurant on the Mall that I’ve been to uses their ice cream for a dessert — and I just can’t get behind the winning combination of «expensive and not spectacular.»