BIg Buck’s Ice Cream and Coffee Bar

Do you take sugar? One lump or two?
With apologies to Def Leppard, all I could think of when I was in this place was «Pour Some Sugar On Me». I think they must have been singing about this confection shop because I have never seen so much sugar in one place. Candy, chocolates, fudge, ice cream… it was overwhelming!
It was not crowded when my friends and I, with four kids in tow, climbed the stairs to this second floor ice creamery. We had all eaten our dinners and therefore deserved the treat of ice cream. There are enough flavors for variety but not so many that you are overwhelmed (although I was halfway through my double scoop before some decisions were finalized).
The ice cream was good and the service was great. There is also a coffee bar but we focused on the ice cream and the experience was wonderful. True, we did have some hopped up kids to deal with for awhile but it was worth it.

I can appreciate some good homemade ice cream. This stuff is thick, creamy and delicious. There’s a lot of great flavors to choose from — something for everyone. They have a huge selection of ice cream cones — very cute :)
It’s definitely a bit pricey. We spent almost $ 25 for 2 adults and 2 children.
There are only a few tables inside but you’ll find a lot of chairs outside.
The «homemade» chocolate is not at all impressive. It’s just them melting down a below average quality chocolate and mixing it with nuts, berries or whatever. I wouldn’t recommend it.
We’ll definitely stop in again for ice cream.

This ice cream was so good. I mean SO good. I worked at an ice cream stand for almost 10 years, so I consider myself well versed in the sweet stuff :) The peanut butter chocolate was a perfectly flavored chocolate with huge chunks of peanut butter and the espresso chip was just perfect! The hubby had black raspberry and it looked very tasty as well. I would definitely recommend them and will visit again. And as a side note: if there’s a line out the door and down the walkway… well there’s one thing I learned when I started coming to OBX almost 20 years ago… get in line because it’s the best place around!!!

After an afternoon of abusing our skin in the sun, waves and sand the boy and I decided it was time to abuse our tummies as well. When you search ice cream in Corolla about a million places pop up but none seemed to be quite as beloved as Big Buck’s. It’s four star rating was enough for me!
We gassed up the car and drove five minutes down the road to the Timbuck Shopping Village, walked towards the back of the center and up the stairs to a tiny store filled with all things coffee, candy, chocolate and ice cream. It was better than Disneyland itself!
We were lucky enough that we did not experience a line so we got a good amount of time to ogle their large selection of homemade ice cream flavors. The boy got for the classic cookies and cream and cookie dough combo but I went for their black cherry chocolate chip and coffee toffee. Their scoops by the way were designed by giants so they are super generous!
There is not much room to sit inside the store but the shopping center has a little grove with adirondack chairs, a playground and sand so we indulged there. The ice cream was rich, creamy and obviously very homemade. As others have mentioned there was no ice chips, or weird frozen funky flavors just pure unadultered sugar, cream, and milk. Heavenly!

Sweet old school feel candy/​ice cream store. Every kind of candy you can imagine along with glass bottled sodas and even some sparklers!
The ice cream was good and while we were there you could watch them making chocolate treats that also looked delicious. I’ll be back for sure!

Best ice cream in the area. Cookie dough is to die for. Also had the caramel cups and cookies and cream. Both great.
You can taste the homemade quality. Much better than generic nonsense in the area.

Phenomenal ice cream… Don’t waste your time or money anywhere else. Ignore the line — from being in a line out the door, to ice cream in mouth is under 5 min. And it’s SO good. Great looking fudge selection, too. Kids loved it, parents loved it… Nuff said.

I was thinking of giving 3 stars but that would be generous. I’ve been coming to the Big Bucks for years, yet after this past visit I’m sorely dissapointed. I’m giving the place credit for its atmosphere and the taste of the ice cream is fantastic yet it is a RIP OFF. The ice cream is absurdly over-​priced. I payed $ 8 for a sundae (turtle) expecting a hefty amount of ice cream but I was barely able to share it with my girlfriend. The amount in the sundae was less than 2 scoops of ice cream you would get in a cone. Don’t be fooled by the whipped cream covering up the empty space where a lot more ice cream should have been. Never been swindled that badly… what a shame.

Delicious homemade ice cream and even some sorbet and sherbet. We had peach, chocolate, and butter pecan and all were amazing. You can definitely tell it was made from scratch and not from some frozen carton with ice crystals.

We didn’t try the ice cream here, but opted for the chocolate (which they make themselves). They have a huge variety of treats to choose from. The peanut butter cup is mostly chocolate and very hard to bite into. The peanut butter was very rich and creamy.

Do not be intimidated by the line out the door; it’s a testament to the greatness of this homemade ice cream! The employees keep the line moving much more quickly than expected.

All the negative reviews are correct. Nearly $ 5/​cone? Yup. Line out the door and nearly down the stairs? Chaotic bustle in a compact six-​tabled store? Yes and yes. Homemade ice cream that melts because it is fresh, not hardened from traveling from a warehouse in deep freeze? Yes. But all the positive reviews are right too. Huge line moves quickly due to 7 staff cranking through orders. Great flavors. See all the smiling faces? The people who continue to line up past the three other frozen dessert places with better locations? Nostalgia-​inducing candy? Yeah, all the kids get candy cigarettes. Can’t wait to go back for another butter pecan scoop.

Super duper ice cream happiness! The pretzel cone is awesome — hope the idea spreads nationwide. The store is a little cramped and the kids behind the counter could stand to learn some manners but the ice cream is so good I will probably come back in spite of the pukes scooping it.

Expensive but it’s homemade ice cream so you get what you pay for. It was delish and well worth it. The parking is tight and prime for a scrap or two with people nose diving into parking spots. But hey it’s darn good ice cream to take the swelling out of a puffy eye. Haha. I didn’t grab a coffee but they have great flavors of IC and coffee.

Went back today for more of the same flavors. Ice cream still delicious but I’m taking off a star for the cups. The teeny cups annoyed me the other night because the ice cream floods all over your hand but today was a little warmer and it really poured out of the cup, soaked the napkins I was holding under the cup, and dripped over my shirt. I’m all for being environmentally friendly (not sure if that’s the reason for tiny cups or not) but I killed a rainforest in napkins trying to contain the mess. Can’t imagine what a mess it would be with kids. Ice cream is great but be prepared with lots of napkins and wasted ice cream.

7 years in a row getting Big Bucks during our vacation in Corolla. Always look forward to their ice cream! Never had a bad flavor!

This ice cream was AMAZING! I’m so happy I read reviews and went here instead of all the other places in the area that just sell Edy’s ice cream from the grocery store. There’s an intense amount of flavors to choose from, with some delicious ones you won’t see around. They also have fudge and sell old school candy.
Just make sure you don’t accidentally go to the hamburger place that sells Hershey ice cream in front!

This is really good ice cream! There was a competitor that some of the people I was vacationing with tried the other night, they said «it is nothing but Eddy’s Icecream, I can get that from the grocery store.» So in a desire to have some homemade and local ice cream we came here.
We came to the right spot for sure, but so did the rest of OBX! The shopping plaza that is located in was super busy and the same was true inside the store. It was a little uncomfortable and I was surprised that people sat in the limited seating they had there. Even though it was balls to the wall busy the staff managed to keep the line moving. I was impressed considering that no one from the staff that spoke to us claimed English as their first language. Be sure to use the few precious moments you have in line to decide, no one likes the dude who can’t figure out what they want when there is a long line especially the parents who were badger to come there by their little ones. Speak clearly so there isn’t any confusion of what you want.
There is only one way in and out of the store so be prepared to get close to a couple of people as you enter and exit. They have other tasty treats there to choose from too, a nice display case filled with fudge and candy. This will not empty your pockets, but it ain’t cheap.
I’m definitely coming back! I tried the Black Cherry Chocolate chip and the Mint Oreo, they both were delicious! Now it’s time to devour their other flavors! Nomnomnomnom!

Combine one part candy store, one part coffee shop and one part ice cream parlor and you get this spot. You can’t even say you are a kid in a candy shop here because it’s impossible to limit it to that description.
I’m not a fan of coffee of any sort so I cannot tell you about that part. However, in the right conditions, I am a HUGE fan of candy and ice cream. They have all the old school candy you can think of. Rock candy, gummy things, powdery things and it all makes you feel like you are in an old time candy store. I ended up walking away with a bunch of Fun Dips.
But that’s not the only thing I walked away with. I of course had to get me some ice cream. I mean this stuff was homemade ice cream and who could pass that up. With my dietary restrictions, that was a blessing in disguise. I was in heaven. I had the chocolate chip and was not let down. Every bite was so flavorful that I wanted more, but I restrained and went on my way. It left a sweet taste in my mouth and I am sure I will stop here again if I come back to the Outer Banks.
It’s a honor to have this place be my 600^th review!

So glad we came here and not the other ice cream place in the shopping center! This is some of the best ice cream I’ve ever had period! It was so creamy and the flavors were like BOOM! They have a lot of creative but good flavors! I couldn’t decide what I wanted because they were all amazing! They had just as many different kinds of cones as ice cream flavors, I’ve never seen that before. I was in the mood for expresso chip, the coffee flavor was strong and they weren’t skimp on the chocolate chip pieces. My boyfriend got the mint chocolate chip which of course I liked better only because I didn’t order it. My brothers Oreo ice cream was dreamy. It comes with 2 scoops so if you can’t decide which flavors it’s way better to get 2 different flavors, wish I would have known that.
This place is tiny but they make a good ice cream! The cakes looked AWESOME. Best ice cream in the OBX.