IL Gelato Haleiwa

Haleiwa, United States

4.3

Open now

26 reviews

Accepts Credit Cards
Free Wi-Fi

Contacts

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Telephone:
+1 808-637-7100
Website:
ilgelato-hawaii.com
Address:
North Shore Market Place 66-250 Kamehameha Hwy, Ste C104, Haleiwa, HI, 96712
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Bussiness info

Take-out
Yes
Accepts Credit Cards
Yes
Parking
Garage
Bike Parking
Yes
Wheelchair Accessible
Yes
Outdoor Seating
Yes
Wi-Fi
Free
Good for Working
Yes

Today

Today 8:00 am – 9:00 pm
Open now
Local time (Haleiwa) 8:44 AM Saturday, June 21, 2025

Business hours

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

Description

Specialties

IL Gelato Café in Haleiwa is our new signature gelato café on Oahu’s fabled North Shore

Natural * Local * Authentic:

We make our gelato fresh on premise with our Italian vertical batch freezer Effe 6. We constantly create new flavors and only use natural ingredients. We do not use any artificial coloring, flavoring or preservatives. We sell scoops in freshly baked waffle cones or as a spaghetti gelato as authentic Italian Coppa (Italian word for sundae).

IL Gelato Café offers authentic Italian Illy espresso drinks, affogato and gourmet gelato milk shakes. We serve breakfast, lunch and dinner alternatives such as Belgian Waffles, French Crêpe (sweet and savory), fresh Acai & Pitaya Bowls and healthy and delicious fruit smoothies. We use our freshly made sorbettos and do not use any high fructose corn syrups.

We are located in the North Shore Market Place and have plenty of parking and inside and outside seating.

History

Established in 2015.

IL Gelato Hawaii started in 2010 with its wholesale operation in the Iwilei Business Center in Kalihi. We started from scratch making high quality gourmet gelato for hotels and restaurants. IL Gelato Hawaii’s owner Dirk Koeppenkastrop became a team member and gelato maker for the Gelato Team USA and competed at the World Championships in 2014 in Italy.

IL Gelato started catering «all you can eat» gelato at weddings and first birthday parties with its authentic Italian ice cream cart «IL Carrettino» and started retailing gelato at «Eat The Street».

In 2013 IL Gelato Hawaii opened its first retail Gelato Café in the Kahala Mall right at the center stage. After five year of waiting for the perfect location we opened our signature café in Haleiwa in 2015.

Dirk has become the Team Captain of Gelato Team USA and will compete at the Gelato World Cup 2016 in Rimini, Italy.

Meet the Business Owner

Dirk K.

Business Owner

As a University of Hawaii graduate with a Ph.D. in physical chemistry and a corporate food background, Dirk studied the Italian art of making gelato at Carpigiani Gelato University in Bologna, Italy. Later, he trained and worked with renowned international maestros and gelato «world champion» in Europe.

Dirk started his culinary carrier in his early twenties, working in the restaurant industry to finance his formal education. Italian gelato has been a passion all his live and he always wanted to have his own business.

After his Ph.D. he pursued an international corporate career. Working as Managing Director for the world largest private food laboratory in Europe, it was time for him to come back to Hawaii and to start his own network of retail and wholesale gelaterias in Hawaii.

His natural science background allows him to bring gelato-​making to a new level. Inspired by Roy Yamaguchi and Alan Wong, Dirk fuses Hawaiian and Asian flavors with traditional European gelato making. D

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26 reviews of IL Gelato Haleiwa

No registration required
Place rating: 5
Spring, TX
Hands down the best gelato I have ever had. A must eat if you’re in the area craving something sweet. Highly recommend.
Place rating: 5
Haleiwa, HI
One of the best coffee shops on North Shore. If you want authentic, strong European style coffee that’s smooth and not bitter this is your place! I lived in Germany and toured Europe, and their gelato, coffee and crepes are the closest you’ll get to Europe on the island!
Place rating: 5
Saint Paul, MN
I have enjoyed fantastic gelato in Haleiwa for the past 3 weeks. The assortment of creamy flavors and the friendly staff have kept me coming back.
Place rating: 5
Haleiwa, HI
Been here for 3 weeks and have had almost all the flavors. chocolate strawberry and lilikio. Both excellent, refreshing and great treat this afternoon. I also enjoy the mango, pineapple and vanilla. My wife has had the chocolate, Carmel sea salt, and others flavors. She has liked them all. Very good! We will be coming back for more …
Place rating: 5
Chicago, IL
Great gelato. We tried dragon fruit in waffle bowl and it was great. Great coffee too, and they had whipping cream.
Place rating: 5
Franklin, NC
Mo’ bettah! Best experience in Hale’iwa yet! Oh, and did I mention the Kona coffee gelato and homemade waffle cones are awesome? I’ll be back for sure!
Place rating: 1
Honolulu, HI
COSTUMER SERVICE AND MANAGEMENT IS TERRIBLE.
I walked in on Sunday 1⁄25 around 8:30 PM to order 3 shakes. It took almost 10 minutes before anyone even tried to take my order, (so clearly customer service is not part of their priority). When the manager CHARLIE heard what I wanted she made comments saying «Do you know how late it is?», «We already cleaned the machine up.», «Do you know how hard it is to clean?» What type of employee, much less, MANAGER thinks it’s right to speak to a customer with that much disrespect? She clearly had no control over her mouth or attitude and it is sad to see people working with an individual that is incapable of being a good example and lacks professionalism. The other girl there also made a similar comment. I mean all they’re going to do is use the gelato which is already made and make shake.
I work in a high stress environment and let me tell you this, if a customer wants ANYTHING at ANYTIME for ANY reason, we do not complain. Great customer service is a MUST and anyone that wants to speak to a customer with the disrespect she gave to me would be fired one the spot. There were other customers within earshot of her that turned and looked surprised by the things she was saying. Which is why I confronted Charlie about her attitude, but of course with any person that has the mentality of a child she did not want to listen and chose to argue with me and say «We’re remaking your shake, so you need to calm down.»
By the way… First time around my chocolate shake was the texture of cold soup. I didn’t order that.
I am disappointed that a company will keep someone that is clearly inexperienced and does not care about how they represent the company and the values they possess.
Bad customer service means bad product.
Place rating: 5
Schofield Barracks, HI
Even though they do not like cleaning their tables in a timely manner, we love this place! The Italian Ice Cream plays remembrance to summer time in Europe! #fivestars
Place rating: 4
La Verne, CA
Decent gelati. It’s one of a kind in the area. Since the town is known for Matsumotos shave ice (which is awful in my opinion).great for families. Nice indoor and outdoor lounge areas. I love the trash can shaped like an ice cream cone. Lots of flavors. Service can be slow at times. Prices are also steep since your in a high tourist area. Sucks for locals.
Place rating: 5
Austin, TX
Absolutely loved this little shop! It’s tucked away in a shopping center in Haleiwa. We were originally going to the coffee shop a few doors down but the lines were way too long and we really needed our coffee fix instantly. So we stumbled upon this place and I got the iced coffee (Kona drip) and I thought it was the most remarkable tasting coffee I’ve ever had. Holy crap! Maybe the taste was so new to me since I’m a mainlander but mannnn. I also had some of their dragonfruit gelato and it was so refreshing. Tart but not overly so. Would gladly return.
Place rating: 5
Seattle, WA
Yum! We came for breakfast and each had the Belgian waffle with gelato. It was delicious! Portions are big, so you could easily split it.
Place rating: 1
Pearl City, HI
DO. NOT. GO. I went tonight with my mom to try this place for the first time… They have a display with coffee mugs about knee height near the register. When she went to sign for the transaction her purse accidentally knocked one of the horribly placed mugs to the ground breaking it. A girl I’m assuming was the manager said with an attitude «We’re gonna charge you for that» and I thought she was kidding so I smiled and thought nothing of it… Then they asked for the money. I said «Are you serious? You’re going to charge us for an accident for your poorly placed mugs?!?» Then she responded back «It doesn’t happen that often,» again with an attitude. NEWS FLASH — If it has happened multiple times then your placement is stupid! I questioned again if she was serious and she said «Never mind, enjoy your night.» Her attitude was ridiculous and I will never be returning. They could have just written off the mug…
By the way… I’ve had lots of gelato in Italy, and this place isn’t that good and is overpriced.
Place rating: 1
Rancho Cucamonga, CA
Rude staff
High priced $$$
Gelato less than impressive
Save yourself the disappointment and go across the street for shave ice!
Place rating: 5
Honolulu, HI
Way better than the Kahala location, mainly because of their wider variety of the Spaghetti Gelato Sundaes (which I love) and the atmosphere. Went at night, and I am one who appreciates a well lite and fun atmosphere. One thing I would like to see this location support, especially since they’re using Square as their POS, is Square’s NFC/​Chip reader so that they can accept ApplePay and Samsung Pay. I am one who loves seeing local businesses getting involved with technology and it’s awesome to see them using Square.
Place rating: 5
Los Angeles, CA
Just wanted to «officially» say thank you SO much to Dirk and Nicole of IL Gelato Café for what my family is now calling «The North Shore Christmas Miracle!»
I accidentally left my glasses at the store on Christmas Day… but didn’t realize it until we were up at Turtle Bay… then returned a couple hours later to re-​trace my steps in hopes of finding the glasses…
Dirk and Nicole were thoughtful enough to keep them behind the counter in case I returned… and thus restored my faith in people who «do the right thing»!
I will always remember that small gesture of kindness… and now we have a new tradition to celebrate next Christmas when we are back on the North Shore… ice cream breakfast at IL GELATO! Plus they have great Illy Espresso! It is a true oasis of pleasure!
Place rating: 5
Honolulu, HI
Amazing gelato place in North Shore Marketplace. When you step inside you get all the urban and friendly vibes. Very modern and fun place to go on a sunny day. The staff are all very kind and funny. The gelato is very smooth and delicious. This place is a bit on the pricy side, $ 3.75 (US) for a small gelato in a cup. There is outside seating which is kept very clean. Once you have sat in their outside area they come around offering everyone water. How kind of them. Be prepared to wait 2 – 6 minutes depending on the weather, it is even busy during heavy rain. Definitely recommend for everyone.
–Food Captain
Place rating: 4
Honolulu, HI
Really good gelato and oh yeah make it an afogato! Two shots of expresso steamed over a scoop of your favorite gelato flavor (pistachio for me).
Gelato was creamy, rich, and packed with flavor for your taste buds.
Located in Haleiwa town, quick friendly service. Plenty of indoor and outdoor seating. Great place to bring the kids for dessert after eating at one of the many restaurants located nearby.
Place rating: 5
Pearl City, HI
I was very impressed but only with three things about this place. The quality of the ice cream, the décor of the restaurant, and the friendliness of the staff. The place was fantastic, and it has everything that a good frozen dessert place should have. The Gelato was delicious and local, and the nice ladies behind the counter really cared about he customers.
This place is my inspiration. I love it, and I will definitely be back for more every time I am at the North Shore.
Place rating: 5
Honolulu, HI
I just loove the different flavors of ice-​cream, very creative and inventive. You have to try the pineapple kale flavor for sure, its a sorbet and just tastes like paradise.
Besides the amazing waffles, ice-​cream and coffee, what I love about this location is the big outdoor veranda. It really creates the atmosphere of an european out door café and that was something that I really missed here.
They serve espresso in the real cups (porcelain) and there is no plastic plates or glasses, which I really appreciate.
Its the perfect stop on a sunny day in Haleiwa!
Place rating: 5
West Linn, OR
One of our favorite stops this trip. Wait staff was fantastic, selection (and samples) was outstanding. Great crepes selection as
Well, thinking we may wander back for those one morning.
Place rating: 3
Kaneohe, HI
If you are willing to drop a little more dough on some good quality frozen treats, then this place is worth going to. There are many different selections of unique gelato that they sell along with toppings and different style of cones. One unique thing about this place is that they make their own waffles (and waffle cones) which you can order with your gelato with whip cream and chocolate syrup. The servers are very nice and will encourage you to sample as much as you want until you find the flavor you like. Don’t be afraid of some of the unique or exotic flavors they have. There are many sweet eateries on the north shore, but this place is deffinately worth checking out
Place rating: 4
Honolulu, HI
We stopped in for an espresso and some gelato and liked the place. They serve espresso in the correct cups (porcelain, with a plate and espresso spoon) although they did pull the shot a little too long. Next time I will just specify that I want a «short» pull.
We also had some delicious lychee sorbet. I cannot get enough of this fruit and the sorbet tasted just like them! They have indoor and outdoor seating with comfortable chairs. Good stuff. We will likely come back here whenever we are in the nabe.
Place rating: 5
Pearl City, HI
I really like this place. The staff is very friendly and helpful and everything that I’ve had here is so good. Their gelato is made fresh on premises, they always have different flavors, and the owner/​manager (who is Italian, I think) will give you a fresh sample right out of the gelato making machine-can’t beat that. Their waffle cones and bowls are also made fresh so they’re nice and cripsy and flavorful. I especially like their affogatto and iced coffees (made fresh with great coffee). I haven’t tried the crepes (both sweet and savory options) YET but that’s next on my list. I’ve been coming here just about every week since they opened and I’m never disappointed.
Place rating: 5
Pleasant Hill, CA
It’s super hard to earn 5 stars from me when it comes to gelato, but this shop was really great! It was clean and the employees were very nice. The flavors were unique and I think that people visiting Hawaii are more interested in having delicious local fare than real Italian gelato, so in that regard, they nailed it. I had Tahitian Vanilla/​Kula Lavender. The other tempting local flavors were mango, lilikoi cheesecake, dragon fruit, and coconut. I would love to go back to order a chai latte or acai bowl, and I would definitely go back for the gelato again.
Lots of gluten free choices!
Place rating: 4
Las Vegas, NV
Located in the North Shore Marketplace next door to Cholo’s, Il Gelato has made it’s way out to the North Shore! We visited during the «soft opening» phase.
With a slightly different set up than their Kahala location, the flavors offered are still the same, and while they don’t do any of their Gelato Coppas here, you can still get a cup or cone here as well as gelato paninis, Gelato drinks and coffee, Italian sodas, acai bowls waffles, crepes, and any gelato or sorbetto flavor in «spaghetti «form.
We went with the Classico Spaghetti Gelato, a Biscottini Gelato Panini and an Illy Cappucino since at the time, they were not offering crepes and waffles. While it looks cool and tastes great, the spaghetti gelato just melted too fast and the bread on our panini could have been a bit more crisp and warmer. Vanilla Gelato was inside too, when I ordered Biscottini-​probably miscommunication though when a young girl took my order, and another gentleman made the panini.
Of course there are some kinks to be worked out, but this is a great spot to hit up after a hot day at the beach and you can also see small batches of gelato being produced right on the spot. Looking forward to coming back and trying their waffles and crepes as they are not available at the Kahala location. ALOHA!
Shaka Meter: \uuu/​\uuu/​\uuu/​\uuu/​4
Place rating: 5
Kahala, Honolulu, HI
Wow,
this gelato is something like you’ve never had before. The creamy texture melts on your tongue and burst into flavors like fireworks. The rich combination of local flavors are combined with classic Italian ones, like dulce latte (caramel milk crème), stracciatella (milk based chocolate chip), gianduia (a hazelnut chocolate gelato) and many more.
The gelato is made from scratch, daily, and is truly authentic. The owners, Dirk and Nicole studied gelato making in Italy and brought the craft over to the Hawaiian Islands.
This is the second location for the local company IL Gelato, (the other one is in Kahala mall), but with this shop, a retail store was created where everyone who visits will feel at home. There’s plenty of parking in front of the store, as well as outdoor and indoor seating where one can either order a panini, a crêpe, a Belgian waffle, an Italian Sunday, or just a scoop of gelato in a cup or in a cone.
I strongly recommend checking this place out, and try some of the delicious gelato and other delicacies. You will be served by a friendly, open and helpful staff that will greet you with a smile.
Best gelato you could imagine!