Three Twins Ice Cream

*** In Short ***
Small shop serving up scoops and pints of soft, creamy ice cream.
*** In Depth ***
I’ve admittedly never been a huge fan of Three Twins, especially when compared to other shops in the city like Humphry and Mr & Mrs, partly because of the flavors, and partly because of the texture of their ice cream.
To that first point: I’d only had their ice cream in «typical» flavors previously, and only in the little individual serving cup sizes (thanks Über), all of which were, well, really average. Actually going into the shop this time allowed me access to a larger variety of samples, of which I found their butterscotch pecan and maple walnut flavors to be rather tasty!
To the second point: if you like harder and denser ice cream like I do, you’ll find Three Twins to be a little less than substantial, as their ice cream is of the fluffy, soft, and creamy variety. If you think of mousse or cottage cheese, you won’t be too far off in imagining the actual texture.
Now, I certainly wouldn’t go out of my way to go to one of their shops, like I would with other ice cream shops, but now that I know they have some flavors I’d actually enjoy, I’d certainly consider them for post-​dinner dessert if I were in the area!
Also, bear in mind that this shop is pretty small, and has no seating whatsoever. Definitely a grab and go kind of place.
***Accessibility Info***
Venue — Besides being located on a slight grade, this shop is TINY, AND the door opens inwards. That said, if there isn’t anyone inside, it should be just large enough to not pose any issues for maneuverability. The ice cream case is your standard height case, which means if you want samples, you’ll need to either reach up for the tasting spoons, or ask the staff to hand them to you by the lower cash register counters.
Bathroom — Pretty sure this shop doesn’t have any public ones.

Expert Advice: GO ALL IN! The whole pint is $ 5, just $ 1 more than getting two scoops. Just do it!
Make the happiness last a little longer, and go for the pint.
*My favorite is lemon cookie.

The shop was closed during the staff’s break so we went to dinner and came back. I got a cone of land’s honey and milk (wonderful flavors but a bit icy) with Chocolate brownie (I forgot the name). The chocolate was creamy and brownie was delicious.
I was so excited to be here! I’ve been a fan of their pint sizes. Still looking for the chocolate orange confetti pint sizes :(

Cute little ice cream shop with some interesting flavors. On my most recent trip, they had cardamom and lemon cookie, and unfortunately the couple in front of me got the last scoop of lemon cookie :((((((So I opted for mint cookie since you can’t go wrong with that flavor. The mint flavor was present but not overpowering, and the cookies were soft and I got the perfect ratio of ice cream to cookie with each bite. I really like that they offer the teeny or teensy size because for me, even that is a lot. They don’t have as many unique flavors as other places but the ice cream here is still good and better than your average ice cream store. I think it’s just hard to compete in SF where there are so many unique options like Bi-​Rite, Humphry Slocombe, Smitten, etc.

Great ice cream, but not a great location.

This was a sad disappointment. I’m a huge ice cream fan and think SF is the capital of awesome ice cream. Three Twins is very well established up here. The ice cream was crystally, not a great texture outside of that, and not a big flavor thrill.
Stick to humphry slocombe, bi-​rite, smitten…

Oh my, I might have just found one of my top favorite ice cream places in the city!
I didn’t know Three Twins had their own independent ice cream shop, so I was very excited to see on Unilocal that they did. The shop was surprisingly very small though. it can probably only hold 5 – 6 people comfortably; no seating available either!
My friends and I sampled maybe more than half of the flavors available (There’s only ~12 flavors available at one time I think. We would get one hefty sample of each and split it among us. so we were being mindful/​considerate and weren’t that annoying heh.) Scott, the ice cream server, was very patient and generous with sampling!
Honestly, there wasn’t one flavor I did not like. There were some I liked more than others of course, but most of them were creamy, sweet enough (but not overly sickening sweet), and had unique robust flavors! A few that stood out to me were chocolate orange confetti and blueberry, but the true winners were lemon cookie (a favorite of mine for years) and my new found love, caramel truffle swirl!!! Definitely give those two a try if they’re available!
Portions were huuuuuuuuge! A single (1 – 2 flavors) was $ 4.00, but the amount and quality (it’s ~organic~ too if you care… lol) definitely makes up for it. My single felt like a double scoop! I believe they switch up their display flavors from time to time, so that must be fun. (But also could be a hit or miss depending if your favorite flavor isn’t available) They also sell pint sized ice cream tubs to-​go, which can be convenient for some!

These girls make addicting ice cream. Three Twins cookie dough ice cream… done deal
Highly recommend this place/​ice cream! One of the best

Cute little ice cream shop! (Seriously, very little lol)
My bf got a sundae that came with his choice of 2 ice cream flavors, pistachios, olive oil, and whipped cream. I forgot the name of it but it was surpisingly good! He got his with the Chocolate Orange Confetti and Bittersweet Chocolate. I normally don’t like chocolate orange flavors but this ice cream was really good! It totally overpowered the other one though. So if you get this sundae I suggest not getting two chocolate flavors. The olive oil was an interesting addition to the sundae but it did not taste weird at all!
The other flavors they had that day didn’t impress me much so I just got a simple Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream in a waffle cone. Loved that the guy gave me lots of cookie dough chunks: D
There’s no seating inside so we had to eat our ice cream at a bus stop haha. That’s the only downside to this place. I would come back if I was in the area but my other favorites (Humphrey and Bi-​rite) have better flavors in my opinion.

Stopped by after grabbing some cream puffs at Choux since the bf wanted ice cream. We were drawn in by the beautiful flavors on display — but after trying multiple flavors found that none of them tasted very good. At that point it was too late to leave, having taken samples we were stuck to buy a cone. We gave one more flavor a try — Blueberry, and luckily it was passable enough to buy and go on our way. Phew.

It was a «hot» SF day (can you imagine?) and my friend and I decided to stop by for a quick Ice Cream break.
I managed to get a sample of the coffee flavored cookies and cream, it tasted very strongly of roasted beans and will definitely please the coffee-​lovers out there.
I totally forgot what flavor I got personally… but it was good!

Me: 3 months ago: «this is the BEST flavor I’ve ever had!»
Me: 2months ago: «when are you getting that flavor again?!»
Me: 1month ago: «I must’ve been tripping, the flavor couldn’t be as good as I remembered it. I am just embellishing the memory.
Yesterday: «I hate Three Twins! Why don’t they have my favorite flavor again? I don’t ever want to eat ice cream!»
Today: «WUT?! it is back?* OMG I cannot believe this flavor is as good as I remembered! Better even! How is this even possible? Why don’t they have this everyday?!»
*There is a list for people who want certain flavors you can get on, and when the flavor comes in they will call you. Finally our dream flavor «Stormy Night» came back. It is like a brownie dipped in fudge made of chocolate bliss. We bought several pints :) today and are going back tmrw for more!

LEMON COOKIE.
Seems like others love this flavor as well. I was blown away when I first tasted this concoction. Bits of vanilla cookie pieces swimming throughout a lemon tasting ice cream. Not strong on the lemon flavor, so don’t expect lip puckering — just a hint for that refreshing taste. I would come back again and again just to get this.
Anywho, they’re located in the small neighborhood of Lower Haight. The store itself is small — you most likely just want to order your ice cream and leave (otherwise you’ll soon develop claustrophobia). Ask for tastings if you can’t decide, but I’ll make it easy for you: lemon cookie!

Thanks, Unilocal,for suggesting this ice cream place in a food fun market! It hit the spot after a day of drinking, and you can tell this is some high-​quality ‘cream.
Highly suggest the chocolate peanut butter cup. At $ 3.50 for two scoops, it’s a good deal, too! And the guys serving are really nice.

Purchased a mini tub of chocolate ice cream at their booth at Off the Grid’s Picnic at the Presidio.
There was a thick layer of freezer burn that gave the ice cream an unpleasant and I assume unintended crunchy texture. It definitely wasn’t the smooth ice creaminess I was hoping for.
Maybe it was a bad batch, but it was definitely disappointing.

Gee, I didn’t even know Three Twins had its own retail shop in the Lower Haight. Sure, I’ve seen their green ice cream truck and of course, I see their pints in the frozen section of my market. But alas. there’s something more fulfilling about going to a shop and letting the server scoop the ice cream into your own cup. I guess they have two other shops up in the North Bay, but how would I know that? I sauntered by this place after having dinner at Wonderland and couldn’t help myself from gawking at all those tempting flavors in front of me (photo:
). Although they are known for their strictly organic approach, there’s an old-​school vibe about Three Twins ice cream.
I went to town and bought a $ 5.50 Twin cup much to the indifference of the employee who looked enervated just standing back there. Understand I’m a man of simple and redundant taste, so I went for a scoop of the Coffee Cookie Crunch and a scoop of the Salted Caramel (photo:
). It was creamy, but I have to admit I missed the idiosyncratic novelty factor of Humphry Slocombe or the out-​and-​out decadence of Bi-​Rite. If I’m going to waste that many calories, I’d like to go for the gusto and not have a well-​made albeit journeyman ice cream. Three Twins makes good stuff, good enough to warrant a purchase at the market. Just not quite good enough to make me become obsessive about it.
ICE CREAM — 3 stars… creamy with good flavor but just not all that exceptional compared to its well-​known competitors
AMBIANCE — 3 stars… tiny shop, lots of green, plenty of flavors to choose from
SERVICE — 2.5 stars… a bit by-​the-​numbers
TOTAL — 3 stars… not feeling the scream for this ice cream

A good friend of mine introduce me to this place and now I can never get enough of it. This shop isn’t too big but depending on the time you go, it can be really empty or really packed. Parking isn’t the easiest in this area so be prepared to look for parking further away.
On to the ice cream. I tried their lemon cookie ice cream. First of all, I’m not a big fan of lemon cookie. I don’t hate it but yet I don’t love it. With the first bite, it tasted okay but I didn’t think anything special of it. As I keep eating it, for some reason I just can’t get enough of it. The lemon cookie ice cream gets more and more addicting. Next thing I know, I finished my one scoop of lemon cookie and I want more.
If you haven’t tried their lemon cookie, definitely give it a try. Give it a chance and you won’t regret it at the end.

Flavors were on the boring side and were all sickly sweet. Tasted like fake sugar, even though I know I only tried the real stuff. Maybe it was an off day? I’ve had their ice cream at home, and it was decent.
With all the great ice cream places in the city, I would always choose another place over Three Twins.

When someone asks me what my favorite flavor of ice cream is I always say coffee ice cream.
Seems so simple yet so hard to do right.
The coffee ice cream here was good. Great flavor, enough cream, and an overall delight.
Minus one star because the cashier tried to overcharge me and gave me the incorrect amount of change so we had a rather long talk about his math skills.
He charged me over a $ 1 extra because he didn’t know the price chart…

I first tried three twins from a carton from costco. It was just chocolate but it was very rich. I really enjoyed it so I had to go to the actual shops when I found out they had one in sf.
There are soooo many ice cream shops in SF and it’s so hard to decide which is better (still can’t). This was a very cute and small shop. Definitely doesn’t have room for hanging out, you can only walk in to get ice cream. I really wish there were seatings.
I got to choose 2 flavors for a small scoop. I really like these shops that allow 2 scoops cuz then I get to try more flavors. I got a banana flavored one and a chocolate. I forgot the specific cool names for these flavors but it was good. I mean it tasted like what I would expect out of these flavors but it isn’t all that special. I still liked the chocolate. They were pretty generous with their scoops.
I want to give this place more stars cuz I expected stand out flavors. But I also had to dock points for the depressing employee who was just rude. There was nobody there but she didn’t care for asking us to sample or even seem remotely motivated. No smiles, nothing. Well I came for cold ice cream, not a cold face. I hurried my way out feeling most unwelcome. Maybe I’ll return after I’ve tried all the other popular ice cream shops.

Three Twins Ice Cream is one of my favorite local creameries! One, because it’s so darn good. Second, because I can get pints of it in stores. Hell yea. My ultimate favorite is their Lemon Cookie. So lemony creamy flavored with chunks of lemon crème cookies inside! Kind of like eating one of those lemon girl scout cookies. So good and perfect. My second favorite is the Chocolate Orange Confetti. If you like eating candied orange peels dipped in chocolate, this tastes exactly like that.
They carry pints at this location along with ice cream sandwiches in their cold case. Stock up! Because I did!