Artisan Dessert Parlor for Taro Ice Cream: Garden Creamery

Garden Creamery is the bright corner shop at 3566 20th Street, where 20th meets Lexington in the Mission District, and it is one of the few artisan dessert parlor counters in San Francisco that tastes like Hawaii. Owner Erin Lang grew up on the islands, and the scoop case shows it: taro root sweet cream, butter mochi with toasted sesame, salted plum, and a coconut pandan that happens to be vegan. Everything is churned in house, and the shop keeps short evening hours midweek, so timing your visit matters more here than at most ice cream stops.

Before there was a storefront, there was a truck. SF Standard reported in 2024 that Lang started the business in 2012, scooping coconut-based ice cream from a mobile shop, and Tablehopper described that vehicle as bright and watermelon-colored. The shop's own site introduces the partnership behind it: Erin, who grew up in Hawaii, and Donny, a California native nicknamed Farm Boy who grew up on a ranch. Tablehopper identified him as Donny Capozzi.

In January 2017 the pair soft-opened their first brick-and-mortar location in the former Jocelyn's Bakery space on 20th Street, according to Tablehopper's report that month. Nearly a decade later the same corner is still pouring, and the footer of the shop's website now reads 2026 above the same address.

The shop produces 15 dairy flavors and 6 vegan flavors daily, with new flavors rotated into the case each week, so the list changes more than at a chain parlor. Kalo Cream, taro root with sweet cream, is the flavor to try first if you have never had taro ice cream. It is nutty, gently sweet, and pale purple.

Butter Mochi Toasted Sesame folds rich pieces of butter mochi, the Hawaiian baked rice cake, into the base with toasted sesame seeds. Ume blends salted plum into sweet cream for a salty, fruity scoop that balances anything sweeter. Genmaicha mixes matcha and toasted rice, and Japanese Milk Coffee is built to taste like the milk coffee that comes out of a can in Japan. In summer, Strawberry on Steroids uses berries from Dirty Girl Farm.

SF Standard singled out a seasonal cantaloupe flavor made with melons from Del Bosque Farms in Firebaugh, reporting that the shop sells around 3,000 scoops of it a season, and named haupia, salty kaya, and butter mochi among the regulars' favorites. On the vegan side, Coconut Pandan pairs coconut with the grassy vanilla note of pandan leaf.

A good first order is two contrasting scoops: Kalo Cream for something mellow and Ume for a sharp, salty counterpoint. Genmaicha with Japanese Milk Coffee makes a calmer, tea-and-coffee pairing for an after-dinner visit. Because the case changes weekly, ask what is new that day before you settle on the familiar names, since the rotating flavors are where the farm produce shows up first.

The dairy ice cream and semifreddo novelties use Straus organic dairy, and the sorbets and vegan flavors are coconut-based and sweetened with organic agave nectar. The owners write that they travel together each week to handpick seasonal produce and herbs from local farms, and that their tea comes from select family farms in Japan.

Each batch is made from scratch, and the shop takes the extra step of pasteurizing its own bases before slow churning each flavor with almost no air worked in. That low overrun is why a scoop here feels dense and melts slowly, closer to gelato than to the fluffy soft serve sold elsewhere on Mission Street.

Beyond scoops, the freezer holds ice cream sandwiches and dipped pops. The Classic Sandwich puts Madagascar vanilla between oatmeal cookies made from the owners' family recipe, then dips half of it in dark chocolate. The Monkey Pop is a banana and salted caramel swirl mousse dipped in Guittard milk chocolate and toffee pieces. Both travel well if you plan to walk.

The Infatuation described the line as never-ending and noted that seating is limited to a few small tables and stools, advising readers to take their scoops on the go. Arriving in the first half hour after the doors open is the simplest way to avoid the longest wait, especially on Friday and Saturday nights.

Groups do better splitting up: one person holds a spot on the sidewalk while another waits in line, then everyone eats standing on the corner or walks toward the park. Novelties from the freezer are the quickest option when the scoop line is long, since they come pre-made.

The shop sits on a residential stretch of Lexington Street, one of the Mission's narrow alleys lined with Victorian houses, so the first minutes of any walk are quiet. Head a few blocks west and you reach Dolores Park, where the hill along the southwest side looks across the city to the downtown skyline. On a clear evening, that slope is the best place in the neighborhood to finish a cone.

For a shorter loop, Mission Playground sits close by on Valencia Street, and Valencia itself is lined with bookshops and cafes for an after-dessert stroll. Mission Street, one block east of Lexington, is louder and busier, with taquerias and produce markets open into the evening.

Address: 3566 20th Street, San Francisco, CA 94110, at the corner of Lexington Street. Hours: Wednesday 6pm to 10pm, Thursday 6pm to 10pm, Friday 6pm to 11pm, Saturday 12pm to 11pm, and Sunday 12pm to 9pm. The shop lists no Monday or Tuesday hours and publishes no phone number; the contact on its website is an email address.

Prices are not posted on the official website, so bring a card and expect to order at the counter. The 16th Street Mission and 24th Street Mission BART stations are both within about a ten-minute walk. If you want a second stop after your scoop, the Karpo APP can suggest one nearby that is still open.