These ice cream parlors are the winners of the 2026 Best of Best reader poll. Read a full list of winners here.
East Bay
Gold: Fentons Creamery. Founded in Oakland in 1894, it has handcrafted ice cream and world-famous sundaes.Oakland and Vacaville. fentonscreamery.com.
Silver: Meadowlark Dairy. Pleasanton. meadowlarkdairy.com.
Bronze: Knudsen’s Restaurant-Ice Creamery. Castro Valley. icecreamery.net.
Peninsula
Gold: Preston’s Candy & Ice Cream. This candy and ice cream shop serves up all your favorite flavors, plus ice cream pies and chocolate-covered bananas. Burlingame. prestonscandyshop.com.
Silver: Sweet Connections. San Bruno. sweetconnections-sb.com.
San Francisco/Marin
Gold: Polly Ann Ice Cream. This Outer Sunset neighborhood ice cream parlor has been around since 1955 serving unique flavors like “Star Wars,” Thai Tea, Persian Princess and Bumpy Freeway. San Francisco. pollyann.com.
Silver: Fairfax Scoop. Fairfax. instagram.com/fairfaxscoop/?hl=en.
Bronze: The Ice Cream Bar. San Francisco. theicecreambarsf.com.
Silicon Valley
Gold: Willow Glen Creamery. This ice cream shop has been serving frozen treats since 2002. San Jose. jeffswillowglencreamery.com.
Silver: Happy Scoops. San Jose. yelp.com/biz/happy-scoops-san-jose.
