Delicious Gelato in the City Center

My wife and I had a rule on our trip to Dublin that we wouldn’t visit any restaurant more than once. That was a hard, set rule that we followed strictly… except in one instance. That being Gino’s Gelato. There were two Gino’s locations right near each other, both in the city center no more than a block apart, and we walked past both of them pretty regularly as we went about our trip, galavanting off to one place or another. Each time the smells of waffle cones and thick, creamy desserts called to us. Because of that, and because the first time we visited the gelato was really good, we ended up visiting twice.

In fairness I’m not really certain you can call a gelato place a restaurant. By the same token that we visited Gino’s more than once, there was also a coffee place, Insomnia coffee, that we ended up going to three times. That was because they opened earlier than anyone else, but by our own strict rules we probably should have tried more coffee places. There was only one ice cream place that we saw (technically in two locations, of course), so we didn’t feel quite as bad in this instance. The gelato was good and we had no regrets.

For the first visit to Gino’s my wife got the mint chocolate chip, which she got covered in sprinkles, while I ordered the raspberry white chocolate, which I had straight up. Both were served in waffle cones because, honestly, if you’re not eating ice cream out of waffle cones I feel like you’re doing something wrong. The mint chip was fantastic, light and sweet but not too minty, with just the right balance between the cooling mint and the strong, dark chocolate. It was absolutely scrumptious and I had ice cream envy the whole time.

Not that my flavor was bad, mind you. The raspberry white chocolate was just as light and tasty, with a vibe that reminded me a lot of raspberry cheesecake. We both finished our cones before we even made it back to the hotel room, finding it hard to put down these two delicious cones of awesomeness. These two were so good that we were already plotting a return trip to Gino’s, both of us looking guilty at the thought of breaking our rule.

Two days later we did go back. This time my wife ordered the Oreo flavor, once more covered in sprinkles, while I went for the Ferrero, which I got dipped in marshmallows. I had topping envy, too, after the previous visit, and while I hadn’t seen places do toppings on cones before, it made perfect sense. My wife really enjoyed the Oreo, saying it was just as lightly sweet and creamy as her other cone, and the little Oreo bits played really well in the cream.

My Ferrero, in comparison, was good but not something I would get again. It was kind of like chocolate overload, with a rich, chocolatey base and a lot of sweetness to it. It was so strongly chocolate that it felt overpowering, making me glad that I got it with marshmallows and in a cone. Those helped to cut through all the chocolate flavor, giving me small breaks before it was back into the meat of the cone. For chocolate lovers, this gelato would probably get top marks. I do like chocolate, but this much was too much for me.

There was more at Gino’s we could have tried, from crepes (with gelato), to waffles (with gelato), as well as milkshakes and sundaes as well. With enough time, and more desire to explore, I could easily have seen us going back and trying other items from the menu, branching out past just gelato in cones. But at the same time the gelato in cones was so good that it was hard to really want to do more, at least not in the single week we were there. We got to explore four flavors and enjoy some smooth and creamy gelato, and that felt like the right play for both of us on this trip.

Gino’s is good. Really good. Their light and smooth gelato has the right balance of cream and sugar. The flavors are hard to put down, and even after two visits I was sorely tempted to go back for a third. If there was one near where I lived I’d probably get fat eating gelato. And, honestly, I don’t think I’d be sad about that at all.