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Amato Gelato Cafe offers a unique product line with over 500 varieties of Italian ice cream, gelato cakes, novelties, portions, tubs and specialty desserts from Mario's Gelati. Our stores also offer pastries, grilled focaccia sandwiches and Italian coffees.
Amato's (aka Mario's) is the only place that we know that sells frozen lemon sorbet in lemon shells. Seconds are sold in the sale freezer for $2.25 each or you can purchase the 'good one's' for $3.50. Personally, I can't tell the difference so would gladly pick up the 'rejects' for the 1.25 savings. Why not? The taste is sweeter and not as lemony as I would have liked but still very refreshing. A healthier alternative to fatty ice cream.
Service was standard counter service: they ring up the price, we pay, we get change, we get bag and leave. I can't recall if the lady smiled but it doesn't really matter to me.
Value: good value if you buy the sale items but I think the regular priced freezer products are pricey for quantity. As for the scooped ice cream, it's been awhile since I purchased these (much rather eat at Dolce Amore or revisit Tuscany for real gelato). The single scoops were $3.50 and additional .75 for waffle cone.
Ambiance: modern interior with stool seating or nice patio chairs/tables outside. Right now the view is crappy with all the construction going on. Once that clears up, the outdoor seating is quite nice.
A good alternative to La Casa.
The cafe serves the best gelato in the city, bar none. They have about 70 flavours on display, and they rotate them frequently. I tried quite a few, including the unusual ones like popcorn flavour, or the two kinds of beer gelato and the more traditional like bacci and the fabulous strawberry cheesecake. It is always hard to decide!
They also do coffees and sandwiches, and of course you can buy tubs of the gelato and other frozen treats. The individual desserts are really artistic, and decadently good.
The ambience is okay and the place is clean. The service is busy but fast. If you have time they have some tables out front. Highly recommended.
This location is part of their manufacturing building, so the surroundings are a bit sketchy, with little foot traffic. Still, they manage to survive.
Their gelato is very good, although I like to play it safe and stick to certain flavours which are always a hit for me. I've taken a couple of risks at trying more unusual flavours like the Black Sesame and the Rum Raisin. Can't say I liked it or hated it.
I've always likened the service here and haven't had any instances of bad attitude from the staff.
It's starting to get expensive but being a seasonal treat it helps keep the wallet heavy for the other half (or 3/4 for Vancouverites) of the year.
Good selection of flavors. The staff was generous with the sample sizes. It's $3.75 for one scoop and $6 for two. Pretty standard pricing. The single scoop was on the smaller size. The double scoop is comparable to some of the other places I've tired. The gelato is really good. Flavorful and creamy. I find the gelato to be on the sweeter side, but it may just be the random flavors I tried.
Service is average. They just give you what you ask for. Not much outstanding service to expect here. The staff looked kind of bored at times. The place isn't very busy so it was nice that we had seats to enjoy the gelato. The place was clean. Good display of their other treats which I plan to try eventually.
Hmm....kinda confusing with the entrance cause I thought the place was upstairs and didn't know Amato was actually a part of Mario's. The sign told us to open a door that was locked and just decided to drop in here.
I tried a ton of samples ... more than I was "allowed" to...but no complaints there. I had the dulce de leche (my favourite!) and green tea. If you like variety, def. go here....they have more flavours than Mondo I think. Green tea tasted like the Blenz Matcha Chillo.....yum. Dulce de Leche is like caramel ripples and ...well dulce de leche flavoured gelato. It was heavenly. And the portions were big.
I'd definitely go back for some more gelato loving. The decor is very cute too!
Tons of unique flavours and lots of selection. Took me quite a few sampling before I decided on the one I like. The scoop was quite small for the price I paid. Nonetheless, it was very good gelato.
Also bought a few treats from the freezer next to the cashier where they put the "Sale" items. Bought a "Coconut Surprise" for $2 and a mango & coconut gelato cake $8, which I thought was great value and they were both delicious!!! I especially LOVED the Coconut Surprise and regret not getting a few more.
I think this place has the best gelato in town, definitely (and does not serve overpriced, tiny portions like say, Cafe Brazza) I try to go here every time I am in this part of Vancouver-they have a great takeout selection too...I love Amato's!
I have tried many of the gelato cafes, but Amato was the only one I visited regularly. I became such a frequent patron that my face was recognized. The gelato is very creamy and the flavours are well defined. My personal favourite is the tiramisu.
With all that being said, I stopped visiting Amato's because the prices became too expensive while the serving sizes became smaller. Instead of getting a single scoop, you can spend an additional $0.75 to get a 500 mL container of gelato. I sometimes buy the containers at a local grocery store for the same price that Amato sells for (which must means Amato makes more from direct sales if a secondary vendor can charge the same price).
The prices are just ridiculous now. I can have a lunch special at a restaurant for the same price as a double scoop of gelato. Perhaps if the scoops were massive I would still visit, but the scoops are pathetically small.
It's all such a shame as the quality of the gelato is excellent.
I was there on July 22, 2008 and was surprised that prices have gone up and that the scoops have gotten smaller. In addition, 1 of the 2 servers was giving noticeably smaller scoops than then other. When I complained about the inconsistency, they told me that sorbets are just smaller-which I confirmed later on with the manager that this explanation was totally FALSE. The cashier was also really unfriendly. Given that I paid $3.50 for a basic scoop that was undersized (and nobody bothered to rectify the situation), I will not return.
I went there after a big family dinner. It's on a good location, with bright lights inside. There's a lot of flavours to choose from, and they are all pretty delicious. I got cappuccino cookie and almond avalanche, which were really awesome! I tried the rum and raisin, but found it too sweet. The only problem with this place is the service. I asked the server if I could sample two of their flaovurs and he looked at me like he was very annoyed and mad at the same time. Maybe it was because there was a little line up but I thought that was pretty rude. But a pretty solid place, with good gelato. Will want to try again!
Watch out for this one, the store charges .25 for every debit card transaction. Total rip-off, this charge is not posted on any sign, and was added to my total bill. I'll never go back, even for a lousy .25 charge, there are plenty of other places to get good italian ice cream. hmmm I wonder if the tax collectors knows they only want cash!!!!!
Don't go here, there were two very smug clerks behind the counter that tried to play dumb that they don't speak good English. Give me a break, I listened to them talk when I was ordering! Pathetic.
I don't know why people give this place a good review. The service is always rude-if you ask for a napkin (why should they be behind the counter anyway -it's ice cream-it's messy!) you get attitude. The prices are high for what you get and most importantly the gelato is bland and uninspired. The tiramisu was a disappointment and my husband's After Eight was like eau de mint. I have been to almost every gelato joint in town and if you want the best, go to Mondo not Amato.
Horrible, went with a friend for ice cream. Took any of the 10 customers over 5 minutes to be aknowledged, including the lady who asked if she could order, then left when she got no reply. Once an italian looking guy walked in the lady behind the counter finally began to serve, she did go straigh to him. She had to be pointed to the first customer in the now formed line as the person to help first. She said something and went to the till leaving rhe customer standing there dumbfounded. I went to order and got a 'you pay' to which I pulled out my money and said yes a mint chocolate please. 'You pay' again, even snottier, at this time we figured out that we were to pay first, then order, no signage no explanation, bloody rude I tell you. So I go to pay and get snapped at by the old (maybe her advanced age, looks about 75, has shortened her temper, but usually elders are pleasant) lady, as has 2 other customers for no reason. My friend wanted Ice- cream but I couldn't support them. Too bad they will lose wholesale clients over this one, never know who is in your shop.
The gelato is very good, plentiful & full of variety. It's pretty darn expensive, but if you ask real nice, they'll give you a bunch of half scoops and you can get your money's worth.
Best gelato in town, as far as I know. But I haven't tried the other one on 3 road yet...
| 1. | Richmond (11.3 km) |  |
| 2. | NW Kensington Road (669.6 km) |
| 1. | OrganicLives (139 m) | |
| 2. | Burger King (161 m) |  |
| 3. | Argo Cafe (210 m) |  |
| 4. | Triple O's (210 m) | |
| 5. | Swiss Bakery (230 m) | |
| 6. | Nuba (242 m) | |
| 7. | Narrow Lounge (268 m) | |
| 8. | McDonald's (271 m) | |
| 9. | Donato's Bistro (292 m) | |
| 10. | Terra Breads (314 m) | |
