It's the cabinet that gets you first: 24 freshly churned flavours at any one time, twenty of them permanent classics and four new specials every week, all made from scratch in their own production kitchen with local milk and fruit picked in season. It's on Ocean View Road in Oneroa, on the road between the Matiatia ferry and the village, and it's close enough to the bus stop that you can step off and be licking a cone a minute later.
You can taste as many as you like before you commit, which is just as well, because the choice runs from Pic's Peanut Butter Crunch and sour cherry with chocolate to pistachio, honeycomb, dulce de leche and a long line of sorbets, and there's a well-stocked dairy free and vegan section too. They've got Allpress coffee, bagels and a bacon and egg bun for the morning crowd, and there are a few seats outside in the sun.
One thing to plan around: the Waiheke store takes a winter break and reopens on 2 September, so check the dates before you build a ferry trip around it. In summer the queue is long and moves quickly, which tells you plenty.
Written from 410 Google reviews, every one we could get, on 12 November 2026. Rated 4.5 from 407 Google reviews.
This is some of the best gelato in the country, and plenty of people build a Waiheke day around a stop here. It's a scoop shop rather than a sit-down cafe, so judge it on the cabinet and the cone, where it rarely misses.
Start with the Pic's Peanut Butter Crunch, because the peanut brittle running through it is the flavour people come back for, then add something sharp like sour cherry and chocolate or the green apple sorbet. Pistachio, honeycomb, salted caramel and Biscoff tiramisu are just as good, the passionfruit and coconut, mango and lime sorbets taste as good as the dairy ones, and there's a dairy free black forest plus a cashew-based vegan strawberry cheesecake.
The team keeps a long summer queue moving and still hands out as many tastes as you want, which is why most people leave grinning. The odd counter moment falls short, with a few blunt answers and people turned away in the minutes before closing.
The shop is small and cute, with a handful of tables outside where you can sit in the sun and watch the street go by. It sits right by the bus stop on Ocean View Road, so it fits neatly into a walk down to the beach or the run back to the ferry.
The scoops are big and the gelato is rich, so a double goes further than you'd expect and splits easily between two. It's not cheap, and a few people feel the price has climbed as the scoops shrank, though most reckon the quality earns it.
It's the natural stop after a morning of wine tasting, on the way back to the ferry, or on a hot walk down to Oneroa beach with the kids. Families, couples and big groups all pile in, and the dairy free and vegan options cover everyone in the group.
The door doesn't always match the advertised hours, and several people have found the flavours already packed away or the shop shut well before closing time. Two flavours in a cone is a gamble on a hot day, so take the cup, and check the winter break dates before you plan a trip around it.
Every fact on this page was checked on 8 November 2026 against Google, Island Gelato Co. Waiheke's own website and 410 of its Google reviews. The photo is from the eatout library, not taken here, and no venue pays to be listed or ranked. Something out of date? Tell us
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