Liliuokalani's Ice Cream & Coffee Bar is exactly the kind of place I want to find on a warm New Hampshire summer day. It has that unmistakable seasonal, lakeside feel, and the fact that you can literally pull up in your boat and get ice cream pretty much tells you everything you need to know about the setting.
The first thing that stood out was the selection. There are a lot of flavors to choose from, along with plenty of sundae options, and they have both classic hard-serve ice cream and soft serve. We went with Cotton Candy and Oreo, and both were excellent. The ice cream had that classic, rich hard-serve texture that I always hope for when I'm getting a cone or cup, and the portions were generous. That's important. Nobody wants to pay for an ice cream cone and walk away wondering where the rest of it went.
Service was another plus. Even though places like this can get extremely busy during the summer, the staff were friendly, efficient and clearly accustomed to keeping things moving. You could tell that many of the kids working there were actually enjoying their summer jobs, which gave the place a nice, relaxed energy. It felt genuinely local rather than like some corporate operation pretending to have a small-town personality.
There is a decent amount of parking, although I can imagine it getting pretty crowded during peak hours. There can also be a line when things get busy, but honestly, that's hardly surprising for a good ice cream stand in the middle of summer. If the line is the price of admission for good ice cream, I'm willing to wait a little.
I also really like that this is locally owned. There is something about stopping at a small, independent ice cream place during a summer day in the Lakes Region that just feels right. Grab some ice cream, sit around for a while, watch people coming and going, and enjoy the fact that you aren't in a strip mall somewhere.
Liliuokalani's checks all the boxes for me. Great selection, generous portions, friendly service, reasonable parking and a fun lakeside location where you can apparently arrive by car, foot or boat depending on how you're spending your day. Our Cotton Candy and Oreo were both excellent, and I would have no hesitation about coming back.
I'll definitely be back next season. This is the kind of summer ice cream stop that becomes part of the trip rather than just another place to grab dessert. read more