I'd walked by The Parlour many times but recently noticed their vegan flavors advertised on the sidewalk board so I had to go in. Because, get this, there are several non sorbet options! (I love sorbet, but sometimes you want rich ice cream). Besides chocolate mint and Vietnamese coffee, there's an enticing lime sorbet and a rotating seasonal flavor, which in late July was a blackberry crumble that is delicious with little bits of crumble ribboned throughout (I love to chew my ice cream). A single scoop is actually quite generous and only $5. Service is speedy and friendly. The seating is plentiful and it was such a hot day, I opted to stay inside rather than walk around and pretend I was eating gelato in a small Medieval town in Tuscany. read more

I stopped in on the first night of a conference downtown and thought "I'd love to try this place out!" At lunch, I passed the A-frame they had outside and saw fellow conference attendees walk in. "Alright," I said. "I'll check them out later." I came in with one of my new connections and we happily chose our desserts. I chose their seasonal Girl Scout Mint flavor and my new connection chose a milkshake. Parlour staff let us sample the flavors they had in stock to help us make informed decisions. I appreciated it. Seating is in an adjacent room. The place carries a kid-friendly vibe and I saw one child happily enjoying her ice cream. I'll definitely be back next time I'm in DT Durham. read more

Top tier ice cream with some creative flavors! Really enjoyed the banoffee and am excited to try kiwi and Vietnamese coffee next time around. The staff were helpful and let me try several flavors. Cute ambiance; it definitely gives candy store/ice cream parlor vibes (hah get it, this place is called parlor!). read more

The Parlour - Banoffee and pistachio - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Durham, North Carolina

Came here for ice cream on a Sunday night. The selection of flavors was quite slim and they focused on mainly the classic flavors. A single was $5, and service was friendly. The ice cream was good quality and wasn't too quick to melt. There was some indoor seating but we opted to leave and walk around while eating it. read more

The Parlour - Strawberry single - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Durham, North Carolina

The Parlour has to have the very finest home made ice cream around. Their flavors never disappoint and they always go out of their way to make sure the vegan and non dairy communities have several different flavors as well. We stopped by and got the vegan vanilla amaretto and it is one of the most delicious flavors. They also have dole whip soft serve! Yes please!! read more

The Parlour - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Durham, North Carolina

I ate my ice cream too fast and forgot to take a picture....thats how amazing The Parlor is! They always have unique flavors as well as tried and true ones. I love the location being right downtown and there are enough places to sit inside. The staff is friendly and helpful with kids. I feel like they are a great local place for our community. read more

Was looking for dessert after dinner in Durham and walked by The Parlour to see a lively crowd inside, so stepped in. Classic American ice cream parlor vibes with a mix of classic flavors and interesting sorbets. Unfortunately, the ice cream was too sweet for my liking and both the salted butter caramel and raspberry rose water sorbet didn't wow. Chocolate Stracciatella and raspberry truffle were decent tho. In addition, the service was a little unprofessional as our scooper was distractedly talking to his friends while serving us. read more

The Parlour - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Durham, North Carolina

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The Parlour gives out great samples to those that are interested in their rotating menu. I love their fall menu and the workers are always so kind! I settled on the pumpkin stracciatella this time and thoroughly enjoyed it in a sugar cone- it's not too sweet. I've been here a handful of times with colleagues and friends and enjoyed the ice cream every time. :-) read more

The Parlour - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Durham, North Carolina

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Cute decor. Lots of menu options. I had the toffee. It was good. They also have nondairy options. read more

The Parlour - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Durham, North Carolina

An OG ice cream spot, located in the middle of downtown Durham. We got scoops of Salted Butter Caramel, Malted Vanilla Cookie Crunch, and Vietnamese Coffee (probably my favorite) in a waffle cone. The ice cream was good, but I do feel like the ice cream scene in Durham is a bit stiff & my preference is other spots. That said, I do think The Parlour is worth a try! Ambiance is really nice (plenty of indoor seating) and service was fast. Free parking in nearby City of Durham garages on weekdays after 7pm and weekends. 7/10 would recommend! read more

The Parlour - Salted Butter Caramel, Malted Vanilla Cookie Crunch, and Vietnamese Coffee in a waffle cone - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Durham, North Carolina

A great spot for a sweet treat, very cost-conscious and a variety of options available. Would love to go back for an affogato. Located conveniently near many bars and night spots for the perfect place to cap off a night out. Ample seating and walkable. read more

The Parlour - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Durham, North Carolina

Cute shop w plenty of space and seating. Several vegan ice cream options. Friendly service. And the best part is it tastes amazing! I had a double w vegan chocolate and vegan Vietnamese coffee! YUMMY .... Update... after eating all my icecream.. I decided this is the Best Damn Vegan Icecream out there! read more

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This is hands down my favorite ice cream spot in the Triangle. No... the state. Their ice cream is so creamy it's decadent, not icy like that other place (rhymes with blue boosters). My favorite combo is the Vietnamese coffee and salted caramel. However, I tried the maple brown butter today and had to add an extra scoop to my usual. The service is friendly, and the vibe is old school ice cream shop. Don't forget your punch card for $6 off after 10 punches. read more

I was so excited to finally visit when there wasn't a line out the door! The key is to go on a Monday right after dinner. The parlours flavors are so unique but they also have the classics like cookies and crème. There is a lot of seating both inside and outside. The staff is generous and patient with letting you try flavors, which we appreciated. The Parlour is a Durham staple for good reason! read more

We came here on a Saturday evening as we noticed that they had vegan options. My husband ordered the blueberry lemon vegan ice cream with a sugar cone. it was full of flavor and very refreshing. Place was clean and spacious. Convenient location around other restaurants and stores. read more

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Excellent service, creative ice cream flavors and truly delicious! Loved the salted caramel, lemon blueberry, and vanilla crunch! Will be back! read more

The Parlour - Outstanding ice cream with creative flavors and great service. - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Durham, North Carolina

The ice cream and Sundaes are delicious! The workers are very nice.There are cool art projects and it gives good vibes. I definitely want to come back! read more

The BEST ice cream, SO flavorful and creamy. I love their peach raspberry but you can't go wrong with any flavor. Service is fairly quick depending on the time you go. There's plenty of indoor seating read more

The Parlour - Peach raspberry - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Durham, North Carolina

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We came here after dinner for some ice cream. The line went out the door and it probably took us maybe about ten minutes to order. There were a lot of people here eating so there were not a lot of tables available. We ordered a few things like a single scoop of Cookies N Cream, a single scoop of Lavender Olive Oil Marscapone, and a Shake. The inside was bright and had a relaxed vibe. The Cookies N Cream was good and definitely good for those who always order that at other stores. The Lavender Olive Oil Marscapone was not bad and it wasn't overwhelming to me. I didn't try the Shake. The amount of ice cream for a single scoop was enough for one person and I would recommend either of those flavors. Good ice cream here and definitely worth checking out if you're in the area. read more

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Darling shop with a variety of new combinations of flavors and old favorites. Don't mind the line - it moves fast and the service is great.

Rich ice cream, we loved the bourbon flavored ice cream. Portion size is adequate for what you pay!

Sweet, creamy, delicious ice cream served up by friendly staff. I really love it here in the lovely ice cream place of Downtown Durham. There are some unique flavors, it doesn't have the flavor range that you see at some other places, but that's because they put the time and effort into making unique flavors like peach raspberry and making every flavor delicious. there is limited street parking or you can park and pay in the nearby garage. It is a sweet, fun little place with a cutesy interior. read more

Came here for ice cream recently and it was OK. I ordered a cup of strawberry ice cream (non-vegan) for myself and it wasn't bad but I've definitely had better. Maybe I should have ordered one of the more unusual flavors? It was also $5 which struck me as a little expensive given that it was a pretty small scoop. Service was fine. I'd probably try somewhere else for dessert instead of coming back here unless I was seriously craving some ice cream. read more

The ice cream we had from The Parlour was terrific. We got single scoops of the Salted Butter Caramel and Caramel Oreo flavors. They had perfect texture and flavor. Ultra smooth and creamy, and delectable. The Parlour's ice cream is handmade. Our single scoops were 3.3 ounces each. They rang up to $4.50 per scoop after tax, before tip. During our visit, there were 17 flavors on the menu, including three vegan flavors and two soft serve flavors. Double scoops were $6.25 and triple scoops were $7.50. Cake and sugar cones came at no additional cost. Waffle cones were $1.00 extra each. There were eight topping choices at $0.50-1.00 each. Along with ice cream, The Parlour serves shakes (eight flavors during our visit), sundaes, ice cream sandwiches, and coffee. They also sell pints to-go from a self-serve freezer at the front of the shop ($9.50 each). In a nutshell, this is a simple ice cream shop that does classic flavors really well. Flavors like Vanilla, Chocolate, Cookies + Cream, and Maple. Everything we sampled was delicious. The Milk Chocolate Lavender stood out to my wife. The flavors don't get too crazy here. And there's nothing out of the ordinary when it comes to toppings either (e.g., whipped cream, rainbow sprinkles, hot fudge). This is a small, independent, local business. It's not a chain like Jeni's. This shop in Downtown Durham was Kickstarted into existence. It opened in April 2013. This is a great place to walk to after having a meal at one of the numerous excellent restaurants nearby, as part of a night out catching a show at The Carolina Theatre or DPAC (Durham Performing Arts Center), if you happen to be staying at one of the hotels in the vicinity, etc. If you want to drive here, you can park on the street or in one of several municipal lots/garages close to the shop. I recommend either the Corcoran Street Garage at 110 E Corcoran St or Lot 32 at 111 W Chapel Hill St. As of 2023, rates to park in those locations are $2.25 per hour, enforced Monday-Friday, 8am-7pm, except city holidays. Otherwise, parking is free. Inside, there are two rooms with seating and a water dispenser with paper cups. I guesstimate 25-30 customers can sit comfortably inside. There's also a decent amount of standing room. The Parlour doesn't have outdoor seating, but you can certainly take your ice cream to the brick plaza with public seating across the street (CCB Plaza). We visited on a Sunday night around 8pm. There was a steady stream of customers. The shop was borderline full, but it never felt crowded while we were there. The space was minimally decorated and clean. The staff did a good job. I think some of them were high-schoolers. I connected with our cashier because of his Raw is War T-shirt. He told me his favorite wrestler was Stone Cold and I told him mine was Bret Hart (among others), but I digress. Haha. TL;DR version: I highly recommend The Parlour for outstanding ice cream in Downtown Durham. For ice cream in the city, it should be at the top of your list. read more

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When I'm craving good, rich, flavorful ice cream I come here. They rotate flavors and the brownie sundae is top notch. Service is always friendly and fast. I appreciate that they have seating room, but we usually take it to go and have a nice walk around Durham. read more

Great location for this awesome ice cream shop....nice big space inside with lots of seating . Outside there are lots of spots to sit and eat, or walk around. They have a ton of neat flavors, and milkshakes, Affogato, floats, sundaes , cookies, and toppings for your ice cream. You get teenagers serving you so don't expect super friendly service. We all tried different things in our group, I had the Vietnamese coffee in a cup with a sugar cone on top, this was creamy, great coffee flavor, and I had a nice big scoop even for a small. Also the toasted coconut oreo my gluten free friend loved with sone rainbow sprinkles. The strawberry cookie gravel, was an interesting fruity mix with bits of choc chips and cookies crumbs. The salted butter caramel, also nice strong caramel creaminess. Also the Affogato was a nice wake up call with some super good espresso poured over vanilla . Yum. We all loved every sweet drop of this ice cream. I love a local ice cream parlor. I appreciated that it wasn't all that modern, but truly more a parlor! read more

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Amazingly flavorful creamy ice cream with so many interesting flavors. Fun to try something different while strolling dt Durham

Really cool ice cream flavors! I was impressed with the variety as well as the dairy free options- there isn't much seating and it does get busy but the line tends to move fast! Would highly recommend the plum lassi flavor read more

The Parlour - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Durham, North Carolina

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Probably a local thing. Kid & family friendly. Went to visit family and they took us here. Pumpkin soft serve was as expected nothing amazing. read more

People say if you're in Durham you definitely have to visit the Parlour once! They seem to be a pretty old school, straightforward ice cream parlor place with a good selection of flavors. I was surprised to see black sesame on the menu and so I definitely had to try it! I loved how it was creamier and the black sesame flavors were stronger than I had expected. I believe their ice cream flavors are all housemade. They have different types of cones (cake, sugar, and waffle). The waffle cone was a little disappointing because it felt more commercial/cold/flavorless instead of home made like other places. Definitely very spacious with lots of seating options!! The ice cream was good but for similar price, I think I prefer other fancier places to this one! read more

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Cute spot in downtown Durham for life cream! Got the brownie sundae with salted caramel. Servers were nice and gave good recommendations. Wish the brownie was a bit softer and warm, but the ice cream was really great! read more

The Parlour - Brownie sundae - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Durham, North Carolina

Cute coffee shop in the downtown Durham area with some awesome seasonal flavors as well. By that I mean, yes, I was obsessed with their pumpkin cookies and cream because it was the best of both worlds! Additionally, they offer their classic flavors, sundaes, and milkshakes. Everyone is really friendly here. There is plenty of seating inside for you to enjoy your treat but also the option to stroll downtown. I definitely recommend coming here for an ice cream day. read more

The Parlour - Pumpkin cookies and cream - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Durham, North Carolina

I returned after what felt like YEARS. They have a case of fancy sodas, for floats. Given that it is summer, I think I will be ordering one the next time I return. Their vietnamese coffee is always lovely, but I got their strawberry. The line tends to be long, but it moves fast enough. Everyone working there is always lovely. read more

The Parlour is a must visit if you are in Durham. We tried a few samples and it was a scoop of the Vietnamese Coffee for my husband and the Honey Lavender for me. I also tried the Salted Butter Caramel and really liked it. We took our scoops to go but there is seating available inside. read more

The Parlour - Honey Lavender - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Durham, North Carolina

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Today after lunch, we decided to stop at The Parlour for some dessert. Nice roomy interior with lots of seating for customers. We had a variety of ice cream flavors in a variety of cones: cake, sugar and waffle. We had coconut cream pie, salted caramel, chocolate and vanilla. Very efficient and excellent service. read more

While walking around downtown Durham, I could not resist the temptation of The Parlour. The signage from the street looked pretty, so I walked towards it, not knowing it was an ice cream shop. When I got there and looked through the window, it was packed. I thought to myself, "hmmmm, this must be a pretty good ice cream shop to be this busy!" And so, I walked in. I was greeted by the friendly staff with their big bright smiles. They offered me a few samples, and I was hooked. After trying a few flavors, it decided on the honey lavender. The texture of this ice cream was so smooth and velvety. Surprisingly, it was not too sweet. This was one of top ice cream shops I've visited. I got a single scoop in a sugar cone for $4. It was a big scoop too! I enjoyed my yummy ice cream cone as I walked around the historical downtown Durham, taking in the fresh night air! A walk around downtown is happier with an ice cream cone in your hand! Definitely recommend this place! Southern hospitality at its best! read more

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Downtown Durham ice cream shop packs a cool atmosphere with delicious ice cream. We especially like this place because it allows our allergic child to enjoy all the flavors without fear of consuming any egg products. The employee said all flavors are egg free. We tried the Chai Oreo ice cream and it was a delicious, unique, and surprisingly good flavor! It has hints of mint and chai flavor while also packing in delicious Oreo texture and taste. Have never had a flavor such as this. And look forward to more unique flavors. Well done! Excuse the photo it was already half eaten... that good! read more

The Parlour - Chai Oreo - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Durham, North Carolina

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How eggnoggy is the eggnog shake special? The perfect amount. Delicious. The employees could not have been more kind and made it an overall lovely experience. Also loved the ice cream sandwich! Good vibes. read more

The Parlour - Shake & ice cream sandwich - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Durham, North Carolina

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Delicious ice cream at a great price! I met one of the co-owners Vanessa & their friend during my visit. He said they started their ice cream business out of a bus and now they have their very own store! Not only is it an ice cream parlour, it's a BUSY ice cream parlour! It makes me so happy to see small businesses thriving because of their great products. They have a huge variety of ice cream flavors here. They have some classics (chocolate, cookies n cream, etc.) but they also have some more unique flavors like coconut cream pie, banana pudding, etc. My partner and I decided to share a double scoop in a waffle cone ($6.75) and thank goodness we shared because the portion size was huge! We got the vietnamese coffee & salted caramel and they were so tasty and creamy! The coffee wasn't immensely strong, it was just right. If I lived around here, I would come here every night for dessert haha. Great service and delicious ice cream! read more

The Parlour - double scoop in waffle cone ($6.75) -- salted caramel & viet coffee - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Durham, North Carolina

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This was my first visit to Parlour and I enjoyed my honey lavender waffle cone. The staff was friendly and allowed me to try some samples and after I tried the honey lavender, I knew that was what I wanted. I just ordered a single scoop but the portion was huge. Besides cups and cones of scooped ice cream you can get soft serve ice cream as well as a milk shake or a sundae. Pre-packaged containers were available to take home and someone was getting an ice cream cake when I was there. The seating area was clean and water and cups were available to drink. If you are in Downtown Durham, Parlour offers some sweet treats. read more

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