The Garment District stretch of Chabanel is an unlikely address for gelato this good. Chef Walid trained in Bologna, and the Italian technique meets Lebanese-inspired flavours in the case: sahlab, halawa, rose lokum, and orange blossom alongside pistachio, tiramisu, and a cult-favourite avocado. Small batches, whole ingredients, real fruit in the sorbets, plus halal and lactose-free options, take-home tubs, and a small terrasse.

Two decades of daily practice show in every scoop at this Little Italy fixture, where the Sicilian pistachio runs naturally brown and properly nutty, and the hazelnut and dark chocolate have followings of their own. Roughly 19 flavours rotate with the seasons, backed by cannoli, tiramisu, and an affogato that justifies the trip alone. Rare for the category, there's proper indoor seating, so a scoop doesn't have to race the sunset, and a terrasse absorbs the summer crowds. A second location operates on Fleury.

A soft-serve machine inherited with the Le Violon lease became the seed for the restaurant team's gelato counter, set in a former barbershop at Bernard and Clark. Menard Dworkind reworked the narrow room into a striped, pastel-and-chrome throwback, with a hidden courtyard out back. Chefs Danny Smiles, Mitch Laughren, Laura Faria, and Sara Raspa develop everything in-house from Quebec-grown ingredients, keeping the menu tight: two seasonal soft serves, barbotines, sundaes, and a brioche con gelato with Sicilian boardwalk energy.

More than two decades of gelato-making experience sit behind this bright, compact downtown shop, where the owner hands out samples and steers first-timers toward the right pick. The lemon crunch yogurt gelato has a devoted following, pistachio and hazelnut close behind, and half a dozen dairy-free sorbets cover the lactose-averse. Soft serve, shakes in milk and vegan versions, espresso, and litre tubs to go round out a counter that does a lot with a little space.

A Pointe-Saint-Charles café first, but from spring through fall the homemade gelato is reason enough to detour to Wellington Street. Run by a family that has lived in the neighbourhood for years, Mollo pairs its scoops with serious coffee, pastries from its own bakery-lab, and a motto that doubles as instructions: prends ça mollo. A few flavours stay available year-round in tubs for the off-season faithful.

Scooping on Gouin East since 1962, this is old-school Montreal crèmerie culture intact: families lining up on summer nights for gelato, ice cream, frozen yogurt, and sorbets in flavours that run from black cherry and rum and raisin to bubble gum. The Oliverio family has kept the tradition going since 2013, and a roving gelato truck takes the operation to festivals and backyard parties.

Victoria Avenue's gelateria makes everything in-house and lets the sourcing do the talking: Brontë pistachios from Sicily, gianduia, fior di latte amarena laced with wild cherries, ricotta cinnamon, and a Tahitian vanilla worth ordering solo. Mango, lemon, and raspberry sorbets handle the fruit side. The move is the brioche bun stuffed with two scoops, ideally with an affogato alongside.

A neighbourhood institution since 1983, Roberto is where generations of Montrealers had their childhood summer scoop, and the D'Angelo family still makes everything in-house. The case runs deep with classics like pistachio, stracciatella, and gianduia plus banana and fresh-fruit sorbets, served later into the night than most counters in the city. The business has grown into a full gastronomia, so a sourdough focaccia panino or square of pizza al taglio can precede dessert.

Best known as one of the city's defining Neapolitan pizzerias, the Covone family's Saint-Zotique flagship has also been quietly making some of Montreal's best gelato since the late 2000s, when the family imported an Italian gelato machine to match its Naples-built oven. The sourcing follows the same logic as the pizza: pistachios from Sicily, hazelnuts from Piedmont, nothing less. Here it arrives as dessert, the proper Italian close to a Margherita.

The Covone family's café arm serves its gelato the way Italy actually eats it: any time of day. Fabrizio Covone's Roman-style pizza al taglio is the headline, but the same Sicilian pistachios and Piedmont hazelnuts that supply the family's gelato program show up in the case here, alongside pastries, fresh juices, and seasonal affogatos. A laid-back room steps from the Jean-Talon Market makes it the easiest gelato stop in Little Italy.