Colorful soft-serve and coffee available at trendy central Phoenix ice cream shop

PHOENIX (AZFamily) —Step through the door of Onyx Ice Cream in central Phoenix, and you’ll see it is not your typical ice cream shop. The walls are lined with neon lights, and 80s-style music can be heard, with song lyrics on the floor.

The atmosphere is meant to feel like a lounge, a place to hang out while enjoying homemade, colorful ice cream cones and coffee made with quality ingredients.

“I wanted to create a brand and experience that was going to match what our product was,” said Jonathan Behich, owner and founder of Onyx Ice Cream. The ice cream shop is located near 7th Street and Bethany Home Road and celebrated its grand opening in January.

“I want it to be something that can be a bit more of a hip, fun, trendy thing for people who are looking for an elevated experience.”

Onyx Ice Cream offers a variety of soft-serve ice cream made in-house, which can be enjoyed in a cup or a black waffle cone.

“My idea was to do an elevated premium product made with organic milk and cream and to do unique exotic flavors so we could really make like a unique product that would bring people to us,” said Behich.

There are seven flavors in total, with four on tap that change weekly. Flavor options include ube, coconut, yuzu, sea salt, saguaro, Thai tea and oat milk matcha. The shop always offers one dairy-free/vegan flavor each week.

“We’re using local organic milk and cream. We’re not using like high fructose corn syrup, just regular natural sugars and things like that,” said Behich.

For an even sweeter experience, try the ice cream with a torched cone. This is where Behich adds marshmallow spread onto the top of the cone and gently spins it around while using a torch to lightly brown the marshmallow.

If you’re looking for something to go, Onyx Ice Cream also offers soft serve frozen into pints, which you can purchase and enjoy at home.

Behich’s Onyx Ice Cream is a business that was over a year in the making. He and his wife moved to the Valley from Canada just over a year ago and opened in January 2025. Since then, his colorful soft serve with black cones has popped up on cellphone screens around the Valley. “It’s a very intentional vibe here,” said Behich.

“We want people to be excited about the product they’re getting. And often what people will come in and say like, ‘oh, they saw us on Instagram,’ and I’ll say, ‘well, the benefit is it looks great, but it tastes even better’.”

Along with ice cream, the shop also offers coffee; as Behich says, coffee has always been his passion.

Popular coffee drinks include the Iced Onyx Latte, which has milk, espresso, coconut water and cinnamon, and the matcha latte, which starts with a fruit puree as the base, then milk and matcha are layered on top for a vibrant drink.

Just like its ice cream, the coffee has natural ingredients. Behich says they do not use any artificial flavors.

Customers can also enjoy their coffee in the ice cream by trying the affogato, which involves adding a shot of espresso to an ice cream cup. Behich suggests trying the affogato with creamy flavors like ube, coconut, or sea salt.

As warmer temperatures approach, Onyx Ice Cream can provide a refreshing treat, a cool place to hang out, or even something fun to post on your social media feed.

“Find out what craft ice cream can be where you’re using good ingredients, you’re passionate about making sure you’ve got like real fruit and not using corn syrup and those sorts of things in your ice cream,” said Behich. “It’s more rich and creamy and you don’t have to have it as sweet. And you get a lot of the flavors coming through naturally.”

Onyx Ice Cream

Location: 5813 N 7th St #102, Phoenix, AZ 85014

Hours:

• Tuesday-Thursday: 1 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Friday: 1 p.m. to 9 p.m.
• Saturday: 12 p.m. to 9 p.m.
• Sunday: 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Monday: Closed

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