Picco (first visit)

Picco is a contraction of Pizza and Ice Cream Company - the Marlborough location opened in August 2025 (after the original Boston location had already been in business for twenty years.) It's down the block from Thairiffic which is how I stumbled upon it. It's also a new entry on the Massachusetts ice cream shop master list, both because it's new and because it turns up as a pizza place rather than an ice cream shop... however, the first thing you see when you walk in the door is the ice cream counter and menu, the pizza-place seating is around to the right, so it certainly qualifies to me as "an ice cream place" rather than "a pizza place with dessert".

And yes, the sign is a combination of an ice cream cone and a slice of pizza with cheese dripping off - which definitely looks like an ice cream cone first (especially from down the street) and then "wait a second..." once you realize that it's a pizza place. (Of course, then you stare at it too long and the pepperoni pieces start to look like two eyes and an open mouth, so maybe don't do that, just go in and get some ice cream!)

Picco's has an interesting list of flavors and toppings - though they got chopped off in this picture, rainbow and chocolate sprinkles, along with whipped cream and chocolate sauce; they make their own ice cream, with no eggs, and the sorbet is dairy-free, and apparently the things that can be gluten-free (not, for example, the ones with cookies mixed in) are gluten-free, it's not just a few specific items.

I looked at a menu picture from google maps to get an idea of how often they change flavors, but the only one I found was from earlier today so it was identical to this one.

They also have t-shirts and baseball caps - with most places I'd say "it's just a brand" but their logo is great and frankly I can see declaring one's enthusiasm for pizza and ice cream!

The paper menu has more detail, as well as an interesting point - since they're a pizza place with a liquor license, they can make an "Adult Ice Cream Soda" - though given that it's a Raspberry Lambic, they could also have just had "Root Beer Float / Actual Beer Float" instead. (This also means that their Rum Raisin has alcohol - probably not enough to do an Ice Cream Flambé though.)

Despite actually having beer, they have a 3-scoop "sampler" rather than a "flight", so I'm still curious about how that term is spreading through the ice cream shop world.

They're also equipped for Affogato (which I'm likely to try on a future visit - but not this time, having filled up on Duck and Crab at Thairiffic beforehand.)

I ordered "Coffee Cookie" with chocolate sprinkles. The texture was great - I would not have guessed that it was egg-free - and there were reasonably sized cookie chunks - but I had trouble placing the flavor as actually coffee - it certainly wasn't the usual "for people who don't actually like coffee" classic coffee ice cream flavor, but it wasn't a strong traditional coffee flavor either - I got more of a caramel or perhaps brown sugar flavor instead. On looking at the picture, it actually looks like I might have gotten two different kinds of ice cream, so maybe my order was misheard - looking at the menu, it's possible I got the Chocolate Malt flavor instead. (If it was, I know who to blame and it's not the server :-)

Regardless of the confusion, it was tasty, and an excellent dessert, even if I could only manage a small. Worth noting that even though it's only March, they were still serving ice cream at 9pm (the place seems to be open until 10) which I heartily approve of.

Next visit

I'll probably try an Affogato next time, and possibly the Vanilla with Peanut Butter Swirl. The Dark Chocolate with Peanut Butter Swirl is tempting but that's a non-dairy sorbet and I personally find chocolate goes better with dairy. (Apparently the Lemon and Tangerine Sorbet is quite good but would be a bit much for my tastes.)

Picco's is in a good spot - even if you're not there for pizza, there's Thairiffic, several Chinese places, Welly's and Wemmy's, and a Colombian place all a short walk away, and Marlborough Center has pretty generous parking options.