Ann's Dari Creme in Baltimore: A Soft-Serve Institution Without Pretense

A walk-up ice cream stand on Hammonds Ferry Road in Dundalk, Ann's Dari Creme has served soft-serve cones, cups, and sundaes to the same neighborhood for over 60 years, staying open seasonally from spring through fall with pricing that has barely shifted relative to inflation.

What Ann's Dari Creme Actually Is

Ann's is a classic mid-20th-century frozen dairy stand: a small cinderblock building with a service window, a few picnic tables outside, and a single focus on soft-serve ice cream and simple frozen treats. The operation has no table service, no WiFi, no brand strategy. Customers order at the window, receive their item, and eat standing up or seated on a picnic bench. This model places it apart from modern yogurt chains and gelato shops that have colonized Baltimore's neighborhoods; Ann's competes instead with a shrinking number of family-owned dairy stands that service specific geographic pockets of the city and county. For Dundalk and the surrounding southeast Baltimore County communities, it functions as a default gathering point rather than a destination, the kind of place where the staff recognizes regulars and children ask to go back.

Menu and Pricing

Soft-serve cones and cups anchor the menu. A small cone runs approximately $3.50, a medium $4.50, and a large $5.50; these prices are representative but should be confirmed on a visit, as pricing has drifted upward in recent years. Sundaes are available with a choice of toppings (chocolate syrup, sprinkles, nuts, fruit) and cost roughly $1.50 to $2.00 more than the equivalent cone or cup. The stand does not appear to offer non-dairy or vegan soft-serve, nor does it serve hard-packed ice cream. No specialty flavors rotate seasonally; the offer is vanilla, chocolate, or a swirl of both. This simplicity is the point. Beverages are limited to bottled drinks and fountain sodas.

How Ann's Compares Locally

Baltimore's ice cream and frozen yogurt landscape divides into three tiers. Premium artisanal shops like The Charmery (Inner Harbor, Fells Point, Canton) make small-batch ice cream from scratch and charge $7.00 to $9.00 per scoop or cup; they attract tourists and date-night crowds. Mid-market frozen yogurt chains like Menchie's and FroYo operate with self-serve models and per-ounce pricing in the $4.00 to $7.00 range for a medium cup; they draw younger customers and office workers. Ann's occupies a fourth category that barely exists anymore: the standalone soft-serve shack where transaction speed and low cost trump novelty. If you want an Instagram-worthy ice cream experience with house-made salted caramel or black sesame, The Charmery is the answer. If you want an ice cream cone exactly like the one you got in 1987, or a quick dessert in a neighborhood that lacks a dedicated dessert shop, Ann's is unchallenged.

Who Ann's Suits (and Who It Does Not)

Ann's works for families with young children, for people who grew up in Dundalk and want the same soft-serve they remember, and for anyone who values speed and low cost over novelty. The picnic-table seating is casual enough that nobody expects you to linger. The stand does not accommodate dietary restrictions well; dairy-free, gluten-free, and nut-free customers should skip it. It also does not work for people seeking a sit-down experience, a coffee pairing, or a reason to drive across the city. The location in Dundalk further narrows its audience to residents of southeast Baltimore County and immediate neighbors; this is genuinely neighborhood ice cream, not a destination.

What a First Visit Involves

Pull into the small parking lot, order at the window, wait two to three minutes for your cone, and eat it. There is no menu board visible from the lot; the window staff will tell you what you are ordering. Bring cash or a card; the stand appears to accept both, but this should be confirmed. On warm evenings in summer, the wait can stretch to ten minutes if a group ahead of you is ordering sundaes, but the line moves steadily.

Hours, Parking, and Logistics

Ann's Dari Creme operates seasonally, typically opening in late April or early May and closing in late September or early October. Hours are approximately 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, though these vary by season and weather. Call to confirm opening dates and hours each year, as they are not published on a website. The parking lot holds roughly 15 vehicles. The address is 6800 Hammonds Ferry Road, Dundalk, Maryland 21222. It sits in a strip of low-rise commercial buildings about a mile north of the Patapsco River and easily accessible from MD 97 and Interstate 895.

Ann's persists because it does one thing well and has never felt the need to do anything else. For Dundalk residents and anyone passing through seeking a soft-serve cone at an honest price, that is enough.