Miyako

Tom Bennett opened Miyako on Buchanan Street in the Fillmore District in 1993, and the shop has outlasted the Great Recession, a pandemic, and decades of neighbourhood change that have erased most of the businesses that once surrounded it. That longevity is the credential here: sources identify it as the last Black-owned ice cream shop of its kind in San Francisco, a distinction earned through three decades of consistent operation rather than press cycles or awards. The format is straightforward old-fashioned scooping, with Dryer's ice cream served in cups and cones at prices that remain among the lowest for any sit-down food stop in the city — two scoops in a small cup have been reported at under four dollars. Bennett now runs the shop alongside his daughter Teresa, and the personal-service atmosphere, marked by the shop's bright orange and green signage and old-school calligraphy, reflects a neighbourhood-business model that prioritises regulars and conversation over throughput. The Fillmore District carries a layered cultural history, and Miyako sits within it as a fixture of Marcus Garvey Square rather than a recent arrival capitalising on the area's current attention. For visitors expecting house-made ice cream or an artisan operation, this is not that: the draw is the shop's place in the community and its pricing accessibility, not a rotating seasonal menu. What it offers is rare in a different sense — a family-run counter that has held its ground in one of San Francisco's most commercially pressured corridors for more than thirty years.

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