The bartender said to get off the Square and walk over to East 7th. I did, and I came back with ice cream on my shirt and a standing plan to bring my kids next time. That is the whole review, essentially, but here is the longer version.
The Baked Bear at 109 E 7th St runs on a four-step system: pick your cookies, pick your ice cream, pick your toppings, let them press it together. The chalkboard menu on the wall maps it out. No guessing, no upselling you toward a decision you did not want. You walk up, you look at the board, you choose. For a place in a market this crowded with options, that kind of operational clarity is its own form of confidence.
The cookies are baked from scratch daily. That detail is on the menu, and it shows in the product. When I bit into my sandwich, the cookie gave at the center without collapsing. Soft but not underbaked. Enough structure to hold ice cream without turning into a soggy mess three bites in. That is the quiet engineering problem every ice cream sandwich has to solve, and these solve it.
The display case had Cookie Monster and Cookies and Cream alongside the classics when I visited. Cookie Monster is a blue cookie loaded with chocolate chunks. It looks exactly like what it sounds like and it is not subtle about it. My kids would get a kick out of it. I am already planning the return trip. The Cookies and Cream reads as the more restrained pick if you want something that photographs less aggressively, but both warrant attention.
The counter runs long, and near the register there is a pairing suggestions board that tells you which cookies work with which ice cream flavors. It is a practical touch that earns its wall space. If you freeze up in front of a menu, and plenty of people do, the board makes the decision for you without making you feel managed. They also carry large individual cookies and brownies for anyone not committed to a full sandwich, which is the right call to have available.
Before I committed to a sandwich, I tried a chocolate chip and a sugar-style cookie on their own. Both were genuinely soft. I mean that as a precise description, not a marketing word. Color on the edges, give in the center when I pulled them apart, no dry crumb. The cookies stand on their own, which is probably the best endorsement the sandwich can get: the components are good alone and together they are better.
The ice cream case is the other half of the build. They label it super premium, and the density in the texture backs that up visually. It sits differently in the case than standard grocery-aisle ice cream. The day I went, the rotation included the bright blue Cookie Monster ice cream that mirrors the cookie, a dark chocolate, mint chip, and what looked like a berry swirl, among more than a dozen flavors total. That range matters because a narrow ice cream selection punishes you if your cookie pick does not pair with the two flavors they have got. Here, you can actually think about the combination.
Hours: Monday through Thursday, 1:00 PM to 9:00 PM. Friday and Saturday, noon to 10:00 PM. Sunday, noon to 9:00 PM. The address is 109 E 7th St. Phone is (512) 591-8345 if you want to call ahead. Street parking on 7th is manageable on weekday afternoons and tighter on weekend evenings when the Square draws a crowd. Something to account for if you are coming with a stroller or a group.
Georgetown has accumulated a lot of new businesses fast, and not all of them have earned the attention they get. The Baked Bear is the kind of place a good bartender recommends because it delivers on the specifics: scratch cookies, real ice cream, a clear menu, and a product that holds together. Listen to your bartender.