Restaurants – Ghirardelli Chocolate Marketplace

Name:
Ghirardelli Chocolate Marketplace

Location:
Google Maps

Website:
http://www.ghirardelli.com/

Summary: 

This was an all around great experience.  We had fun exploring the square, seeing the architecture, taking a look through the shops, and ended our tour here at the Chocolate Factory.  They have a shop attached, with so much awesome chocolate that it will take you a while just to see it all, let alone pick some to take home.

The ice cream shop is fantastic, their menu is small but again you’ll have trouble deciding because they all look amazing.  The seating area is small inside, lots of exterior seating, but was totally packed when we were there.  I imagine it’s packed quite often.

We ended up getting ours to go, so missed out on the amazing looking glassware, but that didn’t affect the taste.  My classic hot fudge sundae was great, and Katie couldn’t rave enough about how good hers was.  Bet you can’t have just one!

The Story:

This was our dessert stop after a great dinner at one of the nearby restaurants.  (Will add a link to that review when it’s complete).

When we arrived the line up was quite long, and Katie wanted to look through the chocolate shop, so we did that first.  The shop is small, but their selection is huge.  They have all different kinds of chocolate served up in all sorts of different shapes, sizes and packages.

I found a cool street car stuffed with chocolate that I wanted for my desk at work.  Katie had a difficult time deciding on just one, and I think we ended up with a couple – one mixed sample and some things she particularly wanted to try.

Back outside, the line was basically gone, but we didn’t know what we wanted yet.  I stepped over to look at the menu and the line filled up behind us.  Menu was in an awkward place, we got back in line and I still had no idea which one I was going to pick.  Happily they have menus ready for you at the ordering stands inside.  I was boring and got their original – Katie got something fancier with a neat name.

Since it was so crowded inside, and neither of us like being around that many people I got ours “to go” so we could eat them around the corner where there were some free tables.  Katie can’t eat and walk so we had to sit down somewhere.

We got to stand up by the bar where they made everything.  It was interesting to watch, they had servers coming and going steady taking stuff to peoples tables.  OMG did it all look amazing, I was sorry we were full from dinner so I couldn’t try one of everything.

The ice cream was so good, and the hot fudge was like nothing I’ve had before.  I am not usually a sweet eater, and this wasn’t overly sweet – just full of flavour and awesome.  I finished mine off in record time, even for me, even being stuffed full of BBQ.  I was sorry when it was over, but there was no way another was going to fit in my belly. Too bad you can’t take these home for later.