Here's a follow up to my previous review. The seller sent the chocolate I ordered through the…read morepostal service (USPS). Why would any business use USPS to ship a perishable product? Then, when the product was returned as undeliverable by the postal service, the seller claimed no responsibility for the delivery at all. No refund. Once we ship the product through a questionable method, we have no responsibility. I got a personal email from the owner telling me his reasoning - tough luck "you can pick up the (unsellable) product at the store." Thanks.

Chocolatier that roast their own beans and make their own chocolates in house…read more Bonbon shop. Samples available for the bars. Single origin bars. No drinks. Other chocolate products available: drinking chocolate, chocolate covered orange slices, chocolate covered espresso beans, etc. Lady who helped us was awesome. Spacious and beautiful space.

This is a special chocolate shop. It's small but brings in the world of chocolate. There's all…read moretypes represented from all over. Dark, milk, truffles, ganache (my gosh good) etc. each piece I tried was full of flavor. They also have chocolate bars and sipping chocolate. And they even featured hand painted greeting cards by a local artist! Lovely. Whenever I was in SB I tried to swing by because Chocolate Maya is a neat place to pick up a chocolate treat!

Some of the most delicious chocolates I have ever tasted. This adorable shop has knowledgeable…read morestaff and makes quality and ethically sourced chocolates. Each one is unique and flavorful. Parking is available at paid lot across the street.

We stopped in for truffles, with a preference for the real thing: dark, creamy and not overly…read moresweet. Score! We received a sampling of four of their seven or so dark ones, and they were smooth and wonderful. The flavored ones, such as Ginger / Lemon and Curry / Coconut, really popped - strong flavor that complimented the chocolate very nicely. Love it!

Some of the finest, highest quality, and most exquisite chocolates in all of Santa Barbara, and…read moreeven California. Jean-Michel is a chocolate virtuoso. My goal is try to every single chocolate, at least one time (if not several times over). I feel as though time stands still when I am in his shop and in particular when I am having my chocolate experience. I savor every bite and feel an unexplanable euphoria of flavors in my mouth and pleasure coursing through my veins. If you love small batch, hand-made, top quality and innovative marriage of flavors of chocolates....this is the place you should make your pilgrimage to. Get the chocolates in a bag to save a few dollars if you are getting them for yourself, otherwise they have different sized boxes to give as a gift.

Menchaca Chocolates is truly a chocolate lover's dream. A hidden gem located at the Mercado on…read moreupper state. From rich dark chocolate to creamy oat milk and white chocolate, Menchaca Chocolates crafts every bite with care. They also offer sampler boxes. On my visit, I picked up the chocolate covered spicy mangos. Who knew dark chocolate covered mangos would be so addictive. Highly recommend! The habanero sea salt is what gives it a little kick, but it's not too spicy where it burns your mouth. I also bought a chocolate bar covered in toffee. They offer chocolate and art workshops; where you can emerse your senses in cacao beans grinding, nibs roasting, fluid chocolate hardening, and create your own chocolate bar! The choices of chocolate are dark, oat milk and white chocolate. With over 40 toppings to choose from and customize your own chocolate bar. I'm looking forward to taking a class here soon!

I think my biggest issue here was just in the way the chocolate workshop is described as a "make…read moreyour own chocolate bar." I've done chocolate workshops where we literally got cacao beans from bods, roasted and dried them, them mixed with other ingredients to make chocolate, this is not that. This is really an arts and crafts project where you just happen to take home some chocolate at the end. That being said, the chocolate base is quite good, from the dark chocolate (which I normally don't like), through the milk chocolate, and the white chocolate. Each of the base is already made, then they give you a ton of toppings to customize your own bar. I will say I wish they would have suggested us to push in the topping a bit more into the mold, as much of the toppings came off when we ate them later. After this 10 min process of customizing your bar, the rest of the time is spent just decorating your box. They do have an extensive collection of art materials, it was just a bit of a let down that it felt like 90% crafts. Beyond that, the service could have been better. It was very stand off-ish. We ended up decorating our box for what felt like an hr cause no one came to tell us our chocolate was ready. And it just really felt like we had no idea what was going on throughout the process. Staff was nice, just not very informative.

Absolutely love the fact that everything here is gluten-free and you wouldn't even know it! Their…read morebreakfast/brunch items (especially the vegetarian quiche) and their bakery items are absolutely delicious. I can't even say oh they're so good for being gf. They re so so good that they can compete for the crown against any regular flour bakery. The inside is so cute - charming like a French patisserie. The staff is attentive and helpful.

I ordered the French toast and the presentation was 10/10. The actual taste, not so much. They use…read morethis orange zest flavoring (which wasn't mentioned in the menu) that just completely overpowers the entire dish. Their orange juice was really good though! I do want to comeback and try something else, everyone else's food looked really good!

The best Turkish delight I've evereaten . Irecommend it to those who love Tutkish delightread more

First time in a Turkish Cafe. Beautifully decorated like…read morewith all the Middle Eastern Touch. Amazing service. Variety of Baklavas and desserts was impressive. We ordered a Turkish Iced Tea and a couple of Baklavas to taste. Sweetened perfectly and the baklava was made to perfection. I didn't try the coffee, but it did look like an original Turkish coffee. They had outside and inside seating.

It's our second day here in Santa Barbara and we started it off with a LOVELY lunch here at Alessia…read morePatisserie + Cafe. The smell of coffee and pastries was wafting through the air before we even walked in! Once we did, we were greeted by Kendall and her pretty, smiley face. She immediately gave off great vibes and helped us with our pastry choices. We got the Apricot Danish and Kouign-Amann to start. My son got an iced Americano and I got a Decaf Iced Vanilla Latte with Oat Milk. Leonel's helped us at checkout and she was also very nice, fast and helpful. After sharing the pastries, I immediately decided to get 1 more of each to-go. They were so FRESH, scrumptious and delicious. High quality pastries made with a lot of love and care! We also got the Berry Fruit Tart that we nibbled at after the meal, but we were already so full. It was also delicious and will taste great as a late night snack later! For our entrées, I got the Turkey and Brie Sandwich but subbed Baguette in place of the Ciabatta bread. OMG, it was AMAZING!!! It came with nicely sliced turkey breast, garlic aioli, baby arugula, triple cream Brie and cranberry-fig compote. All the ingredients complimented each other perfectly and tasted absolutely divine and decadent. I hadn't eaten Brie cheese in a long time and this sandwich really hit the spot! The sandwiches/entrées come with a choice of potato chips or house salad, so I chose the salad. The lettuce was so crisp and fresh, and the vinaigrette was very delicate too. My son got the Blue Crab Crepes and WOW! We were both stunned at how delicious it was. A perfect brunch/lunch item for a cafe like this, and honestly, we have never seen crepes with crab anywhere. It came with Hollandaise sauce on top and it wasn't too heavy or overpowering. Just right. He also got his food with a House Salad. We absolutely loved every second of our experience here at Alessia. As wonderful as the food and ambience was, I think Kendall might be the star of the show here. She was such a pleasure to talk to and her positive energy just radiates all around her. The café offers both indoor and outdoor seating with 2 gender-neutral bathrooms. Everything here was clean and well taken care of. There is no parking so you will have to find street parking in the surrounding streets. We will gladly be back anytime we find ourselves in Santa Barbara again! 20/10!

We had a really lovely Sunday brunch at Alessia Patisserie & Cafe. We came hoping for a cozy…read moremorning with some pastry specialties, and overall it was a great experience. We had to wait about 15 minutes for a table, but it actually worked out perfectly. While waiting, we walked across the street where there was a local artist market for International Women's Day, which made the morning even more enjoyable. Once we got our table in the outdoor seating area, the ambiance was really nice and very downtown Santa Barbara. The selection of pastries and brunch items was amazing with lots of different options. I had the avocado toast with dill cucumbers and eggs, which was beautifully presented and very flavorful. My husband had a croissant sandwich with egg and fillings, which he thought was good, and we also shared a pistachio croissant that we both really liked -- it was thick, generously filled, and delicious. The only small thing was that our coffees arrived about 10 minutes before the food, which isn't ideal for breakfast since I usually like to have them together. But when I mentioned it to the staff, they were very accommodating and kindly held the coffee until the food was ready, which I appreciated. The staff were friendly, the food was great, and the overall atmosphere made for a perfect Sunday brunch. It is a bit on the pricier side, but that's also quite normal for Santa Barbara. Overall, we really enjoyed our visit.

This bakery was amazing. Everything tasted incredibly fresh and high quality. The banana bread and…read morebran muffin were both delicious, super soft and moist without feeling heavy, and clearly made with care. The service was also really friendly, which made the whole experience even better. You can tell they take pride in what they make. Definitely coming back.

People love Deux Bakery, but I don't know. Somehow, it was a miss for me. We tried one of their…read morefrequently reviewed and loved cinnamon buns, along with a piece of coffee cake and a chocolate chip cookie. The cinnamon bun, I'm sorry to say, was just okay. The bun was fresh, soft, loaded with icing, but it just didn't wow me. It wasn't bad, but I wanted amazing, and it just wasn't. So far, nobody or nothing can compare with my high ideals for a cinnamon bun/roll, but that's okay. I keep searching. As for the coffee cake, that was just weird. It was more like a cookie base, a layer of nuts mixed with brown sugar and other ingredients, and then a layer of cake... but it didn't have any noticeable flavor profile, and it was kind of dry. It didn't work for me. Kinda boring. As for the chocolate chip cookie, it was good, but again, nothing great. I've definitely had better. Maybe we should have tried a loaf of bread, but we didn't. I don't think it's worth a return here to find out, though. They seem to be doing well enough without me, so that is how it'll remain. Oh well.

I love olive oil stores, especially the ones in California have wonderful products. Viva Oil on…read moreState Street in the heart of Santa Barbara didn't disappoint! The store has a nice decor, airy, it's welcoming, has a wide variety of olive oils and balsamic vinegars with nice flavors (some fruit based - fig anyone?), nice staff and reasonable prices. Great place to shop at, you can get a set for a nice gift or a couple of bottles for dipping and salads at home!

I live in Santa Barbara, planning an out-of-town trip, and was looking for gift for a host at…read morewhose home I would be spending a couple of nights. Viva Oliva was perfect. A small, local company, they offer a large variety of very reasonably priced gift choices. The sales associate was very friendly and helpful. (I chose a beautiful gift box of gourmet olive oil/vinegar pairings.)

I felt like it was a natural choice to visit McConnells for ice cream in Santa Barbara! This…read morelocation is very conveniently located on State St and normally has a line outside the door - for a good reason. Inside, they offer seating upstairs which I thought was cool you could enjoy your ice cream there - but a lot of people (myself included) decided to eat it outside the store. Although the line is quite long, the servers are really prompt and helpful. They offer you samples and don't rush you at all to select what you would like. I appreciated how friendly they were and how helpful they were. We got these flavors: - Vanilla Bean: A classic choice but always delicious for a reason. Their version is perfectly creamy and excellent in vanilla flavor. - Eureka Lemon & Marionberry: I'm probably uncultured but I've never had a marionberry before! Regardless, I love fruity flavors and this lemon flavor is light, refreshing, and filled with the creamy delight I want from Ice Cream - Santa Barbara Strawberry: Their highlight! If you can only choose once flavor, this is the one I recommend you order! Their strawberry is smooth, full of fresh strawberry flavor, and just tastes like a perfect summer day.

I got double scoop (4 flavors). It was delicious…read more BUT $10 is expensive. BUT it's also expensive to keep business afloat these days. Worth a try.