Chocolate overload!
This place is awesome if you love chocolate! Seriously, who doesn't love chocolate? I mean, I know there are people who don't like it, but I just can't wrap my head around that concept. I love chocolate in all of its deliciously decadent incarnations and therefore a trip here was a must.
This store is amazing in just about every possible way. They conduct free chocolate tours to the public! That's awesome. I can watch them make chocolate right in front of my eyes? Yes, please. If you have a family, it's a cheap way to enjoy yourselves and get a little birds eye view of the intricate chocolate-making process. Oh, and did I forget to mention the supply of free fudge and chocolate samples they give out? Well, they were pretty generous with that, let me tell you. Heck, they practically pushed it on me at every counter. Who am I to say no? Seriously, I had free samples of just about everything and what a great sales tactic it is. I wound up spending quite a bit just on chocolate balls, peanut butter chocolate bark and ice cream.
My husband and I intended to only grab ice cream, but wound up picking up a bunch of other goodies as well. There was simply too much on display to turn down and with all of the free sampling going on, well, you get the picture. We opted for the peanut butter bark (Kilwins version is sort of reminiscent of peppermint bark, but with sumptuous chocolate and peanut butter instead of white chocolate and mint) and it was divine. I love peanut butter and chocolate together (seriously, what better flavor combination in the world possibly exists beyond peanut butter and chocolate???), so I knew it would be good, but I had no idea how good. My only regret is not buying more of it in bulk. The dark chocolate and peanut butter balls were also amazing as well and inexpensively-priced, too (about $1 each).
As for ice cream, they had so many flavors, so many varieties, it was nearly impossible to narrow it down to just one. I opted for a waffle cone Lemon Sorbetto (I know, not chocolate, but I think variety is the spice of life, so..) while my husband ordered the Banana Mud Pie. I'd recommend either one. Both were delicious and the portion sizes were decent for the price. The girl behind the counter gave us a few different samples before ordering and I must say that the Raspberry Sorbetto and Pumpkin Pie were also pretty good, too. I did almost get one of their super rich chocolate concoctions, though I figured I already had enough chocolate for the moment.
Now, for the fudge. That's where the free sampling really came into play. They were doling out free samples (big ones, too, not just tiny specks which hardly give you the ability to adequately taste the variety) to everyone. They had plenty of flavors of fudge, including several sans nuts for those with nut allergies (same with the ice cream and candy selection, too). For me, the Double Dark Sea Salt Caramel and Mud Pie were the best, but my husband preferred the Maple fudge. They had one I'd never seen before, Penuche, and it was terrific, too. The prices on Kilwins fudge weren't bad, not really any higher than any of the competition, but I like their variety and quality a little better.
Honestly, it's hard for two adults to walk out of here without spending at least $30. There's simply too much chocolate decadence going on here to not pick up something. I only intended to grab ice cream and we walked out with a whole lot more (no complaints, though).
Overall, I thought the store was super clean and cute, well-organized and the staff was very friendly, expedient (lines were super short) and fairly well-versed in their product line, outside of the girl behind the ice cream counter, who overhead my conversation with my husband regarding gelato. She looked at me and asked me, "what is gelato?" I was incredulous. Oh well, apparently she didn't know what gelato was, but she was friendly other than that little blip. read more