For my first review of 2016, I feel the Thorntons Store is ideal as it is probably a place most…read moreMancunians have been to pick up gifts at one time or another, I personally am not a big fan of chocolate, so I don't understand all this hype with expensive chocolate, I mean, why can't I just go to the Pound shop and buy a box of chocolates, and put it in a Thorntons box? You couldn't tell the difference, I mean I've done it before (There's the secret behind my "expensive" gifts out in the open!) Overall, this is a nice store in general, they seem to sell a large section of chocolate with lots of different flavors and designs and even personalize it, they have a chocolate fountain and even sell some cool Easter eggs at Christmas, they even help wrap up gifts at a cost, I personally only do it as a last resort, as it is basically an expensive excuse to make a gift look nice. The staff here always seem nice enough, and they always seems to be some offers on, making the chocolate still seem expensive, but a little more affordable, but still it is average for most gift-sets, which in my opinion still seem expensive anyway. You can stick Christmas or Easter on anything, and charge twice as much. This is still a nice store, although a little small it is a good size and I feel does warrant a 3 star rating. UPDATE: This store has recently been refurbished and does look slightly nicer and more welcoming from the Arndale floor which is a real shame considering how service quality has declined by such a significant factor. I went into store, planning to use a voucher code and was struggling with signal, the staff members at the till did notice what I was doing, and stared at me as I went through everything to load the code and connect to the wifi, only to be told they had "sold out" when their was no evidence of this, it was just a real shame she refused to accept my voucher even though it was still valid, after the trouble I had gone through to get it, which she knew about meaning sadly I feel this store deserves a demotion to a one star rating.

As someone who eats chocolate every single day, I am always on the lookout for new chocolate bars,…read moretruffles or fusions. As I've already implied in my other reviews, I find Thorntons crushingly disappointing. The chocolate itself tastes bland and unmemorable whilst most of the fillings taste cloyingly sweet and artificial. The only reason I'm giving this branch more stars than the others is I think it's a good place to take nieces, nephews and god-children for a treat. Alongside a small selection of chocolate lollipops carved into teddybears and animals, they have an ice-cream counter selling different flavoured cones and a chocolate fountain where you can buy and dip marshmallow kebabs. I wouldn't eat either myself but I know taking my favourite five year old would score me a lot of brownie points!

I left this as feedback on the hotel chocolat website. They didn't allow it on their website which…read moresays all you need to know about them. I bring you to their '100% happiness guarantee'; it's a lie. I am now posting exactly the same review here, on my social media accounts, on my NHS work notice board (where I work), the library and other places. Policing people's reviews is the snakes that run this company. Hi Hotel Chocolat, It is upsetting to write this. After researching the velvetiser for a few weeks, and reading almost but almost wow'ing unreal reviews, I was thoroughly underwhelmed by mine. The product is more of a phenomenal marketing exercise than a stand alone great product. Yes I know the vast number of reviews are ecstatic, but then againpeople are ecstatic about watching QVC all day long. I really do not know what to say without sounding too rude, but it simply is not very good at what is meant to be very good at. The drink product is neither frothy or luxurious (a word your website is rampant with), and nowhere near decadent. My first warning bell was the use of the term barista grade. This means nothing. I have tried many hot chocolates around the world, the barista grade ones are usually the worst, average at best. The ones made by grannies in a lovely apron, just before bed, are the best. I am sure Hotel Chocolat has a firm fan base (we should note here so do the Kardashians) and loyal staff so I do not wish to provoke any hostile emotions from my email. I really don't want to, but I wish to return my order. It is an absolute shame. I was absolutely, thoroughly looking forward to the best hot chocolate I had ever tried. That's what you implicitly promised. To me, the product your machine produces is not that, nowhere near that. I have been a hot chocolate drinker ALL my life. As a grown male, I have NEVER tried a cup of tea or coffee. I drank hot chocolate when no one drank hot chocolate. The only other thing I drink is Horlicks (another grandma favourite). Now I want to come onto something which expands on the lack of ethicality. I wrote to the company asking how to return my package. This was their reply: "Thank you for contacting Hotel Chocolat. You have up to 28 days to return your unwanted items as long as you obtain proof of purchase and they are unopened/unused. Please let me know if I can assist you with anything else. Kind regards, Customer Happiness Team" I have deleted the name of the customer service responder. Naturally I asked them, I am not allowed to open the box at all, let alone try it? How am I meant to know if it is what I want? It's not cheap for what it is after all. But that's how they trap you, and trap you is what they want to do. The website goes on about 100% happiness guarantee. But there are no specifics. This is an intentional, unethical, omission. There is no time period for returns, there is no method for returns, there is nothing. This is what it says: 'All of your purchases are covered by our No Excuses Guarantee so if you're not 100% happy with our products or we miss an important delivery date, we guarantee that we'll immediately put it right for you - refunding, replacing or issuing you with a Gift Card as appropriate. In addition, we guarantee to make good any mistakes with honesty and a positive solution that works for you. We never want you to lose faith in Hotel Chocolat and will always go the extra mile so you know how important your custom is to us.' I have to say this is puffed up nonsense, in the true to form hotel chocolat way. They do not care about your happiness, nor putting things right. They only care about keeping your money. They are thieves in this regard. They make promises before sales they cannot keep after sales. Many will say this is true about all companies, but I would disagree. Many companies are trying their best to make a shift to more important customer services and management. This is what makes it more shameful that hotel chocolat promises the same but delivers the absolute opposite. A bit like their product. For example over Christmas the vast majority of stores allow extended returns and refunds. Refunds made to the gift recipient. For money. Hotel chocolat? Oh no. They don't do that. If you have received a gift, you can get a gift voucher for hotel chocolat. So that's basically £100 of gift vouchers (for a unwanted velvetiser) to spend in their shop. Where's that clearly stated in the 100% happiness guarantee? It isn't. Mine was a gift from my uncle. Luckily he can return it, but you should all be aware of that. And the company, if they were indeed ethical as they insist, would make sure you were aware of that. A two faced company? Definitely. Thieves? Given the less than mediocre product, absolutely. Here to help you? Not in the least. I just hope no one squanders their money, be promised 100% happy, and really get nothing. read the negative reviews, they are real.

Hotel Chocolat is a shop specializing in chocolate, in recent years they have grown, even coming…read moreclose to Thorntons, who was founded 77 years earlier, and also have a store in the Manchester Arndale, but Hotel Chocolat has a much more upper market, pricier vibe, it makes Thorntons look like ALDI, to its' Waitrose. Hotel Chocolat looks more of a high end store, instead of all being packed in, as it is in Thorntons, it is more spread out, with chocolate packages being smaller, and more expensive. here, you can't expect to get a sample of chocolate as often, as you would in Thorntons. In general, the packaging of chocolate is a lot smaller, and high end too with some cool varieties, but still for the price it doesn't reflect value for money, especially for me, and I'm not a big eater of chocolate in the first place. Chocolate is one of life's naturally gluten free products, and it is only when they go adding lots of rubbish to it (Thanks KitKat) or it is made in a factory that handles gluten (Thanks DairyMilk), it doesn't become gluten free. Most chocolate here will be fine, but I would always recommenced checking first. If your looking for a gift, this is a nice shop to go to, but still it isn't a place you would come, just to pick up chocolate for yourself as it is far too posh and pricey for that, and although it is a reasonable store, I just don't get the hype about expensive chocolate, if this was called Hotel Coffee, I'd probably score a lot more, therefore I feel I can only go to 2 stars.

Walking around Manchester's NQ and in need of a sugar fix I decided to try BonBon for a hot…read morechocolate. The shop is tiny! Definitely couldn't swing a cat (not that I would do, or ever have done, that) but it has that unique and homely NQ feel that makes MCR amazing. It was busy, so we managed to grab a small table for 2 in the corner and peruse the chocolates on offer whilst we waited. I chose 4 little chocolates - pistachio, dark chocolate, salted caramel and a weird, yet lovely stilton truffle. At over £1 each for a small, round chocolate that can easily be swallowed in one, the chocolates aren't cheap here - but they are hand made by the lady owner on-site in the workshop in the back. The chocolates on display can be chosen and devoured in the shop like we did, or you can box them up to take away or box them up as a gift! I ordered a salted caramel hot chocolate and spent a while enjoying it and chatting away. The hot chocolates are made with 66% melted dark chocolate with water - and are all dairy free. They don't fill you up and don't lie heavy on your stomach later on in the day, it's just an excellent, chocolately sugar fix.

Ok, who doesn't love chocolate right..! This little neat store tucked in the NQ has amazing…read morechocolate bars and bites. Some are handmade by the owner, others are factory bred but still delish. They are known for their hot chocolate but recommendation is, if you get one, stick to the regular flavour. I purchased an orange flavour one, simply because I love citrus. A bit disappointing though as the drink was flavoured with little orange bits, almost like little pulp pieces. Other than that, it was a nice and warming esp for the frigid Manchester weather. It was nothing fancy but sometimes all you want is soothing chocolate to get-in-yo-bellllaayy! Drinks are around £3.50 and the chocolate bars vary in price but definitely a good idea for a brief chocolate indulging or simply as a nice gift.

I like this Belgium chocolate shop. It is not as expensive as Godiva but it is very good quality…read moreindeed. There are many nice little chocolates in the food case and you can buy them by gram. It is rather creamy and rich flavour so you do not need eat too much( unlike Cadbury). I like their bitter chocolate, it is not really sugary and tastes real cacao. If you want to try real chocolate for decent price, it is good place to shop!

Have been having them for years from the London Selfridges store, sadly closed now. Much better…read morethan Godiva in my opinion. My favourite the cafe manon.

This branch of Thorntons is located in Manchester Fort and is quite small to say the least,…read moreprobably even smaller than my local store in Middleton, with a chocolate section about the same size as the milk section in a supermarket ; it does win back people however as it is one of the stores to have a cafe. The manager of the cafe is quite nice, I know she tries to do a lot for charity, but that is another story and I am reviewing the normal consumer experience. The cafe's tables are very small, hence if you are with a friend and you want to have a bite to eat, you probably need a table each, and it is a little squashing walking past. I feel if they can't have a big, comforting store with a cafe, they should just leave the cafe as they is plenty other coffee joints / cafes in the store, and they should just stick to a big chocolate range. I got a free chocolate with my meal, and of course sprinkles on my coffee, I were told , in a very quick, adamant manner they were gluten free. My gingerbread latte was quite strong on the gingerbread to be fair, and the coffees were small, at about £2.89 for mine (£2.39 for a single latte), the pricing to be fair isn't bad but when you add 40p for a syrup and consider how the cafe is, very small, crammed together with tables as small as one you would put the kids at, I can't rate the cafe or the store too highly, I actually feel I can't give any more than 2 stars, but towards the higher end of the 2 star scale, as they didn't have a problem with me bringing in and eating my sandwich from M and S.

Hotel Chocolat is one of the three branches which Hotel Chocolat have in Manchester city centre…read morewhich includes a branch in Piccadilly Train Station and also one quite close by and the newest of the three in the Manchester Arndale Centre. This branch is located on Market Street, very close to St Ann's Square and the Royal Exchange Building, and is opposite the large Marks and Spencer store. This store is a decent size, probably around the same size as most Hotel Chocolat branches, the decor and size is pretty typical. Hotel Chocolat are more of a premium chocolate brand, yet they stand out compared to Lindt due to having more innovative flavours and shapes, Lindt also have a store in the Manchester Arndale Centre, and in a way it is the same when you compare them to Thorntons, who also have a nearby store. The pricing is a little expensive here, for example the ice cream is around £3 - £3.50 depending if you want a cup or a cone, however it was out of order during my visit. The store seemed a little understaffed and the women who was working seemed reluctant to help, she didnt seem too friendly or welcoming which was a shame. I managed to try a salted caramel chocolate which I did enjoy the flavourings of, however the actual chocolate wasn't as good, this was on sample as their "special" I'm struggling to think of reasons for this store to warrant anything over two stars mainly down to issues with the ice cream machine, service and lack of product information on certain items.

woman behind the till is unbelievably rude and called me a bitch. I cannot believe she has a job…read morecustomer facing.

the worse encounter with the lady and the man that work in there. I had 2 parcels to drop off and…read morethe lady was extremely rude and patronising. her friend was on the side flirting with the tall ginger arndale security guard with all the tatoos (known for flirting with girls all around the shopping centre). she was rushing me and complained that she had a queue and I ignored it and she preceded to try and embarrass me infant of everyone in the store. I then complained after holding my tongue that her customer service was awful and she was extremely insulting and mean. It was my first time delivering a parcel there and she was extremely unhelpful and said to me "I don't know how to do it, I don't order online". as the man tried to help me she kept looking to the side to the woman who apparently didn't work there and the security guard that were huddled up together on the side saying "horrible" "just horrible" eveytime I would speak referring to the comment I made about her customer service. I then left and forgot my phone, when I came back to get it the man was talking to a customer and stopped as I was leaving to shout across the store "YOU'RE WELCOME, TALK ABOUT F***ING MANNERS". I left in tears. Inpost customer service were extremely sympathetic and apologetic and sorted new labels for me to post my parcels elsewhere as over the rainbow staff snatched the stickers out of my hand. Inpost should remove their service from that shop as they are awful in there. I left in tears having to calm myself down without having returned my parcels. will never e back, nobody should do business with them or buy from their store. I'll be telling everyone I know. Having worked in customer service and a frequent shopper I have never seen such awful and nasty service and ambiance!