lovely shoppe with nice people fabulous sweet trees and candy gifts…read moreamerican candy / sweet buffets / olde fashioned penny lines / weigh out jars with all your olde favourites

The food was excellent. I got cheese and onion pie (lunch) and tried the chocolate challenge…read more(which we failed dismally). The chocolate was to die for...totally scrumptious. The service was really good with friendly and knowledgeable staff. I'll be back for sure. The prices were good also. The seating was good and the wait was not long ( although I booked ahead of time).

The best Patissier and Chocolatier in North Manchester…read more Any time I drive into Manchester (which is very often) I have to drive past Slattery's and always manage to make some excuse to pop in. I shouldn't have to make an excuse to go here - It's excellent. The ground floor is their outstanding chocolate and cake shop - definitely worth spending some time here tasting and choosing what they have on offer. Their selection of over 40 celebration cakes on display are stunning - you'll find yourself staring at them like some sort of art. A few of the wedding cakes are pushing £1,000.. asking if it would be worth it? For me, yes! Their cakes are amazing - no wonder Wayne Rooney bought his wedding cake from here and had it shipped to Italy. You'll find me with my face pressed up against the viewing window where you can watch the cake decorators working hard to perfect these masterpieces *drool* I'm certainly not planning my wedding or anything but I already know that there's a massive possibility that my cake will be from here. On the first floor is an elegant restaurant serving breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, and of course CAKE. The menu is fab and I haven't heard anybody mention a bad word about it. I have yet to visit the restaurant and I hear that unless you book weeks in advance you've no chance of getting in, but this only makes me want to try it even more and it is certainly on my list. In the past I have bought baskets from here and made my own hampers, mainly for family or friends at Christmas time - consisting of chocolates, hand make cakes, biscuits, marmalades, wines etc (all locally sourced). Safe to say these always go down well. If you have a sweet tooth, this is somewhere you should definitely visit.

Formerly The Urban Chocolate Co, Choc-la-Te is a charming and pleasant cafe on Westhoughton's…read moreMarket Street, which specialises in chocolate by the in-house chocolatier, as well as offering tasty food and drink. I walked into the little cafe, which was bright and fresh on a lovely sunny day, and was warmly greeted and given a big beaming smile by Tracy, the chocolatier and owner. I looked at the food and drinks menu, and the specials menu which offered summer drinks. As a tea lover, I was really impressed at the tea menu, which had a good variety of loose leaf teas to enjoy, from your standard English Breakfast to Darjeeling and beyond. I chose an Earl Grey with cornflour, which was very refreshing and tasty... but as I was sipping it, I spotted rose and bergamot black tea on the shelf... I'll definitely be trying that next time! The tea was excellent quality and even came with suggested timers for brewing times. I've not seen this quality or variety of tea offered outside of Manchester City Centre's tea rooms, but most definitely not for Manchester's prices! The venue itself has a fabulously semi-modern design to it, with beautiful big 70s style geometrics on the walls and crockery, bright colours, and fun little signs. For a small (4 table) cafe, it didn't feel too small! They also sells their own chocolates, little gifts, and greetings cards, which are placed around the edges of the main dining area to catch your eye as you make inappropriate noises of appreciation about your chocolate fondue. From the tasty and tempting food menu I chose a classic ham and cheese toastie, and as well as being offered my choice of bread, and whether I'd like fresh coleslaw or onion chutney, it also came with some crisps and a fresh side salad. I was even asked if I'd like dressing for said salad. I was starting to like this place, they had everything, and after I found out they also took cards as payment, AND had free wi-fi? Definitely a quick way into my good-books even before I've eaten! My ham and cheese toastie was lovely and fresh, and very tasty, especially considering it was very good value considering the quality offered. This is the quality of a city centre venue but at prices reflecting the area. Westhoughton, you're very lucky to have them! At this point I realised that it would surely be a crime to come to a chocolate specialist and not partake, especially given that the quality of the food was so good! Tracy gave me a run-down of what cakes and bakes were on offer (and they all sounded incredible!), as well as which chocolates were available, which you could purchase for a price per individual chocolate, which is a genius idea! I went for Turkish Delight, Limoncello, Salted Caramel and Passionfruit, which Tracy picked out of the display case using a special chocolate-handling glove! Very swish! They were given to me in a cute little teacup, and as you can imagine, they were absolutely sublime! I will most definitely be returning here, not just due to it being close to where I live, not just because the chocolates are lovely and I want more and know I can get them boxed up for gifts, not just because there's lots of other tasty chocolate gifts, not just because of the tasty food and the tea range which I definitely want to try more of, not just because of the friendly and happy customers and staff who gave the place a lovely atmosphere, nor the customer who highly recommended the chocolate fondue, and not just because of the idea of their afternoon teas... ...wait where was I? ...oh yes! I have to come back, because I've been told great things about their hot chocolate... the other things just happen to be a nice side-point! ;) Go along. You'll love it.

So I came here for a friend's birthday and did not know what to expect really…read more On entering they have their various home made chocs for sale from banofee to ginger with prices that of hotel choclater. Walking upstairs we had luckily booked a table. It was chaotic ,full of screaming kids playing frisbee with the saucers and knocking teacups off the table. Cautiously I sat down avoiding this kid with sticky mitts behind me. The waitress came swiftly to take our order. The menu consists of some indulgent £4 hot chocs, cakes, sandwiches and well.. chocolate. I did consider the chilli but for 12 quid you can purchase a tea for one. This combined a hot choc/ drink of your choice, toasted sandwich , scone and some chocolate. I chose the ameretto white hot chocolate which turned out quite sickly. Then eventually the food arrived. Most of us had selected tuna melt or ham and cheese apart from one veggie.. so when the tuna arrived dripping all over the veggie sandwich she was not amused. We got this swapped. The tiered trays were intimidating so I just ate half a sandwich to make room for the scone and chocolate. The scone was nice the choclate was too experimental and sweet for me.. especially the honey choc. Also i Never saw any waitresses again..it was like tetris trying to balance all the plates and I really needed a drink . The noise level was high and the decor was that of a soup kitchen.. In the end we just went downstairs to pay. Needless to say I won't be back. I do what to try the Mousetrap instead?

The Chocolate Café used to have a branch in Manchester city centre on Deansgate, but that has now…read moreclosed down, meaning if you want to enjoy their unbelievable chocolaty services, you will have to journey to Bury, or order online. They sell literally everything you can imagine in the chocolate world. The showpiece though, has to be the chocolate pizzas. These can be 6 inch (£7.95) or 9 inch (10.95) and each come with 3 toppings of your choice! Available toppings include white, dark or milk chocolate curls, strawberry curls, salami made of White Chocolate Jazzies, black olives made of Dark Chocolate Buttons, green olives made of Lemon Flavour Buttons and much much more! They even sell drinking chocolates that are literally next level, including a box of real chocolate buttons that melt into drinking chocolate. Not only normal chocolate flavour eiher but strawberry drinking chocolate, orange drinking chocolate and caramel drinking chocolate, as well as the white dark and milk chocolate options! For Christmas presents they do amazing chocolate hampers for your chocolate loving family members. Amazing chocolaty joy! P.S. according to Microsoft word 'chocolaty' is a valid word.

Lindt are are a large company now for chocolate, with their products in most of Britain's major…read moreretailers, with 9 stores around the world including their newest branch here in Manchester. They have branches around the UK in Cheshire Oats, Wembley and York, and two stores in France, including one in Paris. This store is quite small, and they seem to do a good job in fitting a lot of flavors into one place, including some interesting flavors, with a large range of small chocolates, like what you'd find in a Quality Street box, but with a wider range of flavors The staff here seem nice, they was an area to personalize your Lindt chocolate bunny, and I was greeted with a free sample when I entered. The store its-self is quite narrow, and is really not wheelchair accessible with small isles, especially when it is busy, such as in this Easter period. I don't like Lindt Chocolate, despite them having some flavors which sound amazing, mainly because it isn't natural chocolate, as in all their flavors they do add barley. This is a nice store with some great sounding chocolate, but still it is too small of a store to walk about, and spend some time in. They is a good enough range to fill a larger store, and considering they are a big brand I'd have thought they would have wanted this store to be better, to stand out especially as they only have 7 stores in the UK, and a Lindt store is quite a shock to see for a tourist in Manchester, due to how rare they are, but still it doesn't live up to expectations and how it looks on paper, therefore sadly I can't go over 2 stars.

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.

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!