Went here three years ago just after they were fixed up from a hurricane that hit our west coast really bad. It was the first spot my wife and I went on our honeymoon and we always go back every single year! Take the tour if you want a lesson on how chocolate is made as well as some yummy samples and a coupon for any purchases you make, which also can give you a small percentage off at other shops! Overall a definite stop for anyone visiting St Augustine! PS Get yourself some "Gator Bait". You can thank me later. read more

The chocolate tasting was fun. We received 6 different chocolates to taste. The tour consisted of a lesson and video on how chocolate is made which was interesting. The factory is not much of a factory. Five people doing individual tasks. I was expecting to see a large factory with chocolate flowing and candies on conveyor belts. Even with all of that, I would have given the tour 4 stars, but our tour guide, Melanie, was cranky and intimidating from the beginning. Then she proceeded to tell me the people in our group were rude and disrespectful. I had no idea what she was talking about as I thought everyone in the group was fine. The chocolate is very good and we enjoyed picking out speciality chocolates in the candy store. read more

Great tour ... Melanie is the BEST ... so educational and she was so knowledgeable and entertaining!!! Great company that takes pride in their products .. quality chocolate and so so YUMMY!!!! A sure not to miss tour! #1 tour and chocolate read more

Waste of money and time due to poor screening of tour guide, the tour guide represents who you are as

Chocolate heaven!! Ordered two different kinds of gelato. One strawberry sorbet and salted carmel that had pretzels covered in chocolate. Staff was very friendly. read more

Whetstone Chocolates - Salted carmel on the left and strawberry sorbet on the right. - Chocolatiers & Shops Near Me - St. Augustine, Florida

I am a huge chocolate fan and this by far is one of my top places in Florida to go too. I love the story behind the company and what it now stands for. Great place and great chocolate read more

To book tour we did it on the app, we had several coupon codes from different booklets and from online (all did not expire till next year) yet the website did not accept any of them. When we got to the store the gentleman just said yea the website isn't allowing anyone to use for some reason.. so why run the ads with the coupons if you know it isn't working? They should of offered to reimburse us the value of the coupons. Anyhow, I had believed we would get to taste more chocolate.. they gave us a sheet of paper with the different chocolates we would be tasting and informed us that several from the list won't be available for tasting. Tour guide Aaron was very pleasant and knowledgeable but it was very difficult to hear him while in the factory, they may need to get him a better microphone headset. The chocolate was great but didn't purchase any because they seemed way over priced. read more

Really loved the tour and tastings! Our tour guide, Michael, was so passionate for the Whetstone Chocolate brand and it's process. He was very informative and friendly! The syrups were to die for! Unfortunately, the one thing I found disappointing was that they allowed a gentleman to carry his dog in a bag through the tour/factory. I see this as a major sanitation issue as you walk through a live food-making production plant. Everyone had to wear hair nets and beard nets to cover all hair, but this families' dog was invited in. read more

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A really fun tour with excellent chocolate! Joe was a great tour guide

Awesome tour! I had an awesome time watching how they make there chocolates and explained what are bases of the chocolates. I think it was pretty cool that a small place can make such amazing chocolates. I also tried there drink and it was delicious very heavy on the chocolate but enjoyed the overall experience. read more

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This is such a fun place to tour! I've actually done this tour twice now while visiting St. Augustine. It's great for all ages and you even get to try some chocolate at the end. The tour guides are informative and down right hilarious. You watch a short video and then get a tour of the factory and get to see the workers in action making the chocolate! You even get your own hair net! It's not a super long tour and has periods where you can sit so it's great for children and seniors. Good price for a fun time and you get a discount in the chocolate store afterward! If you visit St. Augustine make sure you do this tour! read more

Whetstone Chocolates - Photo op with I Love Lucy! - Chocolatiers & Shops Near Me - St. Augustine, Florida

I suppose I'm used to real chocolate shops. I didn't even notice the ingredients when I bought a dark chocolate bar from here and a few truffles. They tasted like a packaged Nestle's bar, and when I read all of the fake flavoring I tried it and threw it away. If you're not used to real chocolate then you won't mind but for those of you that have tasted Jaques Torres and so forth go elsewhere. read more

Yummy chocolates in a number of flavor varieties. Also tried the gelato which was great.

The store is a bit pricey, but the tour is worth it! It's a small factory, so don't expect rows and rows of chocolate on machines like you see on shows like Unwrapped on Food Network. Instead, it's an intimate little place where the machines are a lot smaller and there is only one person putting the chocolate candies on each machine. Still it's pretty mesmerizing to watch the chocolate turning in the mixer. They recommend reservations, but don't take this lightly. We were lucky to get a tour close to our desired time only because they added extra tours since it was a busy week. The tour itself is very informative and our tour guide definitely did his research on chocolate! He knew all about the health benefits and chemicals found in chocolate, the different varieties of chocolate around the world, the breakdown process of turning cocoa pods into the cocoa butter and cocoa powder, the ingredients used to make edible chcoolate, and the machines and processes on creating the candies. Throughout the tour we were all given free samples of chocolate. OMG so flavorful and fresh! My son's favorite was the mint chocolate Aviles chocolate they handed out from the factory. Sooo delicious and creamy! My favorites were the mint chocolate as well as the darkest chocolate. We watched a short snippet from I Love Lucy during the tour and there was a special surprise at the end for I Love Lucy fans. All in all, a great tour. Definitely worth the price, and you could grab a treat at the store afterwards for $2 off. We had already stuffed ourselves with chocolate before the tour, so I got my son a pumpkin pie gelato. Creamy and smooth. Tip: This place is a short walk from the San Sebastian Winery. read more

I was excited to stop here because it was World Chocolate Day but left before purchasing anything. We walked into the area that was part of the business but not the actual storefront. People were sitting near a large screen and two people that seemed to work there were lounging back in seats. We stood there a minute waiting for something to happen and nothing did so my friend asked an employee where the chocolate was. The female pointed toward a door and told us to go through the door. The male sat staring at his phone. We walked into the store and there were 2 employees behind the counter. There were about 15 people in the small space waiting to order. You'd think on WORLD CHOCOLATE DAY the chocolate store would make certain they'd have plenty of employees to help customers-but they didn't. With 4 visible employees in the store we were not greeted or acknowledged once. I waited in line for about 7-8 minutes before deciding to leave. Poor planning and lack of even basic customer service seem to be what this place offers. I wish I had something a little more positive to say. read more

They offer tours at full price on the days off of the Confectioners and don't tell you until 15 minutes in. We had no idea and it was a waste of money. The video you watch is old, the tour guide has some interesting information but nothing ground breaking, and then you walk through an empty factory... save yourself the money and just purchase the products from the storefront. 2 stars are for the lovely chocolate that is very good. read more

Can't go wrong with a chocolate! We visited Whestone's for the chocolate tour which was fantastic! The tour is offered several times a day and costs less than $10- a bargain as it includes some tastings throughout the tour! We were able to find a coupon in one of the tourist's booklets, so it's worth picking up one of those books as it can save you a few bucks. It's also important to show up a bit early as the tour can fill up. The tour included a quick video, an overview of the chocolate making process and a walk through the factory! Throughout the tour our guide shared samples of different chocolates, illustrating the different styles of the chocolate they make. It was very informative but kept moving at a steady pace. With your tour sticker you also get a discount in the chocolate store, which features a lot of unique products. I purchased a chocolate covered s'more which was terrific! read more

My husband and I had a great time. Our tour guide was "Lane" (not sure if that's the correct spelling). Anyway, she was knowledgeable about the process and funny and engaging. The chocolate was delicious. I don't really like white chocolate but that was good. I don't really like dark chocolate either but the first one we tasted was also good. I have a relative who really likes dark chocolate and I definitely plan to order some for her birthday. read more

So on our detour to get to the San Sebastian Winery, we passed by this chocolate place and decided to check it out before we went home. As we came up to the door, there was a sign that said "Next Chocolate Tour: 3:30" it was about 3:20 so we said, why the heck not? I had such a great time that I forgot we paid $7 for the tour. But anyway, since we were there we had to check it out! The tour guide was great and he knew his stuff! Our tour had about 30 people for the last tour of the day. The first tasting was a milk chocolate and a white chocolate. I learned that to really ENJOY the chocolate you are supposed to rub the piece to release the aroma, break it to hear the "snap" and then let it melt on the roof of your mouth. I had no idea that eating chocolate was such a process! I usually just stuff it in and swallow as quick as possible. hahaha. Also the sharper the snap, the higher quality chocolate it is. Well, then we went to the factory area (which was a small factory) where they make the chocolate and package it. Our guide explained how chocolate is made from the Cacao bean to the extraction of the seeds, drying of the seeds, making nibs (tasted gross) and then the ingredients used to make the chocolate. After that, we tasted 2 different types of dark chocolate. Anything over 35% cocoa is considered dark. We had a 47% and 72% and both were delicious although I did like the 47% better. Then we headed over to the loud machine that we were hearing throughout our tour and it was the chocolate wrapping machine! So cool! The wrapper is in a large roll that gets cut by the machine as it takes the chocolate pieces and wraps it. There was one person putting the chocolate into the machine and after it came out wrapped there was another person packaging it and weighing it out to get it ready for sale. Here we got to try a toffee chocolate. I asked to get another picture and video the process and Chef Charlie gave me a couple extra pieces of chocolate! Yummy! Once I got back into the store, I tried the chocolate liqours- they had a Chocolate Amaretto and a Chocolate Cabernet. Not too fond of the cabernet but I got the Amaretto to use the next time I make chocolate cake! This was a much more fun experience than the winery so I'm glad that I was able to end the day on a fun note! Cannot wait to go there again if I am in the area...Otherwise I suppose I can shop on their website which ships all over the world... Chocolate. Is. So. Yummy! read more

This was a fun and informative tour. We loved our guide Joe (or Joseph, as the nuns called him) lol. read more

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I unfortunately was not able to partake of the tour but I was able to sample some of the amazing tasting chocolate sauces. One of them was Chocolate wine, and the other was chocolate amaretto. My favorite was the chocolate wine. It was sharp but smooth at the same time and would be an awesome twist to serve to guests, but like everyone has already stated... it's pricey so I had to walk away with only a piece of chocolate-peanut butter fudge which was VERY good, and fresh. Stop by here on your next trip to St. Augustine; it's worth it. read more

Great tour! Very informative and amazingly delicious chocolate. I love that I can read and pronounce all of the ingredients in their chocolates. The dark chocolate with the cocoa nibs is my favorite. read more

The chocolate tasters were really good but the tour is not worth it. I will buy their chocolates again but will not recommend the tour.

My daugter in law was in town and we were on the red train and she wanted to visit Whetstone, Sure I said, I wasn't too thrilled, how different could it possibly be from any other chocolate. Signed up for the tour that was just getting started, off we went with Aaron, our guide. It was a very informative tour, punctated along the way with pieces of chocolate! The whole story from the Azetcs and their love of it down to todays chocolate and how they are making much more palatable the dark chocolates. They have succeeded! The 74% dark chocolate was the most delicious, and i ended up buying some. They have all kinds of chocolates in their store and of course we purchased some of those. Aaron was very knowledgeable and obviously loves his job His enthusiasm is catchy. Guarentee you will love the tour and of course the tasting the chocolate is amazing!! Highly recommend this tour. read more

Tour is great...very informative & a number of delicious chocolate samples! Store is nice and you get a $2 discount with your tour ticket on anything over$4. i am a true chocoholic and this is very fine artisan chocolate which we did buy!! Dark chocolate covered cranberries are very good!! read more

Whetstone Chocolates - Helping Lucy wrap chocolates (on display @ Whetstone) - Chocolatiers & Shops Near Me - St. Augustine, Florida

Pretty damn cool place. I probably wouldn't have picked to do their tour but after doing it, I'm glad to have been on it. Whetstone's tour consists of a tour guide starting with the history of chocolate and then how chocolate is made. Both are a great narrative. Intertwined with both are various samples of Whetstone's chocolate. The next part of the tour takes you onto and through their actual chocolate production building. Its interesting to not only see how their products are made, but the choices they make as a company to create a superior product. Once again, more samples are given out. The end of the tour is the final tasting room where you get into the dark chocolate varieties. The tour guide talks about the differences in each that you try, and how each are made. Like most tours this one ends in the gift shop..which was okay with us. By this time if you don't have a soft spot on your palette something is serious wrong with you. Enjoy..cheers! read more

This was well worth the $8.00 per person for sure. And, Janet was our tour guide and she was AMAZING! It would of been a 5 star review, however, we went on Saturday, but they were all booked. So they advised us to go on Sunday at noon, so we did... BUT.....what they didn't tell us was that the factory was CLOSED ;( So we were not able to see the chocolates actually being made. Very disappointing. The chocolates we delicious, and Janet was did a good job in making up for the lack of communication regarding the details of the tour / actual manufacturing plant being open. Definitely don't go on SUNDAY! Tampa, FL. read more

What a wonderful experience at Whetstone chocolate factory. Jo (I think) was so nice and explained everything so well with patience and unique sense of humor. The chocolates were so yummy that we had to buy a bunch as soon as the tour ended. Highly recommended for adults and young kids read more

Took the tour with 2 teens and 2 adults. The guide was knowlegable and funny. We learned a little and tasted some chocolate. For a small fee it was worth it, you get a coupon for $2 off $10 in the shop. Delish chocolate. Seriously amazing. The peanut butter fudge is to die for! read more

Whetstone Chocolates - Hair nets required. - Chocolatiers & Shops Near Me - St. Augustine, Florida

Like some of the other reviewers, we also went here for the $7 chocolate tour. Our tour guide, Chauncey, was excellent! He was very knowledgeable, friendly, helpful, and very fun. We laughed out loud at his jokes a number of times. We had a very similar experience to Arynn (obviously), except that the Chef let us try a sample of an experimental flavor-- Curry Coconut. The whole group liked it except one-- my friend. :) We learned a lot about the process of making, packing, and selling chocolate, the health benefits of eating it, what kind (70% cocoa) has those benefits, and tasted some delicious samples! BTW, they were very generous with how many pieces you could have from the sample tray. So don't be shy! Highly recommended... Hopefully, you'll get Chauncey. read more

Whetstone Chocolates - Chocolatiers & Shops Near Me - St. Augustine, Florida

Highly recommend the tour/chocolate tasting. The guide, Joe, was amazing and made the whole experience so much better.

My 8 year old Daughter wanted to go for her 8th birthday. We took a big group. We were highly disappointed. Melany the tour guide was beyond rude. My Daughter actually wanted to leave because she was afraid of her. Any question that was asked she made a mockery of..including when the question about the Whetstone family was asked. She snickered, and said they only collect the money, do you think they actually work? Fast forward to the gift shop. The two ladies asked me how the tour was and I said Eh. They both turned around and began talking about my response very loudly. I quickly reminded them that I was still standing there and informed them why our tour was eh! Not to mention, the chocolate upset all of our stomachs. Needles to say, it was deemed a bad birthday for my 8 year old daughter. Not the memory or experience we were hoping for. We'll stick with Sweet Pete's. The staff goes above and beyond there. read more

My wife had to do this tour. I was very middle of the fence about it. I enjoyed the tour and samples they gave out, but our tour guide was a little... special. During the tour, he would stop what he was saying when the actual chocolate makers would make some noises and he would act like he was annoyed because they were interupting his tour. He complained about managers not replacing his headset and roll his eyes, but I didn't think it was funny or appropriate to direct his annoyance at good hard workers making delicious treats. The tour guide also felt very scripted and robotic. Almost like - Script Guide - "Fact about Whetstone" "Question for audience." "Scripted terrible joke" (Pause to allow audience to laugh) Audience - No laughter. Guide - "Continue presentation like audience had a thunderous laugh" He just didn't have the personality to hook us. Luckily the chocolate is delicious and plentiful! Chocolate 5 starts... Tour guide.. Not so much. read more

Decent chocolates, and cheaper than many others: about $1.25 each. My favorite item was actually the maple fudge. A raspberry chocolate might have been my second favorite (I'd have to try another to determine how I really feel about it), they had a nice truffle, and I was underwhelmed by the white chocolate pretzel. I tried some of their milk, white, and dark chocolates and a key lime chocolate seashell. They were all pleasant, but key lime isn't my favorite combination with chocolate (peanut butter, biscuits, and raspberry are some favorites). I didn't try their gelato. I'd return to try more of that fudge, for the $1.25 truffles, and perhaps to try some other things. read more

Great tour by Melanie, amazing chocolate samples and our family of 5 had a great time! We loved all the care put into the products and the tour was Interesting and entertaining. Would recommend to others - thanks!! read more

Great tour! Really good look at equipment, and samples along the way made it even more fun. Joe was a great guide, funny and quick with a pun. Chocolate was very good, the two dark chocolates were the best! Lovely high quality chocolates, at good prices. Wish they had more dark chocolate enrobed, but there is plenty for everyone to love. read more

This was my first time doing a tour at a chocolate factory and I was really looking forward to it. I recommend making reservations for the tour which lasts about an hour. We arrived 15 minutes before the start of one of their afternoon tours and the woman at the counter was concerned she wouldn't be able to get us in. Luckily there had been a cancellation. You'll start in a holding room where your guide will give you a run down of what to expect over the next hour. We were also given a sample of their fudge. We had two options, their seasonal pumpkin or chocolate. My husband and I tried each and we both thought they were good. Then we walked across the parking lot to the factory; be paired for hair nets. The tour inside the factory was very informative! I had no idea how much went into making milk, dark and white chocolate. The samples were all delicious. I learned that the Whetstones are actually the people who created the Hershey Hugs!!! So that should lend some credibility to the product. We then got to see the workers, machines, how the molds are made and how the boxes are filled. Afterwards we're led back to the store and given more samples and shown all products that we can purchase. The only downside to all of this was our guide. It felt like he was reading off of a script the whole time. He didn't add any personality to it and there were a lot of awkward pauses where he thought there should have been some response from our group. I wish I could have chocked it up to him being new but he told us he'd been there for two years. When we went into the factory he started to complain about how his microphone broke earlier in the week and no one had provided him a new one. The factory is obviously going to be loud but every time a worker turned a machine on, our guide would huff and puff as if the worker was interrupting him. Basically he complained the whole factory tour with lots of eye rolls and sighs. Then when we got to the end of the tour he was one of those that saw two pieces of chocolate left and had to remark that he'd have some with us instead of giving them to the kids. I think this would have been a better experience had our guide been more pleasant, but everything we tried was great. read more

The tour was something I would not suggest! Their chocolates are awesome however the tour was a total waste! Very hard to understand the tour guide once inside the factory. Jokes were so lame and I wanted it to end!!! Save the $8 and go buy some chocolates and take the distillery tour instead!!! That's free and they give samples of the booze!! The guy behind the counter was rude and had a bad attitude! Should not be faxing customers with that attitude! read more

This tour was so fun. The guide was hilarious and engaging. They give out 4-5 chocolate sample that are delicious and learning about the process from harvesting to creating artisan chocolate was interesting. One of our favorite activities that we've done in St Augustine! read more

Whetstone Chocolates - Chocolatiers & Shops Near Me - St. Augustine, Florida

My boyfriend and I decided to take the Whetstone Chocolate Factory tour while on our mini trip to St. Augustine. I booked our tickets online early in the afternoon for their last tour of the day. After arriving to the bakery in town, one of the associates informed us we were at the wrong location and needed to head over to King St. Instead of calling to change our appointment, we hustled to still be able to attend- I'm SO glad we did. We were seated in a small room with about 20-30 other people after being checked in. Hair nets were then handed out and we were on our way over to the factory building, which was only a few steps away. Our guide, Joe, started a brief video about the history of chocolate. We also got to start testing a couple types of chocolate before entering the actual factory where all the machinery is located. All in all the tour lasted about an hour, with an equal mix of sitting and standing. Joe was truly a great, hilarious guide. He kept all of us laughing and very much engaged. I didn't feeling an ounce of boredom throughout the entire experience. We even got a coupon for afterwards! In my opinion the tour was completely worth the ticket price. read more