Death by Chocolate

It’s closed down :)

An interesting concept found in several places in greater Van BC. The desserts presented are different tasty and rich chocolate cakes and treats. In many cases, it’s an overload of through and through chocolate. That’s fine. Then, one can select another item to wash it down it, such a good cup of hot tea. It’s fun to go here in small groups. This is, at most, one «required» stop in Vancouver per trip. Any more than that is more sugar than one needs, and means you’re skipping out on the city’s other offerings. Death by Chocolate satisfies that need when you are CRAVING chocolate, and not so much at other times.

The ***DIRTY SECRET*** that Death by Chocolate DOES NOT want you to know about:
They buy their cupcakes /​cakes from COSTCO!!! and they claim that they make their own dessert from scratch, this is beyond my comprehension. They deceive people and lie to people.
I purchased their jumbo red velvet cupcake for $ 5 the other day, went to costco today and saw the exact same cupcakes…6 cupcakes for $ 6.00 !!! so if you want «their» cupcakes just go to costco, you will get 6 jumbo cupcakes for ¹⁄₅ of the price. I will upload pics later. Too bad I didnt take a pic, I didnt have my phone with me then.
They also have the other flavors which they sell in this café as well. Can you believe it? Go see for yourself.
No wonder the reviews are so low, it makes sense. This place does not deserve any star! I would never ever return and would not be surprised if my review disappears!
And the cupcakes did not even taste all that great…
Call the owner and ask him to STOP BUYING PRE MADE DESSERTS FROM COSTCO and even more importantly to stop trying to pass them as they make their own desserts!

My boyfriend and I usually go to another dessert shop, but decided to try some place new. What a mistake!
Death by Chocolate left us with such a bad taste in our mouths that we vowed we would never go back. The cake was stale, my milkshake wasn’t as ordered even though I asked for a thick milkshake several times, and my boyfriend’s pastry was clearly old and delivered late.
This is a dessert shop where the owners clearly don’t really care whether the cakes are fresh and the service friendly, but are more concerned with filling their pockets.
We will never go back and spend $ 20+ on subpar food and service.

Way back when I was a little wee university undergrad, this used to be THE place for us to escape to and recover after exams wrapped. Now, I think I’d rather just write another exam instead of coming here.
I have given this place two tries for their cupcakes. Both times, the cupcakes were hard as a rock. They should have been tossed days before, not sold for $ 3.95. I should have learned the first time, but in cupcake desperation (cupcakes are like an IV of joy when my blood sugar is low), I dared to see if the first time was a fluke. Let me conclude: notttttt a fluke.

It was completely quiet when we came. No music or any ambient noise. I wasn’t sure what to do with myself. Haha.
Ended up taking the cakes to go.
Ive always found Death by chocolate cakes on the sweet side. Unless you’re a sugar addict (which even I think I am), share one slice with someone.

Should have heeded the warning from the 2 ½ star average given by my fellow Unilocalers, but nothing serves as a better deterrent than a poorly made product.
Not that anything was truly wrong with the service. It was fine. Scan menu, order, wait, and receive. But I think the name is completely deceptive. I expect to be slain by their sinfully decadent hot cocoa beverages — which was what I ordered. But not so.
My order of a chocolate hazelnut was severely lacking, and that’s an understatement. Too much water. Too little cocoa. Maybe a hint of hazelnut. But always too hot — even Starbucks does a better job with their boiling hot hot chocolates. And coming from me, that says a lot.

From the name, I assumed this was a chocolate shop. You know: truffles, chocolate-​coated brownies, fudge, chocolate-​coated fruit… chocolates. The kind of thing they sell at Godiva or Rocky Mountain. I was expecting some seriously indulgent and unique chocolate creations… instead there were some pretty generic-​looking bakery items. I doubt they even made them in-​house, as it didn’t really seem busy enough for them to be baking or preparing anything in the back.
I had the chocolate mousse cake. It was pretty good, but barely decadent enough to make me feel guilty about eating it. I also don’t think it was special enough to cost $ 8 (the higher price tag is yet another hint that it was probably made somewhere else).
Anyway, was I ever wrong about death by chocolate. It’s definitely not a chocolate shop, but I’m not entirely sure what it’s supposed to be at all. It’s sort of confused halfway between a luxury euro-​style dessert café and a grab-​your-​drink-​and-​catch-​the-​99 coffee shop. The result is mediocre desserts and over-​priced, but otherwise normal, coffee.

I had a sweets-​induced mental breakdown after doing a lengthy survey on diabetes care in BC. Plus life is too short to not eat cake. So drive I did, all the way from Coquitlam to East Broadway, to finally get some ube (purple yam) cake from Goldilocks Bakeshop. I was walking my pretty little self to Goldilocks when I walked by Death By Chocolate. How can I pass up this place? Never even heard of it until today (though judging by these reviews, I’m not surprised). I figured hey, mixing purple yam cake with something deep, dark and chocolatey should work out well.
Expecting to find a dinky café selection of desserts, I was mildly impressed by the variety of their pastry case. It was a nice, coffee and conversation date kinda place too, with warm cozy little tables. I got a slice of Chocolate Caramel and High Five to go. I didn’t have any trouble communicating with the one server behind the counter, though I realize this is probably a hit or miss thing. I was a tad surprised to not find any management in sight on a steady Saturday afternoon… and only 1 person manning everything.
Easy, free street parking all around.
Oh and the cakes… very tasty. Doesn’t hold a candle to Ganache but definitely about a 3.8 on the moist and tasty cake scale. Decent quality chocolate too. Definitely a pleasant surprise and I ate half of each of the cakes before reading the garish reviews here. Maybe a one-​off but a pleasant one for me!

Generic unimaginative cakes, no different than you would get at any other store and or bakery. I remember when this chain opened back when I was in high school and it was the place to go… it went downhill really fast. Nothing exclusive in terms of pastries, all outside sourced and made for Death by Chocolate and other coffee shops.
I tried to make some choice inquiries and the lady at the cash register looked at me like I was speaking to her in another language.
It was empty on a sunny Saturday afternoon… that was a prime warning.

If this place had to kill me by chocolate it would be a flesh wound at best. Has a chain-​like feel to it, in a prime location on the corner!
When we went in, we were the only customers there the entire time. Kinda sad.
Tired-​looking cupcakes in one case. A refrigerated section of various cakes in another case. Our chocolate cake was eh, okay. Not too dried out like others have mentioned. But nothing to write home about either.
They do offer WiFi, but the passcode is a bunch of numbers and letters that are kind of labor-​intensive to enter. I know, small detail, but it took awhile to actually get onto the Internet.

I starting laughing when I read these reviews. How is this place still open?! Dustin D & Jaden N’s experiences were nearly identical to mine, so awful that all I could do was laugh. What a joke.
We went in on a Monday night, and the place was empty. We ordered two chocolate desserts from their menu (bad idea), and like others have said, the two staff members looked totally confused as if they had never heard anyone order something before. They couldn’t seem to figure out what to do. Finally, one of them gave us a price for the 2 desserts (around $ 20), so we paid and then sat down at a table… and waited… and waited some more.
Hmmmm. What are those two staff members up to? We look over and they’re both behind the counter looking at the menu, and then talking to each other, and then wandering around.
Finally one of them comes over and drops off what looked to be a pineapple sundae? I just started laughing. What was this? And where’s our chocolate desserts? I brought their confused creation back up to the counter and said that we may have received someone else’s order. Once again, the look of extreme confusion. I told the one girl we ordered two chocolate desserts from the menu, and not this weird pineapple thing. The girl replies «you did?»
Is she for real? I went back and got my receipt which showed we paid for 2 desserts, and then pointed to the names of the items we ordered in the menu.
More looks of confusion.
«Ohhhhh…» she says and gets the other girl to try and help her figure out what to do.
Long story short (too late) we ended up finally getting our desserts that tasted like they’d been frozen for a long time. We couldn’t even eat them. I don’t know what was worse, the service or the food. I guess the one star can be for the entertainment value of this whole experience.

My boyfriend and I were on the hunt for something sweet and decided to try Death by Chocolate since it was on our way home. We went around 9 pm and only one other couple was there, so we were easily able to find a table to sit at. I got a chocolate cupcake with strawberry icing and my boyfriend got something similar. To say I was disappointed with the cupcake would be an understatement. The cupcake was really dry and crumbly. The strawberry icing had a nice flavor, but I’ve had much better. My boyfriend was underwhelmed with his dessert as well. I doubt we’ll be going back anytime soon, especially with so many other restaurants that offer dessert in the area.

The name means nothing. Ordered an espresso that was lukewarm and bitter. None of the desserts looked anything special, the place was deserted and sad. My partner’s hot chocolate was insipid. We shared a chocolate bar that tasted more of trans fat than chocolate. Never again.

Wow, what happened to this place?
Hadn’t been there in a long time and remembered it being amazing!
My finance and I decided to venture to another place for desert after eating at another restaurant nearby. Not really the best choice of the evening.
Service was slow and the desert wasn’t top quality.
They couldn’t seem to get anyone’s orders right either.
We overheard them say they couldn’t do the waffle deserts because they ran out of ego’s…hmmm.
I didn’t see any sign of upper management so even if anyone were to complain I don’t think much would have been done.
We ordered the French Affair. I’m a big fan of chocolate mousse. I also ordered an irish coffee (Nice they had liquor on the menu). My fiancé had an americano.
The French Affair wasn’t nearly as good as I had hoped :(The mousse was gritty. It seemed like they hadn’t mixed it enough and just slopped it into the bowl. There were little bits of chocolate throughout which gave it a weird texture. They also put some «cream» or something like that on the top which didn’t appeal to us either. Whipped cream would have been nicer.
So we aren’t planning to go back there anytime soon. They’ve got to step it up big time to obtain the «Best Deserts in Vancouver» reputation again.
Should have gone to Earls across the street for a lower priced more delicious desert and much better service.

I spent an hour or TWO within the confines of DbChocolate and I have to say I enjoy the atmosphere and space. I’m pretty sure so did a few others that came in to indulge in casual extended conversations within a dimmer and somewhat comfortable Café. This is mainly the reason it receives 3-​star status in my books.
The Truffle Cupcake looked quite decadent and I’ve got to say it was quite Dark Chocolatey on the outside and if it didn’t have a moist Caramel running in the middle it would have been simply a disastrous DRY Cupcake without a doubt. Maybe it’s the way they store their Desserts?
I ordered Tea to go with the Cupcake which I’m so glad I did but it was quite cool to receive one of the BIGGEST Mugs I’ve ever been served within a Café setting. It’s so big you can almost plant a Mini Cactus within.
The Two hours didn’t go to waste either as the Staff provided me with the Wi-​fi Key and off I went Unilocaling until the rain and mini-​hail diminished. It’s unfortunately I didn’t notice any power outlets or else I would have stayed awhile until Dinner was scheduled.

very dry desserts, almost like they’ve been frozen/​unfrozen. Definitely not freshly made. Also, the white chocolate sauce and white chocolate tastes like powdered milk ! You can definitely get better desserts with better quality of chocolate elsewhere.
It costs about $ 9 per plate. The décor of place is ok. nothing to rave about.

I had an evil thought on my way out of DBC. I had to fight the urge to pull that «people love us on Unilocal» sticker off the front door. Nope, not THIS people, *points to self*
Why would we love this place?
First off, there’s no real food, just pretty «fake cakes.»
Fake cakes are what I call a spread of desserts that are all made with the same basic cake mix, but each one decorated beautifully on the outside. All looks, no satisfaction.
The wireless doesn’t work and unfortunately the counter help, could only politely explain in broken English that it’s because the «manager isn’t here» –huh? what ever ‘:(
I had been curious about this place, and I was trying to avoid going to a larger chain, so I spent 3 bucks on a cup of Tea and stubbornly tried to grab a signal but to no avail.
Now I’m down the street at a chain where the counter staff really couldn’t care less if I just sit and surf with out buying something.
Just a reminder: Chain cafes are great for bathrooms and free wireless.

I can’t believe I’m giving a place with this name a so-​so review… it runs about a 2.5 stars for me but my hubby loves coming here so it’s bumped up to a 3.
I’ve been to this location many times over the years and also to the Edmonton ones. It’s a chain with a ton of potential but the menu hasn’t changed in YEARS! It seriously needs to get some seasonal items on it!
The names are really cute, but I agree the quality of most of the desserts is average. Most of the desserts about $ 8 – 9 with the exception of their «Death by Chocolate» which is about $ 13ish.
I agree that they just don’t seem «fresh» so I’ve generally been happier with the mousse type of cakes than the cake based ones. Presentation is reasonable although the drizzling/​plate décor/​layout can be a bit sloppy depending on the person working.
Very true about the slow service… I often have a long wait even during non-​peak times here.
I think it has potential still, but the owners should look at overhauling the menu and I would be happier with a more limited, but fresher menu.

Gluttony is a sin, but it’s probably one of the best (aside from lust). Ordering from Death by Chocolate is a pretty big indulgence, the menu is clearly targeted for those who view extreme hedonism as acceptable, at least every so often. The rich ingredients, the classy presentation, and the eye for detail combine to make a dish so decadent it seriously would kill you, slowly maybe, because of all the fat and sugar.
The real secret to the dishes are the layers. It’s almost all chocolate, but that includes ice cream, fudge, and mousse, all configured on the same plate and all under classy names like «Devil in Disguise», and «Twin Peaks». It’s not all chocolate either, like the swirled vanilla and chocolate mix of the «Ebony and Ivory», or the fruit syrupy «Berry Much in Love».
All the dishes cost about $ 9, but of course spending the extra dough is what treating yourself is all about. It’s part of the pleasure in the guilty indulgence; this whole store is centered around doing something that makes you feel guilty about it later.