Cocoa V

Amazing! I’ve had a great time each time I go here. Make sure to try the chocolate fondue – it’s so good. You can definitely get by ordering less of it than they suggest though. The serving for 2 people would probably be enough for 4 if you’re just here for dessert.
The individual chocolates are expensive, but totally worth the price. Each one is a miniature piece of art.

As i walked into the shop, i felt very welcome I have to say I Loved the service
And being a small, place, it took me by the heart.
So as I was looking to see what box should I take for my beloved wife on our special day, I need some help!
So I asked what would she suggest for me to take she gave me a great selection
From peanut fill chocolate to trafals .
So I took the four piece and I was on my way, as I turn back to the store all I can think of was the great service I got. Can’t wait to stop by there again.

We brought 2 of their cupcakes home with us. When I bought them, I stored them in the mini-​fridge in our hotel room. Then when it was time to pack up and check out, I put them in a mini-​cooler with 2 ice packs. Once home, they went into the fridge. Today, before eating them, I let them come to room temperature. I handled the cupcakes this way so as to preserve their flavor and texture.
I tried the all vanilla one while my husband had a chocolate with vanilla frosting. We both had differing takes on these cupcakes. While I liked the cake part of mine, I found the vanilla frosting to be too sweet. My husband, on the other hand, said that his was one of the best vegan cupcakes he ever had. Like me, he enjoyed the cake part. It was moist while dense enough to hold together quite well. When we compared notes, he thought that the chocolate cake probably cancelled out the strong sweetness of the vanilla frosting making the whole cupcake very well balanced. So… I would say that the upshot of this would be to say go for the chocolate/​vanilla combination and give the all vanilla one a pass.
The shop is small with a few tables. It might be interesting to someday try one of their plated desserts. One thing to note — there was a sign by the register that said they were cash only «at this time». To me, that implied that they were eventually going to take credit cards.
And, yes, next time we’re in town, we’ll definitely bring back some more of their cupcakes!

I wanted to love this place — I truly did. But alas — it was not meant to be.
Something good did come out of it — I will never complain again about the 4 dollar chocolate bar from veganessentials or Whole Foods — or whatever — ever again. : —)
It is a cute place and the staff were very friendly and they seemed to have enough to choose from — nice little selection.
But 8 pieces for $ 22 — well that made me sadder when they were definitely not worth it. : — (Plus most were REALLY tiny (especially for $ 2 plus each) — only 1 was regular size.
the nutmeg truffle — too strong — did not like
chocolate truffle — good but small
coconut caramel — very rich and melts in mouth — wish had more caramel — but decent. This was probably the best one!
coconut truffle — good
vanilla caramel — lots of caramel, different from regular caramel — but good
earl grey — eh — barely OK — was very lihght in flavor — barely there and not worth it
goji with bacon — this was the biggest piece — kind of icky and the inside was very odd, not even a bacon flavor — kind of ewww
the banana something was also decent
Nothing was amazing and sadly I have not been back — nor will I be back… especially since only about half of what I tried were even decent…

Well, I was really excited because I love chocolate and its a vegan place… but…the Butterfinger Milkshake was basically Silk (yuck!) soy milk blended with a little bit of warm ice cream. It was not so good.
I did buy two cupcakes to try and the icing was very good! The cake was ok. I’m a huge Babycakes fan and I think they win in the baked goods department. I would recommend the coffee cupcake and the brownie-​type cupcake at Cocoa V.
Also, they only take cash which is somewhat annoying, but I do understand its a small business. I didn’t see the tiny sign until I was getting ready to pay. Therefore, I had to walk to the Rite Aid, buy something and get back cash.
Maybe if I’m in the area I’ll stop by and try one of the chocolates. But its not on my food priority list.

I don’t get it. I love chocolate, but this stuff tastes like your average bittersweet dark chocolate, just shaped into some little prismatic form and with cutesy colorful glittery crap on top. The fillings in the bonbons aren’t the right consistency (a little too runny, I think) and don’t complement the chocolate. And for $ 2.50 apiece, you’d think they would.
And. Seriously. If you’re trying to be all upscale and serve $ 50 bottles of wine, WTF is up with only taking cash?
I see no reason to come back.

After a great vegan lunch @ Loving Hut, my roommate and I were craving for some cupcakes. Thank God for Unilocal,I found a variety of places to choose from on 9^th Ave in Chelsea. When we got there, Billy’s was the place to be, with a line of hot guys (too bad they were gay) falling out of it and delicious smell (of cupcakes) that followed them. But since yours truly was on the Lent, the only choice was to go to an empty Cocoa V for a vegan treat.
The place looked really intimate and expensive, but it was cold outside, and like I said we didn’t have a choice. After all the prices weren’t that bad: $ 3/​cupcake and $ 4/​cappuccino. But I wish I could say the same about the flavors. RedVelvet cake looked and tasted like a chocolate one with a weird aftertaste. Cappuccino was very weak, almost like a cappuccino soymilk. The only good thing was that frosting!!! Light, airy, delish…
I think I would rather not eat anything and wait till the end of my Lent to munch on some goodies from Billy’s!!! It lured me with the smell alone, but I can already imagine that taste!!!
Sorry Cocoa V, seems like this is some kind of a promotion for Billy’s, but that’s just how I feel.

We need Cocoa V in the bay area!!!
I was looking for a nice little place to grab a glass of wine before dinner and stumbled upon this wonderfully decorated and quaint little vegan chocolate/​dessert/​hot chocolate/​wine bar.
Continuously stumbling into restaurant and gem eateries is why I love New York so much!!!
I hope Cocoa V makes it’s way to the west coast and shares it’s delightful vegan chocolates and desserts in a perfectly romantic setting. Not that San Francisco isn’t romantic enough as it is.

Dear Cocoa V,
I want to give you a higher rating because your chocolates are delicious, your environment adorable and I had a lovely date there.
Until I had to pee. Why don’t you have a bathroom? You serve wine, your prices aren’t low by any stretch and you don’t have a bathroom?
I had to go back to Blossom, where I had just had dinner, and stand in line over there. By the time I got there I was in serious need of the restroom.
I almost loved you.
Dana

Their soy milk hot chocolate really hits the spot,
and can make it with almond or hazelnut milk too.
Their selections of sweet goodies can hardly be topped,
but the price could drop a buck or two…

Cutie pie lil Vegan girl! Its ok, you go ahead with your bad Vegan self. Fight the power!
Honey, in all reality, Vegan doesn’t mean jack. Its like gasoline. Do you really think there is 87, 89 and 91 octane? hahaha, its all from one big tank. Exxon Mobil is an evil empire and they’re all about the $$.
And what the heck is Vegan anyway, does it mean they didn’t test the chocolate on rabbits?
This place is Valentines Day personified, it is so cute in here! There are only 5 tables but its really cozy. They have candles lit on the walls as well as on the tables. Mood music softly playing. I wanna sing Teddy Pentergras, ‘Turn off the lights. and light a candle”.
Guys, this place is a mac daddy date place. Its dark, cozy and you can really get suave with their wine selection. I had a really good Pinot Noir here while ordering.
Cocoa V also offers a great chocolate truffle selection as well as cakes and coffee. So if you just want dessert, look no further. Their cheese plate looks dynamite as well.
This has first date place written all over it.
Cocoa V? You’re bringing sexy back!

I’m very sad to have to give this place only 2 stars after hearing about it.
I was aware of their ridiculously high prices but went since I had a groupon. Even with that they were VERY HIGH.
I got 2 types of items-​truffles and chocolate bark.
The truffles were good but not great. They were very small, very expensive, and I couldn’t help thinking that they wern’t as good as Rose City Chocolates which aren’t even truffles and are cheaper. Still they were good.
I went onto the bark and was VERY disappointed. I love chocolate and have all different types and I thought the quality of this one was not good at all. Of course it tasted good, it’s chocolate, but it tasted like one of the lowest grade chocolates I have ever had. I don’t know why since I would expect they use a high quality. I got 4 different types of bark and all were the same The mix ins were good but the chocolate quality itself was poor. I would not get it again.
I might get the truffles again if I had a groupon but even then why bother when what I get from Rose City is a) cheaper and b) tastes much better.
I’m sorry to have to give this review to a vegan place but they need to do much better.

Exuberance makes you blind. Let this be a lesson to you so that I did not wholly suffer in vain.
My buoyant mood after an unexpectedly satisfactory meal at nearby Omai made me a little careless, a little hasty and just a little too adventurous. I did not even see the name of the place before venturing inside. Recklessness, negligence, yes, I am guilty. However, unbeknownst to me, knowing the name would not have saved me.
Jasmine Tea with Caramel Bön Bön
Years ago, I bought two chocolates at Harrod’s: Rose and lavender. Both were made of luxurious «soap» with very generous use of essential oils, which so perfumed the chocolate covered soap that even after the chocolate was spit out and my mouth rinsed several times, I still had rose and lavender in me. No, of course, they were not literally made of soap, but they surely tasted like soap (I should know because as an infantile glutton, I had eaten soap, mistaking it for white chocolate). I thought that was the worst chocolate that I would ever have (I did not ingest) in my life. Well, life is full of surprises, good or bad.
Cocoa V’s chocolate had the honor to be the second batch of chocolates to be spit out. In a moment of greasy panic, feeling the oil spill in my mouth, I still must congratulate myself for having managed not to disgrace myself by regurgitating it down my pajama front, but actually held myself together until safely reaching the sink. The chocolate was filled with a mysterious oil, which, reminiscing now after allowing some time for rest and recovery, had an extremely unpleasant chemical taste — as if it was in fact made of petrol. No, there was no jasmine; nor was there any caramel. Just that evil oil and oil and oil covered by well-​tempered but ineffectual chocolate coverings. Now, I know the true horror of oil spill: Those fish in the Gulf must have had an agonizing death. Perhaps I would join the rescue effort or shell out on donation the next time.
Salt Caramel Truffle
Suffocating on oil is a terrible way to die; but death from overdose of sodium-​chloride is surely not much more agreeable. The chocolate casing had an eerie unpleasantness that I could not put my finger onto; after all, the tiny, careful bite I took (I do learn sometimes) did not give me much time to mull over it, not only because of its size, but also because of the short life it had in my mouth before being spit it out again. Bad, bad, and bad — inside out.
Almond Butter Truffle
Slightly more edible but by no means more palatable, it was merely a piece of ill-​tasting chocolate. The strange unpleasantness also permeated this chocolate; as a matter of fact, this unpleasantness was a recurring theme that polluted all the four chocolates. Signature pollution, I suppose.
Earl Grey Bön Bön
The most promising top note, it had, for its Earl Grey flavor — what a relief after all the horrors. It was like an interlude, a short respite where the sun came out and you signed and believed the nightmare was finally over. No, no, no, Cocoa V did not let me off so easily. The Earl Grey flavor was soon overtaken by the evil twins of dark knights: the odorous chocolate and the grease. I replaced the bitten chocolates into the plastic bags in which they came and watched the oil running out and spilling inside the bag. What a sight.
After finishing a cup of tea to calm my feathers, I looked up the chocolate shop on the internet. VEGAN? The word flashed in capitals through my mind and came out of my mouth in an incredulous high squeak. Actually, incredulous should not be the word: it is totally credible and believable. In fact, it just about explained everything.

I went to Cocoa V after strolling along the High Line, and I had a mission: buy myself a sweet ass birthday treat! And that I did.
The café is quite cozy, and has a few small tables if you’re going to sit in to enjoy the desserts & drinks on offer. My travelling companion and I had many more stops that day, so we just dropped in as they were opening to get some treats packed up to go. (It was good to get in before any sort of rush, but with just one person behind the counter if more than a couple of people are there it can mean a bit of a wait).
I was very nearly overwhelmed with the delicious morsels on offer in their truffle/​bon bon display case, as well as the packaged sweets on the shelves. Our server was very helpful when we were asking questions about the flavours and products — so much so that I ended up getting myself a box of a dozen chocolates plus one to snack on as he packed them up. I also got a small bag of their cookie bark which is out-​of-​this-​world incredible.
Highlights of my birthday chocolate tray: Raspberry ganache, coconut caramel, Stumptown coffee caramel, spiced agave. All of them were delicious, amazing flavours, amazing quality though! Top notch stuff.
Happy birthday to ME! Thanks Cocoa V.

My friend is a vegetarian. His wife is lactose intolerant. So the two of them combined equals a vegan. And that is how I discovered this place.
After an unmemorable lunch (except for the company), we went on a hunt for dessert. Right next door is a vegan to-​go place called Blossom. So if you wanted to be a fake vegetarian for a day, these two stores would work for you.
The place has a nice cozy feel. The staff were extremely friendly and helpful. We asked the woman at the counter, Hey what is good?” And she replied, «Well despite this place specializing in chocolate, the lemon cake is my favorite.» We both scratched our heads for a moment, contemplated the lemon cake for a split second, and then came to our senses. We opted for the chocolate cake.
There is a bar along the wall and we sat down and settled in. The woman brought us our slice and we devoured it in no time. Despite the fact that the cake was lacking essential cake ingredients (ie anything with dairy), it was surprisingly good. Fluffy, light and just the right amount of chocolate.
We both left satisfied and happy. I will be back to try the bonbons and also the chocolate sampler, but probably will stay away from the lemon cake, even if it is the counter lady’s favorite item.

I took my mom here last week while she was in town and we both really enjoyed it. As we hadn’t had dinner yet, we started out with two savory options, the nut cheese platter and the quiche of the day. The quiche of the day was spinach and it had a very good flavor and crust. It also came with some plain sweet potato chips and was very good. This plate was $ 11 and I think it was a decent deal. The nut cheese platter was about $ 13 and it came with a nut pâté with a good flavor and a hummus-​consistency and a nut cheese that had a very deep, almost pungent flavor that tasted somewhat like wine. I didn’t care for this cheese but my mom enjoyed it. The dish was artfully prepared, with the slices of the nut cheese interspersed among sliced strawberries, but I think it was fairly pricey given the price. Both dishes served as appetizers.
For dessert, we decided on a make-​your-​own platter and chose the praline pecan (which had a delicious flavor but was very grainy), the almond toffee (which was fantastic), the raspberry fruit pâté (which was good, kind of like a big gum drop), cranberry-​orange bark (which was also good, but I felt it was too soft to be bark and I personally didn’t care for the cranberry-​chocolate mixture)), and the apricot carmel (which I felt had a great apricot carmel flavor and a great chocolate flavor, but I didn’t care for the two tastes when combined).
Overall, the chocolates were well prepared and there is tremendous variety but they are quite small. My mother also noticed that it would likely be cheaper to order chocolates independently, as many of the sweets are 75 cents to $ 1.50, but for some reason, a platter of 5 is $ 13, which was really disappointing and I feel somewhat dishonest.
The ambiance was nice and we were happy to get a table on a busy Friday night. The service was friendly, but I feel it was just a little slow and I think the waiter was trying a bit too hard to be friendly and connect with us as customers. Either way, I would go back in the future, but probably just for dessert, which I plan on ordering as independent items, vs. the platter.

Raspberry pates: AMAZING. (the blueberry ones are also nice, but not as flavorful)
Stumptown caramel bonbon: Lifechanging.
Praline bonbon: Okay. Crunchy.
Raspberry ganache bonbon: Get it. You won’t be disappointed.
Salted caramel: Okay. Salty.
Get the YES bars.
decent blueberry bark.
but still the #1 thing? the butterfinger milkshake!
added bonus: the staff is really friendly and helpful.
can’t wait to go back… will have to try their savory goods!

The Bad
— Kind of expensive for little pieces of chocolate especially for the barks – it’s literally a bite size chocolate for $ 2.50−2.75!
The Good
— Cookies (oatmeal rasian – nice, big and chewy; this is so much better than other vegan cookies that I have tried)
— Barks (OMG! this is pretty awesome, you have your chocolate with pieces of granola or nuts depending on which one you choose — healthy and satisfying)
— The boxes are really nice when they wrap up the chocolates
The Bottomline– Definitely worth checking out, vegan or non-​vegan. This place has a whole lot of options to choose from. Everything tastes awesome!

What an elegant, sophisticated, lovely chocolate and wine shop! And best of all, it’s completely vegan.
I came here with a couple of friends and we were all impressed. Cocoa V has dozens of unusual candy options categorized by textures or fillings; we shared a «nut» platter ($ 13) and a «crunchy» platter ($ 13). I thought the nut platter was definitely the best, especially the pecan praline and the chocolate almond butter. But the pieces on this platter were small and not easily shared (who wants to take half a bite of a tiny candy piece?). It was also expensive given the size of the candies. The «crunchy» platter is a much better value and you get much bigger pieces of each candy, but I wasn’t super-​impressed with any of the items on this platter.
We also had a hot cocoa ($ 4) and a spiced hot cocoa ($ 4). Definitely go with the spiced one; it’s much more flavorful. That said, both are really tasty and decadent; it’s basically like drinking chocolate. I’m kind of weird, so I was able to drink chocolate and then happily eat a plate of chocolate candies after, but that’s something most people might want to be wary of.
Lastly, we tried a chocolate mousse pie ($ 7) which tasted good, but looked really old and flat, like it’d been sitting around for a while. The crust, in particular, had gone soft and chewy, which detracted a lot from the pie. It was also pretty small; I understand it’s vegan and organic and whatnot, but people’s perceptions of value play a large role in whether or not they’ll return.
Along that thinking, Cocoa V could make a few improvements: offers a wider variety of looseleaf tea options (especially more greens and blacks from China, India and Sri Lanka) and offer them by the pot, so people can easily share. Maybe a combo deal such as a pot of tea and six big pieces of chocolate for $ 12−15 — that would be a great value and would more easily facilitate the sharing aspect of any date or encounter people might have at Cocoa V. And I suspect this will be a hot date spot.
Cocoa V is a beautiful shop and worth a visit for the novelty value of a vegan chocolate and wine shop alone. I’ll definitely be back.

Another great chocolate place in New York! I was so excited to discover their wide selection of dark chocolate truffles. All the truffles with praline/​nut fillings were absolutely delicious, with nice crunchy bits to give it some texture to complement the flavors. The couverture wasn’t too thick and had a nice snap to it, and wasn’t too sweet, which really brought out the chocolate flavor. They have some pretty unique truffles, and I loved how even the flavors that you could typically find in other chocolate stores, there was something unique about the ones you find at Cocoa V. The salted caramel truffle, for example, had a surprisng and unique flavor, as did the gingersnap truffle, which didn’t have an overpowering ginger flavor.
The place had a great ambiance too, with exposed brick wall. They also have an adjoining dining area where you can enjoy tea/​coffee and desserts, although I didn’t actually experience it.
Another plus? Great eye candy! The guy behind the counter was really cute.