Hotel Chocolat

I had the most disappointing experience in Hotel Chocolat a couple of weeks back. During a long overdue catch up with my friends, we decided to try somewhere new for a spot of afternoon tea so wandered in the Hotel Chocolat café expecting mouth watering patisseries and coffee.
I left feeling quite robbed.
Due to the hot weather I ordered a ginger and cocoa shell iced tea expecting the ginger to kick my summer sniffles in the butt. I was massively disappointed to find that not only my iced tea tasted like tap water but my friend’s did too who had ordered a completely different flavour. When ordering a drink or meal that contains ginger the last thing you expect it to taste is bland. I’m not normally one for complaining when I dine out but I was so outraged with paying £2.75 for a lukewarm water I felt that I had to speak up. The barista explained that a lot of people have felt the same way about the ginger and cocoa shell iced tea and she offered for an added price to add a shot of syrup in it. I refused, quite annoyed at this offer feeling cheated; why should I have to pay extra to fix a drink? After swapping the iced tea for an iced coffee I spent the remainder off my Hotel Chocolate Café experience crushing up sugar cubes to try and tone down the incredibly bitter taste coffee. To top it all off, the rocky road slab that I purchased was also considerably lacking in flavour for me. At a café like Hotel Chocolat you expect the chocolate to be spot on but marshmallow was the main flavour from the biscuit with the consistency being way too soft with no crunch.
However, presentation skills were on point. It’s just a shame that the food and drink couldn’t match up.

Situated at the Edge of Peter’s Lane in the Liverpool city centre, this coffee shop/​chocolate speciality shop is a real gem.
If you love chocolate this is the place for you! The service is top notch. It doesn’t take much to have good service in a coffee shop, but they really seem to strive to make it the best experience possible for just a hot chocolate. The guy at the till allowed us to take our time, offered suggestions and was genuinely nice. We felt valued, instead of just more people in the queue. After our order was taken we were given a table marker with our order number so we could get a seat while our drinks were being prepared. We chose to sit outside, which was shaded but fabulous for people watching. I had the Salted Caramel Drinking chocolate which was DIVINE. I didn’t want it to end! I also shared a Blondie (white chocolate brownie) with a friend which was also beautiful! Especially with a few walnuts mixed into the brownie dough.
Just to top off the experience we also got tasters of chocolate in the shop and tasters of the brownies in the café!
Brilliant for a mid-​shopping treat! Will be back again!