Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Ditto the "addictive" comment on the Garrison pretzel balls. I want more. Even after eating all that chocolate.

(bragging time). I live in Cambridge, UK, and we are lucky enough to have three separate independent chocolatiers in town. One specializes in Belgian truffles, one does a whole range of everything from chocolate lollies to truffles as well as big, beautiful slabs of chocolate with dried fruits and spices pressed in, and one is sort of a grown-up pick-a-mix where you select the truffles of your choosing and pay by weight.

We live in a rural area, so we never get trick-or-treaters, but if we did, I'd be giving them something from one of these shops. Chocolate is too important to be done on the cheap, after all.

However, I strongly maintain that everyone on earth likes Kit-Kats.

Once again fab photos via Erin: nice work!

The best Artisanal chocolates come from the appropriately named L'Artisan Du Chocolat in London: www.artisanduchocolat.com.

Their chocolates are simply divine and those Garrison ones in the first picture could be 'clones' :-)

So guess where I'm gonna go this weekend!

Rob

Fran's gold bars are amazing. My father used to buy them for my mom every year for her birthday and Valentine's day (this was before internet ordering, when he had to call out there), and she'd let us kids have some. The carmel part is the best carmel I've ever had.

I ordered the 24 count box of chocolates from Garrison. I also ordered the 0.75 cent card with a special message for my wife. I wanted to surprise her with an unconventional and artistic box of chocolates. They cost $40 and the shipping was $25(!). Regardless my wife is more than worth any amount.

She received the package and opened it up. She saw a box of chocolates, but no card, so she put them to the side thinking that maybe they were complimentary. Because the card was omitted she didn't think anything special of the chocolates. I returned home from work and saw the box sitting on our kitchen island. I didn't realize that it was the box I had ordered special for her, as it was quite small (~7" x ~4"). I thought that maybe she had brought it home and that one of her patients had given it to her as it didn't look like anything special.

We went out for dinner and I asked her where she got the box and she said that it came in the mail. She thought that it was for both of us. I asked her if it came from R.I. and she said she didn't know. I asked her if it had a card in it and she said "no." I assumed it wasn't the $65 box of fancy chocolates I had bought from Garrison's.

When we got home I looked at the box and noticed it had a small bow on it which read "Garrison's" so I asked her where the shipping box was, because there was suppose to be a card with the chocolates so that she would know they were for her and for what reason. There was no card. Needless to say it led to a little friction which in turn led to me writing the company.

I had received an email from a male employee of Garrison's when I originally purchased their chocolates. It said to contact them if there were any problems. Thinking that this company was thorough and had provided me with a personal rep to handle my order, I wrote a straightforward correspondence inquiring to the "dude" where the card was and that the absence of the card screwed up the intent. I think I used the word "man" and explained it was bad form. Unlike most people I am quite cool and smart; a rare combo! ;)

I promptly received a very sarcastic response where a female, possibly perturbed that I used colloquialisms, replied using "dude" and "man" in return.

They responded later saying they would refund my money. This was after I explained that what they did had messed up the intent of their over priced chocolates and the least they could do was pay atttention to details. Just like when they sat there painting all of those cute designs on their candies.

I will NEVER order from this company again, because they lied about refunding my money - they still haven't - and they handled the situation in an unprofessional manner. Americans have always been elitist and privileged characters for the most part, but the level of classlessness and oblivious attitudes has reached astronomical levels since Reagan came into office. When will the masses of yokels get it? The world is passing us by while we try and better deal, bully and thieve everyone.

A good product is not enough. I am in a very lucrative business which deals with large accounts and medical professionals. Customer service goes a long way, just as does good bedside manner for a physician. Maybe R.I. and many places around the country are suffering with a 13+% unemployment rate for a reason. Intent is everything and if your intent is to make money, but provide lackluster service and/or products expect to become extinct. Caveat empor has become the credo of most businesses nowadays. Too bad folks want to emulate the ways of dead civilizations, instead of doing what is right.

My advice is not to buy from privileged charcters, who lack decorum and civility. These chocolates are okay but they're definitely NOT WORTH $65!

Happy New Year!