Morkes Chocolates

I moved in the Algonquin/​West Dundee/​Carpentersville area and I’ve had Morkes bookmarked on Unilocal for months and have always wanted to go because well. I’m a big time chocolate lover, and I love a good truffle or treat every now and then (or every day).
As soon as I walked in, I was greeted and asked if I needed any help, etc. And as I was looking, another associate asked me if I had any questions as well. Both associates were friendly. The store is super cute and they have a huge selection of different chocolate and gifts (chocolate themed for different occasions, birthdays, etc.) and they even have doughnuts and a few different pastries in the case.
The prices didn’t seem completely out of the ballpark. Pricey — yes, but I’m use to pricey chocolate shops, and I don’t think I’ve ever walked in a chocolate shop that was considered a «bargain».
So I went a little nuts, and decided to try a bunch of things. I purchased a Morchunky (a play of words on the Nestle Chunky bar — a large square of chocolate with chocolate and raisins) for $ 2.95, a peanut butter cup for $ 3.95 and a chocolate graham cracker for $ 1.75. I also purchased a ½ pound box of assorted chocolates for I believe $ 14.95? I chose the cherry cordial, nougat, peanut butter, buttercream, vanilla cream, salted caramel, coconut and maple.
So here are my thoughts — Morke’s actual chocolate isn’t very good. It’s not high quality chocolate and it is in no way anything I would consider to be gourmet. I know they don’t claim to be «gourmet», but don’t get your expectations high. It is probably comparable to something like Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory — but honestly, I’d probably prefer Rocky Mountain. See’s is much, much better for reference. The chocolate almost tastes like artificially flavored chocolate.
Secondly, some of the truffles are extremely small. The buttercreams and vanilla creams for instance are like a bite.
The fillings are extremely sugary — the buttercream, vanilla and maple were all way too sweet (this is coming from someone where you’d rarely ever hear the words that something is too sweet). I didn’t enjoy any of those. The salted caramel was good, but nothing above average for a caramel. The coconut wasn’t very good. The nougat was reminiscent of Russell Stovers. The cordial was good, but again, nothing special. The peanut butter was not good in the truffle or the large peanut butter cup. The peanut butter kind of tasted very bland and it wasn’t creamy. With the chocolate not being very sweet and the peanut butter having zero sweetness (or saveriness or anything) it would not be something I’d recommend trying. The morchunky wasn’t very good. The graham cracker was pretty good though.
I have to say I was left really disappointed with Morkes and most likely will not return. Super cute store, great selection — but if you have a refined palate for good chocolate, you won’t be wow’ed.

OK, so the new place is great but too small! Donuts look dry in the case but wow was I wrong when biting into one, they by far are the best donuts ever! Staff is friendly, a bit overwhelmed at times when busy. Coffee is watery in consistency, that’s the only negative I had. Would like a creamier texture. :) Love the summer camps for kids!

I had a party here for my six year old daughter. It was wonderful, Mimi ran the party and did a fantastic job with the children. She was enthusiastic and very kind and helpful to all the children. I highly recommend having a party here.
I have also taken my children to many of their chocolate making classes and each one has been unique and wonderful. My kids love going there so much.
It really is a wonderful store with amazing staff and of course chocolate!

I’m conflicted on how to review Morkes. The friendly service is worth 5 stars, as is the store itself (clean, nicely organized, good location). The sea salt caramels with dark chocolate, and anything made with caramel, get at least 4 stars. And I will definitely purchase the «Breakfast Toffee» again.
However, the other chocolates I tried were not impressive. I was really disappointed because I wanted to find something to replace See’s (my favorite, now closed in Algonquin). The centers and the milk chocolate are just bland. They remind me of mass produced commercial chocolates, but at 3 – 4 times the price. I had high expectations for a nougat, based on how much I liked the caramel, but it lacked flavor (and even those mass produced nougats taste like vanilla or cherry).
So I do recommend that you try Morkes because it’s a local business and the people are nice, but keep your expectations in check.

I wanted to love this place. It’s local, it’s a small business (which I always try to support) and the folks were approachable. My daughter has been there twice for the very kid-​friendly «parties», where they make chocolate «pizzas», etc. She loves it and the party hostess «Mimi» is great with kids.
But yikes, the chocolate to purchase is way high. I bought 3 amaretto chocolates (two-​bites and you are done) and a 2 inch x 2 inch piece of English Toffee. My total made me blink: $ 12.26.
What?
The amaretto pieces were ok, nothing fabulous, really. The toffee had a decent crunch, but was oddly flavor-​less. Chocolate covering was mild, nothing really to it. The nuts tasted very stale. I ended up throwing it away.
I’ll stick to See’s. Better selection and WAY better pricing.

Loved Morkes Chocolate! This is a small, locally owned, unassuming shop in a strip mall but it’s the most adorable thing. I think made more adorable by the white haired Grandma-​esque ladies working inside who are über friendly and helpful.
It was a bit of a mad house on Saturday afternoon as a birthday party was just letting out. However, it seems like it would be a very fun place to have your child’s birthday plus they get to go home with a bunch of yummy treats — win, win!
Prices are a bit high on things here. I wanted to get chocolatey gifts for each of the kids I’m housesitting for and did but couldn’t find anything appropriate for less than $ 4 a pop. What I did find was very cute and in line with the Halloween season. They had so many adorable seasonal items… I wanted to buy them all! Even the treats I don’t like (I’m looking at your rice krisipies) just because they were so cute. I would have bought a bunch more but the prices stunted that a bit.
Now for what I did get and tried myself:
Chocolate Covered Oreos ~ I tried both a milk chocolate and dark chocolate, holy goodness were these enjoyable. $ 1.25 each and very much worth the price. I have to say I really liked their dark chocolate! I’d highly recommend the chocolate covered oreos to others.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup ~ Huge item! $ 2.95 each Soft chocolate shell on the outside, filled with creamy peanut butter on the inside. I liked that it didn’t ooze everywhere yet was rich & filling. About 2.5x the size and although a different flavor than Reese’s about on par with it.
In my humble opinion, the gourmet chocolate at Morkes is a bit better than Fannie May.
I was left with a great impression of the shop. Friendly ladies working inside who encouraged me to come back and gave me flyers about upcoming events at the shop. Great chocolate items! Just a nice shop for specialty chocolate.

Exceptional service. I always create multiple, custom boxes whenever I stop in and the staff is very patient and accommodating. The chocolates taste GREAT. Just about all chocolates come in milk or dark. Many innovative and novelty chocolates. Nice selections for the different holidays. As they can be very busy as a holiday nears it is best not to wait until the day before to avoid long waits. Need to visit their Palatine location for the fresh, homemade donuts!

This place has amazing chocolate, which is why I’ve been there twice in a week!!! The first time i went was a Saturday afternoons. They had a kids party going in the back where they can make their own goodies, don’t worry they do adult parties too… byob;) might have to try this!!! While i was walking around they had different samples out including chocolate covered animal cookies (amazing), peanut butter fudge (yummy) and raspberry fudge (to die for). I knew i had to bring some home with me, so i got the chocolate covered gummy bears and chocolate covered pretzels. These were delicious! The chocolate covering was just the right amount for the gummy bears, which were also the softest gummy bears I’ve ever had!
A few reviews were complaining about the prices. They are a little high but remember its gourmet chocolate. If you compare to Fannie May its about the same price but the quality is soooo much better! So glad to have a new chocolate shop in my life!!!

Had my daughters birthday party here. LOVED IT!!! Great place to have a party in a controlled environment where it is all hands on. The kids loved getting to take home over a pound of chocolate that they «made». The staff is friendly and very straightforward in regards to what everything costs and what will be going on during the party. Compared to other places that we have had parties, this was the best value! Bunch of kids, pizza, pop, tons of chocolate and all under $ 200. Worth EVERY penny!

I love the salted chocolate caramel. Also a must try is the toasted coconut truffles, wow they are so good!!! The best thing is when the do chocolate day. You bring your kid (s) and mold chocolate to take home. Great place, locally owned and really yummy.

Lots and lots of CHOCOLATE!
My kids went to a birthday party in the back room at Morke’s. Each guest got a chef hat with name tag, and an apron. The party lasted for an hour and a half. Pizza and cake were served. At the end the boys got to bring home a cardboard box full of the things they’d made at the party, like chocolate covered pretzels and little white/​milk chocolate race cars, and a giant chocolate/M&M thing that looked decent.
My chocolate palate maybe isn’t sophisticated enough to know the subtle differences between this place and See’s candy, but I wound up leaving with a pair of fantastic candy apples and a grab bag of other smaller bite-​sized chocolates so I could sample the wares. Not bad I say!
Looking forward to hearing reviews from a few other Unilocalers to get a wider opinion on this place…

Thought we would try the nice new chocolate shop in town & we were very DISAPPOINTED!!! The Toffee has NO crisp to it & the Fudge is PURE Sugar! And the last but not least Morkes is VERY Overpriced!!!
I was So Happy to hear that a REAL GOOD Candy store is coming soon to the Algonquin Commons. See’s Candies are coming, and they are the best Chocolates around!!! Morkes might want to lower the prices a lil’ with the competition coming in that will Blow them AWAY!!!
I was Disappointed to say the Least!!!