Ciocolat Extraordinary Desserts

Made reservations for Father’s Day high tea. Went there only to find it closed for ‘building issues’. Really? If something unexpected came up especially for such an important day reservation why didnt i get notified by either email or phone call. Unreal and so disappointed in the poor customer service. It ruined half the day plans due to driving all the way there and having to make last minute plans.
Would i give them another try? Absolutely not. And you know how we share a bad experience? By telling all our friends.

Oh I really don’t want to write a bad review for this place as I had such fond memories of this place but gosh what happened over the years. This place is old and could give the feel of comfort and warmth but it just looks rundown.
When I used to come to this place, it was always busy and there were so many more selections to choose from. However, when I was here on a Saturday there were selections of about 4 – 5 cakes, macaroons and a few custards. The macaroons were overpriced and if its going to be that expensive please give me some unusual flavors. I opted for a mango cake which was about $ 4.95 and the piece was smaller than I expected. They used to be more generous with their slices and when I finally got to eat the cake it wasn’t that good.
What a disappointment, I hope they are able to turn it around because they used to be great. I may come back to see if they have improved but until then there’s always Ginger Elizabeth :)!!

Great service. Really nice people. We had an appointment for high tea and they took care of everything once we got there. We were allowed to switch between teas and were served an amazing 5 course brunch. The meal included homemade warm mini scones, mixed green salad, sandwich plate, desserts, and a surprise dish in the end (which was berries and cream). Definitely recommend this play. The servers were extremely nice and made sure we had a good experience. We’ll be back again.

I was very worried about going to high tea at Ciocolat after reading some of the reviews here. However, I had bought a Groupon so I figured I would go. They were booked on weekends for a month in advance so my girlfriends and I went last Tuesday afternoon. I didn’t know if they would have a lot of fresh things on a weekday but I was very happy with the whole experience. When I arrived the table was already set up and all of the tea cups were so cute! The waiter was very nice and attentive through the whole meal. He was quick to bring us all of our teas, delicious scones, salad, and delectable desserts. I would give them five stars but I can’t get over how small the sandwiches are! If there were a few more I would give them five stars for sure!
Overall, it was a fun experience that I might do again since they have a special $ 19 per person deal going on now. I would recommend going to Ciocolat if you want to have a fun environment to talk over tea and yummy miniature courses. Remember to book far in advance if you are going on a weekend!

Their cake was disgusting. I ordered a tirimisu and it was bland; it was literally tasteless. The texture of the mouse was like a frozen piece of lard. The only tolerable part was the chocolate cake, and even that tasted like something you can get from Safeway. I was deeply disappointed. It was a waste of money especially since it cost at least 5 – 6 bucks. I would rather spend that money and get something from Safeway. I am never coming back.
The service was horrible as well. Everything about this experience was horrible.
as of 3÷15÷2012. Wrote it way back and forgot to post it.

I’ve been meaning to write this review for awhile. I hosted a bridal shower here in September of 2013. I do not live in Northern California, so I had to plan the entire thing by e-​mail and phone. I can’t even count the number of restaurants that just didn’t want to deal with that and outright refused to work with me. I sent Ciolat’s main e-​mail a message and received a warm and helpful reply 5 hours later from Kate.
Kate worked with our budged to create a fun and varied menu that everyone loved. For the food alone I might give this place 4 starts out of 5, but the easy of planning, the quickness with which they served us and the overall helpfulness of the staff leading up to and at the event was priceless. They allowed us to come early and set up decorations and even helped us with that, even though it was not part of what we had paid for. Same goes for clean up. They allowed us to bring a few bottles of champagne without a corkage fee. Perhaps that’s standard in Davis, but coming from LA they got major bonus points in our book for that! Service is not always usually an important part of the restaurant experience for me, but when event planning it’s important. They went above and beyond and I just can not say enough good things about Kate and the rest of the staff.
A similar event with that type of service could have easily cost twice what we paid and overall we ended up under-​budget which was AWESOME. I’m so grateful for the entire staff and how they made the event a success!

Ciocolat is a great restaurant, especially if you want a great dessert. The servers are very nice and will tweak foods if you have allergies or special needs. Definitely coming back!

I went here when they were fairly new during my college days. When I was having an extremely bad day my bf at the time used to get me truffles from here that were pretty rich. He even ordered a cake from here for my birthday. He ordered the Gianduja Cake: Decadent hazelnut cream mousse layered on rich chocolate cake. Garnished with ganache rosettes and hazelnuts. I love hazelnut so I really enjoyed the cake.
Once, however, I tried to order a cake for a friend but they never pick up their phone! I left a voice-​mail and never got a call back. Two days later, still no response. I ended up going some place else.
For the items that I’ve tried here, they were hit and miss. Service? Very unprofessional in my opinion.

This place requires high tea reservations ahead of time yet they don’t pick up their phone (phone number on Unilocal). What is up with that?
So instead of getting high tea, i got a sandwich from the savory lunch menu. It was $ 9.60 for a very ordinary sandwich+side.
The sandwich was made well. It was also a good portion for one person, but the price is not justified by the quality or the amount.
I hope after trying their high tea, I can star it higher than a 3.

This was my first high tea experience. We got a Groupon deal, which is always a great way to try places out. The server was very attentive and accommodating, explained every course to us, and kept our cups full of our tea of choice. I ordered the chai tea, which was mild but flavorful. At the end of the meal I opted for the iced tea since we were sitting on the patio and after eating and drinking hot tea for 90 minutes, it got pretty warm.
Our four courses were:
Freshly made white chocolate cranberry scones and cream. This was my favorite course. The server mentioned they were known for their scones, which were especially delicious and I would return just for these scones.
Tea sandwiches, which were turkey on croissant, brie cheese, and cucumber sandwiches. They weren’t bad, but nothing special.
Sweets: I couldn’t eat since I’m allergic), and some chocolates. Ok, nothing memorable.
Fresh fruit and housemade chantilly cream: The cream was simply delectable.
There was an okay selection of teas, but not what I consider extensive. I did enjoy both my chai and iced teas. I’ve heard of some other good places in Davis that serve high tea, and I plan to try other places and see how they compare to this one.

Really really disappointed in their high tea. Now, I’m a Davis resident and remember their high teas from about a year or two ago. THAT was good. The sandwich course was huge, the desserts were served on cute three-​tier platters, the tea was high-​quality Tea Forte, whose cool-​looking silk bags are shaped like pyramids… And the fruit course was a HUGE bowl of berries with fresh cream. Ahh…
Well I just went again with a Groupon about a week ago. Granted, I called the day before to book the tea, which was probably not helpful to them. Regardless, I wish we could have received something of better value than what we got (even with the Groupon, high tea for 2 is still NOT cheap).
The sandwiches are now TINY. The breads they used were stale-​ish. The desserts were a random smattering of stale french macarons and chocolate whatevers. And the scones which used to be piping hot and obviously fresh, house-​made are now this weird, store-​bought tasting crap with way too many cranberries. The only good part about the scones were the lemon cream. That’s it. And there was no raspberry jam, which is so traditional.
And the fruit course was tiny!
BUT THE TEA. IT IS NOW STASH TEA. I don’t have anything against Stash – some of Stash tea is great. But that stuff is still cheap – go to any supermarket, it’s cheaper than all the other brands!!! GAAAAR I WANTED FORTE.
GYPPED.

We arrived at Sam’s to get some take out to go back to the game, but they opened at 11:30 and not 11:00 as it’s posted on here. Actually, they never opened up on Labor Day, but that’s another story for another review. With thirty minutes to spare, my sister wanted to go check out this place next door because she saw a coupon for it on Groupon or Living Social. It looked pretty cute from the outside and most people were enjoying a leisurely brunch on the patio. It was pretty empty inside, but we were quickly tended to by the wonderful Kate.
After looking through the displays, nothing really piqued my interest upon first glacé, so I was ready to book it and head over to Konditorei (one of my few bookmarks in Davis) and get some sweets from there. However, my sister was in the process of losing her mind, asking Kate about what this was and what that was. After they chatted it up for twenty minutes or a decade or whatever it was, my sister finally decided on five different things to try.
They only had two different cupcakes available. One was chocolate hazelnut and the other was coconut passionfruit. I implored my sister to get the latter, since I imagined the former would be too one dimensional flavor wise. And it was. But like all women who are addicted to Nutella, she happily went with the former despite my pleading. Don’t worry, she’s not getting my vote for sister of the year. Regardless, the actual cupcake was moist and pretty decent. Definitely the best of the lot from our pink box.
She got two cookies, a chocolate chip one and a sugar one. The latter was sitting on a plate on the counter and I made a comment to her basically telling her not to get it, but she just frowned at me and ordered it anyways. WTF.
Also got a chocolate hazelnut cake pop, which was way too sweet and not good at all. The worst of the lot was the heart shaped apple pie. My god, this tasted worse than anything you would get from a store bought pastry box. Flavorless crust and terrible texture. Do not order.
Some of the cakes did look good and I may go back to get a slice next time I’m in town, but I’d stay away from the cookies, cake pops, and that apple pie creation. The highlight was definitely the service! Kate was absolutely fantastic in helping out my sister and was ever so friendly and patient throughout. I thought my sister was actually going to ditch me and go out to lunch with her instead at one point during their conversation, which would have been a perfect ending to the spontaneous pit stop we made here.

Take a look at the kitchen, it’s dirty. the food is not consistent, the desserts are hit or miss, and it’s overpriced. why so popular? cause we don’t have another place to go for desserts or a little bites in Davis.
If you absolutely have to go Ciocolat, then try to only get dessert. Really, their other ingredients are not fresh. Their frittatas, lasagna, etc. are all made, frozen, then microwaved to order. If you order something with tomatoes in it, you’ll be able to judge the quality of their produce for yourself.
during summer, there are flies everywhere, and once, I saw a cockroach running towards the back. that was the last time I’ve set my foot in there. Will not go back ever!

I have had their Afternoon Tea a few times. I really like the unique finger sandwiches and desserts. It’s not the best that I’ve ever had but it is a treat.

The restaurant is cute both inside and out with it’s «old charm» feel and lovely patio. Unfortunately, the day I went the kitchen was closed so I wasn’t able to try any of the food. I thought about going someplace else since I was starving, but was too lazy to move the car so opted to get dessert instead. Bad choice, I know.
I ordered the Mango Mousse cake. The flavor was nice and it was moist, but the outer layer of the cake was a bit rubbery. This is probably from it being left out and exposed to air for a little too long. The cake slice was $ 4.75, which I though was a bit pricey for what I was getting. I am a dessert fiend and didn’t find anything too extraordinary about the desserts. I was hoping this place to be like Extraordinary Desserts in San Diego (amazing). Maybe I just had too high standards.
I gave an extra star because this place is actually very good for studying during the day. It’s breezy, quiet, serve coffee drinks, and have plenty of tables to spread out your papers.

I came here for some dessert after lunch one day, and I thought it was such a cute little place.
I ordered a slice of the Tropical Mousse Cake which was described as «Passion fruit and coconut mousse layered with white sponge cake garnished with toasted coconut and fresh fruit.» It was really light, and the flavor was good. The mousse alone was a bit too sweet, but together with the cake it was really nice.
The service was good as well. The man who helped me was able to answer any questions I had, and was very friendly. This little bakery isn’t a bad place at all, so I don’t know why the ratings seems a bit low.

Not impressed.
Everything I ordered tasted the same, low quality chocolate & dry & flavorless cake. The sad part is, the cakes look so good, but the taste really disappointed me. I tried the chocolate bomb and the blood orange mousse cake. At $ 4.75 a pop, neither one was that great. Maybe I’m just too stuck up with my pastries, but if I’m gonna eat cake, it had better be good!

Overpriced for their desserts that wasn’t even that great. It was not
«extraordinary» like the shop’s name is called at all. Not worth the money.
I got the White Chocolate Strawberry Mousse and my anticipation for that sweet, delightful taste in every bite was not there. Disappointed. The mini cake was hard and somewhat dry. Mousse was good, but not special or anything. The size was tiny too. It was 5 bucks down the drain.
The shop’s interior reminds me of a traditional dining room area in a house.
Skip this place and go to other dessert shops close by for better sweets and for half the price.

Had the cutest high tea time here with 12 of my closest friends for a birthday. Scored an amazing groupon for the deal, which worked out to $ 19 a person for unlimited tea, and 4 courses of delicious foods. The presentation was good, but the taste was GREAT. Among the better of tea time snacks I’ve ever had.
The house-​made scones were good, but the lemon curd it came with — i could eat that alone for days. The turkey croisssant sandwich with the kick-​ass dijon was so good. Tangy but light. Cucumber and tomato finger sandwiches were also good. Then came the 2 rounds of desserts. Berries with Chantilly Cream, and a dessert platter with eclaires drenched in hot fudge chocolate, fresh strawberry mousse (MY FAVORITE, to die for), and a lemon tart (just ok).
The place is quaint, not quite FANCY, but still cute. We all dressed up, and did not feel out of place at all. That said, we could have also come in casual and fit right in. I don’t think there are that many places in Davis that you can have an experience like this.
Service was stellar, with the owner personally serving us each course and refilling our tea so it was fresh. They also offered to take a bagillion pictures for us, cuz well, a buncha girls dressed up for tea time will of course want a LOT of pics!
Perfect for a lazy sunday, or a done up tea time. Would come back for sure!

While I haven’t been generally THAT impressed with the food and desserts whenever I’ve walked in and ordered something, Ciocolat provides a most excellent tea service which I finally experienced last week. First, they have an assortment of high quality Teaforte teas available. Both the finger sandwiches and desserts provided were decadent and well worth the price ($ 25 per head) for this service. The cucumber finger sandwich contained a hint of garlic that just made this the most outstanding and memorable sandwich experience I’ve ever had! I’m STILL craving it a few days later! Everyone who waited on us was friendly, courteous, and professional. Give Ciocolat’s tea service a try!
My previous experience at Ciocolat before the tea service gets 3 stars, however the tea service itself gets 5 stars (though I wish it were possible to award more than 5 here)!