Just Chocolate Palace

Not a review per se but wanted to let long-​term patrons know that the owner has relocated to Bethesda — it’s Gold Leaf Bakery there now. Thanks.

Love this place! Owner Peter is a awesome pastry chef
But I just found out the shop did not renew their lease!
He’s closed with no forwarding information!

I love the cakes here. Especially if you’re looking for something for a special occasion this is the place to go. The owner makes everything from pastries to wedding cakes. A bit pricey but quality stuff. You will custom design a cake for you for any occasion. I have given him any ideas and he always over exceeded my expectations!

Great local bakery. Owner and staff are friendly and have free tastings some Saturdays. They have the best holiday cookies but you need to order in advance for Thanksgiving or Christmas. The cookies are like grandma’s turkeys or tree ornaments with the sugar frosting designs!

I wanted so badly to like this bakery. It’s near my home and sells my favorite dessert of all time French macarons. During my first visit I ordered 6 macarons. They were hard as a rock. I took them back and the woman taking my order shrugged and said macarons are supposed to be crunchy on the outside. I attempted to break one in half in front of her and it was a struggle. I’ve had several day old macarons– they’re nothing like this. I’m guessing these were made weeks ago. She suggested I pick out another dessert. I got a small vanilla bar with raspberry filling and something chocolate. They were edible, but tasted on par to something I could get at a crappy grocery store bakery. I won’t be back.

I love this place the owner is super friendly and nice also the cakes are yummy! I had the a piece of the champagne cake and I just had to buy a whole cake for my sisters birthday.

My favorite birthday cakes. They do have things other than chocolate, but I highly recommend sticking with the cocoa-​based confectioneries. I know of no match for their chocolate mousse cake. Besides being a master craftsman, the owner is quite friendly and genuine. It’s hard to believe JCP is in such a dumpy strip mall, but this place is legit.

After several trips to this bakery, I have noticed that there is an issue with «freshness,» as several reviewers have noted. I still think that it’s a pretty good bakery – but am less enthusiastic about it after buying some items that seemed to have been «sitting around» too long!

My wife loves everything I bring her from this place. Top quality but a bit pricey.

I would give this place zero stars if I could! I ordered a dozen cupcakes (chocolate, vanilla, red velvet, and coconut), using a Groupon I had. Their cupcakes are the worst I’ve eaten in my life… I seriously didn’t know one could mess up on cupcakes that badly! The cakes had an awful, chemical-​type smell. The cake was dry, the frosting bland. I ended up throwing some out. I would not recommend their cupcakes, and I will never visit this bakery again.

I love love their bread pudding! The first time I had their cake was from a classmates birthday cake and it was so good I had to take their number. I get cakes for every birthday in my house from there and they’ve always been delicious and looked beautiful. The red velvet cake is to die for and for my daughter’s 5^th birthday we had a Dora chocolate cake with actual chocolate in the middle. Delicious! The owner is very nice and accommodating. I’ve never had stale cake from there and I go there quite often. I would recommend it to anyone wanting a special cake for ant occasion.

Cake Nazi — the Seinfeld’s experience
3 ½ stars
I have been to this place several times and really enjoyed their cakes. So today, I decided to stop by for a few pieces of sweets. I noticed that they had cupcakes! (They didn’t have cupcakes the last time I stopped by.) Thus, I asked the owner for one cup cake. Then, I started browsing for more desserts. I looked at what they had and noticed some of the selections looked old and dry. I made a comment to the owner that «some of the cakes look old.» The owner then called a girl in the kitchen and asked her «When did you make these cakes?» She said «Today». Then, He got mad at me and didn’t want to sell me any cake. Oopps, I realized I broke the golden rule «Don’t ever piss of the chef!»
I guess I will not come back to that place again.
So, folks, come by, enjoy their desserts, just don’t make the same mistake I did!

Aw poop. I really really really wanted to love this place. I really really really did.
But…I…just…can’t.
OK, so it was Father’s Day, and I was to bring dessert for dinner. My dad loves cakes, as long as there is no fruit in it… and my mom only enjoys fruit based pastries. So to save myself from the dilemma on how to deal with this, I decided to finally try out Just Chocolate and get a bunch of little mini-​cakes and tarts, and make it a dessert sampler. Adorable idea, right?
I amble into Just Chocolate around 4pm on Father’s Day Sunday, and the lovely gentleman helped me pick out a bunch of little cakes. I mentioned that I pass by them all the time, but because they close as I get off work, I always miss them. He kindly gave me their business card and told me to call ahead and he’ll try to stay open for me. Aw! Super nice (and earned them a one star bump)!
I get about 8 or 9 little cakes, and head over to my parents for dinner. Right after dinner, my dad hearing that I had brought sweets, started to act like a little kid, dancing around in his seat. So cute! I whip out the cakes and everyone is all like «ooooh!». The cakes were beautiful and looked delicious.
Eh…looks can be deceiving. Unfortunately, the majority of the cakes were stale. Perhaps it was because I got them at 4pm on a Sunday, but my brother insists that that level of staleness means that the cakes sat out for several days. The fruit tarts that I got were very hard, and the chocolate mousse cake was very dry. The cheesecake was salty, and the white chocolate cake just tasted… off.
The only cake out of all of the ones that I got that was good, was the napoleon, but even then, it was merely passable, not anything extraordinary.
I actually feel awful writing this review because the gentleman (I think he’s the owner) was so incredibly sweet and nice. I never like writing negative reviews of nice people — but I have to be honest, I was so upset by cakes that I was ready to cry. Even my dad — who loves sweets — couldn’t eat more then a few bites of those cakes.
However, in light of the number of positive reviews for Just Chocolate, I am going to make an effort to try them again — soon! And not at 4pm on a Sunday — although, the quality should be constant no matter when I visit… but I will withhold judgment until I try them again.

YAY a good little shop close to home with good bakery. I love finds like this. I’ve been meaning to go in for ages but never seem to randomly go by when they are open. Yesterday I was on the hunt for yummy confections for a mini party and I randomly remembered this place and I wasn’t disappointed. The service was lovely I liked the fact that I could sample before I bought a plus with such a huge selection. I settled on the raspberry chocolate mousse, fruit tart, apple tart, and the hazelnut cake. The unexpected favorite was the apple tart. Not really cheap eats, most of the confections range from $ 3.50 to 4.50 and I was kinda sad that they really don’t have any cookies.

I don’t how I never noticed this before… today I noticed the name right away and decided I HAD to go in. The name is a bit misleading — chocolate is really not their main business at all. They have a case full of beautiful pastries. The owner was very sweet and gave us a sample of the napoleons we were eyeing to help us make our decision. That did it! It was crisp and light and wonderfully creamy. They also have a small selection of cute sample-​sized desserts for a $ 1 when you just want something sweet and elegant.
I loved the place and the service. Will definitely be going back for more yummy treats!