Candinas Chocolatier

I got a 16 piece this last weekend at their Madison store, and I won’t be going back. The store is bizarre in itself; about the size of a single-​car garage, robot clerk behind a glass case of boxed chocolates. The $ 29 price tag, along with a lack of being able to select which ones I would like (in the age of the internet, the ONLY advantage IMO to brick and mortar in my mind is to be able to select what I like), and the absence of any descriptions of the chocolates in the box were all deal-​breakers to me.
My husband’s from CA and swears that Sees Candies tastes much better and is a *lot* less (and from what I had in SoCal I’d agree with him). The tastes of Candinas chocolates were not exotic or even that interesting (caramel, raspberry), and many were milk chocolate instead of dark (our go-​to). We’ll likely go back to Gail Ambrosius for our chocolate fix. We used to think her chocolates were small; hers are actually a decent size compared to Candinas, and about the same price per piece.

Best chocolate ever. Simple to order because the only selections are the size of the box. No worries every kind packed are just wonderful

Legit chocolate truffles place!
I got caught by the words «who said you can’t buy some loves» omg so true! Chocolate is my love
Went in the store and they gave me half a piece to try. Really good caramel chocolate!
Got two boxes :)
Hope they have more assortment in the Madison store tho :/​they only have a few everyday and the 9 piece boxes have the same assortments, 2-​piece boxes have some variations.

When I travel to Europe, mostly Amsterdam and northern Italy, I always take Candinas Chocolates at gifts. At first my hosts look at me like I am crazy bringing chocolates from Wisconsin to Europe, and also to friends in New York City. But then they taste this unbelievably delicious chocolate, and simply ask for more. I do not eat truffles as a rule, because I don’t like the mushy fillings. I eat Candinas truffles any chance I get. They are not only the most delicious but most beautiful in an understated way. The way I like my statements.

Five years after our first review– we are still exclusively buying Candinas Chocolates. Reasons range from freshness, quality price and the thrill kids get from driving out to the factory and selecting their flavors. I do see a few reviews that I consider slanderous and an attempt to discredit. If anyone were to purchase a bad chocolate from ANY place in MADISON (ANY) you would return them. Not slander them online.
Takes the fun out of Unilocal.Shame on them.

Consumer Reports have rated this place high so I bought two boxes. I had dozen people try them but I did not receive single compliment. I tried it myself and I was not amazed. I think Consumer Reports was wrong on this one. If you live in California, stick with See’s candies or Trader Joe’s chocolate.
Candinas chocolate seemed like work of art, just look at some of the pictures already posted here, from multicolored gift box to cute little chocolates in varying shades of color. But taste wasn’t there so it turned out to be all show and no go experience.
I had to order them online as souvenir for my trip overseas and not even a single compliment from all the people that tried them.

Worst online shopping experience in my life.
I knew this store from the Consumer Report and Candinas was one of top 3 chocolates sellers which CR recommends.
So I bought 36 count chocolates for coming Valentines’s day. (around $ 70 including shipping)
After I opened up the box, I noticed that hundreds of ants were in the chocolate. It was never eat-​able and obviously, I couldn’t give it to my gf. I simply thought that I could return it or get a refund by sending email/​call to the Candinas.
BUT I WAS WRONG!
I talked to the owner, Marcus and yeah, he said in Wisconsin, there’s no way that ants can get in to the box. I asked him why the chocolates were not wrapped in the transparent plastic bag. Or, why the boxes were wrapped in the box with lots of gaps that ants can go into and eat my freaken chocolate during the shipment.
He simply told me that because I have no experience buying expensive chocolate like his (LMFAO) and he never sacrifice quality and never put the chocolate in the plastic bag.
In short, if you swiped your credit card at
, this is final. FINAL! You can never return your chocolate in any fucking condition!
I bought tons of kinds of stuffs from ebay, amazon, nordstrom, tens of clothing store, bookstore whatever; but there was no single time that I couldn’t return the DEFECTED PRODUCT.
Marcus said I can write review and send it to consumer report and whatever.
SO here’s my experience!
If you want a chocolate with hundreds of ants, go buy it for your Valentine’s Day and enjoy!

I bit into a truffle from Candinas, and found a bunch of what looks like fuzzy bluish mold inside. Yuck!

First impression: where am I.
I stepped through the door and bam — that’s it.
The lighting cast a yellowy tint and illuminated the one display case that had held 2 lonely boxes of chocolates that I couldn’t even tell were chocolates because the boxes were all closed up and covered… how do I know what I’m buying? :(
Added to the strangeness of my experience here the fact that nobody else was in the room. And by that I don’t mean that there were no other customers; I mean that nooo one was there. No worker. I felt alone. Like an intruder in this strange chocolate world.
But THEN a woman appeared from behind an obscure curtain (Wizard of Oz-​style people).
She was friendly though. No wrath of the great and powerful Oz felt here.
It’s just… I had no idea how to order. I came in with the intent of buying just one little chocolate of theirs, but they don’t so much cater to this. There were no display cases of delicious looking chocolates to peruse as I had been anticipating. And there were no little chocolate maps/menus.sadness.
Basically what you do is tell them how maaaany chocolates you want and they’ll determine which kinds you get. And they don’t too readily tell you what chocolates you’re getting unless you ask… weird again.
Now the actual quality of the two truffles I ended up with was just fine. Decent chocolates for sure. But given the bizarre nature of the actual shop and the «just okay-​ness» of the truffles, I won’t be rushing back.

Amazing chocolate, very good value. When I lived in Madison I felt like this chocolate was very expensive, but once I spent some time checking out chocolate in other areas of the country I realized the bargain it is!
This chocolate is great. My favorite is the caramel truffle, but my favorites change over time :)
Their focus is on the chocolate, but the packaging is very classy, as is the shipping-​packaging if you need it shipped.
If you ask, they are HAPPY to make a custom box for you with more of your favorite flavors, especially at their Verona location.
Now get up and go buy some ;)

When I was lured into Candina’s by a little sidewalk sign, I was a little nervous that I had just walked into a decoy fronting for some other shady business– the mob? I don’t know. Items immediately in sight included a beaded curtain, a red carpet walkway, 1 (one) glass jewelers counter with 6 (six) boxes of chocolates in it, and a picture on the wall. That’s it. But I did some research, and it turns out Candina’s is legit, and everyone loves it! My thoughts are…
–really good chocolate. REALLY good.
-…but I’m not enough of a chocolate connoisseur to spend $ 25 for a 16 piece box regularly. I settled for a $ 5 2 piece sampler.
–free sample! yeah!
–be aware– there is NO CHOICE in your truffle box. You get what you get (and you don’t get upset?)
–also be aware– if you go into the store, there’s a chance you;ll be there alone with the salesperson, nothing else to look at and be distracted with, nobody else for the salesperson to wait on, so you’ll probably have to buy some chocolate even if its not what you expected. Like I did.
I don’t regret it, but I probably won’t be a Candina’s regular.

Found Candinas via Consumer Report. Since then Markus has pleased my wife, daughter, mom and stepmom on several occasions. Have tried other chocolatiers and keep coming back to Candinas. Packaging is nice but not keepsake. Made to be eaten fresh.

Great downtown chocolate shop.
Hints: will quickly customize client or social gifts. A nice alternative to the inundation of Gail Ambrosius that gets sent around town. (Not to knock the Atwood institution, which is also tasty.)

I’m a flight attendant and I tailor my flight schedule specifically so that I can fly into Madison every chance I get to go to the Capital Square storefront to get a box of these chocolates. It is a hidden wonder of the world. You’d almost miss the storefront if you didn’t know what you were looking for. Very minimalist, but with flavors like these who needs fancy schmancy sickly sweet interior decorations in a store. In my opinion all that stuff is just a trick to get your eyes to believe that the chocolate other stores are selling is really better than what your mouth is telling you. Nope, at Candinas just a glass display case with neatly stacked boxes.
The truffle flavors are a random selection in each box, and usually that’s a big problem, because random usually means I will only like one or two and have to give the rest away or throw them out. But with Candinas, I can truly say that I liked almost every single one (not a fan of the Hazelnut truffle, I don’t like hazelnut at all). The flavors are distinct without being overwhelmingly sweet or like someone went crazy with the (insert flavor here) oil, extract, or essence. The ganaches are creamy and soft, mousse-​y smooth. I love how they got champagne in a chocolate and made it work so well. I like the Chai and Jasmine/​Green Tea varieties… oh forget it I love them all. The Caramel is the perfectly balanced truffle because the caramel and the chocolate melt at different times allowing you to enjoy the full flavors of each before they meld together in bliss.
I’m a seasoned patron so I don’t have to guess which is which, but there is a list with photos of all of the flavors on the website, and for those of you that want to be a party pooper and only get one flavor, the website says that you can order via phone, customized orders… I can’t wait til I get married because these are definitely going to be my wedding favors.

Pros:
Variety of chocolates in truffles
Free sample! I was given a deelicious dark chocolate espresso truffle
Beautiful packaging for their chocolates
Cheaper than Gail Ambrosius
Cons:
The chocolates were mostly a little sugary, and did not have a whole lot of complexity (yes, I’m aware of how snotty that sounds)
No choice of truffles! (They do this because they guarantee you’ll like all of them, but what if you don’t like white chocolate? Or champagne flavoring?)
No guide for aforementioned unchosen truffles!
Definitely not as good as Gail, but I would not not recommend it, ya know?

Went here today because I have always wondered about the place and heard good things about them here at Unilocal.
Upon entry I was surprised by the small case of chocolates that was at the front door. It was minimalistic and thus not what I expected. I expected more about their chocolates and the different flavors or types of chocolate they made available. But it was a big guess. I was offered a free sample which was delicious and the price was reasonable for well made chocolate. I bought two boxes. One for a gift and one for myself. The chocolates were excellent.
I have to go with 4 stars for the lack of information in the front showroom.

I went here today because I didn’t feel like making a trip out to Hilldale for David Bacco’s. Overall, it was interesting – but I don’t think Candinas will be my chocolate shop of choice.
The storefront is very minimalist; there’s pictures of chocolate bar wrappers among other drawings on the wall in a mural kind of way. It was definitely not what I was expecting.
The service was very friendly; my significant other and I were given samples of what they consider «defective» chocolates that they don’t put into their boxes. It’s nice to hear that they’ve got some pretty good quality control, but the taste of what samples of what we had were great – but not phenomenal.
My real gripe with this place is that you don’t really get to choose what goes into the boxes; they have set up boxes in mind and for what I was getting them for (thank you presents for letters of recommendation), it wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.
That said, it wasn’t bad! The chocolate samples we were given certainly were very good; very creamy and exactly what one should be hoping for in a truffle – but for me, it’s lacking something I can’t really name. And for that price? Close, but not five-​star worthy.

Oh. My. Chocolishisness.
These are ridiculously flavorful (no guessing… you’ll know which is which) and uniquely textured… I would certainly NOT wait for Valentine’s Day. It deserves all five stars, while definitely a luxury, totally worth it for chocolate lovers (or for any level of chocolate appreciaters).

Oh man, those caramel truffles are amazing. Chocolates are made of some kind of purified version of awesome.
They won some major praise from consumer reports a year or two ago and for good reason– something like best value for chocolate in the US.
If you aren’t super wealthy or celebrating a special occasion of some kind, you can spend under $ 3 for a two piece box.

D-​14 unitl Valentine’s Day 2008. Sitting at home, flipping through the channels. Stop at Consumer Reports. «Best Chocolate,» headline reads. Pause. Must watch.
Blind taste tests done for three categories (cheap, average, expensive). Drool while watching. Ignore segment on the cheap supermarket chocolates. Don’t eat Hershey’s. Yuck. Ignore segment on middle chocolates. Don’t eat Ferrero Rocher. Yuck. Listen attentively to expensive segment. Definitely eat Godiva.
See’s ranked #5 or something (See’s is considered gourmet? Since when?!). Godiva at #3. What?! Huh?! What could be better than Godiva? Ghirardelli, says Consumer Reports. Interesting. Very interesting. But what is better than Godiva and Ghirardelli? What is number one?!
Candinas, say talking heads. Hm. Never heard of before. Must do Google search. Find site. Ooh, looks yummy. Decide must try. Click on «Place an Order.» Nearly have heart attack.
$ 50 for 30-​something pieces. Must be joke. Must be. Cannot be real. Godiva prices for unknown chocolate? Unreal. Unreal.
But must try. Consumer Report says so. Must try.
Click on «Purchase» and fill out form. Must try. Must try. Driven.
Go to next page for shipping options.
Really do have heart attack this time.
Standard shipping = 2 business days = $ 20+
Standard shipping = 2 business days with iCE PACK = $ 25+
Next day shipping = 1 day = $ 35+
NOTE: Chocolatier insists on freshness of chocolate. Will not ship anything more than 2 days. Says ensures quality. So must shell out big dough for box of Candinas.
Calculate. One box nearly $ 100. Not worth it. Not worth it.
But want it. Want it bad.
Complain to boyfriend about ripoffs in chocolate industry. America in sad era when consumers ripped off for candy. Sad. So sad.
D-​Day: Valentine’s Day ’08. Package arrives at work. Flowers? Present? Greedily open. CANDINAS! BF so sweet!
Covertly hide box under desk. Must hide from coworkers. If they see, must be nice and share. Don’t want to. Not worth it. All mine. Very expensive chocolate. ALL MINE.
Dash to car. Try one piece. OMFG DELICIOUS. Too scared to try another piece. Don’t want to waste. Put chocolate back in FedEx box. Snuggle it with ice pack. Leave in car. Hide from coworkers.
Go home, put it in fridge. Eat ½ piece every day. Stretch chocolate 2 months. Freshness, schmessness. Still yummy 2 months later. Now all gone. Wish BF would get me another box.
Candinas = Better than Godiva. Better. Much Better.
Consumer Reports tell truth. Candinas best. Best of best.