Contessa Chocolate Collection

A wonderful taste of Italy, with sidewalk café seating. We started with a marvelous potato antipasto with piquant tastes of tapenade, chives, and dried tomatoes. Our main course were cheese burrata with beets and potatoes and rice salad with chopped veggies, delicious but low calorie. The server gave us personal attention and regaled us with the fine points of Italian foodstuffs. For dessert, fine chocolate with sautéed blood orange slices made a memorable finish. A real gem in the Lake shopping district!

Ridiculously expensive and not worth the inflated prices

a bit overpriced for what it is. the chocolates themselves are OK, but again, for the price, you can find micro-​chocolatiers which are better.

I’d still prefer Godiva.
Seeing the reviews and the pricing of the chocolates, I was determined to try this place. At $ 3 a «truffle,» this place had to be good.
I say «truffle» only because they’re not the standard truffles you would pick up at any other store. They don’t really have a ganache in the center. It was a really soft but solid mass.
I guess this chocolate is a novel experience to try at the end of the day, but I don’t see myself coming back. Rather buy a giant bag of m&m’s at Ralph’s for the same price.

Just a little something sweet for after our Pesto sandwiched lunch! I just wanted nougat: $ 36 for a small hardened block or $ 3 each for about an inch long chocolate covered nougat. It was delicious, but on the price side.

Amazing hidden treasure in Pasadena. They have amazing food, chocolate, and dessert. You are able to Try some unique things that they import from Italy directly. Healthy organic and gmo free products. Amazing pistachio spread and honey. Also they evoo is the best I have had and pasta omg I can go on forever.

Wow this place is expensive.
$ 18.00 for Catinari’s bar and $ 26.00 for 8 pcs truffle box.
Unfortunately I am not impressed.
3 stars!
Contessa Chocolate Collection is almost yummylicious!

Uhh… yum!!! The real deal. Feels so good to eat. No sugar rush. I’m talking real deal.

This is a quaint little chocolate shop at the Burlington Arcade. They offer truffle samples and I saw that they also have a small coffee bar with about ~3 seats or so. I came here to grab some truffles for an ex’s mum for Mother’s Day. They put the truffles in a cute box and wrap it up nicely with a ribbon! Overall great shop; hope they stick around.

Very rich chocolates and they are all very delicious, i go for the dark raspberry truffles they are my favorite! Pricey oh yeah but it’s not like you need to buy more then one or two. The store is very elegant and they make great gifts since their chocolates are from all around Europe & the US…

Delicious but pricey… definitely rich chocolates. Tasty but 1 is enough for me.

Come here for a relaxing time, and for a great cup of espresso or cappuccino accompanied by fabulous quality foods of the day (i.e., burrata cheese, smoked salmon on greens, luscious olive oil). Very few Pasadena area restaurants offer the quality that the Contessa provides its customers.
The variety of chocolates is amazing. This is where you come, not to munch on a Hershey bar, but to indulge in an unusual and special chocolate delight!

In a quiet pleasant covered arcade, three tables and chairs invite to sit and linger. European chocolates from truffles to Italian pastes, sipping chocolate. Balance with organic hot drinks. I had a lovely fennel salad, my son had an arugulla sandwich. And the best selection of varietal non-​alcoholic wines I’ve seen, sweet unfermented juices.
Owner Louisa is a treasure on her own. Just ask her about anything Italian.

Our hopes were high when we first walked in to Contessa. The décor is elegant, clean and the display was tasteful and stimulated the visual senses.
Unfortunately, the only thing that’s simulating at Contessa is the visual aesthetics. My wife is a true Chocolate connoisseur and following her around to different chocolate shops across Europe and the U. S has at least taught me how to differentiate true high quality chocolate from the overpriced pretentious sub quality brands.
Contessa’s dark Chocolate lack the richness and flavor to sooth even my unsophisticated country palate. All the pieces we tried were equally disappointing. While the hot chocolate was sickenly sweet, the green tea Contessa carried was unexpectedly pleasant. Unfortunately, it was not enough to counterbalance the overall disappointment of this place

service/​/​****
the lady there was super nice and offers water to cleanse your palette if you want to eat your truffle then and there
food/​/​****
yuMmy truffles & bars~
~*~
a special treat or a delightful present… this is on the pricey side

I have three weaknesses for which I have zero willpower: coffee, dark chocolate and cheese (ok and sometimes wine). I had already stopped at one of my favorites, Peet’s, for an enormous coffee, so I did not order one here. I did get a small box of chocolates with assortments of dried fig, anise, cranberry, chili, ginger and pistachio. The dark chocolate itself was very dry and weak. Other than a faint taste of anise in one and ginger in another, the flavors were completely lost. Each piece was absolutely beautiful, but was not worth the calorie splurge. I am so dissapointed!
I was really expecting Mignon quality and flavor (on E. Holly), which is TO DIE for and worth every minute of exercise.
Excuse me, I need to go review Mignon now.

I just got back from a vacation filled with chocolate and French-​pastry splurging in New York. Was missing the fun of getting sweet treats while perusing through the city, so I got super excited when I found our about Contessa. During my first visit I tried an array of truffles. For a boutique chocolate shop, $ 3 a piece was reasonable, especially for organic truffles! Sadly, my tastebuds didn’t share in the excitement.:(I thought to give the shop a second try, so i purchased a couple of chocolate buttons; sadly, I was just as disappointed. My husband said the taste of the chocolates reminded him of a Cadbury chocolate bar. I was hoping for a taste of sophistication infused with the flavors advertised-​fennel, fig, rosemary, etc.-however, I felt both were lacking.
I love supporting local businesses and was REALLY excited to have a boutique chocolate shop in the area; however, I don’t plan on returning to Contessa for a while. I know it’s a new business, so I may stop in a few months in hopes of encountering a flavorful surprise. :)
Contessa, I’m routing for you, and wishing you the best in success! I’m hoping to become a frequent customer in the future.
Rating breakdown:
One star for friendly service and two stars for using organic ingredients for a total of three stars.

I hate to break the five star streak, but I did not enjoy Contessa’s chocolates. I read the Unilocal reviews and decided to go in with my mom and friend. We pretty much bought one of everything. We took it home to enjoy it but were very disappointed. The chocolate was not creamy and lacked flavor. We couldn’t even tell what we were eating. I have tried A LOT of chocolate and I was very disappointed. I won’t be going back.
In all fairness, there was a passion fruit/​mango chocolate and an apricot piece that wasn’t bad.

Clean little chocolate boutique-​we need more like this in LA.
Don’t be shy to ask for samples.
Will come back again :)

Contessa is in my opinion, far and away the best chocolate shop in Southern California.
Why? I’ve got three reasons why:
#1 — The Rosemary Truffle. Every piece of chocolate I tried at Contessa was delicious, but the Rosemary truffle was like nothing else my tastebuds have ever beheld. It tastes like the chocolatier extracted the soul of a rosemary plant, and decided to hide it in a delicious truffle for safekeeping. After eating one, I feel like I’ve finally discovered the platonic ideal of rosemary.
#2 — You want coffee to go? Too bad. Contessa (very politely) refuses to sell you coffee in a paper cup. Which is fantastic. If you want to grab some caffeine and rush out the door, there are approximately 1-​million other establishments that will help you meet that need. But, if you want — say — an espresso from Contessa — you’re going to get it in a small porcelain cup on a saucer, the way god intended. And if you’re a sensible human being, you’ll order a truffle to be placed on the side of that saucer. And then you’ll spend a few pleasant moments sipping that espresso at a table, thinking, «maybe if the Greek debt crisis devalues the Euro, I really could afford to move to Italy.»
#3 — Singing Chocolate Grams — I saw a sign on the counter that said, «Ask us about our singing chocolate grams!» So, I did. And it turns out to be a real thing. Enough said.
To summarize, soul-​stealing truffles, thoughts of moving to Italy and singing chocolate deliverymen.