Dolce Bella Chocolates & Cafe

BEST hot chocolate of all time and the quiche (the non-​bacon one) is worth it. Quick, friendly service. Unassuming location and interior. All around the best place to come with friends or alone.

Dolce Bella is the BOMB… Hot chocolate with homemade marshmallows is my fave. They ladle melted dark chocolate into steamed milk then float little pillows of sweetness on top. Everything is homemade and delish. All kinds of yummy baked goods, pannini’s and the carrot cake melts in your mouth. And they have free wifi and great people working there.

I don’t understand how people highly rated this place. I went there today, to meet with my friends. Since I was the first one to arrive, I tried to get a table first till my friends come. I noticed that the table was dirty, I kindly asked them to clean it. The barista asked me if I am going to order something first.
Couldn’t understand why. Wasn’t she supposed to help me first before checking what am I going to do?
I finally got our table cleaned. 5 minutes passed and she stopped by again, to tell me to order something. I told her that I am going to order something when my friends come so she left.
Finally everybody came, we sat down and here she is again, by our table, to make us order something so that we can keep sitting.
Oh my God! I spent 10 minutes since I came in and she stopped by 3 times!
She told me that the manager wants all the customers to order something in order to sit at the tables. Such a nonsense…
Of course we will get something, we won’t just sit there looking at each other!!!
Just give us some room. Don’t push it.
We told her that it is very rude to stop by the tables every 3 minutes to make the customers eat or drink something.
When she left, we ordered some food and drinks. We also had a birthday cake and we wanted to cut it. They asked for $ 3 per person to cut and serve the cake. She told us that the customers are not allowed to cut a cake and that they don’t want us to make a mess.
We were all very pissed off, after all what happened. We could understand that they can have some regulations (reasonable ones of course), but there is a way of telling it.
I am in the food business too, believe me I know how it works…
We were very offended but the way that they treated us.
I just wanted to let the owner of this café and the customers know about our experience today…

If you love chocolate, this place is perfect for you. Their hot chocolate is a thick, bittersweet drink and is phenomenal.

Come here! Support a locally-​owned business and enjoy…
— the hot chocolate. So thick you almost have to spoon it out of the cup. You can actually taste the cocoa beans. Topped with homemade marshmallows.
— the generous ham and cheese croissants. The kids, despite thinking they smell like sock (real cheese people!), gladly wolf them down.
— a relaxed morning reading or playing one their board games.
— leave with a sampling of their excellent on-​premises made chocolates.

This place is a great place to hangout but if you are a coffee lover you might not like this place; the coffee is way to bitter and you cannot fix it. No matter how much sugar or cream you add. It will not work. Service is very nice, they treat you very friendly. I didn’t try the food only coffee and chocolate. Chocolate is amazing !

The chocolate and the food here are spectacular!
They serve breakfast and café food. They have regular items like the chicken pesto panini or the quiche. They have their dinner service Thursday to Sunday and make sure you try their specials. The specials change depending on the season so make sure to try everything while you can.
For breakfast, I love their croissants. They are buttery, flakey, and huge. You can ask to have it heated, which I recommend. The croissants are served with a slab of butter and jam. The quiches are excellent as well. The crust is golden brown and the insides are light and fluffy. The hot chocolate is excellent as well. You can order it sweet or on the darker side. The chili hot chocolate is spicy and really warms you up on a cold day. I really enjoy the dark hot chocolate because I not like my hot chocolate on the super sweet side.
For lunch, the salads are solid. The baked goat cheese salad has large globs of goat cheese. coated in baked bread crumbs. If you want a sandwich, I suggest the chicken pesto sandwich. It comes with a side of greens and is served on their soft focaccia bread with melted cheese.
For dinner, definitely order from the specials on the top of the menu so let’s start with the appetizers. The mushroom polenta is delicious. They are both creamy and crunchy from the sear and the cheese and mushrooms add a savory flavor. The pita chips are crisp and pair well with the creamy hummus. The wedge salad is traditional and the toppings definitely make the salad. The ravioli with the egg yolk on top was rich, delicate, and yummy. The heirloom tomato salad with sliced mozzarella, basil, and balsamic was refreshing. For entrees, if you see the lamb, GET THE LAMB. They are served with herbed potatoes and a lemon wedge. The lamb is tender, flavorful, and my absolute favorite. The spaghetti and meatballs are pretty good and it is served with two pieces of garlic bread. The dover sole was delicious! I just wish the sides were more flavorful. It was served with broccoli and white rice, but it was quite plain. The pork kabobs served with peppers, potatoes, and onions were great covered in the roasted pepper sauce that was served on the side.
For dessert, order anything. All their desserts are great, even the ones that are not chocolate. The tiramisu was good but the pot de crème was heavenly. The toffee cookies are crunchy and have bits of toffee incorporated throughout the cookie. The cakes are amazing! The carrot cake is moist and I love the coconut. The chocolate cake is to die for! It’s rich and the chocolate frosting is fantastic. It’s not too sweet and served with ice cream, the chocolate cake is a perfect dessert.
Overall, I LOVE this place. The service is good, the atmosphere is casual, and the food is high quality.

Apple crisp 5 star
Chocolate cake and cream de pot 3 star. Eat if you wanna eat chocolate flavor but not for chocoholics
Brownies sundae 0 star. Browns was cold stale and like a rock. Horrible. Took 3 bites and threw off the last bite. Ice cream was so so and very minimal fudge.

I first encountered Dolce Bella quite a few years ago at their old location on Cox Avenue. My friend and I saw the shop, were disappointed to find that it wasn’t yet open, and were walking away when the owner and chocolatier Audrey came running after us with a tray of free samples. She’s lovely. She grows her own raspberries for the amazing dark chocolate raspberry truffles, which are the most intensely raspberry chocolates I’ve ever had. Just about all of the chocolates are great (personal favorites: the raspberry, meyer lemon, and passionfruit; I don’t care for the peppermint, which tastes like it involves fresh mint leaves instead of extract and thus has a slight grassy flavor). The chocolates are small and delicate, with smooth centers that melt away on the tongue; at least an order of magnitude better than See’s. I’ve bought many of them over the years. (There’s a rewards program and they used to offer a discount if you brought a box back in to be refilled — not sure if they still do that.)
Desserts are also pretty awesome here. I recommend the profiterole, a house-​made creampuff with house-​made vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and chocolate shavings. The carrot and chocolate cakes are also lovely (I actually prefer the carrot), and if you get the pot de crème, you’ll probably need someone to split it with because it’s so rich. The hot chocolate, topped with homemade marshmallows, is so decadently chocolatey that I stopped envying Willy Wonka’s fictional chocolate river.
The food’s decent, although a bit pricy for what it is and how much there is of it. I usually go for the grilled cheddar (on good focaccia with a side salad), which makes for a nice light lunch. I’ve also enjoyed the quiche and the soup. The service is where Dolce Bella loses a star. The employees range from moderately helpful to totally oblivious. Tables are not bussed very regularly, and the waitstaff doesn’t seem to have figured out a protocol for bringing desserts after your meal, even though they have enough time to hang around and chat with each other. If you don’t want your profiterole to melt while eating your soup, expect to have to remind staff when you’re ready for dessert. Possibly more than once.

I love supporting small business and this is a welcome addition to the area, especially located in a giant strip mall that is a nice surprise to find this place. I have bought chocolates here as gifts and as a chocolate shop this place is very convenient.
I would love to see this place take off as a café and it has great potential. I think it’s a great idea having live music and a special dinner menu on certain days. Coffee drinks are always good here.
One thing holding back the café is the tables are rarely bussed. Usually I stop in the middle of the day and the place is mostly empty and not busy. Yet the tables are left dirty. It’s really easy to wipe down the tables especially when there’s a lull in customers yet I don’t remember ever seeing this done.
I brought a friend here last time and every table that was free inside had some stickiness and/​or crumbs on it or mugs leftover from previous customers. He likes «fancy stuff» so I thought he’d enjoy the chocolates and nicer food options but the atmosphere was a buzzkill. I was actually embarrassed and have not brought people in since.
For the higher priced food options I can’t justify eating on dirty tables.
Also, sometimes the staff are on top of things, other times they are distracted or don’t want to help you much. I once ordered an egg dish and asked the server for ketchup and he was obviously not happy. Another time I bought chocolates as gifts and asked for a red ribbon on the box and the cashier used black. Just not listening. More consistency on this end would go a long way.

Love this quaint and very homey café. I’ve visited twice and have tried their custom scramble, spinach quiche, and chicken pesto panini. All were yummy and delicious. And the portion sizes were just perfect. The bread slices that came with the custom scramble was so full of flavor. Mmm! I’ve also tried that coffee, cappuccino, and café latte. I’m no coffee snob so can’t speak to how good they are but I was happy with them :) I love me some foamy milk.
I only docked one star off because each time I visited, the café smelled funky. The first time, we were sitting in the extra room and WOW did that bathroom stench travel. The second time I arrived, immediately upon opening the café door to enter, I was hit with this extremely bad smell. I could’t help but put my hand to my nose– I normally wouldn’t to be polite but oh boy I couldn’t help it. It was just so strong and so bad. So bad. Anyway, we ordered our food and by the time we sat down, lol, our noses had gotten used to whatever bad smell that was. Then my spinach quiche came and I’m thinking, «this sure sort of smells like what this entire café smells like…» Must have been that gruyère. Oooh whee. Anyway, lol the place is so cute and their food is so nice that these smells can’t stop me from re-​visiting! Hah.
Oh, and their chocolates! Very nice locally made chocolates. I’m a big fan of chewy caramels and found that theirs is a little lacking in actual chewy-​ness (it’s more runny than chewy) but they’re still delicious. Love the topping of sea salt as it really intensifies the caramel flavor. Their mint chocolate was also really nice because the mint refers to actual mint leaves, not mint essence. This was very pleasing and such a nice take on mint chocolate. Their passion fruit chocolate was well received by all my friends I’ve shared it with.
Can’t wait to visit again :)

Good conversation and a latte on a mellow Saturday morning — I like.
What a gem! I’m enamored by this inviting little café — quiet and cozy early in the day. A great place for a quick pick me up and you’ll definitely want to indulge in the sweets that they offer here. The toffee cookies are guaranteed to bring you joy.
Their hand-​made chocolates are prepared on site if you’re yearning for some chocolate feel good. They have a nice variety of desserts, but if you don’t have a sweet tooth, they also serve salads and paninis during the day. Friendly service with a warm smile.
I’ve been totally eyeballing their Valrhona chocolate cake, so I’ll be back.

They have excellent chocolate cake and hot cocoa! Really nice place that I will definitely come back to. I’m looking forward trying their other foods next time!

Close to my place so I could walk to this place and get some work done. It’s a café with a full good menu which is great but pricey. I paid $ 4 for a pot of hot tea. The Internet is probably the main issue. It is on hour base do I guess every hour u need to purchase something. So that could get expensive too quickly.
I like the environment, friendly and helpful employees. Haven’t tried their coffee or chocolate.

Try the spicy hot chocolate — nice kick!
Carrot cake is wonderful as well.
A fun afternoon get away!

One, two, three,
Not only you and me.
Got desserts and I’m caught drinking chili hot chocolate in between.
Countin’ one, two, three…
Getting down stuffing my face with warm apple crisp and profiteroles, that I love… UH!
Are you in?
Living in gluttony is the new thing… yeah…
Are you in?
I am counting…

Super cute café that serves really tasty food but I was a bit disappointed because it wasn’t quite the chocolate paradise I thought it would be. Sure they have great chocolate pieces, one or two chocolate deserts and hot choco but that sort of is it. I wanted the chocolate fondue you see in the photos but apparently they don’t do that anymore. The same applies for the Mayan choco. So to me it is more a café that sells chocolate than a chocolate café.
That said I liked the food here. My hubby had the scrambled eggs for which you can pick your ingredients from a menu. It came with toast a fruit bowl and some butter and jam. It didn’t look like a big plate (smallish actually) but it did hit the spot and it tasted great.
My little one had the kids French toast with a fruit bowl and it was really good. Very light and I don’t know what kind of maple syrup they used but it was better than most of the ones I have had (my husband and I totally woofed it down when my daughter said she didn’t want it ;)).
I had the artichoke bacon quiche and it was smallish but very good. Well filled with bacon, eggs and artichokes and there was a herb or spice mixture or something that made it taste just slightly different than you average quiche Lorraine.
I would absolutely go here again, just with different expectations.
Oh and Dolce Bella people please bring back the chocolate fondue! It looks wonderful in the photos and I bet a lot of kids (and adults!) would love this :)

I think it’s high time that I review Dolce Bella Chocolates & Café.
Everything here is delicious. I was on their mailing list for a while, and it seems like they even grow some of the produce themselves. Talk about commitment to quality! It’s obvious that they take their product seriously.
I usually just come in for their delicious cold brew. Their cold brew is one of the best around — they have occasional off days though so give them a second try if you’re not pleased with your first cup.
I’ve also had dinner here and their food is superb. Their menu rotates according to the season. As far as taste and quality goes, they’re on par with hoitier-​toiter restaurants but at a fraction of the price.
An area where they lack is service. The ambiance of the place is a stuffy and disgruntled. The employees aren’t shy about how little they really want to help you. Not to mention you have to ask for a wifi password, and the wifi access only lasts an hour. Then again maybe they just don’t want to be one of *those* cafes.
If you do come in, be sure to check in on Unilocal; purchase of one glass of wine or coffee comes with a free chocolate =]. (My favorite is the grand marnier)

I like Dolce Bella. It’s great to find a classy looking café with outside seating and awesome kale salad. Wait– meat eaters don’t run away! They have other stuff here. Chocolates! Yes. They make them In house!
That’s what’s unique about DB. You can watch them make their beautiful chocolate creations here. There’s a counter with about three stools where you can perch and drink your coffee and eat your non kale food and enjoy the aroma of awesome chocolates.
My only regret coming here was that I filled my belly with donuts and French toast and bacon and country potatoes before hand :(so yes I was full. Darn it!
We stayed close to three hour or was it four hours? In that time frame our small table was littered with little cut outs of WIFi passwords. You know the tiny pieces of paper where someone patiently or maybe coerced to cut? Where the coveted Wifi password is neatly printed? Well folks here at DB it does exist. That seem so backwards. So you get cut off from their internet connection every hour– sometimes less. If you have two things running simultaneously like me and Adam then you need two of those magic little paper for each. Try to research or Unilocal with that situation and you will be actually annoyed. Even my kale salad which was awesome by the way seem to take second precedence to this annoyance.
So here I am thinking while writing this if I should drop by DB again. Maybe if the wifi situation changes or if I’m in the area and want a quick visit.
C’mon DB give us unlimited access to your wifi. It’s the world we live in now. They’re free everywhere. I promise to continue ordering food and drinks while there. I did! Even kale!

Came by the other night to try out their chocolates. To my surprise, they were excellent! The chocolates had no weird «wax» aftertaste, nor bitter taste! They tasted fresh too at $ 2/​piece!
Ordered a chocolate milk using their homemade chocolate and it was marvelous!
Ended up coming back a few days later to order a full box of 12 chocolates for $ 20!
Their mocha is also decent! :)