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Chicago Chocolate Tours
Rating Details »
Categories: Tours, Chocolatiers and Shops
Neighborhood: The Loop333 N Michigan Avenue
Suite 932
(between Wacker Pl & Macchesneyer Dr)
Chicago, IL 60601
(312) 929-2939
- Nearest Transit:
-
State/Lake (Orange, Brown, Purple Express, Green, Pink)
Lake (Red)
Clark/Lake (Pink, Brown, Green, Blue, Purple Express, Orange)
- Hours:
Mon-Thu. 8:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Fri. 8:30 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Sat. 10:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Sun. 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
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12 reviews for Chicago Chocolate Tours
I took the chocolate shops of the South Loop tour and had a lot of fun exploring a new area of Chicago! Overall I think the tour was well-organized and I enjoyed the guide's knowledge of chocolate and Chicago / South Loop history. I would've loved to hear even more history along the walk.
I was a little surprised that we didn't visit a lot of traditional candy shops, but in the end I think this made for a better overall experience because it wasn't a lot of the same thing stop after stop. The first shop on the tour - Canady Le Chocolatier - was more traditional and a great place to start. The only advice I would give is for this shop owner to have an extra pair of hands helping out when a tour comes through to better serve the patrons and tour members who want to buy treats.
The next stop - Panozzo's - was a local Italian market and seemed like a far stretch for a chocolate tour. But only at first! I was pleasantly surprised at how the store owner took Italian chocolates and paired them with salty olives, olive oil and salt, and balsamic vinaigrette. This was probably the most creative stop and a delightful surprise.
The next stop - Marble Slab Creamery - was a great way to bring some attention to a local business owner. At first, I wasn't really impressed that we were visiting a chain business on the tour, but after meeting the store owner I felt an affinity for the shop as a part of our local community. Next up was Little Branch Cafe, which was awesome! We sampled chocolate covered orange cocoa, freshly baked treats, and gelatto. I absolutely loved this place and wish I lived closer so I could go back more often.
Next up was Three Peas Art Lounge, which was ok. I appreciated the entrepreneurial spirit this business represents, but I think another business where confections or pastries is more of a mainstay of the business could be a better fit on the tour.
Last place - WineStyles. I loved this place and will definitely go back. They paired wines with flavored chocolates for our tasting and we ended up buying 2 of the 3 wines and a bunch of the chocolates we sampled. Only tip for WineStyles is to avoid having big parties in the space when a tour is coming in. I probably would've bought more wine (they have a sweet 6 for $60 deal) and shopped around much more had the space not been crazy busy with a party.
All in all, I'd recommend this company for tours. I like how Valerie, the founder, is personally involved and met us out at the last stop for a drink. I hope they bring back the Wicker Park tour or offer one in Roscoe Village - there are a ton of great candy makers and bakeries in both neighborhoods that would make for a perfect tour!
I took this tour today after purchasing a Groupon. I went with a friend that was visiting from out of town, and as a result we had to go on a Sunday. The only tour available on Sunday is the Mag Mile tour, which is not very interesting, to say the least.
The first "stop" on our tour was a joke and got the tour started on a sour note. It was a "virtual" tour. Our guide pulled two chocolate bags out of her purse and said they were from some random chocolate stop that's only available online... but not in the U.S. Uh, what?! After our "virtual" tour we went to Teuscher's, which was amazing. Our sample of a champagne truffle was amazing and I had very high hopes for the rest of the tour.
From Teuscher's we walked to More cupcakes, which was also a good stop. We received a cupcake sample, and it was delicious. From this point on, however, it was all downhill. We walked to Sarah's Pastries & Candies, which would have been an OK stop except that the staff at Sarah's was busy and so we sat with our tour guide for about 20 minutes waiting. When a worker at Sarah's was finally able to help us she told us all the same stuff our tour guide had just told us, turned on a chocolate machine, gave us a piece of candy, and told us to grab some hot chocolate. Our tour guide told us that we had been doing too much walking and eating and we needed a break, so we were going to sit there while we drank the hot chocolate. So we took a 20 minute break.
After the break we walked to the Frango store in Macy's, which is just a joke. Can you count this as a chocolate "stop"?
I am really glad I did not pay full price for this tour, or I would have been really upset. Other tours might have been better, but this one was a bust.
Comment from Valerie B. of
Chicago Chocolate Tours
12/14/2009
Hi, Lisa - I'm so sorry you didn't enjoy the tour. The…
More »
I'd probably be a bit more upset if I hadn't gotten $15 off through Groupon. No way is the South Loop tour worth the full price of $40. We had five stops, only one of which was an actual chocolate store and one was disappointingly Marble Slab (no offense to Marble Slab, but it in no way deserves to be on a tour)
It wasn't a bad walk around the south loop, but I think I could have had just as good of a time wondering around on my own. I cannot recommend this tour at all.
This review is only based on the South Loop chocolate tour. The tour I went on was the third tour they've ever done on this route. I enjoyed the tastings on the tour and was impressed with some of the pairings made with the chocolates.
I had purchased my ticket through Groupon so got a great deal, but because of the popularity of the tour through Groupon, the group we had was pretty big. There was about 16 of us, and they expected 20. Our group was split into two, and the early birds started the tour first. The tour was scheduled to begin at 5:45pm and I promptly showed up at 5:45 but apparently was grouped with the late arrivals.
So I had to wait until 6:00pm to enter the first chocolate tasting stop. After entering the shop, we had to wait around for another 10-15 minutes for the owner to finish talking to the first group. The first group enjoyed the chocolate so much they made purchases after their tasting. This took more of the owners time. It took so much time we never got to listen to the owner and ended up skipping the history of the shop and moved on to the second tasting location!! I basically waited 45 minutes for nothing. My suggestion for this tour is to notify the group that purchases can be made after the entire tour is complete (this is how the Chicago Food Planet tours are conducted which I think is great). Having to wait for everyone on the tour to make their purchases before moving onto the next location just takes too long!
The other shops we visited were much more efficient, probably because we didnt have to wait for the first group to finish. There were points on the tour that lagged. I dont know what we were waiting for. At one point a free wine tasting was offered at one of the establishments we visited. As this was a chocolate tour and not a wine tasting tour, I wasnt too thrilled to have to wait for everyone to finish tasting their wines. I might have enjoyed it more if I was a wine connoisseur. The last establishment we visited was a wine tasting paired with chocolates. I didnt mind this wine tasting since it was associated with chocolate, which was what the tour was all about.
Overall I think this tour has a lot of potential. I would recommend working on time management. The tour was scheduled for 5:45pm and we didnt finished until 8:30pm. I didnt expect it to be almost 3 hours long! The amount of food was great. The tour guide was very nice and bubbly. I enjoyed her as our guide. The shops we visited too were very nice. I visited two locations I had never heard of and it was great!
I consider myself a pescatarian. But on this tour, I ate chocolate with bacon in it. On purpose. And I liked it.
My sister and two sisters in law came in town to visit from The South, and I wanted to show them the city. And do some girly bonding activity. Going to random establishments eating their chocolate seemed like the quintessential way to accomplish these goals, so I signed us up.
It was PERFECT. Part history lesson, part architectural tour, part binge. We took the Chocolate Shops of the Loop tour, and It was a great way to see the city. Enough walking to keep people from griping about how many calories they were ingesting. Which is to say, they are not stingy with the chocolate. Exotic chocolates. Sexy chocolates. Baconed chocolates.
The choc shops treat you right, and the friendly and knowledgeable tour guides handed out extra treats on the walk. We were accompanied by the owner, Valerie, who was quite the personable little socialite. They tours include a good mix of shops--old Chicago establishments and hip new boutiques to enhance your local vocab. Highly recommended.
Ok, I didn't even consider myself much of a chocolate lover, but my friend is so I took her on a tour for a belated birthday present. Of course she loved it, but even I had a blast and discovered that I like chocolate more than I thought I did. It's cheap chocolate that I don't like so much, but the shops you sample here are very high-quality, like my favorite shop, Teuscher. It's Swiss, and they fly their chocolates in every few days I think. I also really liked this cupcake place called More, where you get to pick out a mini cupcake. I did the Mag Mile route.
I found the history of chocolate truly interesting, and interacting with the other people on the tour was fun. You do get a lot of chocolate on this tour-- my friend and I couldn't even finish it all and put some pieces in a bag for later.
Oh, about their not being water or drinks on the tour, the guide tells you in the beginning that they don't pass out water on the tour, but you can stop and pick up a bottle or use the water fountains that they point out.
Give me a break!
My sister and I went on a chocolate tour and paid $40/person. This was probably one of the stupidest purchases I've ever made. The tour included a few samples, whoopie-doo, and a little history of the different shops we visited. By the time we made it to the last shop, I was bored out of my mind.
I should have spent my $40 at the actual shops, which I could have visited on my own. We all do stupid things, right?
This sort of crap is more for trixies and silly women in general. But hey, if you're one of those gals, then have yourself a merry old time!
I'll admit - this was probably not something I would have ever done on my own. Groupon had a deal, so I got it, and we went on the tour this past Saturday. I did the Mag Mile tour, and we hit Teuscher's, More, Sarah's Pastries, Macy's (for Frangos), and Argo.
Teuscher's and Sarah's were natural, and great, choices. More was a pretty good fit. Macy's was a bit cliched, and Argo was curious. Argo had a chocolate muffin, and chocolate chai, which fits the "chocolate" - but I thought it was an odd choice nontheless.
The tour was fun - our guide was spunky. We had a *huge* tour, so we didn't get a lot of the history / architecture stuff, but that was fine.
What impressed me the most is how they handled a problem that arose. Macy's served us the most *stale* Frango I've ever eaten - as in, I've had Halloween candy the following March that was fresher. Now - I've lived in Chicago for a few years and know what a Frango - in all its delicious glory - should taste like. But no one else on the tour did, and I kinda felt like they got ripped off. So I emailed CCT and told them.
Mind you - I did say that it in no way affected my tour, and that we still had a great time. I just suggested that perhaps the tour guides sample the Frangos first, just to make sure.
They responded right away to the concern, and really made it quite clear that they found that unacceptable and outlined what they intend to do in the future to prevent that from happening.
Customer service goes a LONG way with me, and I really appreciate the time they took to respond and the way it was handled. That's the mark of professionalism!
I had great time! Tours is great cuz I didn't know that every place we stopped chocolate place. Check the Groupon if you are interested in this tours. You can get ticket good deal.
I enjoyed a recent trip on the Chicago Chocolate Tour as part of a group work outing. We explored 7 chocolate shops just off of Michigan Avenue. Our tour guide was very helpful, knowledgeable and friendly. She was open to asking questions and did a great job walking a group of 12 people (all with different walking paces) around Michigan Ave/Water Tower Place, while dodging cabs and tourists.
I would recommend it for out of towners, a bachelorette party, work get-together....for those who want something different while learning & eating chocolate along the way. But I would mention that I think $40 for a ticket is a bit too much for a few samples along the way!
An awesome Chicago experience!
I first learned about Chicago Chocolate Tours about a year ago when a good friend of mine met the owner/founder at a fundraising party. My friend since became a tour guide and my husband and I went on our first tour with my parents and sister when they came to visit a few weeks ago.
There are four choices of routes: Chocolate Shops of the Loop, of the Mag Mile, of the Gold Cost, and of Andersonville. We chose the Andersonville route, both because the timing worked out best (10:45 Saturday morning) and because we had been wanting to explore Andersonville.
We were so happy with our choice. During the tour (about an hour and a half to two hours), we sampled so many treats from six different shops/bakeries: Chocolate Gourmet, Let Them Eat Chocolate, Katherine-Anne Confections, Sweet Occasions and More, The Swedish Bakery, and Bon Bon.
Everything was delicious, and at each stop we got to learn a little about the shop itself, as well as about the history of chocolate in general.
Anyone looking for a fun, unique Chicago outing should try a chocolate tour!
I took my Mom to the Chicago Chocolate Tours for Mother's Day and had a great time. I am not a huge chocolate lover, but she is and loved it. I found some great places to go in the future. The only downside for this tour was there were no drinks. After a lot of chocolate it would have been nice to have a milk or water break somewhere in the tour. Overall, I'm a big fan though.
