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Categories: American (New), Desserts, Chocolatiers and Shops [Edit]
Neighborhoods: Rittenhouse Square, Avenue of the Arts SouthMon-Thu. 9:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m.
Fri-Sat. 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 a.m.
Sun. 9:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m.
"Do you need a low-key place to watch a college football game without too many loud customers around? Then Smith's is the place to be. As…" read more »
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we went in here on a whim, basically....the kid was in school, and we were out wandering, so it was pretty good timing. can you imagine bringing a madman, 5 year old in here? no way...just NO.
we checked out the fairly massive sweets & drinks menu, as there wasn't time to sit down and eat. they've several different types of hot chocolate to offer, and we gave two of them a shot.
i got the white chocolate, and it was straight up ridiculous. creamy, sweet, warm, but not scald-my-face-off hot. in short---effing delicious!!
the mister got the swiss whipped milk chocolate. it was, apparently, The Best Hot Chocolate In The World. good to know, right??
i suppose i might come back eventually....i'm really just loathe to ever bring the child here, as it screams of disaster. though, with how friendly all the daytime worker bees are, maybe it'll happen at some point....
This place looks so inviting from the street, but seriously, keep walking.
We had planned to eat somewhere else, but the wait was long, so we decided to get this place a try.
First of all, I felt dizzy in there. The set-up of the restaurant is not at all cozy. The decor is too manic or something. I love color and am fine with crazy design, but holy hell. Just. No. Despite the restaurant being mostly empty on a Monday evening, the hostess sat us at one of the tables on the circle around the middle of the restaurant. The table is too small to sit a menu and a drink on at the same time. I literally had to put the menu on my lap when our drinks were delivered to keep from spilling anything.
The potato skins are admittedly DELICIOUS. But after they were delivered, I found myself asking my dining companion 35 minutes later whether we were actually going to eat or not. The dining room was empty. There is no excuse for taking 45+ minutes to make two plates of pretty straight-forward food.
We got the lemon chicken and a burger. Everything was okay. The chicken was overcooked. I guess that's what they were using all that downtime for.
The chocolate is not noteworthy enough to be the namesake of the whole establishment. It's too sweet. I love chocolate. And I'd still like to try one of their fondues, but I probably won't ever go back here unless someone I like really begs me and offers to buy me shit.
Max Brenner must be an insecure man. Number one, "Chocolate by the Bald Man" is an incredibly boring name for a restaurant. Number two, this guy's name and likeness is literally EVERYWHERE in this place, just to remind you whose restaurant you are in, in case you forgot. That being said, the decor and lighting are warm and inviting, and the setup gives the place a modern, open feeling.
Decent, but unexciting dinner menu. Desserts are above average, but not as exciting or adventurous as one might expect from a restaurant built around chocolate, but worth trying. I'd say the most interesting thing about this place is creative way they serve their desserts.
Chocotrauma. Is that a word? It should be. Like carbicide. Both can easily take place at this monument to an alopecic chocolatier.
Menu items are sinfully rich. Mexican Hot Chocolate with its chile spice, Golden Heart cake with its melting caramel center, S'mores, churros. All good, and expensive, which isn't necessarily a bad thing as even one dessert will overload your taste buds and nudge anyone toward type II diabetes, if, of course, they actually make it to the table.
Case in point- sat down with a date, jovial server showed up in brown overalls, took the order for two mexican hot chocolates with Kahlua and a Golden Heart Cake. Drinks were served within 10 minutes. Perfectly acceptable. Except for the Kahlua, which came in a separate shot 10 minutes later. The hot chocolate in a "hug mug" was by then a spicy yoohoo in an Ikea gravy boat with a side shot. Great. 30 minutes later, the server idly asked how everything was, slid the brown metal pencil box containing the check onto the table. I was suddenly disturbed by the stylized sketch of the bald man himself staring down from the wall, with the cryptic message "EA MO CHO LAT" written in bold letters nearby. The decor almost distracted me from the bill, which showed the cake order and charge, but alas, no cake! I rarely make a fuss at restaurants, but draw the line when it comes to items charged and not served.
I diplomatically pointed this out to the server, who sent over the manager. He removed the charge from the check and offered to give us another order on the house, but I declined, noting that we didn't have the time to wait for another.
The server apologized, came back with the corrected check and cake order to go, on the house. I'm sure it was exactly the same as what usually came off of the line, but a chocolate blob oozing caramel in a white styrofoam box just didn't have the same appetizing presentation.
I'd imagine that any restaurant themed like Willy Wonka's would have similar hiccups. Oompa loompas on strike, sugar crashes, changes in management, counterfeiting, chocolate pipes clogged with overweight German children, etc. I can't imagine the difficulties in daily operations of such a place.
All in all, the absurdity of the place is worth one visit.
Visiting town and taking a tour of Macy's for their fabulous pipe organ, the chocolate smell in the elevator had kinda put the craving in the back of my head. As we walked around the area, we saw a sign that said "Chocolate by the Bald Man" and we had to check it out.
The tongue in cheek comments and the delicious menu made us decided to check it out. The interior was playful with nice intimate tables and nice soda-jerk style bar. It was great to see that it was a grown up restaurant. My dinner partner had a burger, that was stacked with goodness. A wonderfully toasted homemade bun, with lettuce, onion and tomato topping. The waffle fries that came with the burger were topped with cocoa and chili powder...I gave it a taste and had a nice kick. YUM.
I ordered the South of the Border Avocado Salad with Chicken. This was wonderfully presented in a large oval bowl. Mixed greens, avocado, onion and a hint of chili. Totally delicious.
Together we shared a peanut butter crepe for desert. It was totally decadent and so worth it. I plan on returning, because of the great food, outstanding service and fun atmosphere.
*In order to get the FULL effect of this review, you need to hum the tune of "I Want it Now," as performed by Miss Veruca Salt of "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." If you need help, here you go...start at 0:36. http://www.youtube.com....
Max Brenner...yummm!
This place is tas-ty!
Went for my birthday, this past Sat-ur-day, and I can't wait to go back!
...NOOOW!
Friendly wait staff...Matt was the nicest.
Offered suggestions, and answered our questions (what rhymes with questions....)
Wanna go back... now!
Food was pretty good...got the Caesar salad.
Left room for dessert... sooo glad I did that...would have been mad if I hadn't....
Give me some more...NOW!
Got the Ivory Heart...so good, 'twas sinful.
Gooey warm chocolate...with a side of ice cream
I did not want to share it!
During my party, all you heard was laughter.
Cho-co-late often does that.
Such fab decor, there were colors galoooore
...And it smelled like CHOCOLAAAATE!
*instrumental*
Alll in alll...enjoyed my time there!
I sure will go back...as soon as I can
And I don't care with whom..cause whyyyyy?
So, ver-y good...want to go back!
Could be a friend, a boo, or you....want to go baaaaaaack!
______________________________
So this place was delicious - can't you tell? And it's really all about chocolate...to the point that I titled the event "Chocolate Girls to Max Brenner." Why? Because we ARE chocolate, and we LOVE chocolate. *shrugs*
And M.B. really reminded me of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory...to the point that I was literally signing Ole Veruca's torch song when I left....I'm talking skipping down the street and everything. It was Halloween night though, so trust, stranger things were going on around Walnut St.
Oh, and if you're a Philly Elite, and unfamiliar with the song, I'll be happy to perform it for you at the next Elite event I attend.
So, just go to Max Brenner. You'll love it.
So being the gluttons for punishment that we are, my wife and I came here last night for dessert. We had just finished a fantastic meal at Miga at it was just to easy to cross the street to indulge my wife's chocolate craving.
We were pleasantly surprised when we walked in the door and the place was actually open. No malfunctioning C3PO to rush us out. We were seated immediately in a dining room that reminded me of a tacky version of the Cheesecake Factory. Vats of chocolate, trite aphorisms on the walls, abstract drawings of some bald dude with an earring, references to Willie Wonka. . .I read somewhere that these restaurants belong in Disneyland or Vegas and I have to agree.
So we decide to order the banana split waffle. It was very expensive -- $14 for a dessert -- but sounded delicious. The pictures on the menu made it look amazing (it was the one dessert they chose to showcase on the Waffles and Crepes section). But it SUCKED:
1. The waffle was one of the worst I've ever tasted. It was as if they took a week-old cake donut (not the Krispy Kreme kind, but the really heavy kind that crumbles), and shoved it into a waffle maker. The waffle was so hard that I needed a knife to cut it. And it tasted like, well, a re-baked week-old bad cake donut. The waffle we had at the Days Inn was a gazillion times better.
2. The chocolate was way too sweet, as if put too much sugar. Now I'm not a chocolate connoisseur, but I do know a few things about chocolate and I did take chemistry in high school. I know that high quality chocolates typically have a higher cocoa content. And from chemistry, if you increase the content of one ingredient, then the percentage allocated to the other ingredients goes down. So if the sugar content is very high (too sweet), then the cocoa content, by definition, will be low. So my conclusion: Max Brenner uses low quality chocolate. Unbelievable for a restaurant that bills itself as "changing the world's chocolate culture."
3. The banana was way over-ripe. Over-ripe to the point where it left a pungent aftertaste in mouth.
4. There was not nearly enough vanilla ice cream for this dessert. Ok, so maybe we didn't the amount of vanilla ice cream with the waitress (the menu just says "vanilla ice cream", with no indication of the unit of measure). But for a $14 dessert, most people would assume you'd get at least a scoop. We got something closer to a dollop.
So there it is. I can't believe anyone could screw up a waffle, ice cream, fudge, and bananas that badly. Now that I think about it, there wasn't even any fudge - it was chocolate sauce. At any rate, this dessert SUCKED. It would suck even if it cost $3 in the "day-old" section of a bakery.
I've never been rushed out of a restaurant so rudely.
I came here on a Wednesday night at around…
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I am not one to spend a ton of money on food, even if it is gourmet chocolate. However, my mom is. When we first discovered Max Brenner it was probably around 11, shortly after a movie, and my mom had a sweet tooth. And who am I to argue with some late night goodies courtesy of my mother? So after discovering Naked Chocolate to be closed I hit up Yelp and discovered Max Brenner. When walking in it was like entering a hip and contemporary version of Willy Wonka's factory. There were vats spinning chocolate around by the door and cute quotes and pictures on the walls. All of this created a great atmosphere but what really stole the show was the chocolate itself. I got some sort of milkshake and it was superb. The service was also good and I enjoyed reading about all their different chocolate creations and what they use to serve them.
So I want to love this place. I mean the smell of chocolate practically knocks you back upon entering and the desserts are so beautiful you expect perfection. Unfortunately though, there is a lot lacking from the requirements to make this place what it should and could be.
Disclaimer: I am no longer 8 years old. None of the people I have ever gone to Max Brenner's with has been 8 years old. In order to love this place I honestly believe you have to have the sweet tooth of an 8 year old. (no offense to anyone who loves this place. Like I said - I want to love this place).
On Saturday I went with a party of 14, I have also visited when it was only myself and one other friend so I have had both the group and solo-like experiences. This place is perfect for either. The staff is awesome, really. They attended to all of us without any problem and kept the water glasses full the entire evening (not an easy task when you serve sugar with a side of sugar all night). The only problem was that they brought the desserts out separately. Meaning, one person at our table had his dessert about 10 minutes before the rest of the table and half of the party ended up with their full food order before the other half by about 20 minutes. Not awful though as we were there for a birthday and happy to enjoy the company. (Oh and they were out of a few items that people ordered which is a big "no no" in my opinion, but again not a big deal)
The biggest issue I have with this place is that there is no balance to the desserts. Everything is designed to be so decadent but it really just ends up as a combination of mediocre overly sweet treats that become too sugary to even finish. If I go back (and I imagine I will as I'm a sucker for a big dessert no matter how good) I think I will try tweaking my desserts a little each time. So instead of the sundae with chocolate and peanut butter ice cream with dolce de leche ice cream, bananas, nuts, whipped cream, brownie bites, etc. etc. I will forgo the chocolate peanut butter ice cream for a simple vanilla. The same would go for the smores sundae. My boyfriend and I had one of each and ended up sharing my peanut butter euphoria sundae (and not finishing it even) while leaving the smores sundae to melt sadly.
Overall, this is a great place to bring a kid looking for a sugar rush and the same can be said for an adult. Just keep in mind, if it looks like it will be too sweet, it probably will be.
Okay, we came here explicitly for dessert. As their door says - they're open late on weekdays, and "really late" on weekends.
The front windows were open as we walked in, the smell of fudge heavy in the air. I'm surprised it didn't permeate our skins! :P
Seated in a corner, this place has dark, yellow lighting which is probably good for the decor but less than helpful for those reading fine print on the menus.
Desserts were incredibly rich. They were actually out of our first few choices -- how do you run out of chocolate?? They have so much lying around, but they were out of the milkshake and the double chocolate fudge cake. Saddened, we opted for the Granita with a scoop of ice cream to replicate the milkshake and I had a hot chocolate with a thick layer of melting marshmellows.
Definitely a place for people with a sweet tooth - the milk and white chocolates are incredibly sweet, and the dark isn't much better. Cups for the hot chocolate are nice, "hugging" mugs, as they are. For me, too sweet... teeth hurt after drinking the hot cocoa.
Decor inside reminds me of the NYC Max Brenner, with the two vats up front of turning chocolate (at least, I think it's chocolate). Lots of wooden seating, softer pleather benches.
There are boxes wrapped in foil in the cabinets. I thought big blocks of chocolate or fudge would be cooler, but ah, well.
If Jose Garces will not marry me maybe Max Brenner will do?
Sara dragged me out in the rain to look at shoes at Cole Haan. Upon arrival at Cole Haan, I pouted,"You owe me a latte!" I was cold and wet.
We decided on Max Brenner, with one request on Sara's part. That we would snack on "urban smores"
Urban Smores are pretty damn good. They are a modern twist on the Cosi favorite. A little sterno comes to the table with a chemists bottle of melted chocolate, a bowl of marshmallows, a stack of graham crackers, and a trio of toppings, bruleed bananas, peanut butter and raspberry sauce. The bananas and peanut butter were divine. A sort of homage to Elvis.
The service was a bit odd. She was sweet and friendly, but we had to ask for everything utensils,water, etc. When she did bring me water she must have been trying to fill it perfectly to the top? She literally poured the water to the lip of the glass. Odd. The floors are also very slippery and on a rainy day asking for a law suit.
My favorite was the quote on the mirror of the ladies room.
Went here for dessert, and the waiter spilled a cup of SCALDING hot tea all over my bare legs and pocketbook. Needless to say, that put a damper on my nigh!!!!!
I'm not sure whether the dessert here was good or not, as I spent most of the evening nursing my injury and cleaning off my purse!
I can't tell if it's because I've eaten too much or it's because the food is so rich, but every time I walk out of Max Brenner I feel slightly ill.
Don't get me wrong, if you're craving chocolate then oh my god, you will get chocolate. And pretty good chocolate. But the deserts are a bit too heavy and rather than yearning for more the next day, I swear myself off of all deserts for the next week. This definitely doesn't happen, but still...it's not a great sign.
The brunches are surprisingly good, and the presentation lovely. Be sure not to order hot chocolate or a mocha along with any meal. Again: too full and slightly ill.
Think small and sweet at Max Brenner and you leave content.
Eh. This place was fine. The service was fine. The atmosphere was fine. My chocolate pizza was good. I'm glad I went. But it was more novelty to me than anything. I'm really into chocolate, but wasn't blown away by this place.
How often do I really want to eat chocolate pizza?
I could probably go without it for the rest of my life.
Do I really want to spend big bucks on fancy chicken at a place that specializes in chocolate pizza? No.
Go once. So you can say you ate chocolate pizza.
We were greeted in a very friendly manner and offered free chocolates. After being seated though, we just had to leave. This is not an appropriate venue for a business lunch. Loud, distracting decor and a predominantly chocolate menu made it hard to choose from the over priced snacky-type lunch menu.
Save this place for a date or (if you're rich) bring the kids who are sure to be entertained here.
This place will fail if they don;t offer some sensible lunch choices (Salads were $13.95) or lunch specials.
Unfortunately, the service was really poor and it wasn't even crowded (Monday at 11:30 AM). Tasted the spicy tuna salad sandwich - weird dressing on it something with chocolate, gross.
Onion rings with cocoa powder - if you like super deep fried CRUNCHY onion rings with dark chocolate ranch dressing (gross), then this is the place for you.... not me
Grilled Chicken Panini - best thing on the table.
I ordered the Oven Roasted Tomato Pizza unfortunately it never came since the cook dropped it on the floor. They gave me another one when we left but I was really afraid to eat it....
Well, for my first visit (after a friend's raves about the one in Baltimore or DC) I was decidedly undecided. The dark chocolate shake I had was fantastic - rich and chocolaty. My first thought was that the special cup they served it in was too gimicky and cutesy, BUT it turned out to be functional - since it was ceramic with a stainless steel straw, the shake stayed ice cold (and it was hot ouside). The prices are pretty high for the kinds of things you're getting so I opted or a bagel with cream cheese and bacon - a basic item at the lower end of their price scale (given the price of the shake). The bagel was hard, not toasted and the bacon was luke-warm and rubbery: how difficult can it be to do a bagel?
The staff varies too. The first person who waited on my basically stood in front of me and waited for me to decide (I was sitting at the bar and there was no one else there yet). After she wandered away, a really friendly and charming guy came and gave me the Brenner schpiel. I would have lived without it, but he was fun and pleasant, and they're *supposed* to do it. The other server wandered back when it was closer to tip time, of course. All in all, a "meh" first visit. I'll try it again with a group and try some of their specialties, but not just to pop in and grab something sweet. There are too many other good places around for that!
The food was delicious and totally worth the price. I had a club sandwich which came with the waffle fries dusted in cocoa & chili powder. Dip those in the chipotle mayo that comes with it... yum yum yum. When we finally got to desert, I was ready for some chocolate. I ordered a chocolate & peanut butter something but let me tell you... by the end of that I was chocolated ooout. Don't get me wrong, it was delicious. But I must say the desserts are very expensive for what they give you. Definitely nice for a date.
The service though is not very attentive. Our waitress only visited our table once & didn't even refill our drinks. Tisk tisk!
Stopped here for a late-night drink and dessert, hoping for a casual, date-friendly place for a sweet nightcap. I wont say we didn't get that, but we certainly weren't impressed and certain elements (like the price) were actually quite off-putting.
The decor was kind of like a slightly moodier Starbucks: one is greeted by churning vats of (fake?) chocolate and the carefully organized gift shop by the door, a bad, vaguely chocolate-related mural took up one corner, fake quotes about the ego-maniacal Brenner covered the other walls. It wasn't oppressive, but it was certainly trying too hard. We were led to a nice little two-top pointing out on open window and our order was quickly taken.
Very quickly our cocktails (good booze, well-mixed, but not worth 10 bucks a pop) were brought out and, soon after, our chocolate fondue. We opted for the Trio: a molten toffee caramel and any two chocolate fondues (milk, dark, white) served with strawberries, bananas, banana bread, marshmallows, and little grill to roast them.
The chocolate was far too sweet for my taste: the white had a lovely cocoa butter flavor, but the dark wasn't that dark and the caramel had a very bland flavor. All of them hurt my teeth, their saccharine flavors overpowering the already sweet accoutrement. Those too were disappointing: the fruit was okay (I would have liked to see local strawberries, but it might be a little early for those) but the marshmallows tasted like your standard Jet-Puffed (what self-respecting confectioner doesn't make their own marshmallows?) and the banana bread was room temperature. at best, and uninspired. All the same, I would have been much happier with less, and more savory fondues with more, and more thoughtful choices to dip.
I know there are entire worlds of chocolate connoisseurship, but the quality of the sweets at Max Brenner didn't even stand up to an ignoramus like me.
Naked Chocolate Cafe holds its position as my favorite late-night sweet spot in the city: cheaper, better, and its Rittenhouse location couldn't be closer.
4/5 for service, a "meh" for the cocktails, but thumbs down for everything else.
I had been stalking the Max Brenner website for about a month before it even opened, so last night I was extremely excited to finally taste one of the delicious desserts I had been salivating over for a few weeks.
I went to dinner there with a friend. We both ordered the Southwest Caesar salad (the smaller portion), so we'd have plenty of room for a chocolatey dessert. The salad had a good flavor, and good ingredients; however, it would've been much better if it was cold (it was room temperature) and there wasn't so much dressing. But, like I said, it did have a good flavor.
Now for the important part: dessert. I had already knew what I wanted to get for dessert, but looking through the extensive dessert menu is maddening, because EVERYTHING looks good. I chose the "Brown Heart". It was a warm chocolate cake with melted chocolate and peanut butter in the middle, served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, vanilla sauce, and these little chocolate candies. It was delicious! Warm chocolate cake and ice cream is such a perfect combination, and Max Brenner got it just right.
My friend ordered the Banana Waffle. It was a belgian waffle with bananas, chocolate sauce, and toffee candies. This was served with MORE chocolate sauce, fresh berries, and a scoop of vanilla. This was also really good, but it was so sweet, I could only eat a couple of bites before going into sugar overload.
Overall, it was good. I'm not sure it lived up to my expectations, but I will definitely be going back to try some more desserts!
The ambiance is also really cute. You feel like you're in a special chocolate shop, and you can smell the sweetness from outside.
Compared to the chaos of the Union Square Max Brenner's in New York, the new Philly edition is like a peaceful chocolatey oasis. The dessert menu is creative and expansive, and the chocolate is just delicious. I have to stop myself from going in and drinking one of their chocolate-peanut butter shakes (in a cutesy special glass, of course) every time I walk by.
The truffles and layered dessert-in-a-jar are also luscious and awesome - I'm pretty sure you can't go wrong with dessert there. We sat at the bar and got plenty of attention from a bright, friendly bartender. The gift shop has chocolate items from truffles to bath products, a good place to pick up little gifts for a hostess or whoever.
I'm OK with the "corporate chocolate factory" decor, but flies buzzing around the piles of loose chocolate powder kind of ruined the effect.
Delicious food. Friendly, attentive and fast service. Atmosphere is a bit noisy but still feels intimate.
The smell of chocolate beckons you in from the street, but none of the food we had was overwhelmed by chocolate. The cocoa and chili dusted waffle fries were subtle. We opted out on dessert, but then were drawn in by the truffles in their little shop.
It was just after 9am, and the place had just opened. After being promptly seated and menu'd, It took a while for us to decide what to get to drink. Hot or cold chocolate? Granita or soft drink? Or, in the face of overwhelming chocolate overload, milk or water? A chocolate Granita, a yellow granita, and iced coffee were ordered.
I had originally intended to get the Heuvos Rancheros as it's a personal favorite of mine, but didn't realize it came as a burrito, so I passed and went with the Max'ican Omelet. My son, who I thought surely would go for the illegal chocolate pancakes, stepping in and ordered the burrito for himself, so I'd have a chance to try it anyway. His uncle ordered the Max'ican as well, but with fresh tomatoes versus the fire roasted salsa. Those two ordered sides of bacon, but I felt I was doing enough damage with what I had so I held there. We also ordered the Mediterranean trio to share.
The yellow granita was actually green, and pronounced very good. My son had the chocolate granita, and pretty much anything here that has chocolate in the description is going to be excellent. I had the iced coffee, which was thoughtfully served with simple syrup for sweetening purposes. A night thoughtful touch that foreshadowed the meal as a whole.
There's no picture of the Mediterranean plate. Three nice sized portions of hummus, spanish eggplant, and babaganoosh served with chili dusted tortilla chips. We were hungry and it was good, so Yelp photos be damned we dug right in. It was pretty much three empty bowls when I realized I should have snapped a pic. We'll leave it with my assurance that it's very pretty. The hummus was nice and light, lemony, with some chopped tomato on top. The spanish eggplant, roasted, slightly sweet, and chunky, was my personal favorite and deep and complex. The babaganoosh was very nice as well, but not a personal thrill of mine so I tasted it and deferred to the other two offerings.
Let me say that throughout the meal, our host was very attentive, as was Kathy, either the Chef owner or Head Chef. It was a pleasure to see people who enjoyed their job that much, and a change from the usual sad sacks we see in Philly. Of course, you do work in a place that smells like chocolate, and it's hard not to walk out with a smile when food is this good. We can tell this place hasn't been open long yet, as the literal dozen of wait staff were still all rail thin. With food this good, that will change shortly.
The black and tan beer battered onion rings, half a stack of which remains in the photo I posted, were served with a cocoa ranch dipping sauce. The black and tan adds a huge flavor to the batter, so much so that the flavor tips to almost a wine infused batter versus the mild and calm flavor we're used to. The chocolate ranch sauce they can keep, we used their omnipresent chocolate ganache instead, which was strong enough to hold up to the intense taste of the batter and fresh onion slices. Truly delish.
My max'ican omelet arrived and was accompanied by a light as air fluffy biscuit and finely chopped hash browns. The omelet was prepared with swiss cheese, avocado, onions, and topped with fire roasted salsa. It was delicious, and I noted specifically how perfectly ripe the avocados were. The hash brown bits were exceptionally flavorful, crispy outside and tender within. Yum. The two sauces you see in the picture are butter and 'the omnipresent chocolate sauce' mentioned above. The chocolate sauce is, as you would expect, incredibly good.
The mixed the bacon into my son's burrito, which worked out fine. Miscommunication in ordering on our part I assure you. He ate half of it and called it a day to save room for dessert. Yes, at 10am we were having dessert, because not to would be a crime indeed.
My son and I split the 'sharing fondue' an $25 tasting of all their iconic dishes. His uncle ordered the churros fondue, which Chef Kathy assured us was being made fresh to order as we chatted.
And Chef Kathy does not lie. The Churros came out still hot, accompanied by a trio of dipping sauces (toffee, chocolate, and raspberry). What initially appears to be a small portion quickly becomes plenty when you taste how rich they truly are. Top Notch.
The sampler arrived for my son and I, a huge collection of items that pretty much covered the table. I have no idea how they could serve this at a two top if you had drinks. There would simply be no room. While impressive looking, and supremely cool to my son with it's accompanying grill for toasting marshmallows, I was disappointed. It looks very pretty, but one items was simply whipped cream with raspberry sauce. Another was chocolate ganache in a tiny beaker that was impossible to share or, frankly, dispense from. Damn these character limits! Everything else was incredible. Chocolate pop rocks!!! Peanut butter and chocolate snack was my personal favorite. Go, eat ,enjoy! Five stars if next meal is consistent!!
Don't care too much for this place. The desserts were okay. The prices are a bit more than what I think they should be. The service was pretty bad given my group was only one of a few groups there. Wanted to experience this place for myself, given the hype, but unlikely to return.
After feeling unsatisfied with our lovely dinner one night last week, my friend and I decided to head to Max Brenner for what we knew would be overpriced dessert.
The dessert, when split between two people, was reasonably priced. We ordered a small chocolate pizza (rich and delicious), but they brought out a large and said we were only charged for the small.
The reason Max Brenner deserves two stars was because of the service we received: slow and thoughtless. He was nice enough, but we were not offered water, nor did we receive silverware. We had to ask for everything we could possibly want for, and it was slow in coming, when the restaurant itself was even slow.
Maybe go for novelty once, but now I remember the reason why I never went to Max Brenner when I lived in NYC.
My friend and I stopped by this place because we were craving for something sweet and the unique resturant name caught our attention. And right when we entered the place, it was filled with the unbelivable aroma of chocolate. Our waiter was really nice and friendly and we were seated right away. My friend ordered the Intense Double chocolate fudge cake and I ordered the three layer chocolate concoction with toffee bananas. The prices seemed a bit pricey for the amount of the dessert they served us. But they were really delicious and sweet- just what we were craving for. I was quite surprised when the cook actually served our desserts instead of our waiter- made us feel kind of special.
The chocolate concoction was kind of hard to eat because of the funny looking jar that barely fit the spoon they served. And the wafer balls that came with it were already melting, i had hard time getting those out of their own little jar. These chocolates were so sweet, i felt guilty eating them though i couldn't stop because they were so good! My friend barely ate hers because she said it was too sweet. I would def. go again once in maybe half a year because thats how long it would take for me to maybe burn off all those calories and sugar in these desserts!
But overall, I really liked their service, the environment and aroma, and their food!
I took my 10 year old here on a Saturday in town. Place was packed, but we were seated right away. And then we waited 10 minutes to place our order. OK, it's busy. My daughter had Toffee Hot Chocolate and I had the Criollo (milk chocolate cream and peppermint schnapps). We waited about fifteen minutes for our drinks.I'd have thought these drinks would not have been so hard to make being it's a chocolate restaurant and all.
Anyway. The hot chocolate comes in a "Hug A Mug" You wrap your hands around it and sip from the front. However, it was so hot that my daughter could not do this and used her spoon to eat it like soup. I wish my tepid drink could have had some of that heat.
We also ordered the Urban S'Mores. It consist of of a little ramekin of peanut butter, one of jelly, a bowl of marshmallows and a little beaker of melted chocolate. They bring along a little Sterno heater for you to "roast your marshmallows". How long do you think it would take to prep all this? Five minutes if you move slow? 15 if you are super slammed? It took us 25 minutes to have this served to us.
Considering how long we waited for everything I was none too happy with the bill. Had the service moved faster I would not have thought twice about it. And now that I see they have a kids menu, that was never offered to us, I really feel ripped off.
In some ways, I'm so glad I don't live anywhere near this place. We were walking down the street on our way to meet some folks for dinner, and were intrigued by the name up on the side of the building "Max Brenner's, chocolate by the bald man." We were amused and confused, and decided we'd need to check it out after dinner.
On our way out of dinner, we stopped long enough to take a look at the menu posted outside, noting that real food is served here, and that there looked to be a little gift shop off to the right on the inside. We were mighty full and kept on walking, but were drawn back a couple hours later when we were looking for something sweet.
Leaving our hotel, I knew I wanted a glass of wine and something chocolate, so this seemed like the perfect place. The air is infused with chocolate, so I'm sure I was taking in calories just from breathing. The story at the beginning of the dessert menu is really cute.
They were unfortunately out of the first 2 things I wanted to order, but in fairness, it was 10pm on a Sunday night. I ended up with something that was described to me as a kind of kit kat, but made with chocolate and peanut butter, served with fresh fruit, whipped cream, vanilla yogurt and caramel. It was mighty good, and a good size. My dessert companion had the oreo and peanut butter concoction, which looked really good, but difficult to eat out of the beaker-like container.
For dessert, it was pricey, coming in at almost $45 for two desserts and 2 glasses of wine, but it was a fun vacation splurge. If I lived closer, I can only imagine that I'd be drawn in by the smells and promises of sweet decadence. For that reason, and for the sake of my wallet, I'm glad I live more than 300 miles away.
I came back for dessert to allow them to redeem themselves. Overpriced, too sweet, HARD waffle served with a tablespoon of ice-cream. FAIL.
Despite the mixed reviews I was looking forward to dessert here. Walked in on a weekday at 11pm… Read more »
I went for brunch with two friends. All of us were not in the mood for over-the-top sweet dishes; they ordered the guilt-free omelette and I had the roasted asparagus crepe. Our server was nice but inconsistent. She didn't know what veggies were in the omelette and even when she came with the answer, those were not the veggies that ended up on my friend's plates.
The roasted asparagus crepe is mis-represented as it is mostly creamed spinach and cheese and had maybe 4 pieces of asparagus. It is even labeled as the spinach crepe on the receipt! It was tasty, but it just didn't have any asparagus and the asparagus that it did have was mushy, like it was canned. The waffle fries that came as a side were yummy.
Overall, the food was just okay and the service needs work. We had to keep flagging down people when we wanted to order, when we wanted our check, when I neeeded a spoon, yet at the same time the bus boy was way too intrusive and stopped by too frequently.
I will give it another try when they iron out their service and to try some of the sweets.
Four of us went here for dessert after eating at Twenty Manning. This place is has the perfect ambiance for what it is. The smells of the chocolate when you walk in were unreal. There are huge vats of all different chocolates being mixed right in the front and huge pipes run throughout the room making it seem like dessert is flowing from the vats, into the kitchen. There's a cool little store right in the front and my wife commented she'll surely come back to buy gifts for people. The decor wasn't too in your face, nicely combining a Willy Wonka golden ticket ride and chic Center City spot. Some of the "I love chocolate" theme was overkill.
I'm not a huge chocolate guru, so take this all for what it's worth. My wife and I ate the Ivory heart which was a warm piece of chocolate cake, filled with chocolate, complimented by a dish of vanilla ice cream (topped with a chocolate shell of course), and a small fruit dish. What really made it awesome was a small beaker of melted chocolate you could add to your dish as desired. It was hard not to just drink out of it. The portion was perfect and got a ton of ooohs and aaahs. See my profile pic for an iPhone snapshot of the dish.
Our other friend ordered the chocolate pizza but wanted it with dark Chocolate. The waitress warned us it wouldn't be as good with dark. She came back again to warn us again and then a guy from the kitchen came out to our table almost refusing to make it with dark because it could burn. They handled it extremely professionally and I was happy they stuck to their guns not to serve us a bad dish. They gave us a plate of dark choc bits to make up for it. Great job by them just a week after opening handling our fussy request.
We had the Oh My God Cookie, but honestly, it was was only, "yeah, this is good." Our friend had the 80s shake which he didn't share but said it wasn't the best shake of his life, but very good. They serve it in a really cool tall, ceramic cup (which by the way is for sale, like almost everything else in the place including the menu!) with a metal straw. It looked really cool but our friend kept bumping his teeth on the metal straw.
Bottom line - perfect ambiance for dessert. 1 out of 2 of our dishes was spectacular, the other good. I can't imagine eating the Thai Chicken Skewers or anything else non-chocolate on the menu (why bother) but that could be short-changing a nice dinner menu. If you're a serious chocolate lover, defer to other reviews. We'll go back here for sure...if for anything just the experience of it.
My best friend took me here when I was visiting him in Philly. Talk about a treat - we both ordered adult hot chocolates. Mine with the mint schnapps was delightfully tasty. I can't remember what he ordered, but he certainly enjoyed it. And the best part was that there was enough left over hot chocolate to just drink that for a while. He and I also split a "Brown Heart" (Just imagine a molten chocolate cake with ice cream, fondue sauce, and crunchy chocolate things). It was yummy. To make the entire experience all the more delightful, our waiter was extremely attentive without being overbearing. I definitely wish this place had a counterpart back home.
First off, this review is preliminary. There are many things about Max Brenner, the chocolate man behind locations in New York, Singapore, Australia, and Israel--and now Philadelphia--and his heavenly restaurant--that will go unsaid in the review. There is a certain maximalist scope to the joint that begs multiple excursions, multiple wades through. The first time you watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, or Willy Wonka, for that matter, you were probably astounded. The second and third time, analysis became more tangible. The fantastical elements became more weighable, approachable. You could sift through those gum drops without feeling like the sticky hands sensation was odd or discomforting.
Anyway, secondly, I probably should have given four stars in this review. I promised the waitress, a certain V., five stars on the back of her receipt. Don't get me wrong--there are many five-star qualities about this restaurant. Maybe you like the best atmosphere for eating experimentally ever, a certain Austrain interior design/architecture, as my friend made reference to; or maybe you like the chocolate store in sight of the tables, or the chocolate bar in the distance blending on in with the circumferential epicenter from which the tables spiraled out and away. Or maybe the very kind, knowledgeable staff, whose smiles were noticeable and sincere, whose information went beyond standard, and whose prompt service was professional in that unprofessional, welcome to this great hangout sort of way.
What about the food? That's an entirely separate review, it seems. I'm no Zagat NYC jerk who knows what he's talking about, but I can tell when a sundae is good. When your food is served like an art project, it's probably going to be above average. When there are more ingredients on the menu than you can memorize, then it's probably above average. When there are more than you can read in a minute, or at a dinner table, comfortably, then the dish will probably exceed your expectations. I hadn't had a sundae so sensationally impacting since my first Reeses Peanut Butter Cup sundae at Friendly's when I was twelve. I'm twenty-three now.
Oh yeah--try the spicy hot chocolate. The Latin-American-style chile-infused dark chocolate actually burns. It's the extreme of the extreme. It's more a spiritual challenge than an strictly hedonist indulgence. But the flare and the resulting pain, the chagrin of the tongue, is a pleasure you may never find in a dessert dish again.
But there were four, and three star qualities too. Horrible soundtrack kills the mood. Why no live pianist? Why no funky music? Even some ambient drone tracks would do better than the Ruby-Tuesday-esque CD playing on some back programming station in the kitchen. It didn't make any sense for such a casual, up-beat place. Any the table are kind of small for the gargantuan dishes. I'm sure somebody will complain. Yes, I've got lanky orangutan arms the frame of netbook user, but . . . and the be careful if you decide to go there over the next week or two. Because of the grand opening last Wednesday, the hired staff, analogous to a Survivor episode before the first Immunity Challenge (commented my friend Jeff), is far too plentiful. You can't really look up from your plate without seeing some smiling staff person gazing at the beautiful dessert and thinking, I kept thinking to myself anyway, "how much can this person actually eat?!" Granted, the staff = gorgeous, but come on. Go hide in the back or something. Go do yoga or tennis or hand out chocolate to the homeless or something--don't stare at my exploitable figure.
So yeah, this is the first review or a place that was pretty much too intense to take in at once. A rational one will follow when I get the money together to go cash-forward again.
My first time at Max Brenner. I sent a few ladies looking for a good time there once, but I had never been there. I went with a few friends and we had a blast! The entrance smells like shaved dark chocolate! Somebody's gonna have sex when they leave here!! I started with the Criollo, milk chocolate cream and peppermint schnapps! It was so great, I had a second. It was served on a tray dusted with powdered sugar and completed with fresh biscotti! For food, I ordered the Smoky Dry Rub Chicken Wings and they were great. My friends ordered the Mac N Cheese and the Oven Roasted tomato Pizza!! For drinks, the Mocha Frappe and the Dark Chocolat! This was a great way to start our a night and we could have very well ended it here as well, but we had other plans. The decor was romantic and fun and the bathrooms have the coolest wallpaper!! I'm a huge fan of THE BALD MAN!!
I went to Max Brenner on opening day and the service was so good it was borderline annoying. I love the fact that the wait staff recognizes the need to clear off tables as we finished our plates but could do without someone walking past every few seconds to see if there was need to remove anything. I tend to be clumsy and bound to drop something on myself so that threw me off that someone would be eyeballing me as I constantly flung food on myself, for others probably won't be such a big deal:)
Also liked the fact that the hostess noticed the fact that my waitress hadn't been to my table for a little while, not too long but enough for me to notice also and she offered to see what the hold up was but the waitress appeared just as soon as she was going to check on things. The waitress was very nice also and her service was great aside from that one time where she was gone for a little while.
I orderd the fish taco's (forget exact name on menu sorry) and my dining partner had a burger. The taco's were just okay for me, they were spicy and I'm not a huge fan of spice so I'm sure that's the deal breaker for me oppose to them not being good. They weren't terrible but wouldn't order a second time based on personal taste. Had a taste of my DP's burger and it was really good which came with waffle fries with chocolate sprinkled on top. Nothing special tasting about the fries IMO but liked the novelty of it.
For dessert we shared the chocolate chip banana bread which came with whipped cream, strawberries and melted chocolate and is one of the less expensive desserts on the menu. It was pretty good would order again.
Went again this past Tuesday in hopes of getting some dessert, had a taste around lunch time but when I went in and sat for a few minutes and saw no sign of a server I left frustrated and plan on bringing to the attention of the manager being it was fairly empty the day I went and whomever the waiter was could have at least taken two seconds to come by to say I'll be right with you. It's a personal pet peeve of mines on top of it being lunch hour which makes it more of a peeve but again another may not have found that wait to have been too bad.
I will go back again however and feel if they take the overservice from my first visit and couple it with the lack of service this week, they'd have great customer service.
Oh and everything was presented beautifully, the smell of chocolate is wonderful as others have mentioned and I personally love the decor as well and all of the chocolate on the shelves and the little shop.
The other reviews have waxed poetical on this place already.
I had the fondue combo- bananas, strawberries, marshmellows, and banana bread.
Super yum.
Staff - attentive and sweet.
I am in love.
Is it the chocolate talking?
Most likely.
Brunch? Definitely.
Who wants to meet on Sunday?
Romantic, fun, sublime.
Please- can I return again and again until my pants don't button?
This place looks like a giant chocolate factory... in a good way (sorry, no Oompa-Loompas). The food was great too! (Not just the chocolate)
As a big chocolate fan, I was excited by the prospect of a Max Brenner opening in Philadelphia. My interest had been cultivated by seeing "Max" on Paula Deen's show on the Food Network where he made his restaurant's signature dessert, "The Chocolate Mess," which, by the way, is not available in Philadelphia.
So, we go in the not too crowded restaurant, and our party of three is shown to a table for two with an extra chair, despite the numerous empty booths and larger tables nearby. We complained and were promptly moved. Then, we ordered a round of diet cokes, which were flat. We sent them back and they came back still flat. We gave up with that request.
I got the spicy tuna sandwich which came with cocoa dusted waffle fries. Well, the tuna sandwich was suppose to have ground up barbeque chips in it. It did, but they were miniscule. And the fries came in a tiny little cup and there were maybe 4! The dusting of cocoa was barely visible! I can get more fries in McDonald's.
I have to say the desserts were good, though. I told my friends that if my ice cream sundae was small, for $12.95, I was going to scream! But, my sundae had two scoops of ice cream, chocolate pieces, brownie bites, whip cream, toffee bananas, and sides of warm milk chocolate sauce and warm peanut butter sauce. One of my friends had the ice cream sandwich which came with ice cream between two giant chocolate cookies with peanut butter dipping sauce. Another person in the group had a weird chocolate cream concoction in a strange vase-type thing, which made it difficult to get the stuff out. On the side was a beaker of tiny chocolate crunchies.
The gift shop area was bizarre. There were at least 3 people hovering over us, I guess to make sure we didn't steal anything. I was looking for a dark chocolate bar like they sell at Naked Chocolate and couldn't find any, so I settled for the dark chocolate bark.
Bottom line, don't go for a full meal. Go for drinks or dessert. With desserts and lunch, we spent $93 for 3 people. If you want a soda, smuggle one in!
if you like attentive service from your waiter this is not the place.
on the early side of saturday night my girlfriend and I stumbled upon the chocolate bar and after remembering a friend's over excited recounting of his visit we decided to give it a try.
the wait for our table compared to a few other restaurants was a mere 15 minutes. after being seated and going over both mouth watering menus, our waiter finally arrived, and well that was only one of a handful of visits. it took over 15 min for the cocktails to arrive, after that our food took another 30, dessert was surprisingly quick given the first part of are meal took 45 min.
the food was good and dessert was amazing, but when the only thing your waiter says to you is what do you want and are you done with your plate. it really makes me regret spending as much money and time as i did on this place.
I've been waiting for weeks for the Philadelphia outpost of Max Brenner to open, and I raced over today as soon as I was done at the office. I think my friend/dining partner was a little wary of the effusive praise I was heaping on this Willy Wonka-esque chocolate emporium, but by the time our meal was over, she was a convert. I started off with a strawberry mojito--hardly chocalatey but perfectly refreshing on a warm summer night. I wanted to skip right to dessert, but ended up ordering the bacon/chicken/cheddar rolls to start. I was unprepared for how ridiculously small they were, but what they lacked in size, they made up for in flavor. I'm definitely a fan. I bypassed my very favorite menu item--the chocolate peanut butter crepe with dulce de leche ice cream, caramel sauce and caramelized bananas--for something new. My brownie sundae extravaganza (not its real name, but something close to it) featured chocolate peanut butter ice cream, dulce de leche ice cream, chocolate pieces, brownie bits, whipped cream and hazelnut crunchies, with little bowls of chocolate sauce and peanut butter sauce on the side. It was fabulous--how could it not be with all that stuff?--but the crepe remains my favorite. The presentation on all the food and drinks is charming, and the service is friendly and attentive. This would be a great date place if not for the howling children that are sure to gather wherever desserts are plentiful (we had a screecher right by us tonight). My advice? Go late, when the wee ones are likely to be home in bed and no one will see your horribly distended belly as you waddle out of the restaurant into the darkness of night.
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