Whetstone Chocolates Store and Tasting Tour — Attraction in Florida

It was a rainy day during our family vacation here in St. Augustine, so we decided to do a chocolate tour at Whetstone. We thought it would be a fun activity for us and our crew of young children (7 in total among all of the cousins).

Our tour guide was an older lady named Melanie. Unfortunately, from the very beginning of our tour, her attitude and disposition towards us was brash and offputting. Each of our children were well-behaved, and were quietly sitting in their seats as expected. This did not keep Melanie from pointing at us and continuously reminding of us of all the rules and regulations…not the least of which were the sanitary restrictions and standards that had to be met at all costs. Despite these guidelines, Melanie repeatedly stopped throughout the tour because she had a bad cough. So after every few sentences she would pause, turn to her side, and hack into her arm. Never once bothering to put on a mask or take any other precautions. Just an idea, but if you have a cough, it probably isn’t a good time to give tours of a chocolate factory. In fact, you should probably stay away from food production altogether.

As if Melanie’s cough and sour disposition, were not enough to taint our experience, there was another interaction that sent me over the edge. Just before walking onto the factory floor, she told us that the very first thing she would do is hand us chocolate, but that eating chocolate in the factory is strictly forbidden. So she pointed directly at us and our children and said several times not to eat the chocolate she was about to hand out. That’s when I raised my hand and requested for her to wait until after the tour to hand us the chocolate, in order to avoid the temptation for the kids. Without missing a beat, she looked at me in front of the whole tour and said “no”. I was flabbergasted at such a rude response to such a simple request.

She then proceeded to hand out all of the chocolates, which I quickly took from the kids in order to keep them attentive during the tour and respectful of the rules. At the end of the tour, we circled back to right near where she handed out the chocolates at the beginning. That’s where she led us out the door, and told us we could now eat the chocolate. By then, anyone who had held their chocolate throughout the tour was greeted with a melted chocolatey mess. Sigh…

When everything was over, I spoke with the manager (Corey) to give her my feedback and to let her know about our experience. I may as well have been talking to a brick wall. She shrugged me off and told me she had never received any negative comments about Melanie or the tour. But when I came here to leave this review, I unsurprisingly found others who had similar unfortunate experiences. So either Corey was not being truthful, or she has never taken the time to read the google reviews on her chocolate factory tours.

So if you are looking for something fun to do indoors in St. Augustine, I would strongly recommend skipping Whetstone. Save your money and have fun...

THIS TOUR IS NOT CHILD/BABY OR SPECIAL NEEDS FRIENDLY WHATSOEVER. We were not warned of this prior to booking on the website or in person when we inquired about the tour. We have done so many tours in the city and everyone we have encountered has been so kind and understanding and Melanie the tour guide has ruined Whetstone for us. We’ve been to Whetstone several time over the last 10 years and unfortunately won’t be returning after the tour and seeing the rest of these reviews. Melanie had an attitude from the minute she walked in. My family was the only one present with kids and she kept giving my 5 year old son dirty looks every time she mentioned a rule, as if she expected him to not follow instructions. Which he did, perfectly by the way. They require everyone to wear hair nets, including babies. This is understandable as it’s a chocolate factory. However my baby was struggling to keep it on and we were having to hold his hands down while he was crying the whole time. The tour in the factory starts in a small theater room and my husband decided to take our baby right outside of the door to not cause a disturbance in room. Melanie stopped what she was doing and rudely told my husband he cannot have a baby in the factory without a hair net. Again, understandable, however: 1. The attitude is completely unnecessary. We are adults. 2. You could at least show us a way out of the factory because we were clearly struggling. A lady at the end mentioned that the dark chocolate at the stores is much more bitter than Whetstone’s dark chocolate (as a compliment, and hinting that she wonders why that is) and all Melanie responded was “Okay? And?” It’s gross to see that she continuously singles out families with children. If they don’t want kids as a part of the tour, just say that. But they just want their money.

I will say: the lady that was working the retail counter Thursday and Friday was incredible. I wish I could give her 5 stars on her own! Unfortunately Melanie ruined the...

We stopped by here hoping to experience the tasting & tour but it must be very short because we were running late to their scheduled one and by the time we showed up (about 10 minutes late) it was already over. This did make my husband and I pretty happy we didn’t waste money on it.

While we were here, the storm that was happening - also the reason we were late, caused the power to flicker, and obviously all point of sale systems went down while it was rebooting so they switched to cash only. The store was pretty busy at the moment because the last scheduled tour had ended just moments before we came in. So a woman was standing at the register prepared to pay when this happened, and we had to awkwardly overhear an older woman behind the counter pretty snidely tell the customer she couldn’t take cash, and very harshly say the system wasn’t working so they wouldn’t know if her payment went through. Not at all in a kind or sincere way. While the older woman wasn’t at fault for being unable to take cash, neither was the customer, so as the professional in the situation, I would have expected the older woman to have a little more grace explaining to a paying customer why they suddenly couldn’t accept her card for the considerable purchase she was about to make with them. I’m definitely not one to leave lower rating reviews because of customer service, but the whole interaction in such a small space was so awkward and cringey. Kindness goes a long way, no matter who you are in a business, from owner to register worker. The chocolate items we purchased were very good though! Definitely pricier, understandably as they’re not being turned out in a factory, but anticipate to spend some money if you go looking to...