Alves Devine - Little Chocolate — Restaurant in Ribeira Grande

Amazing place. Amazing chocolate. Incredibly helpful staff! We bought several boxes for gifts for our Azorean friends, and were given the best advice by the counter folks. We would have purchased dark chocolate, as we prefer, but were considerately guided to the milk and white chocolate selections, which are sweeter, as we were informed Azoreans usually prefer sweet confections. The effusive responses showered over the chocolate gifts, which were oohed and ahhed over and quickly devoured showed these chocolate experts know their stuff! The chocolate gift box collection not only tastes wonderful, but the colorful chocolates inside were called a "literal work of art" by my friend, who as an artist himself, was a high compliment.

For non-chocolate temptations on offer here--The Pastel de nata was the best I've tasted on the island so far (I've had about 1/2 a dozen). The coffee is very good, and the miniature nut-brownie included with our espresso as a special treat was all gooey-fudge and left us craving more! We can't wait to return and try the gelato-- and just about every thing else in the...

This past June I eloped on this beautiful island and was recommended to this chocolate shop. The staff were excellent, although they normally work with chocolate they were able to make a small wedding cake for me. The description and request was discussed by phone and email. The day I came to pick up the cake, they offered some espresso while I waited for it to be prepared for transportation. I was blown away by how perfect the cake both looked and tasted. I also bought some chocolates, visited their other stores and the quality/service was very consistent.

The staff are all passionate and...

It's a chocolate candy store first, and then also pastries and ice cream. Lovely atmosphere and directions to it are very well signed on the road as if it were a tourist attraction. We had the ice cream which was pretty bad, commercial Carte D'Or reslendent with artificial flavoring that I couldn't eat more than one bite. While waiting for my companion to finish their treat, I watched this mound of gelatin they call an ice cream scoop stay perfectly round. It never did melt in the 20 minutes we sat there. Maybe come for the chocolates but skip the...