Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate — Restaurant in Eureka

After a lovely boat ride around the bay we noticed a chocolate factory and decided to stop in and see what this place was about. Gorgeous shop, beautifully designed and there was so much to offer! We took our time browsing as we were going to make a decent purchase to bring back home with us. I was alerted to the sample area by my husband and he was suggesting a few that my mom would like to have and I tried a total of 3 different ones. Later, we were in line to make our purchase when my 11 year old son came up to me and said the sample lady told him he couldn't have any more. He had only one sample previously and he wanted to try one more of a different variety.

variety. He asked me "what did I do wrong?" I had no idea, so I went to the sample lady. This is where the biggest and only con was experienced. I asked the lady what my son did wrong and went onto let her know he had a sample and went to try a new sample but couldn't because she told him no. She said explained their rules and it was one sample per family. That seemed odd. But it's actually one sample per jar I believe from what I was told later by worker.

Now when I explained our sampling intake was extremely low she talked to us in such a rude way that I have not experienced before. Rather than go back and forth with such a person, I went and looked for the manager. Since the lead manager was occupied at the time another employee kindly took time out to speak with me. Now this lady was kind, listened and I so appreciated that. I let her know what was up and because that sample lady was so off putting we absolutely cannot spend money there. We wanted to leave so bad because of the undeserved mistreatment we received. It's too bad because we were so excited about this place and bringing back goodies for folks down home.

Maybe sample lady was having a bad day but that treatment-tone, words, expressions that were made actually made us sick to our stomach's and cost this place our business.

Again, lovely place, amazing products but no thanks due to that awful lady. But thank you to the other one who was gracious and should be acknowledged for her excellent...

I've been a fan of Dick Taylor chocolates since I first encountered some of their bars in my local cheese shop (sadly now defunct or I'd direct you there for the DT bars!). I feel like someone there is my taste-bud twin because they never over-roast or let off-flavors creep into their chocolate. I always find their version of beans from a particular origin to be the best--and I try and take notes on lots of different versions.

I was thrilled to finally make it to their store on a trip to Humboldt a few years ago, and to enjoy some of the in-store only treats like a frozen cacao-fruit bar, brownies, and hot chocolate. Now that I can't get my DT fix at the cheese shop, I order online and my chocolate always arrives in great shape.

This year they really hit it out of the park with their dark chocolate caramels--you can taste the cream and butter, unlike so many fancy versions that skip the dairy and just end up sad and flat. I struggled to stick to one at a time to stretch out the joy.

And their peanut butter rabbit was so fine--like the peanut butter bar, so rich and peanutty but still silky smooth deep chocolate--that my brother, a confirmed peanut butter hater, liked it and asked for more!

Everything they do is excellent, and while I could wish for fewer things made with coffee or liquor flavors (not a fan of either), I know mocha and whiskey lovers deserve their treats too.

I can't wait until my next trip to visit the Redwoods--DT's shop will always be a highlight for me.

Please try, buy, and keep them in business so I can always keep up my Dick Taylor Chocolate habit! Just don't overdo and make them run out of the 72% Sambirano again--I...

Edited 7/9: I decided to raise this to 4 stars to reflect that (a) the chocolate is delicious and the store is beautiful and (b) there was a swift response to my earlier post (which I never expected). They said they would change the wording in the tour description to clarify that you are watching videos, not actually seeing chocolate being made, but I haven't seen the change yet.

Initial review: Buy the chocolate; skip the tour. The tour description said, "See the entire chocolate-making process," which, we thought, meant we'd see chocolate being made. We even had to wear hairnets. But they were definitely tour theater, since all we saw was a pristine facility and videos of snippets of the process. Interesting tour leader, but we could have been handed a typed page with the same info. And the free samples with the tour? Turns out anyone who enters the store gets free samples. So spend the 10 bucks on the chocolate, and skip the fake tour.

Edited 6/26: I appreciate the kind response from Dick Taylor. I also wanted to clarify that the tour might be more enjoyable for adults. I had my 2 grandchildren with me (8 and 11), and we had been excited, thinking we were actually going to see...