Ghirardelli Chocolate To Go — Restaurant in San Francisco

I have been fortunate enough to go to many Ghirardelli Shops throughout California which there are many, Florida, Chicago, Texas, Nevada and even Kentucky believe it or not. So needless to say I’m a chocoholic through and through, not to mention my sweet tooth 🤤🙄.

So, I was blown away when the worker at the register told me that for any and every Sundae you order you can only order VANILLA! No offense to anyone that are just vanilla fans out there. But vanilla to me is just too vanilla, which is why that saying exists. So, I requested the Ocean Beach Sea Salt Caramel Sundae with Espresso Chip Ice Cream and the employee at the register that day 07/22/2020 at approximately 1:00PM still said that it’s not an option. If I wanted anything other than vanilla I’d have to order it additional to the sundae and it’d be on the side.

As I mentioned before I have been throughout numerous locations nationwide and I have never ordered any sundae with vanilla ice cream. And I ask him, are you kidding me?! I’m attempting not to be too rude and ask, is it too complicated to scoop anything other than vanilla ice cream because there’s no labels or anything on their end and he said that’s how it is for every location and is policy.

So hopefully one of the managing staff there can set the record straight for the that employee or know that there hasn’t been a single employee until now that’s enforced that rule. Either way, I’d like to hear from someone in the staff and if I am in the wrong, then I will gladly change my star review. But if this employee was just too lazy or something, people like myself, they’re losing business. But I knew what I wanted and was determined to get it, lol.

So, I simply went upstairs to their West location that’s open in Ghirardelli Square and at the register asked for the same thing I did with the brain 🧠 washed employee and they did as every location nationwide has done, make a great sundae without argument or so called strict VANILLA ONLY rules, which I think is BS. That location the staff was swift, kind and...

Not good experience, and I will never recommend this Ghirardelli location anytime after my experience. I went to this location with cousins, and we placed our orders separately. Unfortunately, my order didn't go through all the way, sometime computer glitches happened, but the staff and managers' behavior was worse. My cousins got their orders served, and they finished, and i was waiting, so I went to check with staff members. The store manager asked me to show receipt, check if my account got charged or not, as they gave me some devic which shows order number they were asking me did I place on table correctly, where i was setting in store, instead of checking things on there end they first asked me lots of details. As like, i have done something wrong, and i am trying to blame them for something. After verifying everything from me, they started checking on their side, and when they found issue in the system, the store manager simply told we would prepare your order in 5 min, please wait and walked away. No, Sorry for the problem caused because of their systems, manager just asked me to wait more and walk away. I was not asking for free, I was expecting them to prepare my order at the same time. I had already waited long, on top of that, questions to prove i placed an order, and now i need to wait more.

They really don't care about customer, it's a tourist place they know a lot more customer will come however...

One of the classics- if you come to SF you are obligated to come here. And try their famous chocolate offerings.

There was a waiting line but just around five minutes - service was very quick. We first saw the old school chocolate factory which is sort of a part of the restaurant. I wish they could separate the area so people who want to see the factory don’t have to run into people giving and taking orders. The restaurant area was fully full.

Coming to the chocolate offerings - we got the world famous hot chocolate sundae with a fudge brownie (hello sugar overload!) - it was as delicious as promised but I do wish they had added more chocolate - a lot of it was cream and sugar and a bit of chocolate sauce. We also got a sea salt chocolate Sundae but didn’t really taste the saltiness - and this one was also lacking in chocolate - I wonder if they have options with more chocolate? Shouldn’t they be advertising those as “world famous” considering they are a chocolate factory?

It was part of a larger Ghirardelli square and they had a number of stores and places to sit and listen to live music etc. Also had a fountain. As you exit there’s also a chocolate shop. Interesting place but they need to up the chocolate quotient in...