Harry's Chocolate Shop — Restaurant in West Lafayette

I went to Harry's chocolate shop on 04/20/16 with my girlfriend just to get a couple of drinks. Prior to this date I've never been to HCS, though I am a senior at Purdue and will be graduating this year so I decided that since it is such a Purdue tradition I would at least go once. Upon walking into the door I was greeted with noxious loud music so loud that you couldn't even understand what or who was playing an environment that was so filthy that it was probably ground zero for the mumps outbreak that Purdue is currently experiencing, yet me and my girlfriend still proceeded. Upon finding a seat we were greeted by a waitress who we told are order to which was an IPA for me and a Sex on the Beach for my girlfriend Plus a serving of beef nachos for the both of us. It should be noted that my girlfriend is allergic to Cherry and sometimes Cherry is added to a SOTB so we informed the waitress of this so she could inform the bartender not to do so. My girlfriend whom just turned 21 is new to drinking and is not a big drinker what so ever. Me on the other hand, I am 28 years of age have to older brothers that are professional bartenders and have been for the past 15 years and I myself have drank all over the U.S., Canada and overseas and have a encyclopedia knowledge of Mixology, so to say the very least I know my drinks. A few minutes later our waitress returns with our drinks and nachos. I could instantly tell just by looks alone that my girlfriend's drink was not made properly. Anyone that has had a SOTB before will know that it's supposed to be a golden sunset orange, the one that my girlfriend got at HCS was milky white with a hint of Orange color and a big lime wedge floating in it. This was further verified by the first sip my girlfriend took which made her face pucker and her eyes squint. She is not one to normally complain so I knew it had to really bad when she told me she could not drink this, and she has had many SOTB before which she usually loves. So, I took a sip of it myself to verify that it was off, and boy was it off. The drink had a overpowering lime taste to it that would drive anyone to think twice before drinking it. We were going to go someplace else afterwards anyway so we decided just to send your drink back finish the nachos and my beer and we would just go elsewhere so we informed the waitress that the drink was off and she gladly took it away we then shortly after that asked for the check. Upon receiving the check I found out that the SOTB was still on the receipt. I then informed the waitress of this who in return informed me she could do nothing about it so I ask for the manager, this is where things go from okay experience to bad one. She then informed me she didn't know who the manager was but she thought it was "the short guy on the right." With these ambiguous directions I walked around the other side to the bar area the first two people male employees I encountered one of the bouncers at the door I asked the shorter of the two if he was the manager he said no so then I asked him who is the manager once again another one of HCS employee shrug their shoulders and said I think it's the guy behind the bar. So I walked up to the guy behind the bar and asked if he was the manager, he Shrugged his shoulders as well and replied "I guess I work here," I figured this would be the closest I cpuld get to a person of authority at HCS so I proceeded to tell him my grievances. His response was that I ordered a custom drink and if I didn't like it, it wasn't their fault. I don't know how telling them not to put cherry in a sex on the beach makes it a "custom drink." At this time he turned me over to the bartender because he had nothing further to say to me, after speaking with the bartender, whom was overly defensive in her reply and tone to me. She said that she had over 8 years of experience and that she did not put lime in the drink even though I pointed out to her that there was definitely a lime wedge floating in it. To make a long story short they took the drink off but only after...

This review will mostly be for the food but I will (briefly) address the ID policy.

My my my…this place seems to invite contention with their policy of always carding 21 and over. Reading the reviews, it seems that there our two camps. Those who feel that this is an institution at Purdue and those who have been otherwise insulted or angry when their ID was refused.

We were parents dropping off our child as a freshman at Purdue. We were looking for a great meal and had heard of the bar but also the special of the “three little pigs” looked really intriguing. We were ready to cry into our beer for a little bit and have some comfort food, and Harry’s delivered!

We had valid IDs. We are also in our 50s. It was orientation weekend, so I did see the bartender turn quite a few people away, who were at wandering in, likely because they thought it was a chocolate shop, or just students who were too young. I consider being carded as a rite of passage, and I certainly went through it at my undergrad time at Clemson. But again, that did not apply to us with valid IDs and being middle-aged.

Frankly, the food was mostly excellent. It was just what we needed. The three little pigs was chock-full of all sorts of meat, and the beer selection was on point. I am a huge IPA fan; we live in Asheville, and I have written articles for magazines about beer. I love my beer, and the bartender not only was able to steer me towards the type of hoppiness I crave in an IPA, but he was incredibly knowledgeable about local beers and even wrote down some different local beers that I would like when I visit my son in the future. He was pleasant. The server, (although he was new and a little scattered) was also pleasant. He would ask questions of the bartender, who would help him out, because clearly the server was in training. And he told us that as well.

So my husband’s entrée of little pigs was five stars. The beer selection was five stars, and my only complaint was the catfish. I grew up in the south, and I expect catfish to be a little greasy. I know, I know, most people would not want to have fish that is greasy. But it is the hallmark of catfish that it has sort of a greasy pungent taste. This fish that I was served tasted almost like it was just a really nice white fish that was breaded. It sounds silly to say my fish wasn’t fishy enough, but it just was not the type of catfish that I was a accustomed to. It was good fried fish. But just did not taste like catfish. That’s my only complaint. It sounds like they do need to work out what’s happening with a consistent ID policy, but then again, that really does not apply to us, so I will not let that affect my review one way or the other. The only reason I docked one star is because my catfish wasn’t a traditional catfish preparation that I’m accustomed to as a...

We were in town for a wedding and we were not allowed in because my boyfriend had a temporary IL ID that was completely valid and legal + other proof of ID (photo of passport, credit cards, insurance, et all). In Illinois, they issue you a temporary paper ID while you wait for your permanent ID in the mail. We also had a tab open from being in the bar a few hours prior that we wanted to close so we could get our credit card back. The bouncer, who told us it was his bar, did not let us in with the IL temporary ID and a photo of the passport + knowing we had to get our credit card back and was completely rude and dismissive. He said we had to wait until the end of the line but kept being completely dismissing us. Luckily, we had friends inside that could help us. They closed the tab for us and walked out to give us the credit card back. The bouncer did not move AT ALL to do anything to help, even when the line subsided. We asked if there was anyone else working that could help us retrieve the ID and the bouncer said “oh yes, lots of people are working tonight”. I definitely don’t feel like it was just about the ID and that it has to do with the color of our skin and our sexuality - we are clearly over 30 years of age. If you read the other reviews, you’ll find similar themes in the negative reviews. Definitely do not expect any adequate treatment here or any sort of hospitality. I will say, we enjoyed the drink prices and atmosphere from earlier in the day.

In the end, the most upsetting thing is that we missed out on a once in a lifetime celebration of one of our closest friend’s marriage.

We do have a video of the encounter if anyone is...