The Chocolate Bar

Disappointing from beginning to end. The place itself looks and feels cramped, both in size and table proximity, definitely not the restaurant for an intimate date night. Services was slow, our server was basically MIA through the meal. Drinks were so-​so at best, with the Mojito basically being a glass of soda water with a little flavor. Chocolate Fondue was mostly underwhelming, I would have expected more fruit, and less cookies, and other snack items. Chocolate cake can be had better at Dinosaur BBQ down the block, and that should say it all.

Walked in, and we were told «I don’t have anything available». Don’t really know what business would say something like that so we left. Forget this place. They don’t have the time for me I don’t have time for them

Oof. Bad all around. Took forever to get seated because the hostess was clearly overwhelmed not only due to volume but also because of apparent disorganization. We were seated upstairs and spent the meal with eyes stinging from some horrible fumes that we consequently immediately had to strip off our stinky clothes to wash (burn?) when we got home. Waiter was okay but clearly overwhelmed. Dessert was fine but clearly not made there. I just can’t understand this place — it’s like kahunaville of the galleria mall; once the kitschy novelty has worn off what are you left with?! Who goes here… Repeatedly?!? Safe to say we won’t be back.

Great martini’s and the menu is very diverse, has a little something for whatever your in the mood for! Keep’s me coming back for more.

Chocolate molten lava cake is great. They left me a pedal and added a sparkler for my birthday!!! I loved it. Thank you guys. :-)

Chocolate salted Carmel martini was amazing! Extremely busy, no hostess when we arrived so as the guests entered we had to keep ourselves in order and didn’t see a staff member for 30 mins, once we sat down though our service was great.

I think The Chocolate Bar is great at two things– their martinis and their crepes! Anything else is really not that worth it in my opinion and you can certainly get more bang for your buck elsewhere. I would say eat elsewhere and stop by for a drink and dessert afterwards. This way, you are surely not disappointed!

My 1^st experience at Chocolate Bar was for a friend’s birthday dinner. To start, the atmosphere was clean and upbeat. For a Friday night it was the expected crowd size. I ordered a sandwich off of the surprisingly «unsurprising» menu (with a name like chocolate bar you expect something great). I did have a hard time picking something because the menu came up so short of my expectations. Overall, my food was good but what happened next was something next to amazing: So the waitress was told at the beginning that it was our friend’s birthday. and she certainly held through with her half. After everyone had finished eating she brought out a complimentary brownie topped with a sparkler candle! It was very awesome! The candle lasted long enough for us to sing happy birthday and it certainly put a great cap on a good night.

Been here a few times, most recently for lunch. Large menu with unique choices. I went with the honey, peanut butter banana sandwich with a side salad. I was impressed that they brought our table (of 5 people) some chocolate fondue and strawberries as dessert, on the house. Would definitely return for a lunch. Been here in the past for dinner and drinks as well and was always happy. At one point, I even attended a manicure and martini night where I got a free mani when I bought a martini!

My friends and I visited recently on a whim just to check out the dessert menu. Its a small place and the wait time seems to be very long on the weekends, but they take reservations. Luckily we were seated within about 15 – 20 minutes of arriving. Our server was very kind and speedy but obviously swamped. It took awhile for her to come back and check on us or return with an item we requested. For dessert, I ordered a classic crêpe with a side of ice cream. Nothing spectacular honestly and too much powdered sugar. Had I known I would I have told them to be much lighter. The ice cream was good. One of my friends ordered a brownie and hot fudge crêpe and expressed the same issue. Overall, I don’t think I’ll be racing to come back but I wouldn’t cancel it out either. Seems to be a nice intimate setting for a date or small celebration. They also have a Martini’s and Manicure Monday event, which I hope to attend before its too cold out.

I really never had an interest in checking out the Chocolate Bar, I heard the food was mediocre and they really only specialize in dessert martinis which I’m not really into. However, my sister turned 21 and she and her boyfriend wanted to check this place out for dinner so I got on board. Came in around 7:30 on a Monday night and it took some time for a hostess to arrive at the host stand. The place is very deceiving, looks very big from the outside with the light colored exterior and large windows, however, once you enter, it’s smaller than expected. A hostess recognized us, asked if we had a reservation, which we did not and then she brought us to a booth on the first floor. We were only handed yellow small menus, remembered it was restaurant week and had to ask for regular ones too. The drink menu had an extensive list of speciality martinis, beers and beer concoctions, wine and other cocktails. The restaurant week special included a choice of appetizer which was either a caesar salad, french onion soup or buffalo chowder soup. The entrees consisted of filet mignon, lobster and spinach ravioli, mahi mahi, some others that weren’t memorable and your choice of dessert.
I inquired about a red wine because I had never heard of any on the list and our super friendly and bubbly waitress recommended a cabernet that ended up being just alright. My sister got the chocolate salted pretzel martini and she said it was delicious except when she got to the bottom, everything sunk to the bottom of the martini glass and she said it was difficult to drink from that point forward. Like I said, our waitress was very kind, their menu is very large, it reminded me of the Cheesecake Factory. I chose the Southwestern Chicken Salad. It came with grilled chicken but I added extra because the upcharge was only $ 2 and well, because I like chicken. My sister and her boyfriend went with restaurant week specials and had the chowder (delicious and creamy), french onion soup (pretty small compared to your envisioned crock) the filet mignon with asparagus and potatoes which I thought was a tiny portion but they said it tasted delicious and the lobster spinach ravioli. My sister said the ravioli tasted good but she couldn’t taste any lobster. My salad wasn’t plated well, strictly because it was in bowl too small so it was overflowing with lettuce, chicken and tortilla strips and I couldn’t take a bite without it spilling all over the table. The salad was just fine, wish there were more roasted poblano peppers since the portion was hardly noticeable. The chicken was a tad salty in my opinion and it seemed that was the only seasoning the chicken had on it. The cilantro lime dressing wasn’t my favorite, I couldn’t identify any cilantro, it tasted like liquidized key lime pie.
Here’s where this place left a bad taste in my mouth. I headed to the restroom to talk to the waitress to ask if she could put a candle in my sister’s dessert that was included with her restaurant week meal. The waitress said, «Of course, we can! Should we do a sparkler candle?» I’m like, «Sure! Love a good candle!» So, several minutes later she came out with my sisters restaurant week dessert, no candle. She brought out her boyfriend’s restaurant week dessert, no candle. Confused, I waited a moment and then saw the staff come out with a third dessert with this awesome sparkler candle. COOL! They sang, we sang. The sparkler candle existed for the remainder of the birthday song then lights out. We ate the berries and fondue, delicious. Then the bill came. I was charged $ 2.50 for the Sparkler candle. This was my first time here so I felt that the, «Should we do a sparkler candle?» should have been accompanied with a, «It costs extra.» Apparently this information is stated on the menu, but I wasn’t aware.

I came here with some work friends on a Monday afternoon after an event in the Hampton Inn. You can get here from the Inn through a couple of doors without going outside which played a part in our selecting this restaurant for lunch.
It was COMPLETELY empty when we arrived! As in ‘We thought it was closed’ completely empty. Because of this, I wondered if we’d made a poor choice, but it was actually pretty good!
Believe it or not, we only had food. No desserts and no drinks (besides water). I had the berry salad which is cutely served in a ginormous martini glass. It had strawberries, tiny wild blueberries and feta cheese with a thick poopyseed dressing. And it was tasty. The others had various combos of soups/​sandwiches and they seemed to enjoy them.
Our waitress was appropriately attentive. Our order did get a little mixed up with the one other person who arrived before we left, but it was no big deal and remedied quickly.

I so wish this place was in Fort Worth. It was a fun experience for us (my sister and her bridal party). There are a ton of martini flavors to try, as well as 3 pages of chocolate desserts on the menu! They also have food. I got the bruschetta flatbread, and it was delicious. My sister got the asparagus flatbread, and that was good, too. Another in our party got sweet potato fries, and they come with 3 dipping sauces — all yummy. Another girl got a salad, and it was served in a huge martini glass. She said it was very tasty. If I lived in Buffalo, I would be a frequent customer here. Our service was great and we had an awesome time.

I have only had drinks, so this review is for the drinks and the service. 4 of us had met up here around 9 pm on Friday night for some martini’s. Our bartender was super friendly giving us good suggestions on martini’s. Between all of us we had the chocolate banana cream pie, chocolate macaroon, expresso, smores, crème brûlée, salted Carmel, and white chocolate raspberry. They were all delicious! They are $ 9.95 each which I don’t think is a bad price. The only reason I took away 1 star is because of the cleanliness. The bathroom was dirty with the soap dispenser hanging off the wall, plates were left at the bar along the window and napkins and food on the floor. The menus were also very sticky. I would definitely go back for more drinks!

This is my favorite place to go downtown and for CHOCOLATE! I am a chocolate lover and get so EXCITED when I come to this restaurant. I have celebrated my birthday here, twice.
Had many dinner dates with my girlfriends and also had a former Buffalo Bills player Mario Haggan meet up here who enjoyed it as well.
I love how there are a variety of martinis to choose from. Employees are so friendly and caring. The food is great and prices are very reasonable!
I have not yet purchased a shirt. They have cute chocolate lovers sayings on them.
This last visit, I enjoyed eating eating outside. Small eating area but still great experience. I will be going back soon!

I honestly don’t know how to review this place. I have had amazing experiences, and I’ve had the worst restaurant experience I’ve ever had. So I feel very strange about this place, BUT, I shall try to review it.
Whenever I come for dessert or drinks, I am always beyond satisfied. The desserts are amazing and the drinks are very strong and very delicious. The presentation is also great.
The ONE time I came for dinner was during restaurant week… huge f-​king mistake. I came with 5 of my friends, (one being my sister) and we had a reservation. Our waitress was the biggest snot I have ever met in my life. She was rude, unapologetic, and incredibly snobby. It took about a half hour for our drinks to come out. Seriously. That’s not an exaggeration. And we saw them sitting on the counter but our bitch waitress didn’t bring them to us. Then, our appetizers AND entrees came out all at once. My food was cold. Not only that, but we literally didn’t have enough room on the table for all the food.
We asked the waitress for water, which she never brought, and one of my friends walked up to the bar and asked them to refill our carafe for us because our waitress literally was not coming to our table at all. They ran out of one of their desserts, which, okay shit happens. But part of restaurant week here, you were promised a rose at the end of the meal. They were out of roses.
Moral of the story, if you’re coming for drinks or dessert, rock on. If you’re hungry, run the opposite direction as quickly as you can.
The end.
X’s and O’s!
J

I have been to Chocolate Bar once before for drinks only, and this was my first time returning for food/​drinks for a friend’s birthday. The whole experience was just one thing after another.
Four out of the six of our party arrived while the others were finding parking. We asked the hostess if we could be seated as we had a reservation, and he stated we could only be seated if half of our party was here. My friend stated, well we do have half…4/6 people are standing here… we are waiting on two more who are parking the car. He then went on to say, well you have to wait for your whole party! and pushed is rudely to stand in the corner to wait. What? I could maybe understand waiting for the whole party if it was a crowded night, but the place was practically empty!
Our server seemed new and nervous, which is fine, we all start somewhere. But he spilled my martini all down the side of the glass and didn’t even offer to give me a napkin, just placed it dripping all over on the table. My hands ended up sticky and gross. I was also irked that I asked for a side of fries and was given sweet potato fries, which was not mentioned in the menu nor by the server.
We also whispered to the server it was our friends birthday and he said, ok got it! And he brought out a small burnt brownie with a candle. We were all changed $ 0.42 each for the CANDLE on our bill, and he even charged the birthday girl! Comon, never have heard of a restaurant that does this. Just kind of ridiculous if you ask me. It just seemed to be one thing after another at this place, doubt I will be returning.

I have been avoiding writing this review because I just do not even know how to begin, or what I want to say, in order to properly express my feelings of disappointment and frustration towards this restaurant. So, here goes nothing.
My first (and certainly my last) visit to this establishment was on a weeknight during this year’s spring restaurant week. I went with a group of 6, and we were all very much so looking forward to our dinner. The menu that was advertised was very appealing, and seemed to be a great bargain for the cost of $ 20.15.
So, most of us ordered martinis, as I was told I should do here. I had the chocolate covered pretzel martini, and although it was strong, it was pretty good… once I actually got it. We ordered our drinks, and waited at least a half hour before they were finally brought to the table. Now, I know you may be thinking, «it’s restaurant week, they were probably busy, you should allow extra time for being served,» etc. etc. Normally this is the case! However, there were empty tables surrounding us, and our drinks were just sitting up at the bar, ready to go, for quite a bit of time before they were brought over to us. This was the first of a few times our server just disappeared throughout the night.
When she brought our drinks over, there was no apology for the long period of time we had waited for them. I thought, «maybe she just forgot. Maybe she is a new server and this is stressing her out.» You know, trying to give her the benefit of the doubt.
Next came our appetizers, ordered in addition to the three course meal that was advertised on the menu. The appetizers followed the drinks about another 15 minutes later, and stomachs were certainly grumbling. We were relieved when we finally had something to eat!
To our surprise, our ENTIRE meal came out not 30 seconds after the appetizers. I had eaten one nacho when our server was walking right back over with everyone’s soups, salads, and dinner entrees. Normally on nights like this, the kitchen gets backed up and that is the reason for the food taking a while. However, the fact that everything we ordered came out at once leads me to believe that this was an error on our server’s behalf. Her continuous disappearing act resulted in a table crowded with too many plates. My dinner plate was hanging off of the edge of the table! Not only this, but the food was all cold. Cold mashed potatoes and cold French onion soup do not make for a happy guest.
I would have said something, at least about the soup, had I not seen it just sitting up on the counter while everyone else was eating theirs. I waited 5 – 6 minutes before our server returned, and I asked her for my soup. She went up to the counter, brought it over, and before she served it to me I asked if it was still warm. She lied, and said she brought it out from the kitchen, so it should be hot. I do try to stay calm and polite, but this was just getting absurd. I stated, «I think it’s been sitting on the counter since everyone else was served theirs…» And the server rolled her eyes at me, and without a word, brought the soup back to the kitchen to be heated up.
The soup was good when I finally ate it, although I was quite scared she may have spit in it, because her attitude portrayed her to be that sort of worker. All of my other friends stated their food was cold as well. Some had the chicken and waffles, and decided to just take the whole meal home so they could heat it up. We all asked for boxes because we really just wanted to get the heck out of there.
However, we still had dessert coming. The chocolate cake was dry and not fresh, which I expected, so nothing more to say about that. One girl at our table ordered the berries and cream, and her fruit was at least several days old, as it had that wrinkly look to it. Another girl ordered the dessert of the day, and they told her at the end of the meal that they had run out of it, so she could choose another dessert.
We had a carafe of water on our table that was emptied, and as our server kept pulling her «missing in action» act, one of the girls at my table walked up to the bar and had it refilled herself. Her service was the best of the night! Finally, there were long-​stemmed roses advertised on the restaurant week menu. This restaurant took reservations, so one would assume they based the count of roses that they purchased on head count. Well, I guess all bets were off this night, as they had run out of roses too. Basically, if you can think of something to go wrong, it went wrong. A manager never came over to apologize, our server never came over to apologize, & not that I expect compensation, but there was not a single thing removed from our bill. I have never been so monumentally disappointed in both a meal & its service in my entire life.
If someone asks me the worst restaurant in Buffalo, I will not hesitate to tell them it is Chocolate Bar. Unpleasant service, terrible food, will never return.

A downtown bar with a large dessert case full of cakes and pies? A martini menu that includes a giant 35 oz. «megatini» meant for sharing with chocolate straws? Massages & manicures accompanying martinis and cake? Even the name of the bar itself: «The Chocolate Bar», seems to suggest a non-​negotiable list of prerequisites of its usual patrons that include the donning of dresses (or pants suits), an affinity for kittens, an overactive sweet tooth, an insatiable desire to go shoe shopping and the uncanny ability to recall and recite lines from their favorite episodes of Sex In The City or Keeping Up With Kim Kardashian (I’m going to go on a ledge here, but I’m willing to bet those lines are: «Like», and «Whatever» and something stupid about her butt, probably). That’s right, I’m talking about women.
Keep in mind that The Chocolate Bar is a martini bar, but it’s not what you may think. You won’t find any secret agents slurping down gin martinis shaken, not stirred. What you will find are appletinis, strawberry & cream martinis and a whole slew of various other chocolate based martinis, to include that «Megatini» I spoke of for $ 70.
Some coworkers and I came on a lunch break and sat in a booth in the upper level. No Megatini for us because we needed to go back to work, so we just grabbed a bite. The corner we sat in was lit up with a tubular light strip, like the kind you might find in a strip club or a party bus, that kept changing color and blinking and gave us all headaches. There was the world’s smallest flat panel TV –about the size of an iPad– cheaply installed on the wall above my head was playing Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory on a continuous loop. The service was as slow as molasses. Even the upholstery on the booth seat rubbed me the wrong way: it’s plush and velvety fabric paired with my boney butt and jeans made my attempt to slide all the way to the center of the booth a longer and more cumbersome journey than Homer’s Odyssey was. Honestly, I hated this place…
…Until the food came and it TOTALLY REDEEMED ITSELF! Ok, I still only rate it as 3 out of 5 but the food was exceptional. Everyone raved about how good their meals were, and as much as I wished I could’ve jumped around the table and Little Jack Horner’ed everyone else’s food on the table like I was a kid in a candy store, I suppressed those urges and stuck to my own selections: Buffalo Chicken Chowder soup and the Buffalo Cobb salad.
The soup was really creamy and satisfying. It was a little spicy with chunks of chicken and celery and a tiny little pita. Two others had the soup at my table and each commented on how good it was. The cobb had an array of chopped red onions, chicken, smoky bacon and crumbled blue cheese arranged in neat sections across the bed of lettuce. It was aesthetically appealing and delicious.
Now, The Chocolate Bar may not be my cup of tea, but they certainly dish up some good food. If you are the type that loves sweets, wants nothing to do with huge flat panel TV’s playing sports updates and thinks the idea of sharing a giant bowl of appletini with your BFF’s sounds like a good time, then you’ll likely enjoy this bar.

Five of my friends and I booked a reservation for Restaurant Week 2015. The menu online looked great. Soup, a main course, dessert and a long-​stemmed rose for $ 20.15 per person. We were very excited. A few of us were going for the first time. I was embarrassed that I recommended this place.
The service was very bad. We waited over 40 minutes for our drinks. The restaurant wasn’t even half full. Our food took a long time. Our server brought over our appetizers, soup and main courses all at once. We couldn’t even fit all of the plates on the table. On top of that, the food was cold. Our waffles were dried out and the steak was cold. The server was only mildly apologetic and offered no remedy. She rolled her eyes when my friend asked if she could heat her soup back up. I will probably never go back. They didn’t offer any apology from the manager and still charged us full price for the whole meal, even though half of it was inedible.