Dilettante Mocha Café & Chocolate Martini Bar

Dessert paradise!!! So many sweet things!!! Perfect dessert place and a yummy hot chocolate.

Love the food, but the server was having a really, really bad day. He hated and
resented us, and did not hide it. Slammed the dishes around and sighed
heavily… this was in late May, on a Friday afternoon,
and the place was not that full.
Perhaps his co-​worker had not shown up?
Great food, great deserts, but the service was really really bad.
(we tipped anyway, to give him the benefit of the doubt)
I will not go there again until I have to, when my out of state brother insists.

I love this place. I was visiting from Boston for a week for work and a co-​worker in the Seattle location recommended this place. The Rigo Janczi was my favorite (I think the restaurant also highly recommends this). I could spend a whole day here eating everything. Good service and good food too. I came here thrice — and two of the three times was really late, just before close, and the waitress still was polite and made sure I didn’t rush. I even got a few chocolates to take back home to Boston.
Also — this is a good place for a date! The salted caramel drink they make is heavenly and very appropriate for a date.

Recommended by a relative and did not disappoint. Ordered the Midnight Cream Mousse and was feeling a bit regretful. When it arrived, the mousse looked too rich for my liking. Well, after the first bite, my assumptions were shattered: the mousse was delectable! The chocolate was light and had just the right amount of sweetness. Every bite made you look forward to more. The cookie crust was also tasty. The next time I’m in Seattle, I hope to make a return visit.

We passed this place every night on our walk back to the BnB. It had always caught my eye, but I didn’t actually peek in until our last night. Their truffles seemed like the perfect sweet bite for the end of the day.
I selected one Strawberry and one Hazlenut. The the latter was in milk chocolate and tasted as if it had a liquor, which isn’t really my thing. I preferred the strawberry — it was dark chocolate and had the right amount of fruity-​ness.
By the cash register they had a bowl of white chocolate mints — very smooth and not overly minty!

I have passed by this location multiple times and always tell myself, «I need to try this place.» So… when my friend from out of town was craving some good hot chocolate I figured this was the time to go.
We entered around 3:45pm to an empty establishment and had our pick of ample seating areas and seating styles. The wait staff was very friendly and knowledgable. When they learned my friend was pregnant they even gave us additional options of drinks they could make ‘virgin’ and with limited caffein for her.
I indulged in a wonderfully made Hot Toddy (hot chocolate with brandy) and my friend got the regular hot chocolate (side note here… you can pick from about 6 different styles of chocolate for this drink… AMAZING). We also split the baked Brie which was delicious and served with some of the most savory crackers I have ever had. They looked homemade and I could have just eaten them by themselves (and I’m not normally a cracker person).
There was so much more on the menu that sounded delightful – I can’t wait to go back and try more. Probably try happy hour: M-​F 5 – 7. Great prices on drinks and some savory items off the menu.
Our bill was also garnished with peppermint truffles and they have little white chocolate mints you can grab on your way out. My internal chocolate loving persona was in heaven!!!

Oh come on a dessert bar is a default 4 star

Review: American sweet.
I like brownie with cake together
The top is almond
I like the bar with British style
The atmosphere is elegant and good for talking
⁷⁄₁₀
有滿足感因為濃濃的brownie 配上蛋糕。
面上是杏仁
美國人應該喜歡的甜
內裡裝修好高貴
酒吧有英式風格。
#相機食先 #seattle #foodblogger #foodtraveler #foodexplorer #foodofthday #食評 #foodie #foodsharing

I normally order cake slices to go here and I’ve come in a several occasional over the last 10 years for some late night dessert.
The cakes are good, nothing mind blowing. All the chocolate cakes are very rich but they aren’t overly sugary sweet like a qfc cake. Rich as in thick ganache and creamy real cream mousse. None of that artificial marshmallow whip /​frosting stuff. So if you love deep, dark ChocolAte, you will like it. The rigo jansci (sp?) is their «signature «cake. It chocolate ganache cake w raspberry. I can see why this cake is popular but I’m not a chocolate + fruit combo. I like straight up chocolate with coffee so the mocha praline cake is what I like. There is a bottom hazelnut crust with layered dark ganache, dark choc mouse in the middle, and mocha cream as the top layer. Pretty yummy. My favorite cake here is the strawberry chantilly. I love how it’s light, airy, and the right Amount of sweetness. Almost like a Chinese /​Japanese style cake.
The chocolate and espresso martinis are wonderful here. A nice liquid dessert! Generous generous pours ! One will get you buzzing .
My only complaint is that the service is always so slow. Every single time. The weekends are also very busy so plan on being there for a solid hour.

Awesome ambiance– desserts are delicious!
Chef Haley is fun, generous and kind. Highly recommend!
They are open now at 11am for lunch! The best croissants ever!

Came on a Sunday night with friends and it was quiet. A few other people dining in their incredible rigid and tight booth seating. We moved ourselves to one of the round tables instead – literally grabbed our own utensils, drinks, water carafe, and menus because we couldn’t flag someone down to communicate to them our desire to move.
We got the tiramisu, a Mocha Praline, and a Strawberry Chantilly cake to share. I liked it in that order, though, that’s not saying much. The cake in the tiramisu could’ve been more moist, and in general the other cakes could have used less sugar. The Strawberry Chantilly, in particular, was a huge disappointment. The flavoring tasted like Smuckers strawberry jam spread between cake-​from-​a-​box cake. It was comically bad.
The lack of service didn’t help either. We must have caught them in the middle of shift change or someone taking a break because we had 3 different people serve us. But not attentively. It took forever to get the bill, pay, and leave.
Sadly, I probably won’t return.

I have been here in the past and had great experiences but seems the management has changed? It went like this… The hostess, who turned out to be the manager, seemed quite bothered to have to seat us rather than send us to the bar for open seating (which she tried to do several times)…Meaning, she actually had to walk back and make sure a table was clean. She seemed quite annoyed at this tedious feat when we let her know that we would actually like a real table. She came back declaring a clean table to which she told us to go find ourselves rather than walk us there herself with the menus… Thats not the way it’s usually done, last I checked. Not a big deal though, on its own. We sat in our booth, in our jackets… freezing. It must have been 50 degrees in there. We sat and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited. And servers kept going past us… Our own server actually walked by us at least ten times without a word. After about fifteen minutes without so much as a «hello, I’ll be right with you». I got up to let whoever was our server know that we were ready to order. Our server came over… No «hello». No «I apologize for the wait». It was «what can I get you?» We ordered the Mac and cheese, a dessert and the truffle fries which on previous visits had been to die for. When the food came it was disappointing to say the least. The fries I had raved to my partner about, convincing her were a must order were awful! Tasted like yesterday’s lukewarm fries with rubbery cheese on top and no garlic. Microwaved?? Not exactly the way I remembered. The Mac and cheese was just ok. We asked for salt… It came five minutes later despite our server going back and forth past us. After a few bites and our already annoying experience, we told our server we would not be staying. This was not worth the prices or more importantly… our time. This is probably the first time I have left a restaurant in this way. I kept imagining this scenario on one of those restaurant critic’s shows and how badly the restaurant’s owner would get reamed. All around… A completely unacceptable dining experience. We wound up across the street at the Deluxe Bar and Grill, sat in a table by a warm fire and had some kick ass macaroni and cheese with excellent chocolate cake to finish off. The service was super friendly and fast.

Came in pretty late at nigh. Had tiramisu which was ok. Wanted Crème Brûlée, but they were out.
The tiramisu was alright and the coffee was also ok.
We were given a complimentary chocolate martini which was really nice, but over all it was just ok.
It’s a great place to stop for dessert or a good place to have a good conversation.
Service was very good and polite.

Great food.
Salted Carmel Martina was great.
Caprese toast was good.
Salmon and risotto was delicious.
Our bartender Danae knew the menu very well.
We went with her entrée suggedtion. The meals were do.good.
We also took dessert home with us because she explaon them so well.

It was odd that it was the weekend yet this place was mostly empty. The emptiest place I’d been in all night, hands down. We selected a table in the bar and were eventually greeted by a server.
The chocolate cherry martini I had was good, but the service is just soooo slow. I’d hate to see how long the wait would be had the place actually been full. I don’t know if I’d come back, but it was an interesting experience.

Good dessert, nice ambiance very romantic. Dessert was yummy — coupes can be shared between two. Warning: salted caramel ice cream looks like the espresso ice cream don’t be fooled! The salted caramel wasn’t great. However overall service was nice, dessert was yummy.
Parmesan fries are good but are thick cut — which was unexpected.

I can’t say much because we only came in to buy some chocolates from the display case to go. The chocolates we got (Strawberry, Hazelnut, Amaretto, etc) were all fine, with the exception of the Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel which was actually delicious.
However, we came here on a Sunday afternoon, and after visiting 2 – 3 other cocktail/​coffee places that were all packed, it was strange to see this place completely empty. We actually thought it was closed at first. There were cobwebs forming on some of the display shelves on the counter. Seems like this place isn’t being taken care of, perhaps?

Chocolate in all forms!
I’ve been a fan of this place since way back when they were few blocks down! And without chocolate martinis. Back then, it was all about chocolates!
Now in this newer (several years old) spot, they have chocolate martinis, full menu, pretty booths, chandeliers and a ton of chocolates. You can fulfill your chocolate addiction cure here till late night! How cool is that?
Love ~
chocolate mousse
Chocolate martinis
Kabobs
Chocolate drinks ~ choose your darkness!
And chocolates!
What else can a girl ask for!

Came here after dinner up the block and thought we’d grab some desserts to-​go. It wasnt busy at all, so we were able to look at the desserts in depth and choose a few to our liking.
Large selection of chocolate truffles but we didn’t partake. We decided to get a lemon bar and a slice of the raspberry cheesecake. Lemon bar was pretty good, lemon curd had good tartness to it, not overly sweet and would totally get again. Raspberry cheesecake was nice as well, the cheesecake was quite fluffy & light, sorta whipped like, not dense and thick. Raspberry flavor was good, not too sweet and graham cracker crust was tasty.
Glad we came in to try some things out, pricing was pretty high for the size of the slice you get, so not sure how much I’ll be back. The cake desserts in the display case may be for display only as it took a good 7−10mins before we got our slice, I think they cut the slices in the back and package it up for you. Not really a organized system when doing to-​go, you order, wait around for a bit, 2 or 3 people working the front will ask you if you ordered yet, another person will bring out your order and ask around if you ordered what they are carrying. So keep your ears & eyes peeled for your order.

«Death by chocolate served in many forms.»
Disclosure: leave all diets at the door because this review contains a lot of chocolate.
Dilettante is one of my favorite dessert places and is my primary «go to» spot when entertaining guests from out of town or craving something sinful and decadent. The service is top notch, the ambience is relaxing, and the dessert selections are abundant. The dessert menu spans multiple pages and attempting to try them all can push one’s blood sugar to critical levels.
Dilettante is known for their truffles, chocolate martinis and signature coupes. Carefully crafted sweet drinks served in a white chocolate laced martini glass with a dark chocolate dusted rim. I recommend trying the various selections of chocolate martinis or their drink of the month feature. I have tried their salted caramel ephemere martini, mint kiss, valencia spirit, lavender lemonade, and blueberry martini. The drinks have never disappointed and the presentation is quite impressive.
This Café offers various cakes, truffles, and signature coupes for dessert. You can also view the truffles and cakes on displays by the cashier. I recommend at least trying the mint fudge brownie coupe, chocolate rendezvous, and rigo jancsi. The mint fudge brownie coupe is two scoops mint brownie ice cream, fudge brownie pieces, Dilettante Ephemere Truffle Sauce, and vanilla whipped cream. The combination is heavenly and the ephemere truffle sauce takes the ice cream to a whole new level. The rigo jancsi is a chocolate mousse, chocolate génoise, raspberry preserves, and chocolate truffle glaze. Need I say more.
Dilettante does offer some dinner items however desserts is their forte. They also offer boxed truffles as gifts and patrons can select from a variety of flavors. This is one dessert spot I hope will never go away.

I never rate a restaurant on service. Never. That should give some indication of how awful every interaction (or rather, non-​interaction) with our server was. We sat for 15 – 20 minutes before getting water, and another 20 before getting the drinks we ordered.
We arrived for happy hour and the drinks and mussels were good (though we had to wait a long time for them, and the drinks and food arrived together — why? I want to start on my beverage immediately), but the zucchini croquets were inedible. Cold, chewy, and we left them rather than eat them at all. When the server eventually came by to ask how the food was, I ventured to say that we couldn’t eat the zucchini (another first for me! I NEVER complain, that tells you how bad they were) and the waitress awkwardly thanked me and then ran off. Huh?
The martinis were delicious, but could I stand that awful service again? I don’t know. Also, I don’t know if I could recommend any food that isn’t desert. We didn’t have any but they looked delicious. The mussels were very good, but given the sample size, it seems pretty risky that our food was 50% good and 50% inedible.

This place was super busy on a Friday night! We came here after dinner at Altura since it was across the street and we wanted more options.
We each ordered a cocktail, I went for the refreshing one with gin (can’t remember the exact name), and it was OK; not great.
The baked Alaska dessert was really intense but pretty good. Sweet, but tolerable. The crème brûlée wasn’t great — probably shouldn’t have ordered that at a chocolate spot. My bf ate the whole lemon bar with a few bites so he loved that. I’m not normally a dessert person, but the baked Alaska was unique so I’d recommend it to those who are a chocolate fan. It’s not just chocolate but it’s a sweet surprise.

We decided to stop here after dining at Poppy’s. It’s a few steps away. I like this place for its ambience. Here’s why.
You will notice it’s dimly lit. Very loungey. It has three different areas to be just closer to someone you feel like you «admire.» The one behind the dessert display where the bar is my favorite. Check it out. It’s made for sexy time. Then there’s the area to the left and to the right as you walk in. Go deeper on either side. It will afford you more privacy to reconnect.
Ok. Are the desserts great? It depends on what you order and what your sugar tolerance is. The tiramisu is best for you if you prefer a mild amount of sweetness. The cheesecake for medium amount and the Salted Caramel Baked Alaska will use all your sugar quota for the whole week. But it’s my favorite. It’s rich and very smooth.
So it’s also a martini bar. But it’s a date place to me. Very «adult» in there. Get your sexy on as soon as you go in. You still got it. This place will wake up even the dead part of you!

After walking past this place many times a long time ago, I always wondering if it was just over-​priced, sub par fancy desserts!
Surprisingly enough — after dinner one night, we decided to stop in for a dessert date and had the peanut butter cake. One of the best desserts I’ve had in a really long time. I’m a peanut butter lover and it was mighty delicious.
Our experience with the staff was a little interesting, but nothing to complain about. We were introduced as one person being our server, but someone else came over and took our drink order — and then after a little bit of the bartender keeping an eye on our table and seeing no one come back, he came in took our order. Short and simple — just a little awkward.
Neighboring tables had food — looked good, but can’t speak for taste.
Great place to go for a dessert date with a casual, fun environment.

So I have good news and bad news…
Bad news: they decided to change their meatloaf recipe. I thought I remember reading that their meatloaf recipe was a traditional family recipe or something… so I didn’t even think that they would change it. It used to be 2 – 3 pieces of well done, finely ground meatloaf with some red (marinara?) sauce, and some fingerling potatoes on the side drizzled with olive oil and vinegar. But… NO MAS! Now, the meatloaf is one thick slab of mystery meat, pink-​ish in the middle, looking a bit too much like raw ground meat to me and it now seems to be swimming in olive oil. Yes, it is still wrapped in bacon, but even the bacon looked like it wasn’t even halfway done…
Good news: their customer service rocks. When I asked them about the change in the meatloaf recipe, the waitress acknowledged that they did recently change the recipe and apologized about my disappointing meatloaf experience. She then came back and took the meatloaf off of the bill. YAY! I hadn’t expected that, because I suppose maybe some people like their meatloaf thick, gray-​ish and pink-​ish… I’m no food expert, I can barely scramble eggs.
More good news: the December cake of the month is black forest cake. As a child, my dad would take me and my sister to a local bakery on Sundays to get whatever we want. I would always opt for a black forest cake or a rum ball. I was hesitant to try Dilettante’s black forest cake at first, because it would be impossible to compete with my childhood favorite… or so I thought! Dilettante’s black forest cake is light, fluffy, and not too sweet. I hate to admit that I’ve been to Dilettante about 5x this month just for that cake.