Chocolate Walking Tour Chicago (warning: lots of pics)

A couple of weeks ago, I purchased an AmazonLocal deal for a 2 hour Chocolate Walking Tour downtown. After thoroughly enjoying the Chocolate Festival in French Lick earlier this year I thought..why not? Whenever we go downtown as a family we always do the same things and go to the same places and I wanted to see a new part of Chicago for a change.

"We just came for the chocolate!"

The tours are run by Great Food Tours and I scored 4 tickets for $19 each, normally tickets cost $50 and there is no way I would spend that ($200 for my entire family, not happening). You have to book your tour online before you can attend and when you meet the representative he has your name to confirm that.

We were told to meet at the Wrigley Building on Michigan Avenue at midday, Im not really sure why we couldnt meet at the first chocolate place and save some time, but we did as we were told and met up. The rain was rather cold, wet and dreary so the thought of chocolate was probably the only reason my kids were there :-/.

Around 30 of us eventually congregated. We were given a brief introduction by our tour guide who forgot to introduce himself (someone eventually asked him his name, Jason) and we headed off to our first of seven chocolate destinations. We were also informed that because we were part of the tour we would be offered 15-20% off all purchases in the locations we were about to visit. Result.

1. Teavana, Nordstrom Mall, Michigan Ave.
   
   Warm chocolatey tea awaited us. None of us really liked it but it was a great warm start to a miserable day. The staff were great and introduced the two kinds of teas we were invited to try aswell as Teavanas every day free tea tasters. After a few sips it was quickly onto location no. 2.
   
   
   
   
   
2. Vosges Haut Chocolat, Nordstrom Mall, Michigan Ave.
   
   
   
   Hooray! actual chunks of chocolate to taste. Uber friendly staff but quite a small shop for all of us to fit in at the same time. We were given individual chocolates to taste and allowed to roam the free tasters around the shop, it was great. I had a particular favourite because it reminded me of a chocolate from home. There was also a box of ridiculously expensive $400 chocolates!!
    
3. Leonidas Chocolate Cafe, 59 E Chicago Ave. 
   This particular place turned out to be my favourite, it was also celebrating 100 years of business. The staff were very friendly and introduced themselves and told us about their ingredients. My girls insisted we bought their croissants and I had a vanilla slice which tasted similar to those from home :) We were served a tasty truffle and it was the first of many water, bathroom and seating stops. There was sometimes quite a wait between locations due to the fact that we made sure we all stayed together and we had a few who were loitering. We actually stayed at this location for a lot longer than wed hoped and waited outside in the cold.



4. Glazed and Infused, 813 W Fulton Market.
   If I hadnt been taken to this location I would never have found it. Tucked inside the lobby of the Raffaello Hotel is the home of Glazed and Infused which serves the best doughnuts Ive ever tasted. Gooey and melt in the mouth tasty the servers boasted that the first batch of doughnuts when served warm sell out in 45 mins. The samples we received were full sized and a little too big, neither of us could finish a full one. None the less they were very tasty!!!!
5. The Goddess and the Grocer, 25 East Delaware Place
   
   Our next store was a bit of a surprise but none the less very tasty. We were offered a piece of 7 layer cake and a delicious cookie. Most of us took a store bag and opted to "save it for later" as both offerings were rather large especially after the full doughnut. We were able to sit and rest for a few minutes before heading off to our final destination. Before I sat down I had a peep at their delicious quiches, cheeses and cakes. hmmmm



6.  More Cupcakes, 1 East Delaware Place
   Another one of my favourites the staff were really pleasant and held a little presentation about the history of More Cupcakes. We were offered a triple chocolate, chocolatey chocolate cupcake with extra chocolate which was bitesize and completely manageable. I asked the server how many times a day she said the word chocolate and she replied thousands! Jason informed us that this was indeed the end of the tour and that all tips would be appreciated. Hmm we wondered whether to tip but seeing as though we just followed him across roads and he wasnt too chatty or entertaining we chose not to.

The Goddess and the Grocer - quiches hmmmm

The Goddess and the Grocer -British crackers

More Cupcakes

More Cupcakes

Price: 19 AmazonLocal deal - would def not pay the regular $50, we only hit 6 locations and not 7 as stated

Entertainment: We didnt have a very entertaining tour guide, the staff in the stores were awesome. 

Verdict: Definitely a great way to spend a rainy afternoon in the Chi if you can get a Groupon Deal, bring walking shoes, I had packed a container for the treats we couldnt eat but we were offered bags to store foods for later :)