Red Elephant Chocolate Café

I’m updating my review and bumping it up one star. I have gone back, and their hot chocolate remains delicious. I recently tried a pecan pie (truffle?) and it was very tasty. Some of their truffles were also quite good.
I bought two little boxes of sweets to try with my companion, with mixed results.
The box of 4 truffles (Africa Truffle Collection) included Caramelized Banana, Lemon Meringue, Crème Brûlée and Tiramisu. All were good, but the Tiramisu and Caramelized Banana were the favorites. I’d buy all of these truffles again.
The box of chocolates (Cacao Collection) wasn’t as impressive. The Caramel with Sea Salt was okay, but had an odd texture and was too salty. You have to find a good balance to make this sort of chocolate work. The Butter Almond Toffee was also way WAY too salty, and overall our least favorite. The Cashew Cluster was not very good, and I wouldn’t eat that one again. Lastly, the Raspberry Meltaway was our favorite. The meltaway was nice, and had a fairly subtle berry flavor.
The concept remains strange, as I’m still not sure how many people really want to go and sit at Red Elephant and nosh on chocolate and sip wine in the middle of the day. They have ice cream and shakes and all sorts of sweets, but the lack of anything else is strange. I’d go here often if they had soup or maybe sandwiches. Otherwise, it’s just not much of a café.
Their signage has improved, and it’s a little more apparent now that they are a chocolate shop that is in business! Nice work! The outdoor seating was a nice idea too, but I never actually witnessed anyone out there eating chocolate.
So I’ve given this place a fair chance. I don’t really like their chocolates, but their truffles are pretty good. Their hot chocolate is also great, but there is no dairy-​free option. I also feel like their prices are also a bit high.
Gail Ambrosius Chocolatier over on Atwood does everything better. I’d recommend going there for holiday chocolatey gifts. And Chocolaterian Café, also on Atwood, is a true chocolate café, with all of the sweets and food offerings one would expect. That place is fantastic!
Red Elephant is OK, but just pales in comparison to the competition.

Can’t speak for the rest of the place, but the Red Velvet cake is amazing. Like super amazing. Eat it often.

I am very happy that Red Elephant opened in Madison after I discovered it on a trip Milwaukee. The chocolate coffee is especially delicious and unique. It’s not as rich as a mocha, but it still has a good punch of chocolate. The chocolate candies are beautiful, and I have enjoyed the flavors of every one I’ve tried – which admittedly are only the dark chocolate ones. Give this place a try.

I was at a special event for work and they had these chocolates there. They are so good! I plan on visiting their place on State Street this next week, heard they have samples to try. They also have a place in the Third Ward area in Milwaukee where they make most of the chocolate right now.

The chocolate here is both beautiful and delicious. The café is adorable; definitely a nice place to sit and enjoy dessert or a drink!

Horrendously expensive chocolate — paid over $ 5 for two tiny pieces of chocolate, 1 ounce of chocolate total, one 1 cm x 1 cm chocolate caramel with way too much salt and another truffle that was good but not great (also 1 cm x 1cm). Each piece of chocolate is a little over half of an ounce meaning you’re effectively paying $ 45/​lb for chocolate — absurd.
Good, but nothing memorable and definitely would not recommend. There are no deals for buying multiple pieces and you can easily spend $ 20+ buying 10 tiny pieces of chocolate.
Would not recommend.

If you are looking for high quality chocolate, then this is your place. If you want cheap chocolate, go to the grocery story and buy Hershey’s or something.
Chocolate here is beautiful. A lot of it is hand painted. Mostly pretty tasty — I liked most, though not each piece, I have tried.
Good location — right next to the capitol.