Donnelly Fine Chocolates

My daughter and I were driving through Santa Cruz and happened to see the sign for Donnelly Fine Chocolates. We decided to stop to buy a treat for later. Wow! What a great choice that was! This little spot has the best chocolate ever! Milk chocolate sea salt was amazing. I will definitely make a point of stopping here again in the future!

I’ve always had an appreciation for artisans who strive for perfection in their trade and Richard Donnelly certainly fills that bill. Having studied the art of chocolate making in Europe, he settled in Santa Cruz and opened a small chocolaterie somewhat off the beaten tourist path at the corner of Mission Street and Bay.
His chocolates are seductive. Donnelly creates a broad range of flavors and textures you wouldn’t expect but are glad you found. As has been mentioned by others, his chocolates can be a bit more expensive than some. Nevertheless, stop into their shop. They are generous with the free samples giving you the chance to be adventurous before you buy; and by the way, this chocolate is worth every penny you’ve paid for it.

Oh man this place is the best. The salty caramel pecan bar is the most delicious chocolate I have ever had. Every time I pass by this place it is so hard to resist going inside. And their late hours make it tempting even at night!

We stop by yesterday and order the almond chocolate caramel ice cream bar. As always owner very nice. Same good service and great products.

The reason Donnelly’s chocolate is expensive as some reviews said is that it is local, handmade, handcrafted, and is the best chocolate locally in the world.
5 bucks for a good bar of chocolate is better than the 10 – 40 dollars people buy an overpriced burger in my book.
It is perfect. It is my expressed joy to bring new people in-​some have driven by it without knowing it was there. Then they try a piece and they are converted to utter bliss.
5 dollars supports a locally owned, family business that comes out with a good product daily that tastes amazing. don’t believe me? Go ahead and try it!
Plus those ice cream bars are the best on a hot day in Santa Cruz.
You can’t say no.
Really, you can’t.

omg so good! went here for the first time and the owner was very friendly and offered us free samples as soon as we walked into the door. Chocolate can be a bit pricy so choose carefully. Shop is quite small but definitely worth the wait!

If only the quality of chocolate was based solely on how much it costed, Donnelley’s would be one of the very best. Unfortunately that’s not the case in my book, and paying fifty bucks for fifteen pieces of okay chocolate makes me wonder how they manage to stay in business when you can get better stuff at Mackenzie’s, Sees, or even Safeway for that matter for a fraction of the price. Their selection is abysmal. I will never walk through their doors again.

Good chocolate! Reminds me of a store in St. Helena without the frills. My fiancé had the Sea Salt caramel and I had the Chai Truffle, Yum! Richard wasn’t super friendly, but he wasn’t rude. Just business-​like. We also found out that he has a special on Monday nights, truffles on sale for a dollar! Woo-​hoo! We will definitely be back!

Walked by Donnelly’s chocolate shop while staying in Santa Cruz. Stepped inside to see if they are indeed «one of the ten best» chocolatiers in the world, as advertised. I can’t say if they’re Top Ten, but the chocolate was very good. I was greeted at the counter by the co-​owner, who makes all the chocolates with his brother/​co-​owner. I just sampled the solid chocolate bars. The chipotle chocolate was really good, but sold out. So I ended up buying dark chocolate with sea salt. $ 5 per bar. Expensive, but you get what you pay for. Well worth the money if you’re into chocolate.

There are not enough stars to give! Excellent customer service and simply mind blowing chocolate. A most for true chocolate lovers.

To all the people complaining about the prices — If the owners were getting rich, would they be operating out of a hole-​in-​the-​wall storefront like this? So then, where’s your money going? Into the *chocolate*, that’s where. But here’s a cost-​saving option. Pick up some of Donnelly’s midnight-​dark cocoa — I think I paid less than $ 20/​pound — and stir up a few dozen mochas yourself at home.

Life is like a box of chocolate said Forrest Gump. Thanks to Mr. Donnely’s free sampling of his delightful creations, life is a little bit more predictable. Both the milk chocolate with caramel and milk chocolate with peanut butter melt in your mouth. It was so smooth.
I bought my dad a chipotle dark chocolate and we were also able to get a sample of that! I also recommend the dark chocolate raspberry truffle cookie sandwich. But my favorite of them all is the dark sea salt caramel ice cream! Can I go back in time, please? I love caramel. Dark chocolate is good for you. Ice cream for the hot weather. And well, sea salt just makes everything even sweeter! Let’s all scream for more ice cream.
Mr. Donnely was so kind. He even wrapped my parents’ chocolate in a box and even gave us a frozen water bottle as a cooler.
Thanks for your hospitality, Mr. D!
There is plenty of parking in the back, so don’t fret.

After the onslaught of folks at my favorite chocolate spot for Easter goodies a short time ago I’m glad the latest rush has passed. I am always delighted that Richard and Howard really make the visit to their store personable and special for me, even though I’ve been driving over the hill for my chocolate «fix» for something like 20 years. It’s one of the highlights of most of my out-​of-​town visiting guests — a trip to the finest decadent chocolate shop. The service is always like I’m family — every thing is checked for perfection. My latest love here — and I have many — is one of the chocolate cookies (I won’t tell you which one — I can be selfish with special chocolates).
This is not your ‘gobble-​down’ version of chocolate. Each piece is artfully designed, fresh and crisp — and to be savored to get the full effect. I’m one of the folks that does not like salt on any of my chocolates — but revel in the more unique flavors — cardamon, ginger, chipotle, and today tried a couple of tequila chocolate balls and truffles. My sister loved the gift box I brought home for her. Thank you!

Free samples! Yay!
I’ve always been greeted with smiles and attentive folks here.
That being said, the chocolate is very, very rich — a little bit goes a long way. I’m a milk chocolate fan, and love their plain bar. Some of the other flavors are a bit too much for me to handle, but that’s just my personal taste and others might disagree.
The main negative I can think of are the prices, where are out-​of-​this world. $ 5 for something slightly larger than a finger? Eek. I also enjoy a Hershey bar — which, gram for gram is about ¹⁄₂₀^th the price. Is this 20x as good? No way. It’s just different, not necessarily better.

The artisan chocolates at Donnelly’s are top notch – but I guess they should be for the price! I’ve stopped here several times over the past few years and Richard is always helpful with suggesting different flavor assortments.
My last trip was about a week ago and I was left entirely unimpressed with the service. I tried putting together my normal assortment of dark truffles, but quickly learned their offerings were limited. The surly blonde girl with a septum ring and dirty fingernails (and no gloves) at the counter mumbled something about being low on inventory after I struck out on the first two things I wanted. Okay. I decided to be a bit adventurous and get a few of the dark chipotle truffles (which were quite nice). However, when I asked for an additional two brandy truffles, the girl at the counter huffed «you already got the last four!» as though I was somehow acutely aware of the exact truffle inventory on the tables behind her…
I paid for my chocolates and left it at that. While the quality of chocolate here is excellent, the price is a bit much – especially when the experience includes counter-​staff with health hazard fingernails who act as though they’re doing you such a favor by serving you.

This is the goldmine of chocolate shops! EVER!
Walking in, you are greeted by smiling faces and a beautiful collage of assorted fine chocolates. There are truffles, chocolate bark, liquor-​filled truffles, sea salt caramels, fruit flavored chocolates, creamy and rich chocolates… you surely will have no problem picking something out for yourself or a friend.
It was amazing to see how hard the staff was working as we were checking out at the register. You can see the passion in their eyes as they fill trays and sculpt the chocoaltes into different shapes and sizes. And though I never doubted their sanitation, I couldn’t help but notice the use of hair nets, plastic gloves, aprons, etc. This establishment certainly cares about having a clean atmosphere.
What I found to be really lovely was the extra mile they went for us when we told them our box of chocolates wouldn’t be opened until about a week later. They explained how to keep them in the refrigerator to extend their freshness, and also sealed the box into an airtight bag along with a frozen water bottle to get them home safely. Going those extra steps to ensure our satisfaction was so great to experience as a new customer.
We will certainly make this drive back to the shop as soon as we can again.

Delicious! I’ve been wanting to stop in for two years now and I finally did – on a hot day. Of course, why not? Owner is super friendly, offers samples and sent us away with an ice pack so it wouldn’t melt, even though we live fairly close by.
It’s expensive – however the quality is obvious. The caramel/​dark chocolate/​sea salt is luscious. Definitely a place to treat yourself for a special gift for someone. Plus, it’s very rich and dense, so if you get one of the bars, you can share or save it for later.
I’d like to try the ice cream next time, even though it’s pricey, I have a feeling it’s delicious.

Rating — 4.5 Stars
Holy crap, that «$$$» for this store is no joke… such pricey chocolate! Man, and I thought those «Premium Chocolates» (e.g. Lindt, Ghirardelli, Godiva, etc.) sold in department stores were expensive. Boy was I wrong.
However, there is no denying that the chocolate here IS good. If you want to give yourself a reason (or excuse?) to come try out some of their chocolate, come check out this place for your dates, during holidays, or in my case, a post-​finals celebration!
I decided to get their famous Sea Salt Caramel (mine was milk chocolate), and although it was good, I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s «world famous». For me, there was waaay too much caramel and it overwhelmed the chocolate. It was like 70% caramel, 20% chocolate, and 10% sea salt… Maybe if I got their dark chocolate instead it would’ve been different, but I don’t see why it would be.
All in all, it’s good chocolate if you feel like splurging for some special occasion. Definitely ask for a sample before you purchase anything though!

Buying dark chocolate toffee today; however, I was really surprised how expensive the cost buying chocolate is here.

Small tiny chocolate shop with absolutely amazing chocolate creations.
Their sea salt carmels are tasty. They have been featured in Bön Appetit as well as National Geographic.
It is Chocolate after all — what’s not to love?!