French Broad Chocolate Lounge - Asheville, NC

Oh, my!

If you love chocolate, your mothership has landed!

I've read a few reviews that call this place expensive and refer to the staff as being pretentious. While it isn't exactly cheap, it isn't overwhelming. Although, anything adds up quickly when you have 4 kiddos.

Most importantly to note, though, the staff was PHENOMENAL. One young guy in particular, was probably the friendliest, most enthusiastic, most attentive service employee I've seen in years. I wish I would have caught his name, and I could kick myself for not having given him a bigger tip!

All in all, we ordered:

Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa
Salted Caramel Drinking Chocolate
Triple Layered Chocolate Ganache Cake
Cookies and Milk Ice Cream
10 truffles, with a few duplicates

The hot cocoa was our safety net in a comfortable flavor. Heavy on the milk, but still plenty of chocolate. I thought $4.50 for a hot cocoa was a little much, but you're talking to someone who has never been to Starbucks. They have tons of custom flavors and options available, so I guess if you go for something more exotic, the price tag isn't terrible.

The Salted Caramel Drinking Chocolate was the hit of the evening. I've never experienced drinking chocolate, and none of us had any idea what to expect. Oh. My. Heaven in a cup. It's a little hard to explain. It pretty much is melted chocolate with a bit of steamed milk. Heavier in substance than cocoa, but it still flows perfectly when gently sipped. They refer to it as a Melted Truffle, and it wears this honor well. Again, you have tons of flavor options, so have a little fun with this one! You'll be oh-so-glad you did! $4.50 for a cup of the drinking chocolate felt like a smart investment. And one I definitely hope to make again as soon as possible!

The Ganache Cake was yummy, too. The outside layer felt like it could have used a touch of freshness, but the inside ganache was perfect...  They had several options of cake slices, but this one was a definite winner for our collective palates. Next time, I'd like to try the Olive Oil Chocolate Cake, as it also looked amazing and sounded unique. Most of the cake slices ran around $5-$7 each. They weren't as generous as, say, slices from the Cheesecake Factory, but they were definitely larger than you'd get in the average casual dining restaurant.

Ogie is a little less brave, so the Cookies and Milk ice cream was his selection for the occasion. The lady who waited on him was quite patient as he sampled a few choices, and then she loaded him up with a generous double scoop that kept him quite happy. The kids portion was $2 and change, but the double scoop was more our speed at $5.25.

Ogie tried three of the truffles, but they were a bit too exotic for an 8 year old; so we divvied them up amongst the ladies instead. The girls aren't quite as brave as I wish they were, so we didn't get anything vastly avant-garde from the truffle selection, but we each got to try Peppermint, Hazelnut, Turtle, and Sorghum. The kids all gravitated towards the Peppermint and the Turtle. Mama Bear loved them all, and one day will definitely try some of the more unique flavors from their Signature or World Collections, like the Indian Kulfi, Masala Chai, Mole Negro, Earl Grey, and the Canela Picante...

Oh. My. Mothership, take me away!  

I'd love to list all your options. From truffle flavors, to cakes, to ice cream, to other cookies and desserts, to all the hot drink choices...  But, you'd be better off visiting www.frenchbroadchocolates.com

Or, you'd be even better suited to go there. Now. Literally. Don't even get dressed. Just jump in your car and drive. To Chocolate Heaven.


PS... Happy 12th Birthday, Bibby!