The Chocolate Festival at Ghirardelli Square

A few weeks ago, I got a coupon for 50% for 15 tastings at the Annual Chocolate Festival at the Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco. It was a no brainer, we immediately bought the tickets and looked forward to a day full of chocolate in the city.

We got really excited looking at all the different vendors they had, especially Ciao Bella Gelato among others. So on Sept. 11, bright and early, we headed into the city. (Well not too early as we like to sleep in a little on Saturdays and have brunch.) Upon our arrival at our Ghirardelli Square, imagine our dismay at the humongous crowd we saw, with super long snaky lines of people all waiting for their tastings! 

View from afar. I know it doesn't look that packed but wait til you get inside.

These people are mostly waiting in line.

We figured we didn't really want to wait too long for a tiny taste of chocolate so we chose a few that we wanted to try. We got to try pistachio caramel popcorn, a bite of bread, a tiny chocolate pancake, freeze dried fruit, a brownie bite, and I think.... that's about it.

Bread bites, I believe.

We did sit down to watch an R&D guy from Ghirardelli explain how chocolate is made but we didn't stay for very long.

Almond Spiced Popcorn

Sure, we would have wanted to try the chocolate martinis, chocolate infused teas, or mini Ghirardelli sundaes but we felt the portion in ratio to the wait in line just didn't cut it. But it was fun looking at all the different stuff they had on the menu!

And it was nice to spend a day out exploring San Francisco which we ended by having dinner in Chinatown. I know we would have enjoyed it so much more if there hadn't been such a huge crowd and a minimum ten minute wait to get a small bite of something that would fit in the palm of my hand. But at $20 per 15 tastings, I guess the value was ok. (We got ours for $10 though plus we got one more free for paying with visa, thanks to Living Social.) It was an experience in itself, but not something we're looking to repeat next year. 

Maybe the San Francisco Chocolate Salon would be less stressful more up our alley?