Monique's Chocolates -- 4/5

Ok, so maybe truffles and hot cocoa don't exactly qualify as lunch.

It's been a rough week.

1. Food -- 5/5 The fantastic thing about eating out with other people is that you get to try more of the menu than you would alone. Especially in a chocolate shop where truffles are labeled according to their exotic single origin. My friend and I split two chocolates: the "House Blend" truffle, mixture of Belgian dark chocolate and San Francisco milk chocolate, and a Fleur de Sel caramel. I preferred the truffle -- caramel is a little too sweet for me -- but they were both wonderful and totally hit the mid-Winter quarter stress spot. We also ordered hot chocolate, because this place is kind of famous for it. I got the Dominican Republic variety (74% dark), any my friend got a dark-milk blend. Wow. This is what hot chocolate should be. And the two tasted totally unique from each other -- not just on a dark vs. milk level, but they each had very different flavors. More cocoa than sugar, which was a nice change.
2. Service -- 3/5 Pretty average. Not crappy, not stellar. There was some mishap behind the counter, and we were held up for a minute or so by some missing receipt paper or something like that, but no big deal. Eh.
3. Price -- 3/5 Let's face it: two to three bucks is a lot of money for a piece of chocolate, even if it is really, really, really good chocolate. The hot chocolate is more reasonable -- about the same price as the same product as Starbucks, and much better.
4. Location and Setting -- 4/5 Great location on Bryant Street, right across from the back entrance to Three Seasons. The store itself is shiny, white, and deco, but honestly it felt a little sterile. Doesn't go so well with all the exotic chocolate, but my interior decorating tastes are a) questionable and b) irrelevant.
5. Good for... girl time. At least that was my impression. Oddly, the only other customers were some businessmen mid-negotiation. Hmmm. A new way to soften up the opposition?