Michael Mischer Chocolates

The Madagascar vanilla gelato is the best vanilla I’ve ever had! Great service too. He was very helpful.

Their gelato are SO good. My favorite with LUSH in Piedmont. They have very good chocolate too, a bit pricey but worth.
I didn’t like their latte, too milky and disappointed they don’t make iced ones, especially in summer it’s annoying to have to drink hot coffee with a gelato.
5 star for gelato, 4 for chocolate, 3 for coffee.

Gelato review — it was good but nothing super special that felt rare or would necessitate a return trip. Seems like I should only come back to try the chocolate.

Chocolates are decent and ice cream is average. However everything is overpriced and the staff is rude. Don’t bother.

Recommend the dark chocolate bar with cacao nibs. So smooth, slightly bitter and just the right amount of richness.
Buy 12 get 1 free. They keep a manual log in the store for you.
Keep an eye out for some of the seasonal flavors. They are unique and not too sweet.
They do web orders for those who don’t want to venture to the East Bay, but the minimums and the shipping rates are pretty gnarly. I am super lazy, but not stupid.
This is much better in my opinion than many of the other local chocolate shoppes in the East/​South Bay and SF.

These chocolates are excellent. They are unusual in that they have a slightly crunchy coating with very smooth fillings. They are elegantly presented and decorated. The chocolates are not cloyingly sweet which allows the fillings to stand out. These chocolates are definitely among the top chocolates available in the Bay Area.

Perfect after dinner spot for a sweet treat.
I was expecting the chocolate to be super expensive, but it actually pretty reasonable. The woman working gave me a free sample of the champagne (which I thought was just okay). I ended up getting the dark salted caramel and the mint coconut. Both delicious! I will be back to try the gelato next!

Ice cream that tastes freezer burned. It also had a sticky hard exterior to it, I imagine because the product does not move quickly enough before going stale. Also, the portions were terribly undersized and the staff is less than welcoming.

We had read about this place in 7×7 magazine and who wouldn’t want to try out a new chocolate store? It’s small but the chocolates are really good. MY wife and I couldn’t really decide what to get so we asked the owner’s suggestion but he was pretty vague and really said it was up to us. Not super helpful but everything we got was really good so that part didn’t even matter.

Only tried his truffles, but some of them are really amazing and intense. That baked apple, salted caramel, and coconut got to me. The baked apple really has that sweet… well… caramel baked apple taste… with these strong shot of brandy. Yum yum yum. The salt flavor in the salted caramel is so strong, the caramel is so clear, and at the end of sucking on that piece there are some residual salt pieces that sit on your tongue. yum. The chocolate itself is nice, clear, and really well tempered… All of mischers chocolates are also filled only with this fondant… at least the ones I got – so don’t be expecting any cream or ganache. Sooo smooth, so beautiful though! It’s pretty worth an experience.
Just saying, get the truffles in a bag, so it’s cheaper. Get an ice bag because truffles melt, duh. And no whining about price, because artisanal chocolates are meant to be 2.50 or so a piece.
Chocolate bars, tried them and… Well, yeah they’re special flavors but I didn’t taste anything particularly super unique about them note wise. Maybe it’s an unrefined palate or something, lol. My own biased opinion. Try the truffles tho.

This place was just alright. Went in for the gelato and the person serving us was very persistent and kept trying to make me get more than 1 scoop… Which is fine, but after I said I only want 1 scoop twice then you should probably stop. It was weird D:
The chocolates looked decadent, and yes — very expensive.
The store itself is kind of confused. There are cute little tables but there are also jewelry cases filled with random jewelry and other stuff — was it for sale or just for show? That was pretty weird, haha! Otherwise the store is cute. I’ll have to come back for this 11 $ chocolate bar everyone keeps talking about!
The gelato wasn’t bad, I got Dark Chocolate and it was flavorful. Sad though that the gelato isn’t made in house :(
I would probably/​maybe go back…

Okay, I’m just going to go out and say it – I fix bad days with one scoop fig and almond gelato, one scoop vanilla. The salted caramel gelato is also quite delicious. We tried some of their chocolates but we didn’t care for any except the root beer and I’m guessing its because we’re in the midst of a major root beer obsession. However, real pretty and clean displays, nice quiet shop, and excellent gelato.

Small chocolate and gelato shop on Grand Ave, a few blocks up from the Lake and Theatre. Pretty large space for a local chocolatier. I guess they make the chocolates in the back as well… The chocolates there are definitely expensive. More expensive than Le Chocolatier Blue and some other «better known» places. A box of 6 truffles is $ 17. But they use really high end product and it shows. Chocolate bars at $ 10, and were solid.
The revelation for me was the gelato. Some of the best gelato I’ve ever had — even relative to Italy and Buenos Aires/​Argentina (which was my previous best). $ 4.50 for the Medium size, which was like 3 large scoops. I got the salted caramel and dark chocolate. What I noticed right away about the salted caramel was the shine… like caramel. Both flavors were AMAZING, and tasted less «creamy/​milky» and more rich caramel-​y and chocolate-​y. A little more dense and rich and DEEEEELICIOUS.
I would say they have the best gelato in Oakland, straight up. It almost made the chocolates an afterthought.

Salted Caramel gelato. Blue Bottle Coffee gelato. Delicious chocolates that can be salty, sweet, and spicy. Ability to sample and then wonder how much of an overdraft fee you are willing to pay for to purchase an armful of succulent wonderfulness to bring home. Indulge and possibly share, if you’re nice.
This gem of a store is tucked away on Grand and well worth the stop time to sit and be in sweet, sweet heaven of flavors you know you want to go back for and the overwhelming decisions of which chocolates to bring home.

If there is anything truly «magically delicious» it’s Michael Mischer Chocolates. Each nibble is an adventure and worth the journey! Love the gelato, too.
There are 2 downsides here– Price and Service. Prices are high, service is low. Several times I have been in and worked with clerks who are not friendly, seem like they can’t hear or understand your questions or requests, and actually disappear for extended periods of time. I’m sure that employee training (or replacement) would increase sales and justify the pricing.
But the chocolate and gelato are so good, I’ll be coming here anyway.. . and so will you!

A hidden gem in the Lakeshore, Grand Avenue area — Michael Mischer is a solid chocolatier. He is a trained pastry chef, but his foray into chocolate making is not too bad. This is a good find near our place, and they also sell good gelato (Naia).
Here’s a review of the chocolates I tasted (MM = Michael Mischer):
Fleur de sel
— Ok, all the chocolatiers I’ve been to almost always say that their ‘fleur de sel’ is their signature piece. But for my palate, MM’s take is the winner. The others I’ve tasted tend to go on the sweeter side, but MM has the right amount of bitter dark choco against slightly sweet salted caramel. My fave MM piece.
Peanut
— MM has two offerings: creamy peanut in milk choco and creamy peanut in dark choco.
Being a dark chocolate lover, I’ll pick the latter. However, both are very hearty pieces, which is characteristic of MM. It’s quite big too for a bonbon.
Hazelnut praline
— MM’s hazelnut praline is as nutty as can be: it has a big nut in the middle of 72% dark choco. Love! But I think I still like Recchiutti’s version slightly better.
Marzipan
— So I gave this a try even though I have almost concluded that I hate marzipan-​filled chocolates. It’s not terribly bad, but it’s still a marzipan and this piece didn’t change my mind. It’s still too sweet, though not as sweet as the others I have tasted (ehem, Cocoabella).
Lavender Honey
— MM’s piece is better than some that I’ve tasted in this category (ehem, Chocolatier Blue). The dark choco really stands out and the lavender honey adds a soft touch.
Coffee
— This piece is really espresso in a chocolate. Hearty! I like it!
Coconut
— Blech!
Bourbon
— Yeah baby! This is a man’s man chocolate! I feel tough just biting it!
OVERALL VERDICT:
Overall, the look of MM’s pieces is a little rustic, which in a way complements the hearty flavor and character of his chocolates. They’re good, but if he could just refine his pieces a bit, then he could compete with my fave chocolatiers (Nuubia Chocolat and Christopher Elbow).

Michael Mischer chocolates are definitely for the adult crowd. At 2.50 a pop, you don’t want to let a kid loose in here, lest you want to rack up an exorbitant debt.
If anything, two chocolates are more than enough. The rep is very helpful, offering recommendations and advice. The chocolates themselves are very rich too — it’s best to take small bites to truly appreciate them.

I’m a sucker for good chocolate, so I had to drop into Michael Mischer after lunch nearby. I know good chocolate isn’t cheap, but there is no way I’d pay $ 11 for a bar of chocolate. Sheesh.
I thought I’d try their gelato. It turns out that they don’t make it in house because the favors have little tags showing the gelateria naia logo. That’s fine. I like that place. I was still hesitant to purchase knowing this because I wasn’t sure how old the gelato is and it was looking kind of old.
This is where they went wrong:
My boyfriend asks, «How much is one scoop?»
The employee snaps, «We don’t have scoops. WHY DO YOU ASK?»
What?!
Obviously we wanted to buy gelato and we wanted to know how much it costs.
He then adds, «The small cup is X, the medium is Y…» But really, why didn’t he just say that from the start? The guy really rubbed us the wrong way.
Boyfriend bought gelato anyway because he was curious about the whiskey flavor. He also got a scoop of cookies and cream. The gelato was very icy and bland. What a waste. We totally regret giving this place any business. Save your money.

Fancy pants chocolate. If you are looking to get your main squeeze, family member, coworker, yourself a special treat or an «I’m sorry» gift (to help get out of the doghouse) this is the place.
Upon walking in the sweet aroma of chocolate hits you and immediately the sweet craving takes ahold of you. There are many types available in bars, truffles and they have gelato! There was a small sugar free assortment displayed on a table. With so much to choose from it makes decision making difficult.
I bought a few pieces of solid small dark chocolate (72%) hearts wrapped in foil ($ 1.50 each). I don’t mind paying a little more for quality chocolate. It will pair nicely with some red wine.
We sampled a baked apple truffle ($ 2. each) it was rich with a lot of liquid apple flavored filling. After I took a bite it started to crumble. Poor Hubs he had the falling apart portion. It wasn’t pretty but still taste just as good. He liked it.
The store is very clean, open layout and the employee was friendly. He offered us samples of the gelato. We passed since we had the truffle and we were heading to dinner. There were around 10 flavors. I remember the Nutella, tiramisu, single malt whiskey and biscotti, probably since they are all things I enjoy.

LivingSocial had a deal on their chocolate bars so I took the opportunity to sample the chocolate of this Oakland-​based chocolatier. Greeted by a gentleman inside the store I explained I knew very little about their chocolates, and I had only heard of them once in a review written by Unilocal friend Toni M. The gentleman then proceeded to give me a short but very informative history of their chocolate and their products. He then left me alone to decide on my purchases.
Since the coupon deal was only for their chocolate bars I made a decision to try only the 65% cacao products for fear that the 72% ones might be too bitter. I didn’t even consider the 38% milk chocolate bars. I selected two, the Toffee & Murray River Salt (
) and the Fruit and Berries (
). These were actually very good and topped with quality ingredients.
My running buddy (also on Unilocal), Sara A had dropped me in the neighborhood so knowing that she also has a fondness for dark chocolates I decided to pick out a gift box of assorted filled chocolates for her. The gentleman picked out most of the pieces, but I did add a few that seemed interesting. The 12 piece assortment was made up of mostly dark chocolates with the exception of one. I wasn’t surprised that when Sara decided to break into the box she took a bite of half of each piece and offered the other half to me. This grossed out her boyfriend who was also present, but here’s what we sampled:
All Dark (
) — I was a bit bothered by the seismic crack on the outside shell, but the center was very smooth and truffle like.
Baked Apple (
) — The flavor from the outer shell overpowered the subtle caramel apple flavor in the smooth, runny center.
Caramel (
) — An instant classic. We both liked this!
Champagne (
) — If there were spirits inside neither of us could taste it. We did find some muddled fruit inside presumably grape.
Cherry (
) — I was quite surprised by the tart overtones in the cherry-​infused dark chocolate center, and I loved that there was actual fruit inside.
Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel (
) — Our favorite! Loved the contrast between the sweet and salty caramel center and the slightly bitter outer shell.
Espresso (
) — Smooth chocolatey center flavored with actual bits of coffee bean and sweet cream. The outer shell was thicker on this one though.
Kentucky Bourbon (
) — Super creamy center but sadly only a faint taste of heat from the bourbon.
Lavender & Honey (
) — Definitely a taste only a girl could like! I think this was the closest I’ve ever come to eating soap!
Orange Zest (
) — Loved the exterior detailing on the outer shell and its orange peel like texture. The dark chocolate cream is infused with a very distinct orange flavor that actually left a bit of orange peel bitterness on my tongue. Nice!
Marzipan (
) — I’m not a big fan of almond paste, but my friend loved it.
Milk Chocolate Salted Caramel (
) — As expected this was much sweeter than the dark chocolate version but still very good.
Included inside the box was a full color foldout (
) with pictures of their delicious chocolates. The store also offers chocolatey drinks, gelato and chocolate-​inspired greeting cards.