Pain au Chocolat

The shattering crisp top layer left flakes all over my plate. That was a promising start. The croissant had an encouragingly tall stance and did not squish in my hand. Unfortunately, it was the density of the dough that gave it that resilience. And that made each bite a bit more of a chore than I’d like in an afternoon treat. The chocolate was concentrated to one side, which did not help make the bites more pleasant, though it was tasty where it showed up. I have higher hopes for the pistachio chocolate croissant.

Since this is from a Provençal-style restaurant, I’ll refer to it as a <<chocolatine>>. It still disappoints. Flabby, mostly tasteless, and a little stale by early afternoon. It looks like one of the industrially produced and finished on-site pastries common in France. But those at least have a buttery richness. Not the forgettable neutrality of this chocolatine’s dough. There’s very little flake and even less textural contrast. The chocolate is the saving grace here. It is pliable and a little sweet. It’s just not enough to save the pastry, no matter how it’s pronounced.

This is an elegant shop with trompe l’œil ("fool the eye") cakes on display. The chocolate croissant is also elegant and is not out to fool anyone. It’s tall and well structured with a flakey crust. The inside is soft with lots of airy layers. The dough is rich and flavorful, though a bit dry. The chocolate is rich as well, not too sweet, but a little off center. Not that the plain bites are bad, but they’d all be better with more chocolate. You’d be a fool not to visit when you’re in Ljubljana.

At first glance, it’s very blond. But, them, I’ve seen a lot of blond people in this city. It’s got a flaky crust, too. Though I’ve seen no evidence of flakiness in the people of Slovenia. And while my visit to this city and country have been quite flavorful, the croissant is lacking some. The layering is delicate and airy. The chocolate adds a nice sweet note, though there’s not enough of it. I’d recommend sticking with the local favorite pistachio croissant.

The Italians know what they like. This is a croissant (and a good one) with chocolate cream injected into the center. Like crossing a cannoli with a jelly doughnut. But in croissant form. And with chocolate. It doesn’t stick with tradition, but it’s tasty. Flaky outside crust and soft airy layers inside. The chocolate cream took a little getting used to and doesn’t pack the same toothsomeness as a bar. The strawberry garnish was an unnecessary flourish, in keeping with the faux fancy atmosphere of the cafe. But those small complaints don’t take away from the innovation.

An okay pastry from a utilitarian shop on the edges of a business district in a tourist town. It’s got some color on the outside, though not a lot of flake. The inside is nicely airy and layered. The dough is heavy and buttery, but lacks flavor. The chocolate is nice, if a little sweet, but it’s all piled up on one side leaving a few unpleasantly dry bites.

Sometimes you’re driving down a ling country road and something grabs your attention, demanding you pull over. So with tires complaining, I arrived at this bakery. It was the promise of baguettes that lured me in; the chocolatine was an opportune addition. In fact, the baguettes were the only winner. The exterior was more soft than crispy, the interior was flakey, but flattened too easily. And the dough was on the dry side, despite being quite heavy with butter. The chocolate was nice, though.

This coffee shop differentiates on the novelty of its beverages. I was disappointed, but not surprised that their chocolate croissant was not as well thought through as their yuja latte. The chocolate stripes over a flake less crust did not allay my fears. The dough itself was at once squishy and dense, heavy and dry. Even the chocolate inside could not redeem this one. Is there a place for quality old stand-bys in a world driven by disposability and the endless quest for attention? That’s perhaps a question too big for a humble pastry to answer. But, either way, this isn’t the shop to be asking it in.

Full disclosure: I’m biased in favor of Stella Pastry. It’s one was one of the first cafes I remember visiting in San Francisco, it’s a neighborhood legend, and they still make the best sacrepantina cake I’ve ever had. But this is not a good chocolate croissant. It’s flat and heavy with a muted flavor way out of proportion to the amount of butter leaking into the wax paper. Go when you’re in North Beach. Try their cannoli, try their tiramisu, but leave the croissants to someone who hasn’t read this blog.

A surprisingly rich pastry for a cafe that specializes in Yemeni coffee. It has a nice airy lightness to balance the rich chocolate, too. It even has some flake. Despite this promise, the dough is bland and too dry. And there not enough structure, so it winds up squishy. Next time, the Dubai chocolate croissant...

Tucked in the corner of a strip mall, this place has a wide variety of baked goods. The chocolate croissant has a golden shell, though not much flake. The chocolate is rich, though it’s clumped to own side which leaves some bites sadly plain. It’s a little too bready on the inside - perhaps to be expected from a bakery that leads with its breads. It’s a rich bread, but missing the contrast of fragrant air and delicate dough layers. But, if you go on a weekend, you may see classic cars in the parking lot. So that’s something.

À lovely looking pastry - dark on top with pretty ridges along the sides. It complements the view out over a creek and its tree lines bank. And the pastry does have some nice flake, a good flavor, and a pillowy soft mouthfeel - mellow, like the flow of the water outside. Yet it needs more butter to make the taste richer and more interesting, akin to the colorful birds flitting from branch to branch. The chocolate is clumped and congealed, like a stream that has run too slowly. And yet, as I can’t take my eyes away from the shimmering water, I can’t keep my hand from reaching for another bite.

They’re tiny, which is probably for the best. These unexpected pastries are a little flat and are missing the delicacy of airy layers. They’re also missing some flavor. They are, though, quite buttery and surprisingly flakey. And despite the breakfast buffet misspelling, a nice taste of France in the South Pacific.

I neglected to take a photo of the pastry itself, so this photo of the logo on the door will have to suffice. The chocolate croissant was not much to look at - a little too blond and a little too flat to get excited about. The chocolate was stingy in volume and application. And there was a firmness or staleness to the many layers of dough. It was quite flakey, though. It did have a good flavor as well, until an unpleasant almost metallic aftertaste. I know chocolatines are hard to find on Alameda island, but maybe it’s worth crossing the bridge to look for a different bakery.

the dark brown rock appearance is not encouraging. But the pastry tastes better than it looks. Despite a hard outer layer, the inside has some softness to its layers. The chocolate is sweet but balanced and spreads across most of the pastry.

I was worried by the chocolate stripes on the outside and the standard butter croissant shape. But, despite the unorthodox decoration and shape, it’s a reasonably tasty pain au chocolat. The pastry could be flakier, but it’s airy. The chocolate is a little sweet for my taste, but it covers most of the bites. I’ve had better in Paris, but I’ve also had worse!

It looks pretty, with a marbled outer shell and lofty coil. It tastes even better! The outer layers are crisp and even manage to flake despite that shell. The inside is soft and airy, with the right amount of buttery richness to complement the chocolate. And the chocolate is where this croissant shines. It is soft and velvety, generously accenting every bite of the admittedly small pastry. It’s sweet and rich, light and complex. The Swiss are known for chocolate. This is a reminder of why. My only complaint is that I didn’t get two!

The chocolate is the star here. Not surprising for a chocolatine from a chocolatier. It’s rich and balanced with nuanced fruit notes. It draws you back for another bite. I don’t even mind that the chocolate is brittle (Geneva is quite cold outside, after all). Unfortunately, there’s not enough chocolate in the croissant - just one stripe down the middle. And for a pastry as lofty as this, that leaves a lot of bites alone with the relatively bland dough. It’s missing flake in the crust and softness in the interior layers. There is some butter, but it somehow all goes to creating airy layers, leaving none for flavor. Visit if you’re in town, but stick to the chocolates.

The sugar glaze and chocolate sprinkles were harbingers of a subpar pastry. The pastry is dry and bready - closer to stale wonderbread than laminated layers. If there was butter used, I can’t taste it. The crust left a few crumbs on my tray, but no flakes to speak of. The chocolate inside is fine, but does not redeem the whole thing. Its only saving grace is that the cafe is one of the few open on Sunday.

Sometimes the experience of a chocolate croissant goes beyond the palette to encompass the environment it’s eaten in. The richness of the dough is intensified because it is mere minutes out of the oven, the warm scent of sweet butter wafting up to fill your nostrils. The crisp, flaky crust mirroring the crunch of snow underfoot. The soft airy interior capturing the essence of the high altitude morning sun. And the creamy chocolate punctuating every bite, a delightful contrast to the cold on your cheeks. This is truly a croissant for all the senses.

It’s a mini chocolate croissant from a maxi breakfast buffet. It’s a French pastry in a proudly Alsatian (Germanic) town. Lots of philosophical contradictions, but the flavor is all aligned. Rich and flakey, crisp outside, soft and airy inside. There’s not much chocolate, but then, it’s also a small croissant.

A pretty good pastry for a train station coffee shop. This restaurant leans into the Italian vibe. But, it being Paris, there are plenty of croissants for morning commuters. It is delightfully rich and soft. The chocolate is tasty and well distributed. It’s a little dense, but that provides a nice toothsomeness. It could also be a little more flaky on the outside. If you can find a seat, consider one.

This frozen, bake-at-home pastry has the distinct advantage of being baked fresh right before being enjoyed. It is flakey and rich with a light center and crunchy crust - even without the recommended egg wash. The chocolate is, unsurprisingly, soft and well spread. Although it had hardened by the afternoon. This particular rating is higher than one might expect due to the extraordinary setting in which it was consumed. If given a choice I strongly recommend eating yours in a Nortgern California redwood forest.

It’s chocolate. And it’s croissant. Just inverted from the standard presentation. Clever and right up my alley. The chocolate is good. The croissant, unfortunately, gets lost. There are some bites that have a little crunch and salt, but it does not approach the pain au chocolat experience. Though, it does keep longer on the shelf.

The dough is rich and has some nice airy pockets between buttery layers. Unfortunately, it also has a metallic aftertaste that’s not so pleasant. The chocolate inside is nice, but there’s also a drizzle of chocolate over the top. Combined with the powdered sugar on top, it’s overall too sweet.

The pastries are not particularly French. But it is on a corner. So that’s something. The chocolate croissant is not particularly tasty, though. Which is a shame. The chocolate sauce drizzle on the outside was a warning, but it’s not so bad. There’s not enough chocolate inside, leaving plain bites. But even that can be overcome. Most unfortunately, this is a bread and not a flakey layered pastry. There’s no buttery richness and no airy loft to the dough. It’s just a sad chocolate roll. If you’re in a pinch nearby, try the apple turnover. It’s not French. But, as I said, neither is this bakery.

This one’s name goes back further than the previous one’s oven, but the Chocolatine is better for it. Pale to look at, it’s missing a crisp crust, though there is some flake. There’s interior is soft and light with a little buttery flavor. The chocolate carries it, though, smooth and distributed into every bite.

This pastry comes from the oldest working oven in France. It’s from the 18th century and the bakery makes sure you know it. It’s dense, like it contains the ghost of every croissant baked there in the last three hundred years. There’s a flakey, crispy crust. And the chocolate is tasty, if a little concentrated in the center. But it’s like biting into a baguette. Maybe the other baked goods benefit from a well-seasoned oven. This Chocolatine did not.

This is a delightfully messy pastry. It leaves flakes on the table and butter on the fingers. The contrast between the crisp exterior and the airy interior is good. Though, I would have appreciated a little more chew in the center. The sweet butteriness in the dough is offset nicely by the smooth dark chocolate. I only wish it was spread across every bite. Overall, a good introduction to Bordeaux.

I’ll cut this one a little slack because the pastry comes by way of a local tabac shop. Still, it barely meets expectations. At first glance, this is another very pale pastry. It’s missing the flakey crisp crust. And, while there’s some airy structure within, it’s missing the pillowy softness. There’s some butter left on my fingers, but it’s largely flavorless. And there’s only a tiny amount of chocolate!

This one’s from a permanent stall in the municipal market. At first glance, items not promising - puffy but very blond. And, indeed, it tastes a little undercooked, with a slight metallic finish to the taste. But the pastry is nicely firm on the outside and soft inside. There’s a good amount of flake on the outside. And a nice airy loft to the dough as well. It could use more chocolate, though, which was stingily applied. Overall, worth a try if you’re in the region and looking for a morning pastry.

Impressive for a train station pastry. There’s some nice flake, a firm outer crust to contrast with the airy layers within. Some rich buttery flavor as well. The chocolate is a little harsh and toothsome for my taste, though. Save a euro or two over the fancier boulangeries in the station and enjoy this one while you wait for your gate to be assigned.

This pastry would have been disappointing even if it hadn’t gotten squished inside a bag on the way home. There is no flake or texture to the crust. In fact, the folds compressions from its journey provide at least a little visual interest. The dough is flat and uninspired, with no space for air even before it was pressed thin. The chocolate is the only saving grace here, as the rest has no flavor. Consider rolling it into a tight ball next time and see if it fares any better.

A perfectly forgettable chocolate croissant. It’s a nice allegory for the journey of Blue Bottle itself from a finely crafted and sought-after delight to serviceable item but one that doesn’t deliver on its promise. It looked good in the case with a golden color and a crackly exterior. But it didn’t flake on my first bite. It was airy inside, but bready without any buttery richness. The chocolate felt perfunctory, providing a sweet contrast, but wasn’t particularly generous or chocolatey. Better than not having a pastry, but a shadow of what it should be.

The croissants have an impressive amount of airy loft for being so tiny. They’re crisp on the outside and, unfortunately on the inside, too. The drizzle of chocolate sauce across the top doesn’t add much, but looks pretty nice against the pool in the background. The pastry itself is probably only two and a half croissants. It gets an extra half for being so cute. And the rating goes up by entire extra croissant for the beautiful Napa valley resort-life setting.

Sometimes a little blonde can perk up your day. This pastry, for example, looks a little light at first glance. But that flaxen exterior is also pleasantly flakey and crisp. The interior is impressively airy, with big caverns between layers of soft sweet dough. There’s only one bar of chocolate, though my disappointment was lessened by its intense rich flavor and smooth consistency. This blonde is no joke.

It’s flakey and crispy, soft and airy, rich and sweet. Everything I want in a chocolate croissant. The top layer shattered on my first bite. The chocolate was soft and smooth, adding to the subtle sweet butter flavor permeating the pillowy dough.

This is not a chocolate croissant. Though it is a laminated dough pastry with some chocolate. It also has pastry cream and a cavernous space in the center. They call it pain suisse. And it’s tasty. The pastry cream adds sweet richness to most of the bites that balances the butter note in the chocolate. The exterior is crisp, but not flakey. And the dough is more brioche than croissant. But most importantly, this is not a chocolate croissant.

The coffee is spiced with cardamom. The croissant is pretty standard. The exterior is flakey but not very crisp. The interior is fresh and a little bready. The chocolate is sweet and smooth. It’s rich, like the coffee. But could use a little something to stand out.

This is a pretty good chocolate croissant. The crust has got some flake and there’s a nice loft to the inside. Some butter comes through in an aftertaste and the chocolate is tasty, though a bit stingy. My overall impression is that there’s nothing that stands out. And, while the Ferry Building Farmers Market isn’t known for low prices, I hope a $6 pastry would stand out.

This pastry did not look promising. And, unfortunately, it lived up to expectations. Deflated and weirdly mottled on the outside, my expectations were pretty low. The first bite confirmed that one was dense, dry, and missing any flake to the crust. It was also bland, like it was a performance art piece about a dinner roll in a post-private-equity Red Lobster that’s cut the cheddar and bay for cost reasons. The chocolate is not bad, but can’t make up for the rest.

This is one of the most expensive chocolate croissants reviewed to date. Not surprising given the fancy address and fancy chef. It’s almost lives up to those expectations. Delightfully flakey and crisp, the outside contrasts nicely with the downy soft inside. The chocolate brings a balanced sweetness and is distributed nicely through just about every bite. If it wasn’t January cold outside, I expect the chocolate would be softer, too. But for this price, I’d have thought they could afford to put so more butter in their dough. Alas, it’s not as rich as its celebrity chef. And possibly not as tasty as him, either, but that’s a story for a different review blog entirely.

The review pastry for this one comes with a caveat. It was frozen a week ago and reheated before tasting. With that in mind, it’s tasty. The outside is flaky, the inside is pretty soft. The chocolate is well distributed, but a little sweet. The big miss here is the butter - the dough is a little dry and doesn’t have the richness I’m looking for. Try it fresh and see.

The top of this one has been glazed, which gives a nice crispness but also an unnecessarily sweet after taste. Unnecessary because the sweet smooth chocolate already contrasts nicely with the rich buttery taste of the airy dough inside. It also masks the delightful flakes sure to cover your plate (or fingers). Still, if you’re nearby, stop in to pick one up.

The place is as hipster as the pastry is tasty. There are two patrons wearing honest-to-god woolen beanies (in LA!) and unusual flavors like tahini or babka croissants. But this croissant is classic, with some flake on the outside, lots of soft layers, and a rich flavor to the dough. The chocolate is tastefully sweet and contrasts nicely with the butter. It could be a bit crisper on the outside and the chocolate could be a little smoother. Still, be careful, a few of these and you may wind up walking around in a beanie, too.

It looks like a croissant, a little blonde, but with layers and space between them. But it tastes like a dinner roll. All bread and no butter. The texture is firmer than I’d like and the outside is not flakey enough. The chocolate bars appear to be an agglomeration of chips. I’d suggest trying the Kouin Amman, but it tastes the same. It may be called Souvenir, but I’m going my best to forget it.

Who doesn’t like a good comeback story? I last tried this croissant during the shop’s soft opening and it underwhelmed. It seems they have worked on improving things in the interim. This pastry is crisp on the outside and nicely soft and airy on the inside. It has that nice rich buttery flavor and a bonus third bar of chocolate. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it running up the steps of a museum in Philadelphia.

The first thing I noticed is the weight. This is a dense pastry. Fortunately it seems to be heavy with butter. The outside is flakey and there me a crispness to the dough that’s not unpleasant, though I’d like a little airy softness between the layers to balance that out. The chocolate is tasty, but congealed into firm bars that miss too many bites. Consider finding a friend to share one with.

I’m cutting this pastry some slack because I tried it the day after it was baked. Sometimes you’re walking back from dinner and you stop into a gelato shop and discover that there are also chocolate croissants. The gelato’s not going to last until the morning and I prefer my breakfast to involve a little chewing. So, this croissant was a better choice. And even the overnight wait didn’t reduce the buttery richness or the balanced sweetness of the chocolate. The dough was a little stale, but I choose to imagine it soft right out of the oven.

The coffee’s good here. The chocolate croissant is not. It’s bready, but like bread that’s been least out for a few days and wasn’t very tart to begin with. There’s no crisp or flake on the outside and no lift or richness on the inside. The chocolate’s not bad, but it’s all congealed and unpleasant to bite. I had to double check that this pastry didn’t accidentally come from the day-old basket. It might as well have.

This comes frozen and bakes at home. The idea is to get the benefits of a fresh baked pastry without having to leave your pajamas. The reality is this a very disappointing pastry. It doesn’t taste like much of anything. There’s very little flake on the outside. It’s chewy and doughy on the inside, without much lift between the layers. The chocolate is good and soft (being just out of the oven), but not enough to redeem the overall experience. And, sadly, the house does not even smell like fresh baked pastry. But the pajama part is nice.

Don’t be distracted by the crispy strips on the top. Sure they add to an already delightfully flakey exterior, but the real prize is inside. The soft interior is airy and lofted, layer after layer releasing puffs of butter-tinged steam. The chocolate is rich - almost too much - but it is spread through every toothsome bite and brings out the sweetness of the pastry dough. Ignore the traffic rushing by outside and any burning debris on the street to duck in and try one yourself - preferably right out of the oven!

I failed to write notes when eating this pastry, but I did record my disappointment in the rating given.

This is the boulangerie attached to a chain grocery store, so lower your expectations. Still, they’re likely to be missed. I’ll start with the good - the taste is buttery rich. Unfortunately, it’s all downhill from there. The dough is flabby and compressed, the exterior is a little burnt, and the chocolate is condensed on one side. Stick to the chouquettes.

A delicious study in contrast, this pastry has earned the line at the downtown bakery. It’s delicately crispy on the outside - to the point of shattering into delicious flakes - but still the right amount of pillowy soft chew on the inside. It’s rich and buttery enough to require a full napkin, but doesn’t overwhelm the palate. And the sweet chocolate is balanced by a delightful sprinkling of salt on top. Put your contradictions aside and get in line!

Perhaps it’s not surprising that, in a region known for heavy food, this pastry is not light and airy. It’s dense and heavy, with enough layers that it’s a workout for the jaw. The chocolate is smooth (like Tennessee whiskey) and plentiful. And the pastry is rich and buttery, which only added to the weight. The outer layer is not crispy, but that may be because mine travelled to the airport in a takeout container. You might have better luck fresh from the kitchen, but I doubt it.

There are lots of colorful croissant-adjacent pastries on display here. Fortunately, this chocolatine keeps it simple. The inside is light and airy, with some softness. The chocolate is rich, but congealed into firm little bars. What’s missing is the crisp flaky exterior. Maybe they sacrifice it with a lamé to get a more photo-ready design on top. Or maybe the Quebec humidity inhibits it. You might be tempted to try the ‘enrobed’ version instead, but restrain yourself. A dip in liquid chocolate does not improve the situation.

At first glance, this is a very blond pastry. Indeed, there is no flakiness or crispness to the outside layers. And the dough inside is dense and firm. But, there is still an appealing contrast of textures. The flavor is rich and the chocolate is good. The whole chocolatine is more, in the case, than the sum of its parts.

It glows like a golden softball. The outer layers are crispy and flakey, leaving my fingers too buttery to turn a double play. Inside, it’s exorbitantly airy. Individual layers of sweet dough stretching high enough to steal a home run from just over the fence. The only error here is the chocolate. While tasty, it’s clumped all to one side, like a rookie pitcher afraid of the strike zone.

[Guest review by Joaquin]

Nice and flaky. A little stingy with the chocolate - more croissant than chocolate croissant. Bread was buttery and the bread inside was a little over-smushed. Overall a nice croissant to enjoy in the Sacred Valley!

[Editors note…. That was a surprisingly good croissant. I probably would have given another 1/2 or full croissant, but Joaquin knows what he likes]

It’s crispy and flakey on the outside, leaving crumbs and buttery fingerprints everywhere. Inside, the dough is rich, but bready. The chocolate leans to one side, giving a few naked bites. It’s well balanced, however, dark and smooth. Aside from being camouflaged as a plain croissant, it almost all comes together.

They’re out of chocolatines by noon, but recommend the chocolate danish. It’s made from laminated dough, so there are layers in the spiral, and it’s surprisingly crispy. And lots of chocolate. The ratio is too skewed to the chocolate side for my palate - maybe not surprising for a croissant reviewer. An interesting change of pace, nonetheless.

A flat, squishy pastry that is unaccountably dry on the inside. No crisp flakiness, little chocolate in a miserly little stripe, and a woeful lack of butter. Maybe the hotel lobby location isn’t most represtative, but stay somewhere else.

A fancy shop and a good looking pasty. The outer layer is flakey, but that belies a slightly flabby texture. The inside is airy with big cells between the layers of dough. It’s rich and savory, with a soft melting texture. Where there’s chocolate, it’s good, but it’s only in half the bites.

It’s a pretty pastry in an up-and-coming neighborhood. The finely layered outside crust is crispy and flakes delightfully. The inside is soft and airy. The dough is a bit chewy, though, stealing some of the joy. Fortunately, the chocolate is well balanced and spread evenly. I’d just like a little more of it.

It’s pillowy soft and finger-licking rich. The chocolate is smooth and balanced, spread evenly down the center lane. And the outside is a lovely browned shell. If it had some flakiness, it would be divine.

The chocolate is good in this one. Sweet but balanced, rich but complex. It’s also smooth and spread pretty evenly. Unfortunately, the dough is flabby and bland. There’s very little flake and no loft to the layers. The patisserie is in Marché Jean-Talon, a sprawling outdoor market for just about any food you need. It is a lovely place to enjoy a pastry. Just, maybe consider enjoying a different pastry there.

It’s bigger than your average chocolate croissant. That’s about the best thing I can say about it. The drizzle of chocolate outside doesn’t quite mitigate the lack of chocolate inside. The real tragedy is the dry dough, missing any moist richness that butter should impart. They say history repeats, but I don’t recommend repeating this pastry.

Two big pluses: first, these are bake-at-home, so the convenience and aroma are hard to beat. Two, they’re mini croissants, so they’re cute and you feel less guilty eating more than one. If only the quality was as good. They stay pretty blonde (though the margin to burnt is dangerously short). And while an extra egg wash might have helped that. It wouldn’t help the mushiness of the interior. Frozen foods are difficult! Nonetheless, there are some layers and a richness that compliments the chocolate well.

The pastry is soft and rich, like a flakey brioche. Each bite invites you to take the next one. The chocolate is sweet and surprisingly crunchy, like there are baking chips mixed in. Sadly, half the chocolate is missing. As if conquistadores had come through and carted it back home along with the precious metals. Or perhaps missionaries appropriated it to build grand confectionary cathedrals in the name of their delicious deity. Whatever colonial metaphor you choose, it needs more chocolate.

[Guest review by Joaquin]

”Took me four bites to get to the chocolate.”

”Croissant is a little mushy.”

”New York, you can do better.”

This baked good does not inspire confidence on the shelf. The first bite confirmed that assessment - a tough bread-roll like texture and not a lot of flavor. But the third bite opened a wide river of moist sweet chocolate carved deep into the center. Maybe it’s the altitude talking, but I may have to try a fresh one tomorrow.

Maybe I’m sleep deprived - it is early - but this one’s surprisingly rich and flakey. And the chocolate is tasty, though a little stingy. It was toasted, so there’s even a nice crispness to make up for the lack of a soft airy center. I wouldn’t fly to Lima just for this pastry, but if you find yourself here…

I know the name of the place is “Vanilla” but this chocolate is delicious. It’s smooth and creamy in every bite. Way better than expected from an airport stall. If only the pastry was as good. It’s bready without any crisp or flake. The richness of the chocolate almost makes up for the lack of butter.

The chocolate here is sweet and balanced. It could be smoother, but I won’t complain because that’s the only bright point in the pastry. It’s bready and dry, with a flabby pale outer layer. There’s very little flavor, too. Semifreddi makes good bread, stick with a loaf.

It’s rich and layered. It’s got some nicely sweet chocolate and some flake on top. But it’s missing some flavor and missing some crispiness. Enjoyable, but it doesn’t rise above the pack.

The butter and chocolate combine for a rich flavorful bite. And it’s got a nice top layer with a little flake. Befitting the name of the coffee shop, there’s even a nice toothsomeness to the bite. But it’s more of a brioche than a croissant.

The idea of Texas often evokes the idea of bigness. This croissant fits in nicely. It’s got lots of air between the layers of pastry pushing up a crisp, flakey dome. The chocolate is tasty, but it could be bigger. Unfortunately, like the arid plains to the West, though, it is dry (though, it contains no tumbleweeds).

I’m reviewing this on the questionable math that a butter croissant plus a chocolate hazelnut begniet equals a chocolate croissant. It does not, but they are tasty. The croissant is rich, with waves of soft and moist inside pastry inside. It’s also got a nice crisp and flake on the outside. But, it does not have chocolate. The begniet does. Well, it has a dollop of Nutella oozing from its h center. Alas, a little fried doughnut can’t compete with the complex sweetness of the croissant.

The Swiss are known for their chocolate. And that’s what really carries this pastry. It’s sweet and balanced, smooth, but reasonably well distributed. The dough is bland and efficient, though I’ll refrain from comparisons to the local culture. It lacks flakes, but that’s not a bad thing when trying to wheel a carry-on around confused tourists.

Just like a gloomy snowstorm can take all the charm out of a mountain town, this pastry takes all my hope out of an otherwise charming boulangerie. It’s bready and dry, flat and pale. The chocolate is tasty and there’s a little flake left in the bag. But, like a light dusting of snow at the beginning of the season, I’m left disappointed.

For a train station chain shop, the texture of this croissant is surprisingly delightful. It’s crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. The first bite is full of rich, slightly warm chocolate. Unfortunately, the rest of the flavor is as delayed as my train is. There’s no rich butteriness to be found coming down the tracks. And, like the station agent I was hoping would help with rescheduling my train transfer, the rest of the chocolate seems to have completely disappeared.

Late in the afternoon, this pastry looks a little worse for wear. Then again, after trekking halfway across Paris, I probably look a little rough, too. It tastes good enough - the chocolate is smooth and even and the pastry is rich and balanced. The pastry is squishy and deflated, though. Still. it plays as a sweet foil to (and a better choice than) the bitter dark hot chocolate I got to accompany it.

A softball sized delight. Flakey and crisp on the outside with a soft and airy inside, the texture is just right. And while a softball should not be buttered, lest it slip out of a waiting glove, a croissant should be buttery and rich, to reward into a waiting mouth. It’s absent here, leaving a pleasant but forgettable flavor. Except for the chocolate. That is tasty, but it’s all smashed together on one side, like defensive players in the overshift - not good for the game or the mouth.

An unassuming pastry at first glance, but don’t be fooled. The outer layer is as crispy as it is dark, while the inside is delicate and airy and soft. The chocolate is sweet and plentiful, distributed well across the croissant. Even though it makes for a strong contrast when biting the dough, the chocolate could be a little softer. My only complaint is that it needs more butter. They’ve kept it moist, but I’d like to have a little more flavor.

A lovely croissant. It’s nicely shaped with airy pockets, a crispy outer layer that sheds some flakes, and a rich butteriness that the napkin remembers. The chocolate is tasty, too, but there’s just not enough of it!

This was a late-in-the-day pastry, but that only affected the color balance of its photo, not its deliciousness. The crust was delightfully crispy while the interior stayed pillowy soft and airy. A tough trick to pull off at any time of day. The dough was rich and buttery enough to make the pile of flakes that were left difficult to pick up. The only drawback is the chocolate, which had gotten too hard and clumped to one side. But who among us hasn’t felt the same at the end of a long day?

I wanted to like the pastry. Someone dipped its butt in chocolate - that's cute! Unfortunately, it did not live up to its coating. It is airy with some good layers and air pockets between. But it's all looks and no taste. Literally. The dough is soft, but tastes like...nothing. There's not butteriness at all. And the chocolate is pretty tasteless, too. A little sweet, but that's it. Even the Hershey miniatures left over from Halloween taste more chocolate than either the filling or the coating.

Magnificent. From the first bite, the moist richness of the butter welcomes you. Even before that, the crisp, flakey outer layer invites you in. And then you’re cushioned by layer after layer of the airy soft interior. The chocolate is rich and smooth, more like ganache than melted chips. Alas, the only flaw is in the chocolate - there’s not enough of it, so some bites are only of delicious naked pastry.

It looks nice, the outside is crispy, and it leaves flakes all over the plate. But it’s downhill once you take a bite. The interior is crispy as well, missing the soft give between your teeth. Beyond that, it’s dry, without much buttery richness. The final fall is in the chocolate. It’s clumped in a few places and tastes too much like a skinny Hersheys bar.

It’s got a nice flakey crust. And the interior has a lot of airy layers. It's missing something. While it’s not dry, there could be more buttery richness. And there could definitely be more chocolate - there are two scrawny little dots in the mountain of pastry. So that’s two things missing.

This pastry gets some credit for creativity - boldly eschewing the traditional rectangle and crisp flakey crust for a round pillow dusted with chocolate chips and powdered sugar. That’s about all the credit, though. The interior is bready without any layers, and the chocolate is thinly and inconsistently spread. And finally, the whole thing is just really sweet - I guess the powdered sugar should have been a warning.

This one is a little weird. Let’s start with the pastry. There’s some flake to the outside and some butter on the fingertips. But it’s fairly flat, looking almost deflated. And it’s oddly chewy. But the chocolate is where this really takes a left turn. Rather than the traditional bars of chocolate running through the pastry, this has a soft layer spread across just about the entire thing. Which would be a positive if it wasn’t a little gritty and a lot flavorless. No sweetness, no bitterness, no richness - I wonder if they used carob on accident.

This one is more personal than others I’ve reviewed. This is the cafe I first remember trying a chocolate croissant. In fact, back in the day, because of a friend who worked here, I had an entire case of chocolate croissants. And I recall them making up a significant percentage of my calorie intake for that week. Perhaps my taste has changed since then. Certainly the cafe and my friendships have changed. Still, this is not a great example of the pain au chocolat. It’s bready, with none of the layers that make the best of these pastries delicious. As a result, there’s very little flakiness on the outside. And it’s a dry bread, missing the butter. It does have some tasty chocolate, but that’s not enough to save it. Enjoy the white hot chocolate drink they invented here, skip the new chocolate croissant.

Surprisingly good for an airport grab and go restaurant! Flakey with a nice crispness to the layers of dough. And there are lots of layers. The pastry feels moist, even though it tastes a little burnt. The chocolate is good, but, like legroom in an economy seat, there’s just not enough of it. If you’re through security at CDG, stop by!

It’s got some airy loft to the dough inside. And that’s about the only thing going for this pastry. The color is very light and so is the taste. In fact, it’s missing just about all the flavor. Perhaps they forgot the butter? That would explain how dry it is - turning to soggy cardboard in my mouth. And the chocolate is a little hint of sweetness, but there’s a not enough of it to compensate. Enjoy the mountains, skip the chocolatine.

Finally, a chocolate croissant in France that stands up! This one is delightfully tall and airy, with good loft between the layers of pastry. It’s also rich and flavorful - buttery, but not enough to coat the fingers. There’s some flakiness on the outside. I’d like the crust to be a little crispier, but it’s better than the squishy industrial croissants I’ve found so far. The chocolate is tasty and smooth, though it did all migrate to the middle. If you’re in the region, this is your spot!

It looks promising, with some airy structure and color on top. Alas, like so many promises people make, this one was not kept. There are no layers and there’s almost no butter. It’s a bread roll in the shape of a chocolatine. Chewy, pretty dense, and slightly sweet. And those promised bars of chocolate? Surely they make up for the texture? No. Someone rubbed a chocolate crayon down the dough before rolling it up and left a little color there. The espresso wasn’t bad, though.

Yes, this one was eaten in a car. But it would not have been improved by a more picturesque setting. It was very flat. Squishy, but almost no loft or structure at all. There were some layers, but not much flake in the outside. The chocolate was good, but I wanted more of it. Overall, the pastry was moist, but I eventually figured out what was missing: flavor.

It’s got a soft exterior and an airy interior. But that’s where the accolades stop. There’s very little flake, though there are a lot of layers in the dough. And it’s dry, I’m not sure where all the butter went. The chocolate is good, so that’s another accolade, but there could be a little more of it.

They did not have a chocolate croissant. They did have this almond croissant filled with pastry cream and dusted with sugar. Damn! It’s as rich as it sounds. And as delicious!

A local Chicago chain, there was no pain au chocolate on offer. However, the chocolate almond croissant made up for that deficiency. It’s rich and flakey. A healthy portion of chocolate along with a tasty layer of marzipan and almond shavings on top. Worth a visit when you’re in town.

It’s not flakey at all. In fact, it’s pretty bready, though there is some loft in the dough. And the chocolate is hard. But it’s 5am in an airport departure terminal and the only stand that’s open. And it’s better than airline peanuts.

It’s bread with chocolate inside. That’s not bad - the bread is soft and the chocolate is sweet. It’s just not much of a croissant. There’s no flake, not much layering to speak of, and not nearly enough butter. Get the bread or cake, skip the chocolate croissant.

Don’t be misled by the chocolate shavings on top, this tastes traditional. The dough is buttery and soft. It has some nice flakiness on top and a rich stretchy interior. It could use a little more structure and loft, but hardly worth complaining about. The chocolate is smooth (maybe because the pastry was warmed) and not too sweet. Bring a napkin, it’s required!

If the name puts you in mind of the ingredients needed for an exorcism, you’re thinking in the right direction. I’m not a strict traditionalist when it comes to pan au chocolat shape. But chocolate drizzle topping is a strong hint of abomination. The chocolate itself is tasty and the dough is light enough to levitate a few feet above the bed. Beyond that, it goes downhill fast. The power of even a little butter would be compelling for this pastry, but it’s left bland and bready. Some crispy flakiness in the outside would have been a nice contrast as well. All the chocolate clumped together and took possession of the one air pocket off in a corner - it was enough to make your head spin around.

The texture and flavor are both great in this pastry. Flaky and light with a soft interior as airy as the rolling beach breakers a block away. The butter lingers on my fingers like surf wax on a board. Unfortunately, the laid back unconcerned vibe of La Jolla Shores also informs the chocolate here. It’s congealed and clumped on one side, meaning that bites alternate between disappointingly hollow pastry and unpleasantly toothsome chocolate wipeouts. Oh, and the shop serves hot coffee in single wall glass cups - good for photos, but bad for fingers.

After threatening a storefront bakery for months, it finally opened to much anticipation. Alas, the chocolate croissant is not the star of this show. It does have a nice flakiness and a soft interior, but I’d like a little more airy structure to the pastry. The buttery richness is conspicuously missing, too. One nice touch is a third bar of chocolate rolled in neatly down the middle. This did make sure every bite was a chocolatey one. It’s still in the soft launch phase, so perhaps this is just the start.

a good pastry that’s close to being great. Certainly better than I expected from the small display case next to the espresso machine. The shape isn’t traditional, but the buttery richness is! And the flakiness could not be contained to the plate, but spilled over onto the table. There’s a pretty good airiness to contrast with the flakes. Overall the pastry is a little too stiff, though it was early afternoon by the time I tried it. Alas, two thinks keep it back from the aforementioned greatness. It is chewy - and not in a soft, yielding way. And the chocolate is all concentrated on one side, leaving a few mouthfuls unsweetened and a few dominated by a chocolate that would otherwise be delicious in the right quantities.

Picked this one up at Souvenir Coffee Co, though it came initially from Starter wholesale bakery. For a pastry that passed through two sets of professional hands, it was disappointing. The dough had very little flavor and not enough texture. The chocolate was tasty, but was stuck in two firm bars. They can do better, and so can you.

Credit to this boulangerie for a fresh tasting croissant. There’s some buttery richness and a soft texture. It’a missing the crisp flaky outside layers, though. The chocolate is tasty and smooth, though there’s not quite enough of it to match the large area of dough. Overall a fine effort to bring the French croissant adaptation back to Vienna.

This is a delicious chocolate croissant. But I’m a little biased. in full disclosure, I helped make these, small bits like rolling out the dough. It would have been equally delicious without my help, just to be clear. The crisp outer shell (lightly flaky) contrasts beautifully with the soft airy center. The chocolate is smooth and distributed nicely even though it breaks from tradition in only having a single bar. The butter is there on your tongue and on your fingers. I could eat a bag of them, and I did.

Let’s get one thing out of the way. This does not look like a pastry for purists. It may, however, be the best chocolate croissant in New York. Soft, buttery, airy dough is wrapped delicately around a single bar of smooth and balanced chocolate running the length of its cylindrical shape. The outside is crisp with even more texture coming from the finely scored ribs that reminded one professional reviewer of the sand worms of Dune. There is no sand here, just moist explosions of flavor in every bite. That same review gushed that this is the chocolate croissant of the millennium - I haven’t been reviewing that long, so I won’t comment. What’s hard to believe is that this croissant could be *even better* if there was just a little more of that sublimely soft dough puffed between the chocolate and the crisp.

For a grocery store pastry, this one exceeds expectations! It’s got a rich buttery flavor and some good flakiness. As the photo shows, there’s some serious loft inside, too. The photo also shows it’s a little blond for my taste - missing some of the darker caramel flavors. And, that loft is mostly one big hollow in the center, which means less experience of the layers that make a great croissant stand out. But we need to talk about the chocolate. The two congealed stripes left me hoping for more.

Fresh out of the oven, they’ve still got some residual warmth. And that keeps the chocolate smooth and even. It’s good, too, the chocolate - a bit of sweet without overwhelming. Alas, the pastry is missing the airy loft and the flakiness that I’m looking for. My fingers attest to the amount of butter used, but somehow the dough still lacks much flavor.

There’s very little to recommend this croissant. It’s disappointing from the first glance - a light and undifferentiated crust with no flakes in sight. And it goes downhill from there. The dough is tasteless and bready; not even a trace of butter on the bag or my fingers. The chocolate is hard and clumped together, and then it has a metallic aftertaste. The one thing this has in its favor is a lofty, airy inside. But that’s not just enough. Run, don’t walk past this one.

A most metal of bakeries, judging by the poetry on the takeaway bag (“A tough guy. One standing in the buckwheat field. Dark and layered….Has everything taste needs.”). The pastry itself is rich and flakey with a toothsomeness, though a bit too dense. In fact, if you need a tasty snack to double as a doorstop, you’ve found it. The chocolate is rich and smooth, but it overwhelms the whole croissant. I might need a nap to recover.

This patisserie goes out of its way to seem French - right down to listing the address as “rue Polk.” In a sense the chocolatine succeeds in that regard. It tastes like the kind of industrial pastry one would find at a chain bakery in an unassuming suburb in France. The dough is rich and flavorful, but it’s compressed and suffers for lacking any airy loft between the layers. The outer layer is crisp but not delicately flaky. And the chocolate is congealed but tasty. Not a bad bite, but it doesn’t meet the expectations set by the surroundings.

More than expected from a hotel breakfast buffet! Crispy and a little flakey, the structure held up throughout my handling. I’d like a softer texture inside, but I still prefer this to the squishy industrial ones. There’s some buttery richness, though not enough to require a napkin. The chocolate is smooth and sweet, but mostly pooled in the center. And, being Italian, this is in the crescent shape rather than the traditional French pain au chocolat.

Right from the start, I can tell it’s flakey and buttery (my napkin confirms this at the end). It also manages to be soft and airy inside, with a nice structure to the flavorful layers of pastry. The chocolate is pretty good, too, staying soft and spreading out well. The one area for improvement, though, is that chocolate. Fans of dark chocolate might enjoy it, but it’s a little bitter for my taste and overpowers the delicacy in the rest of the croissant.

A fine little croissant that tastes better than it looks. There’s not much flake on the outside, and it could use a little more flavor. Still the inside is airy and light with a nice contrast to the outer layer. And the chocolate elevates the whole experience - rich and smooth, it compliments the dough. With a few more sticks of butter, it could be great.

The chocolate is the only redeeming quality in this croissant. It‘s smooth and rich and nicely distributed. Moving out, the inside dough is flat and bland. The crust is flabby and dry. Overall, it is improved by dipping in coffee. But at that point, better just to get a mocha!

The only silver lining is that this is in an airport. And there’s not many other options. Though, this one is dry and doesn’t have much butter at all. The chocolate lining is more of a solid block. On second thought, maybe try one of the other options.

A surprisingly crispy pastry, made crispier because a lack of butter has dried it out. The chocolate is rich and sweet, but clumped together. Some good flakes and layers in the dough, too. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t come together.

So sweet. So unnecessarily sweet. So much chocolate. This is the cocoa pebbles of croissants. Barely any substance, but sounds good on a menu. Should have ordered an insulin latte.

It feels flakey firm. It tastes buttery rich. It stands airy tall. It looks gracefully whorled, with patches of smooth chocolate winking out of crevices in the golden crust. Instead of a pillowy soft interior, alas, it has a worn thin mattress that has lost it’s spring.

This is a placeholder, since they were out (!) of chocolate croissants when I arrived. Instead I tried a croissant-y chestnut spread-y thing. As a chocolate croissant, it is a failure. First, there’s no chocolate. Second, there’s a sweet sticky glaze all over, more like a kouign-amann than a croissant. As an unusual sweet pastry, though, and it was pretty good.

The nice crust was a good start, flakey and firm. The soft interior raised my expectations even more. The slightly bitter aftertaste was a warning sign, but I pressed on. The alarms started in earnest with the big hunk of chocolate off to one side that came mostly out with my first bite. In the end, though, the meltdown was triggered by how dry the pastry was for being fresh out of the oven when the shop opened.

They were out of chocolate. I tried cherry. It was, as advertised, not chocolate. Not quite enough flake in the texture or butter in the dough. It was, however, very cherry.

This one’s unique. For starters, it’s dusted with cinnamon sugar. The next thing that jumps out is how dark it is. The dough is a warm deep brown all the way through. While there are plenty of air pockets (of increasing size) throughout the pastry, it is surprisingly dense. And, unfortunately, there’s more chocolate drizzled on the outside than spread inside.

It’s light and crispy on the outside. The moist interior is buttery rich and soft. It’s a delightful combination. There’s a good amount of flakiness without being obscene. The chocolate is hit and miss, though. It hides, all concentrated, off to one side, but the bites that are graced with chocolate enjoy a bitterness the pleasantly balances the sweet pastry dough.

Surprisingly rich all the way through. And surprisingly soft, though dense, in the middle. The outside crust could use a little more crisp. But the chocolate is this pastry’s Achilles heel - it’s congealed and concentrated off to one side. Could use a longer dip in the oven Styx.

[Guest Review by Angie and Joaquin (3 years old). Thanks!]

We have a standing Saturday morning date at B Patisserie and it usually involves a chocolate croissant for Joaquin and a ham and cheese croissant for me. While B Patisserie is known for their Kouign Amanns, Joaquin has fallen in love with their chocolate croissants. Airy with a crispy and flakey outer layer, Joaquin systematically eats through this layer first, which carries a hint of powdered sugar. When he finally gets to the fluffy croissant, with just the right amount of valrhona chocolate, which is evenly distributed, he gets the perfect chocolate to pastry ratio evoking a “yummy good!” response.

It’s sourdough. Which is unusual is a way that’s both good and bad. Beyond that, it’s nicely flakey and has a rich smooth river of chocolate Running through. It’s more firm and crisp than light and airy, though. And, did I mention, it’s a little sour?

If one were looking for a gluten free pastry, this is the one for you. It has dough and chocolate, so it qualifies as pain au chocolat. But just barely. There is no flake and no lift to the pastry, - amaranth flour can only do so much. And for being so dense, I hoped it would be richer. If you can eat gluten, find a different croissant.

Not quite a croissant, this one is made of brioche. But, the chocolate is nice and crust has a good crisp. The center is rich and soft. There’s no flake, though, because it’s not croissant.

[Guest Review by Hillary and Iman. Thanks!]

Fantastical flaky and airy croissant. Soft and buttery yet not too dense, it was crispy and flaky yet pillowy and light. A small sweet square of chocolate that hit all the right notes. The only shortcoming, was that there wasn’t enough of it. There was just a small bit of chocolate that was off-center. So most of my bites were just of a regular ( albeit delicious) croissant, sans-chocolate. I’ll go back, and hope for a more symmetrical pastry.

This croissant starts off on an encouraging note. Like the first act of a Greek play. Except with crispy, flakey, airy, and buttery goodness for my mouth instead of ambrosia and honey wine for the gods’. However, like so many of those stories, this one turns to tragedy. Like Achilles and his heel, this pastry has a fatal flaw - its chocolate. Clumped into a single spear thrust down the center, it means that two out of every three bites are lacking, while the last overwhelms. Vases may not memorialize this croissant, but with just the right bite, it may just find a small part in an epic poem.

Don’t let the name of the bakery fool you, this pastry is all buttery richness with no flowery purpleness. There is some good flakiness on the outside, but the real star is a dense toothsome dough that makes each bite an experience. It’s doesn’t pretend to be light and airy, and I have more respect because of that. The chocolate does clump a little, but it is smooth and - did I already say rich? Well, there’s a reason for that, too.

Dry. No taste. Even the chocolate has no taste. The dough is all stuck together. No reason to feel good about this one.

There’s so much butter on my fingers, it’s difficult to type this review - but in a good way. Somehow, with all that richness, the pastry manages to be soft and airy, each bite tearing away in fluffy pillows of goodness. And it all rests on an even layer of creamy chocolate. A little more crisp and flake on top would make this chocolatine divine.

This is a pretty croissant, plump and dark and glistening. Like a cowrie shell just pulled from the water. Unfortunately, like a cowrie shell, it’s filled mostly with air. The loft achieved by the bakers is impressive, but it does not contribute to a good bite despite the crispiness of the layers. And, unlike a cowrie, whose color spreads evenly across its surface, the chocolate here stayed congealed in its twin bars. Leading to alternating mouthfuls of richness and emptiness. This may be an apt metaphor for societal inequality, given the historical speculation about cowrie shells being used as money in costal parts of Asia and Africa. It does not, however make for a great chocolate croissant.

Airy and crispy, this pastry doesn’t so much flake as shatter. And, yet, inside it is soft and pleasantly chewy. The only thing holding it back from greatness is a lack of chocolate

A little boulangerie in a little French village with fresh baked pastries. It’s buttery and crispy with smooth and rich chocolate spread evenly throughout. It keeps it’s airy loft while still being soft to the tooth. I’d prefer more flakiness, but that’s a small complaint.

The flakiness hinted at in the bag is confirmed by the crispy crumbs that wind up covering my plate and my fingers. This pastry has a pleasing combination of soft give and well defined layers. Though it smells buttery, the taste is a little on the dry side. And, it’s a chocolate-forward croissant. I enjoy it more than my first try at their Richmond location, but it’s still unbalanced for me. Still, an enjoyable bite and dip.

It’s soft and easy going, with a good layer of smooth chocolate. Good flavor and a little buttery richness left on the fingers. It’s just missing the flakey cripiness. Any crispness at all. It might as well be a slice of buttery bread with chocolate spread.

Exceeded expectations for a doughnut shop croissant. While not airy or flakey, it has a pleasant toothsomeness. The chocolate is nicely sweet and pliable.

A very bread-y croissant. Perhaps not surprising for a bakery known for its breads. It tastes more like brioche, fluffy and soft. Unfortunately, not rich and buttery at all. There are some nice flakes on the crust, though. And the chocolate is dark, and plentiful, but constrained to two stripes running through this small loaf.

A nice pastry in a nice location. The butter is rich and the chocolate is richer. Layers of dough stack in dense succession, soft in the middle and delightfully crispy on the outside. Instead of light and airy, though, it’s flat. Deflating.

This is unusual because it’s made with rye flour. It’s a dark brown throughout with a bitter, but not unpleasant aftertaste. It’s airy with lots of great layers. Some flakiness, too, on the outside. The dough is moist and buttery. The chocolate leaves something to be desired, though. It’s a little congealed and missing from some bites. Still the best rye croissant I’ve tasted yet!

This is a light, airy croissant with a little flakiness in the outer layers. But it’s missing flavor! I wanted each bite to be rich and indulgent. Instead, I got a mouthful of bland (but crispy) dough and hard chunks of chocolate. It did have little drizzles of chocolate on top, so at least it has that going for it.

There’s butter on my fingers and the chocolate is smooth and even, but the pastry tastes stale and has most of it’s delightful lift. Alas.

My low expectations were met. A congealed chunk of chocolate lurks on the edge, ready to surprise anyone who thinks this is actually an almond croissant. There is some flakiness to the dough, but the texture is dry and disappointing overall.

First off, the shape is half pretzel and half croissant. Second, it’s stuffed with Nutella hazelnut-cocoa spread. Third, it’s delicious.

Let’s start with the crust: flakey and toasted with an enjoyable toothsome quality. A tall, airy, lightly sweet center rewards each bite. Though, with a little more butter, it could be softer. Smooth chocolate rounds out the pastry, just not quite enough to satisfy. Guess I’ll have to get another one!

Yelp lied to me. There are no chocolate croissants here. I justify my selection of a blackberry-blueberry-apple scone as being in the same spiritual category (spent time in an oven) and being coffee-dippable. It’s got surprisingly flakey layers of soft dough. But shortening does not make up for an absence of butter. And fruit does not make up for an absence of chocolate.

From the line out the door to the French woman behind the counter, I had high expectations here. The pastry was tall and airy. Alas, the rest of it was disappointing. Despite some butteriness, the dough was both dry and tasteless. It flaked well, but didn’t compress in my mouth. On top of all that, many of the bites left me struggling to find any chocolate. That woman behind the counter is proud to use French flour and butter, so maybe we should blame the desert air.

Soft and rich, like the memory foam pillow of a hedge fund manager. But it’s missing the airy to keep it light, so the dough just feels mushy. While the chocolate is tasty, it hangs out just on one side, leading to some disappointing bites.

An elegant pastry served from an odd pop-up box next to the Transit Center. The first impression is buttery - this is a two napkin treat! The rich dark chocolate sticks with that theme, spread smoothly throughout. Flakes are evident on the outside, but the interior is less delicate and airy as it could be.

These improbably cute mini croissants arrived frozen in a vacuum sealed pack. 15 oven minutes later, they’re delightfully puffy and browned (thanks to the built-in egg wash). The butter comes through strongly, permeating all the delicate layers of dough. Alas, there’s almost no flaking to the crust or airiness between tho use layers. The chocolate is nice, but meagerly portioned and tending to clump. Given the convenience of not having to leave home, I’d be willing to try the full-sized version.

Hazelnut spread. Because they’re out of chocolate croissants when I arrive. Instead, I am recommended the hazelnut croissant. It’s sweet and Nutella-y. With a croissant circle cut in half and rebaked with the spread (like a decadent French bagel) and more drizzled on top. The sweetness overwhelms the pastry, which is, I guess, appropriately crusty on top and less appropriately crusty all the way through.

Day one with high hopes. It’s just OK. Rich with a good balance of chocolate and dough. But it’s dry and the consistency is off.

Wow. Light and airy with flakey dough and a delicate crust. Just the right amount of chocolate in every pillowy bite. Worth the hike and the line.

Recently opened in the Ferry Building. This is good. Delightfully airy and moist. It’s flakey - too flakey. Could be softer in the middle, too.

The flakey texture is good all the way through, from the delicate crust to the even spread of smooth chocolate. The lightness almost makes up for the lack of buttery richness. It’s too dry, though, missing the soft moist center.

A local institution that delivers. The improbably balanced dough is buttery rich and pillowy light. Smooth chocolate is evenly distributed. It’s more bread-y than flakey, though.

Great texture overall - soft, airy interior with a flakey crust. The dough is buttery without being heavy. But there’s too much chocolate! It overwhelms every bite. What a shame.

My first option this morning is closed. This is a disappointing substitute. Dry dough. Congealed chocolate. No crust texture. It’s going to be a long day.

More style than substance at this bakery. A nice soft texture and the right amount of flake compliments the chocolate. But, the crust is burnt.

They call it a ‘chocolate claw,’ but it still tastes delicious. Flakey and buttery with a soft center. The chocolate is smooth and abundant without overwhelming the pastry. If it was a little more moist, it would be flawless.

Guest post from Loi

Buttery, light, crispy, not too sweet, melted chocolate. Kids are 2. On the spot. Before I even paid.

This is a pretty good industrial croissant. It’s rich and buttery, with just enough flake to let your hands know what they’re holding. The chocolate is fine, and was smooth, even though it stayed in its lines. What earns it the above average score is the setting. Just about everything tastes better at 1800 meters watching the sun reflect off fresh snow.

It looks like a pretzel, with mottled dark and light crust. The airy crispness of the layers and the smooth sweetness of the chocolate rings true. The flavor is rich and buttery, too. But, the flavor of the dough is a little different than a traditional croissant - a little darker and rougher. A standout in a city full of attempts.

They look like some kind of hasselbacked squash - if chocolate loaf was a type of squash. Almost crunchy crisp on the outside with little flake. There is croissant-y dough inside (and no seeds), but it is not particularly moist or flavorful. There is chocolate, which checks the box. But, if you stop in at Angelina Bakery, get the almond croissant instead.

One thing this pasty has going for it is loft. It keeps it’s airy shape with space between the interior layers of dough. It also has an unusual layer of crispy chocolatey stripes along the outside that give a not unpleasant crunch. Unfortunately, crunch is not what I’m looking for in a chocolate croissant. And this one is entirely missing flakiness, butteryness, and enough chocolate on the inside. On the plus side, it does hold up to long haul transit.

Exceeds expectations! Those expectations were pretty low, but this frozen pastry delivers smooth rich chocolate and a surprisingly light crispy crust. The airy interior could be denser and flakier. Still, that’s more than made up for by a kitchen that smells like fresh baked chocolate croissant!

These are mini croissants - frozen in a 10 pack. A few minutes in a warm oven and they’re crispy. The smell of warm butter permeates the house. Alas, the center is a little mushy. The chocolate is tasty but inconsistently distributed. With cold rain outside, it’s hard to argue with convenience.

A cute little bakes hope in the corner of a cute town. Though light colored, the dough is flavorful and rich. The pastry holds its shape well with a crispness that translates into some flakes and some nice layers. The chocolate complements it nicely, smooth and even.

Maybe it’s the charming little bakery or the lovely little island, but despite being roughly as flat as poptart, this pastry has won me over. It’s rich and buttery and deliciously dense, with a surprising number of layers stacked in a small space. The chocolate is smooth and pretty well distributed. Clearly, airy and flakey is not the only way to succeed. At least not this far North.

A perfectly serviceable chocolate croissant. It’s appropriately flakey and buttery. I’d prefer a softer airier interior, but it does have some crisp. The chocolate was smooth and rich, if not very evenly distributed. It was missing something, though. Maybe flavor.

From its first encounter with fingers, it clear this is a flakey and buttery pastry. The dough is flavorful while the chocolate is smooth and well distributed. It’s only lacking an airy loft and a touch of delicacy.

It’s flakey and rich, which is a good start. With pretty good loft, and the compression of an French industrial croissant. It gets a little off the rails with the chocolate, though. The two congealed bars had migrated over to one side of the large pastry, leaving too many lonely bites.

Located in the Geneva airport, this pastry is starting off in a hole. It’s got good texture and some flake. The chocolate is even smooth and even. But it’s missing some butter, which leaves it dry and a little tasteless. If you’re flying out of Geneva, it’s better than no chocolate croissant. But don’t come here just for this pastry.

It’s sweet - the chocolate sauce drizzle over powdered sugar was a clue. And there’s a layer of very sweet chocolate sauce across the entire center, like a pop tart. And it’s almost as dense as a pop tart, too. Like eating a cake more than a croissant. It is buttery, though, so that’s something. Oh, and the patio is surrounded by a strip mall parking lot with six-figure priced cars, so it’s got that going for it, too.

It’s flaky and light. It’s rich and delicate. It’s pretty and restrained. Unlike the scammers shouting at tourists up the hill, this pastry employs subtlety, with pops of delightful chocolate hidden beneath layer after layer of flavorful dough. I wish the chocolate was a little more even and the dough a little more moist. But each bite makes me that much more eager to forgive and enjoy

This one’s pretty: light golden exterior with little ribbons of dough crisscrossing the top. It’s got some good flake as well. But, the interior doesn’t live up to the promise - it’s soft but quite bready. The chocolate’s just okay, though at least there are three bars of it!

A fine industrially-made chocolate croissant. It has butter, it has smooth even chocolate, and it has a soft texture. In fact it’s a little too squishy. Without flakiness or any crisp, though, it doesn’t rise above.

The first impression here is of well cultivated suntan. Its outer layer is deep brown and quite crisp - unusual, but not unwelcome. The first bite reveals a dense, sweet interior. Like someone replaced the air with powdered sugar. So, instead of enjoying individual layers that flake, it delivers a bready consistency - heavy but not buttery rich. The chocolate saves the day, though. Rich and smooth, it finds its way into every bite.

Maybe it’s just because the cafe is next to a motorcycle shop, but the distinctive shape of this pastry reminded me of of cycle wheels. The chocolate is tasty, if packed a little tightly into the “spoke” area. There’s a nice crispness to the outer layer and a freshness to the inner layers of dough. That dough is dense, though, and heavy. More bread roll than airy delicacy. Like a touring bike when you’re looking for a cafe racer.

A disappointing pastry from a fancy address. Near the home of Victor Hugo, there’s a “miserables” joke in there somewhere. This is not the croissant that will inspire a revolution. It is bland and without crisp or flake. It’s chocolate is congealed and uneven. While there’s a lot of air, it, like many revolutionaries, it fails to deliver on its promise.

it looks great - lofty and firm. The sweet richness of the chocolate contrasts nicely with the pastry dough. There’s just so much pastry dough. And it’s on the dry side, too. And too dense for a great bite. Like a Frank Lloyd Wright family home, it’s best enjoyed with the eyes.

Lots of chocolate, inside and sprinkled on top, maybe a little overwhelming. It’s rich and buttery, too. While there’s a crisp layer on top, there’s no flake or airiness to the dough. Plenty tasty, nonetheless.

Balancing a crisp flaky exterior and delicate airy, interior this chocolate croissant delights the palate. The chocolate stays smooth and even, though I would have liked more of it. And there’s a hint and a half of rich butter in the dough.

It looked good in the display case. It looked dream on the plate. It was well shaped and promisingly tall. Even though it was a little blonde, it glinted in the sun. Disappointment arrived like a Monday morning alarm with the first bite. The layers of dough were clumped, despite all the loft, and felt stale. The outside was hard, but not in a light and flakey way, more in a way designed to test your teeth. But the chocolate, that was the nail in the buttery coffin - two sticks so congealed they had the consistency of Tootsie rolls. In the pastry’s defense, it was pretty. And buttery. But next time, I won’t be taken in by shallow surface beauty and I’ll go for the lemon tartlet - that one was even prettier.

It turns out that a taste can recall a memory. This is the closest I’ve found to the pain au chocolat in Brittany that started this odyssey. It’s delicately soft, like it’s made up of infinitesimal velvet layers. And yet, the flakes on my plate attest to the delightful crisp of the outer shell. Indeed, the butter is a supporting player to this texture. The chocolate runs smooth and sweet through each bite. I’ve come to prefer a little more airy structure in my bites, which is the only mark against the surprisingly traditional pastry in the desert.

So soft and light. Still a little flakey. And so buttery, they use a special bag lining to keep your fingers safe! The chocolate is smooth and the right amount of rich, but there’s not quite enough. Not a bad start the morning at all

Delicious! Flakey and crisp crust (with delightful caramelized bits here and there, like a sweet Dutch crunch) and a soft, light interior. The butter must be mixed with helium - it’s rich without being heavy. And the chocolate! Well done, B.

In an apparent homage to the hairstyle of Princess Leia, the coiled ends of this pastry have been dipped in chocolate. Unfortunately, the resemblance ends there; none of that character’s famous strength or crisp wit have translated into firm dough or flaky crust. And the chocolate would be better served spread throughout, rather than leaving half the bites wanting. Alas, while Leia had wealth to finance an interplanetary rebellion, this croissant doesn’t even have the richness require wiping ones fingers on a napkin.