Chocolate Bash

Many culinary experiences are designed first and foremost for adults. By contrast, the sweet shop Chocolate Bash feels as if it was initially designed to appeal to kids or the kid-like part of adult brains – the synapses that light up when a sundae arrives completely overloaded with chocolate sauce. Founded in Newport Beach, the chain has built a dozen locations across California since 2016, including three in Orange County, plus two Arizona shops and a small but growing Middle Eastern presence.

Chocolate Bash takes chocolate stripe saucing to extremes not seen since the 1990s, when it was last a fad, coating waffles, crepes, and pancakes with multi-colored sweet patterns of Belgian milk, dark, and white chocolate. The typical charge per dessert is around $15 – $5 for the waffle, crepe, or pancake, plus $10 more for two striped chocolate and/or fruit flavored sauces. Ice creams are also available for around the same price after fully a la carte sauce and candy customizations. 

It’s simple stuff, but kids love it. So will some adults – the pastries aren’t gourmet-quality, but they’re fine, and easy to forget under a hundred zig-zags of sauce. Thirty years ago, at lower prices, Chocolate Bash would have been a bona-fide phenomenon; today, at current prices, it feels a little basic, yet fun enough to try once.