Review of Graham's 318 in Geneva, Illinois

Taking a stroll down the busy shopping district of 3^rd street in Geneva, Illinois we happened to see our familiar hangout of Graham's chocolates. The store has been in Geneva for years and has a distinct reputation of producing outstanding confections as well as ice cream. Recently opened up only a few doors down to the south on Third Street is the latest chocolatier's spinoff called Graham's 318.

Graham's 318 is a renovated two story house that has the actual food counter and seating located on the first floor with additional seating for parties or small groups upstairs. The front of Graham's 318 boasts several patio tables and chairs with music emanating from speakers nearby. The tables are usually well populated with occasional lap top web surfers having a delicious treat while browsing the web courtesy of the free wifi available at this coffee and dessert stop. The inside of Graham's features a large sofa in front of grand stone fireplace. Throughout the first floor are several small tables for cozy meetings with close friends. The counter is just off the right as you walk in which features several delicious treats behind glass.

Menu

Graham's 318 has continued the chocolate theme akin to its cousin location of Graham's fine chocolates. The menu's specialties include fondue which is a silky milk chocolate bath accompanied by fine ripened fruits, cookies, and cakes for dipping. The fondue is an excellent choice for groups of three or four. I suppose two very serious chocolate addictive people could knock out this treat, but they would be quite full.

In addition to the chocolate fondue, Graham's feature fresh made pastries as well as several different flavors of gelato. The gelato ranges on the chocolate based themes up through exotic fruit flavors such as mango. The counter help was more than willing to offer us up a small taste of those gelatos we showed interest in. I did manage to snag a sample of the hazelnut gelato which was out of this world. When ordering my evening treat, I did pass up the gelato in favor of the other store favorite, the frozen hot chocolate. Yes, frozen hot chocolate sounds a bit crazy in name, but the taste is out of this world. I did not have any remorse picking this frozen wonder after nearly being swayed bythe gelato.

Service

The counter help was extremely friendly and efficient. There were apparently only two employees working the evening we dined and the coffee shop appeared half full. The counter help and server seemed well trained and able to keep up with customer demands without any problems. My only complaint was the table we were seated at could have used a little cleanup prior to our seating. The problem was corrected upon requesting a table wipe down.

I highly recommend this stop for those that are interested in a little chocolate or coffee decadence for a post dinner or late afternoon pick me up. This store seems more catered to an older crowd than the other Graham's location which prides itself on delicious homemade candies and ice cream. They both excel at producing fine tasting treats for the wayward Geneva traveler.