I came across this little cafe in downtown St. Catharines in late 2009. My boyfriend had taken me there because he said the owner makes the best hot chocolates - gourmet, with REAL CHOCOLATE, ladies! I love-love-LOVE the hot chocolate. I am lactose intolerant so it's hard to go often without suffering too much, but when I go, I will order the hot chocolate and it makes my entire week that much better. The price is great - it's only around 3.50 CAN for a hot chocolate, and you can get it made with either dark chocolate, milk chocolate or white chocolate. It is made with milk as well, instead of water which means it's a heck of a lot richer than most hot chocolates.

When I went there the first time I discovered the guy runs the store by himself and he only has one other employee (he didn't at the time). It's very homey and welcoming and the atmosphere is friendly and comforting. He cooks all the food from scratch and makes all his drinks from scratch. The food cost me maybe 6 bucks tops, so for a drink and food it'd be under 15 bucks. Not bad, you really get excellent service and food for what you pay. This cafe does have a washroom, which is great because I've been to a few who don't (which is a problem when drinking a lot of coffee!). It also has interesting music (i.e. tribal or nature sounds) playing in the background, and the owner always has interesting stories to tell. IT's open every day of the week. I've brought my friends there to lounge on the couch (yes, couch!) and play board games or read, but I've also gone there for the annual halloween party and for a casual lunch with friends (in the entrance, rather than in the back with the couches). All in all, I'd recommend a try to everyone! Some may be weirded out by the tribal music and the personality of the owner, but he's really so nice and I like it there! I think it's completely worth it.