hipster chocolate. french broad chocolate lounge has good chocolate, but it comes at a cost: pretentiousness and condescension.
i ordered the xocolatl, which is touted as a traditional aztec beverage that is bitter and spicy. upon ordering, i was reminded that it was spicy, as though i could not have fully understood the labored description available on the menu. i assured the gentleman waiting on me that i could handle the heat. when it arrived, i was expecting a spicy drinking chocolate; however, it was not spicy at all. when i went back to get some cayenne added to it, the same gentleman practically clutched his proverbial pearls at my claim that the drink lacked any kind of heat. it was as though no one ever deigned to question the composition of the beverage. so, strike one against french broad chocolate lounge.
the next day, i ordered a double short non-fat latte, which would imply to anyone who makes coffee that i don't want foam, i don't want a lot of milk, and i don't want fat. the woman taking my order in no way questioned any part of my order. it was served in a cappuccino mug with a lot of milk. (they got the no foam part right). when i questioned the serving vessel, i was told "no. you're confused." i found this to be incredibly off-putting and arrogant. the more appropriate response, i think, would have been, "well, that's how *we* server our lattes. but we can certainly remake the drink according to your expectations." compounding this transgression, i discovered later they don't even have skim milk, which seems like a major oversight. for folks who are on a low-fat or non-fat diet, being served full fat milk is akin to serving someone a food to which they are allergic.
my final complaint against this establishment has more to do with the bathrooms. they have two unisex bathrooms, which doesn't greatly offend me. what does offend me is the presence of a urinal, which is in addition to the toilet. i understand that for men this does not seem like an etiquette breach, but for a lot of women it is. and this would not bother me near as much if there were only one restroom: they have 2 unisex bathrooms. my thinking is, if you're going to the trouble of having two bathrooms, why not go ahead and differentiate by sex and leave the urinal out of the ladie's room. secondly, the hot water was turned off in the bathroom, which meant you had to wash your hands with cold water. i've been to dive punk bars that keep the hot water on in the bathrooms. it just doesn't make sense to me.