William Curley

Overhyped PR. Arrogant and condescending.

Amazing chocolates and pastries. I went to the dessert bar and the mille feuille was divine. I bought some sea-salted caramels as a present for my mother, and she hasn't stopped going on about them since. When you order chocolates for delivery they really care about getting things just right and the service is incredibly personal.

Amazing products. To die for.

I recently visited William Curley's dessert bar in their Mayfair branch after reading a fabulous review in The Metro. The shop was elegant and stylish, not disimilar to the Richmond branch. The ambience was relaxed and welcoming. The staff were highly attentive and professional, especially the resident patissier.

I chose off the dessert a la carte menu. It was cooked in front of me by the chef and every stage of the preparation was explained to me. William clearly hand-picks and teaches his trainee chefs to the highest standard, as you would expect of the UK's top pastry chef. The chef prepared an amazing warm tarte au chocolat. The tart was rich and intense, sat in a crisp hazelnut pastry, cut with a glorious green tea ice cream that was beautifully mellow and sat on a bed of crunchy caramelised hazelnuts. It was served with a fresh raspberry compote, the acidity of the fruit bringing out the flavour of the highly complex amedei chocolate.

I visited William Curley's dessert bar in Mayfair recently and was very disappointed. It's a small space, seating a maximum of seven, but the ambience is OK. The best items I had were the pre-dessert cold chocolate drink and the tea (but of course you don't go to a chocolatier to drink tea). We had the milk and white chocolate mousse and chocolate tart with green tea ice cream. The chocolate tart presentation looked great, but it was the ice cream that tasted good and not the chocolate tart. The milk and white chocolate mousse lacked consistency - it had a strange consistency similar to melted ice cream, not good at all.

Additionally we bought the sea salted caramel tart, brownies and the chestnut mousse - all were a disappointment. The brownie had a cake-like consistency, the caramel tart didn't taste salty enough and the caramel didn't have much flavour.

As a patisserie, they didn't make the grade - too much fluff and not enough substance. The dessert bar concept is good, but I for one won't return.

Seriously overrated and arrogant. Best in Britain? No way. Melt, Demarquette and L’Artisan can prove otherwise.

Came highly recommended. I thought the cakes were nice but there are much better chocolate shops than this in London. Cannot take his awards by 'Academy of Chocolate' seriously, especially when you see he is one of the very few chocolatiers who are members of this 'academy'.

Simply the best chocolatier in Britain - a fact confirmed by Curley cleaning up at the 2008 Academy of Chocolate Awards. I know this will sound patronising, but those commenting that Curley's chocolates are not up to the standard of places like Melt etc simply do not understand what the finest chocolate making is all about. We are very lucky in London and Richmond to have such a master of the art of chocolate making.

Amazing chocolate and patisserie. Everything is just as it should be - this is a beautiful shop.

Wonderful shop, great service and sublime cakes.

Awful place. We did the chocolate tasting workshop, which was not worth £30. They then decided to charge us £35 at the end, saying it had gone up in price since we booked!! When we objected, my friend got verbally abused and thrown out with the proprietor threatening him not to ever come back to his shop (as if any of us would). The proprietor constantly whinged about money in front of us. If you want to make money it's probably not a good idea to throw customers out and ban them from coming back (all this of course after some of us had bought things and after the visa card transaction had gone through). What a hypocrite!

We booked the chocolate tasting and when we paid at the end they told us it was £5 extra each because the price of the event had gone up between the time of booking and the date of the event! Totally unreasonable, so we objected and he kicked us out, telling us not to come back again (as if I would...).

Fantastic chocolates, probably the best in town.

Lovely pastries but the chocolates are definitely not up to the standard of L'Artisan or Melt.

Best patissier/chocolatier you could ever imagine finding.

Chocolates exquisite. Pastries an experience.

Look no further.

Just have the salted caramels if you don't have time for anything else. Perfect.

Wonderful chocolates - interesting flavours that just melt in the mouth. Great presentation too. The best I've found anywhere.

So many good chocolatiers now in London, and William Curley stands head and shoulders above them all. Sorry La Maison, but there is now a new bench mark against which all others are to be compared.

You can order your own bespoke celebration cakes, get fab ice-cream and sorbets as well. Marvellous place.

Truly delightful and deliciously unusual chocolates and cakes. Excellent quality. Would definitely recommend.

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