June 25, 2008

Review: Hebert's Fully Loaded Dark Turtle Dark Chocolate Bar

Last month we reviewed Hebert's Fully Loaded Rocky Road Chocolate Bar, today we're looking at another in Hebert's Fully Loaded line, the Dark Turtle. It is a 2.75 ounce bar of dark chocolate, covered in pecan pralines and chunks of toffee.

The problem we had with the Rocky Road was in the toppings, they weren't flavorful enough and had texture issues. We have to say with disappointment that we have the same beef with the Dark Turtle. Again, the chocolate was quite enjoyable, it had a nice dark chocolate flavor (it doesn't mention the cacao content) which also had both a nice bite and melting factor. The pecan pralines were pretty good too actually, and their flavor took the lead overall.

The problem lies primarily in the toffee. It is way too sticky, so sticky that the pieces were hard to chew because they glued my teeth together. If the toffee had been a good deal crunchier, it would have been a much better experience. You'll also notice from the photo that the coverage of the toppings is pretty uneven - so you end up getting a praline bomb in one bite and a toffee-flavored "dry tree sap" experience on another.

If you're whole line is based on an idea of being "Fully Loaded" - meaning the toppings are key to the whole proposition - then those toppings need to knock your socks off. Sadly, neither of the Hebert's Fully Loaded bars we've tried have done that. Said another way, Hebert's has lost a big opportunity to distinguish themselves in the market. I had never heard of Hebert's until their packaging jumped off the shelf at a local drug store. So they've accomplished part of the battle - they've gotten me to buy it. But when a product then doesn't deliver, its a one time sale.

We had such high hopes too...