Reviewing Max Brenner: A chocoholic chocolate bar like no other in New York. 

Walking into Max Brenner: Chocolate by the Bald Man is like walking into a real-life rendition of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” The scent of chocolate wafts through the air, preparing palates for the fanciful feast for the senses that awaits. Large tubes transporting rivers of chocolate from the kitchen to the bar are prominent fixtures crisscrossing the restaurant, and music with singers crooning about chocolate and confections sets the mood. 

Started by Oded Brenner in Ra’anana, Israel in 1996, the chocolate bar concept quickly took off. Named for Brenner (and his lack of hair) and his original partner, Max Fichtman, Max Brenner: Chocolate By the Bald Man was acquired by Israeli food conglomerate Strauss Group in 2001, and the headquarters was moved to New York. Today, Brenner is no longer part of his eponymous chocolate restaurant known for its syringes of chocolate and piping hot “hug mugs” of thick hot chocolate. Brenner started a new venture in 2018, the Blue Stripes: Urban Cacao, which emphasizes using the shell, fruit, and pods of cacao to make a variety of products, from dark chocolate to cacao water to cacao flour.

The flagship Max Brenner in Union Square includes a restaurant and a shop selling pastries, chocolate “shots,” and all sorts of chocolate gifts, including boxes of chocolates, fondue sets, and red and white gingham metal lunch boxes filled with sweet treats. There is an additional sweets shop in Times Square and an outpost of Max Brenner in Philadelphia. 

The menu includes savory bites like hamburgers, pizzas, and pasta for lunch and dinner, but the main event here is dessert. This is the type of place you come to just eat dessert for dinner and perhaps enlist a friend or three to help devour the gigantic portions. Some desserts are specifically made for sharing, but we won’t judge you if you don’t. It’s the ultimate chocoholic’s fantasy: creamy fondues paired with fruit, thick milkshakes topped with mounds of whipped cream, and golden, fluffy waffles topped with scoops of ice cream and ooey gooey chocolate. 

Families and adults alike will be delighted in the offerings. For the adults, there are cocktails, ranging from classic martinis with a twist to spiked milkshakes to creative chocolate cocktails. For children and the child in all, there are waffles, cookies, crème brûlée, and “choctails” (chocolate cocktails). 

There are nine hot chocolates. We ordered the Italian Thick made with melted chocolate blocks and mixed with fresh vanilla cream as well as the Frozen Italian Thick made with white chocolate. Both were rich, creamy, chocolatey, and bordering on sickly sweet.

We also ordered Classic European Fondue with bananas, strawberries, chocolate chunk cookies, marshmallows, and fluffy chocolate sponge cake served with toffee sauce and a choice of two chocolates: milk, dark, or white. Additionally, we got the Waffles Celebration, which consists of three sparkler-topped waffles in a choice of flavors, including banana split, hazelnut, Munchies (ice cream, milk chocolate drizzle, and whipped cream), pistachio and white chocolate, chocolate chunks, and strawberries and cream. Each of these desserts is meant to be shared, and it was quickly apparent why. The portions are enormous and the sugar factor is off the charts.  

Max Brenner is truly a chocolate sensory immersion that is like no other.