• Why this review
• Cost per chocolate
• See's candy order process
• Delivery and transit time
• Who founded See's?
• See's candy & chocolates unboxing
• Nutrition facts
• Quality review

• Why this review?

I am the Parisian chef and owner of Pastreez, a French bakery that sells macarons and crêpes online.

With flavors like chocolate macaron, nutella crêpe, and much more, Pastreez has the "most authentic macarons in the US" according to Le Cordon Bleu pastry school.

A lot of you were always asking me where to find See's candy near me. I decided to actually order some of these famous chocolates online, to give you my insights on the quality.

Below is a full review and unboxing of See's candy!

• Cost per chocolate

The box of chocolates I ordered from See's cost $18.95 with shipping. It's $2.70 per chocolate which is actually fair.

Note that shipping costs $8.95. It is delivered in the entire United States.

Without shipping, if you were to purchase these in store, it would be $1.43 per chocolate. Even better. But we're not all close to a retailer that carries See's candies.

• Ordering process

See's website and order process is pretty straight forward. Lots of options depending on the occasion: mother's day chocolates, Valentine's day, truffles, Christmas candy, easter candy and much more.

Note that you can even add manually your favorite chocolates and candies to your box. It's called "custom mix" on See's website.

At Pastreez we provide the same option for macarons.

• See's candy delivery & transit time

The chocolates were ordered on February 11th. It was delivered on February 15th, which is 4 days after I ordered.

Since it was standard shipping I consider it being fair. And it was even in the Valentine's day season so even better, considering the higher volume carriers are under.

• Who is behind See's candy?

See's candy company was created in Ontario, Canada by Mary & Alexander See in 1854.

The family originally ran a hotel on Tremont Park Island, but Mary See developed her own candy recipes in parallel.

After her husband passed in 1919, she moved to Pasadena California and started the first See's candy shop there.

A great and long story! I'd appreciate to know where the chocolates and candies are actually made today. Where is the facility, and who's behind the recipes?

I personally like to know who make the food I order, especially online. For example, at Pastreez every single macaron is handmade by my wife and I, French chefs from Le Cordon Bleu Paris. And our facility in located in Phelan, CA (available for shipping in the US).

Let's see if the the unboxing and quality standards are met.

• See's candy & chocolates unboxing 

• Bubble wrap

Few bubble wraps were included in the carton box. It's important as it prevents the chocolates from moving around and absorb impacts during transit.

• No insulated pouch

At Pastreez we use these insulated silver pouches to protect the macarons from variation of temperature during transit.

Here, See's chocolates weren't protected against temperature. It might work during Winter, but Summer times must be challenging with this shipping method.

• See's nutrition facts

On the back of the box, there were See's nutrition facts. 2 pieces of chocolate are one serving, and it is 160 calories per serving.

With 22% of Saturated fat of your daily value, these calories are fair considering it's chocolate!

As for the sugar, each serving includes 17g of it. It is 33% of your daily value.

By the way, according to the ingredients listed here, See's candies and truffles are gluten free.

• See's candies quality review

• Texture / Freshness

The chocolate I received were most likely frozen. I suspect this because they were rock solid and very hard to bite into.

That being said, chocolate is very delicate to ship, especially on warmer weather. They might add pectin to solidify the chocolate and have it shipped without melting.

I would say that the texture was too hard to be enjoyable, and most likely previously frozen so freshness would not be great as well.

As a comparison, every single macaron (chocolate and all 15+ flavors) at Pastreez are made upon order and ship fresh to your door in the entire United States.

• Chocolate and candy quality

Being from France, we have a strong and old story with chocolate. Belgium as well, which is a close by neighbor.

When you purchase chocolates, it has to be smooth and slightly bitter-tasting. It's because cocoa by definition is bitter.

Here with See's, they don't actually tell you which cocoa they use, and what's the percentage of cocoa in their candies.

The quality was really not great in my opinion. I suspect these to only be a good "gift option" without focusing too much on quality, since it is mass produced with no quality cocoa included.

Here on the picture, I cut in half each chocolate candy. A great point is that each has its own style and filling.

There wasn't a list for me to tell which is what. It can be challenging because See's has hundreds of candies available.

And if I was allergic to hazelnut for example, it would have been difficult for to pick and choose safely.

Also, the chocolate candies were on the smaller size, less than an inch long.

Hope this See's review helps you decide choose the best gift idea for your loved ones!

Today only you get 7 macarons Free for orders over $42. Enter your email below to get the code.