Lindt and M&S ‘over-priced and over-hyped’ Dubai chocolate among worst-rated bars on Ocado

Lindt’s Dubai-style chocolate bar and Marks & Spencer’s own-label take on the viral trend are among the worst-rated chocolate products on Ocado, The Grocer can reveal.

The customer rankings for the two Dubai-chocolate trend inspired bars – of which several retailers and brands have launched a version – place the bars below Munchies Orange Sharebag, Werther’s Original Chocolate Covered Caramels, and Wagon Wheels Original.

Lindt’s £10, 145g bar was launched in December into Waitrose with a two-per-customer limit, in response to the TikTok-driven trend inspired by the rich, pistachio-laced knafeh desserts of the Middle East. The bar has scored an average 2.8 stars out of five among Ocado customers, who complained in multiple reviews that it was both over-hyped and over-priced.

One customer in a two-star review said they had “got sucked into the hype and spent £10 on what is essentially a Kit Kat with a very small amount of pistachio in”.

While broadly positive on the taste, most reviewers believed the £6.90 per 100g bar was “not worth the price”.

“I don’t love it…And for a tenner I definitely need to love it. I don’t hate it, but it’s just nothing special,” said one purchaser.

“Not worth anything like £10,” another wrote. “Overwhelming taste of sugary chocolate and Weetabix.”

Of the 50 customers that ranked the product, only 40% said they would recommend it.

M&S’ launched its £8.50 own-brand The Big Daddy Pistachio last month live on This Morning.

The £3.04 per 100g chunky chocolate bar – the result of nine months’ of product development – features “gooey” caramel, a “light and crunchy” biscuit crumb and a “chunky, nutty” pistachio layer, made with roasted pistachios, pistachio crème and white chocolate.

However, the pricey 280g bar has been slammed by purchasers on Ocado, who have given it an average score of 3.1 stars out of five. Only 43% of the 66 customers that rated the product said they would recommend it.

“This is definitely one of those things that just went viral but didn’t live up to expectations,” one customer wrote in a one-star review titled “Not worth the hype”.

“This is just awful,” another wrote. “Had high hopes this was going to be along the lines of the Dubai chocolate bar but it’s just a disappointment on every level. Hardly any pistachio flavour, and it’s a bit powdery and just odd. Don’t bother.”

As well as not loving the taste – which many complained was too sweet and “like a giant Mars bar with white chocolate” with not enough pistachio flavour – customers were also concerned by the lack of foil wrapping on the bar.

“It’s shoved in a cardboard box, no foil,” one reviewer noted. “Doesn’t taste luxurious in any way for the price of it! I’d have preferred a Snickers bar.”

“I know this probably isnt very p.c. but personally I like my food to at least be hygienically stored and delivered,” another reviewer wrote.

Similarly to Lindt’s offering, several customers complained it was overpriced and poor value.

“Save your money buy something else. Just hyped-up rubbish,” stated another review. “Utter rip off.”

Several brands and retailers have jumped on the trend, among them Lidl with a JD Gross own-label bar – which sold out at a rate of 72 bars a minute when it launched on TikTok Shop; discount retailer Home Bargains with a bite-sized product Dubites; Iceland and The Food Warehouse with Nelino Dubai-Style Chocolate and Bolci Dubai Chocolate bars; and Morrisons, which has listed its version – the Flair Pistachio Kunafa Dubai Chocolate Cake Bar.

Demand for Dubai-style chocolate is so high that it has triggered an international shortage of pistachio kernels. Prices of the key ingredient, largely grown in the US and Iran, have surged.

Though the trend has exploded this year, the original Dubai chocolate bar was created in 2021 by British-Egyptian entrepreneur Sarah Hamouda, with the launch of her business Fix Dessert Chocolatier.

TikTok influencer Maria Vehera is behind much of its prominence today, thanks to a video she posted in 2023 showing her eating one of Fix’s giant Can’t Get Knafeh of It bars – stuffed with knafeh pastry, pistachio and tahini – in her car. The video drove Fix’s first spike in demand and has received 6.7 million likes to date.

Dubai chocolate has been the subject of over 300,000 posts on TikTok, and videos of people eating the treat have gained millions of likes.