Keokia K.
Concerningly/Dangerously Deceptive
Highly frustrating (deceptive) IT/pricing problems; pattern of suspicious marketing; evasive customer service; sugar seems much higher (on a clinical basis) than indicated and nutrition label is additionally not consistent with US standards. Disappointing dark-chocolate quality. Additional butter required (and makes a significant difference in the flavor), despite the DIY kit marketed as everything needed being in kit. The one time that customer service (then-seemingly impressively) quickly responded in a (then-seemingly) professional manner was when I asked about possible peanut cross-contamination; Debbie(?) indicated there was no cross-contamination concerns for peanut, BUT in reading the label on their chocolate wafer pkg and researching their shared factory equipment, peanut and other allergen cross-contamination is a stated concern. (My still-alive guests have anaphylactic risks.) Was repeatedly offered discounts, but repeatedly these discounts didn't go through; customer service spotty offers to remedy were wrought with time-consuming problems. At first, I thought this was due to poor IT--but now I wonder if it was just poor business practices (at best). Ceres Dubai products are expensive, overpriced given quality shortcomings. Using critical thinking, if you investigate Ceres reviews on Ceres, you'll notice a long list of suspicious patterns highly consistent with cherry-picking, self-aggrandizing edits, and apparent inability to post a less flattering review, not even a 3-star review in my experience (which is why this review is now 2-star). Their self-reported overall 4.8-stars is not consistent with many reviews from other sites. Maybe Ceres products greatly vary?? Butter required to lightly toast shredded kataifi in a pan. So not everything that you need is in the kit. The fresh butter made the toasted kataifi EXTRA delicious. When added to the pistachio cream, it's incredibly yummy. But BEWARE OF SUGAR CONTENT! Eating about six TBSP (3/8 cup), at most, of this mixture on fairly empty stomach made me quickly extremely sleepy (I'm NOT diabetic, nor pre-diabetic now, but I'm older so my insulin resistance is no longer as resilient, so I keep my sugar intake very low; I have a strong medical background and my clinical assess is always consistent with my A1C bloodwork). I did some research about the 41.1g (41,1 g) of added sugar in the 3.5oz (1/2 cup) of cream required to make a batch. Taking everything into account (kataifi simple carbs, 82g of added sugar in an entire jar of cream, the taste, my insulin response), I have questions about the indicated sugar content. (US % daily value for several yrs differs greatly re: Ceres label indicating 41.1g is 45.67%, which translates to 90g of sugar/day!; whereas, in US, 41.1g is at least 82% of recommended daily limit if 50g, though most academic health experts recommend 10-25g or less of added daily sugar.) The dark chocolate was waxy, the type often required with high saturated (and questionably trans) fat for at-home melting and dipping (fruits, etc). But looks beautiful when pops out of the mold! So, I dug up the label and compared to quality grocery store chocolate chip mfrs; Ceres lists sugar first, hydrogenated vegetable oil second, so makes sense about the remarkably subpar taste. Yummy if you love highly-hydrogenated fat. The listed Total Fat and Saturated Fat makes virtually no sense, such that what Ceres lists as 18.5% Saturated Fat for 100g (dark choc) translates to 100% in the US; and the Total Fat Ceres lists makes even less sense! (I purchased other brands of melting chocolate wafers that taste higher- quality than Ceres; I'm familiar with those labels, which makes more "nutritional" sense.) No guests said this Ceres chocolate tastes good. I don’t care for taste, 2-star. I ordered over $75 of DIY kits for fun holiday project for young adults. Couldn't get $10-off offer repeatedly indicated, despite trying for over a month. Reached out to Ceres CS multiple times, which involve time-consuming, additional problems, and in the end, just threw in the towel and paid more than the price offered. Arrived significantly later than promised. I'm way too busy to write this review. I try to give a benefit of a doubt and support small businesses. But I feel obligated to warn others for ethical and medical reasons. Might be more issues than I listed, but you get the idea. Five of us (three sweets-loving young adults and two in 60's) opted to NOT eat more than one little square of finished product. One remaining was going to make with pals on a weekend trip opted against after tasting. If it weren't such busy holidays, maybe I would've had time to avert this disaster by researching even more above and beyond, sigh.