06/19/09

Can't believe the bad quality and service

by Dough

I walked into the bakery because I really like Keller's food. I then asked for 1 of every cookie type the bakery had. The person behind the counter did not understand me, I then repeated my request 3 more times in different ways. I then just gave up and pointed to what I wanted.

The packaging was beautiful, so I waited to share them with my very pregnant wife. I got home and gave her the first taste of the cookies. To my surprise, she asked me to taste it because it tasted funny. I did and the cookie was turned, sour and not edible. Can you believe it. They cannot even make a cookie with butter and it turns out to be inedible.

I then called the bakery to tell them about them that they are selling product that be detrimental to someone. The manager actually asked for my address so they could send me more product.

I really don't know why Keller would lend his name to this bakery but he needs to change a lot if he wants repeat customers

• Cons: inedible cookies and extremely poor service

03/04/09

AMAZING food but really BAD service full of attitude

by rikkard

If Thomas Keller knew how bad his staff treated their customers he would be appauled. I love the food, but I can't stand the service. They are not helpful, but rude all the time. I'd rather have cheaper, not quite as good food and be treated well.

• Pros: the food
• Cons: the service is about the worst in NY

09/21/08

Best Place for Breakfast...

by alexastar

I came here for lunch with some friends and ordered breakfast...which is normal for me. I love breakfast!!

Anyway, I got the Bouchon and a diet coke. A little on the steep side but it was yummy yummy. .

I'll definitely be back again for breakfast and lunch!

02/15/08

The best baguette in New York!

by letharchik

I was so happy with the baguettes there! They taste just like the ones in Paris... better than the PAUL franciase baguettes (France and England). I was craving a baguette so much that I was ready to go to Paris again just for that (and some crepes...and the art)...but I no longer need to do that. This is the place for the best baguettes... you don't need to go to France.

Although, I must admit that the seating situation didn't look too comfortable so I just took it to go.

• Pros: baguettes, cafe creme
• Cons: snobby people around you

10/27/07

Horrific seating, constant fights

by voisin

I'm not sure I would trust the quality of the food when the rest of Bouchon is so outstandingly bad. I live in the neighborhood and really wanted to like Bouchon Bakery, but the seating arrangement is truly horrific. I am in the Time Warner Center most days because I have to go there on business and witness constant battles for tables. I've seen pregnant womena and people with strollers and old people on canes wait and wait and wait while the staff does nothing to help them. It's a very tense, unpleasant place. I stopped going there myself when one of my clients was drinking her coffee and eating her madeleine and was harrassed because she wasn't eating fast enough. (Of course, the staff did nothing.) If the proprieter thinks this kind of arrangement is remotely French he is delusional. Too bad for me because when I have to meet someone for coffee and a light meal, we end up going to Starbucks! Ick!

10/17/07

Consistenly disappointing

by sgwrede

I really want to like the Bouchon Bakery in the Time Warner Center because I live next door and it's very convenient for me. However, every time I go there I walk away disappointed. Setting aside the astronomical prices for very small portions, the service at the counter is usually apathetic at best, and the food is mediocre (although the coffee is actually pretty good). Today, they set a flame-thrower to the beautiful, fluffy ham and cheese croissant sandwich ($6) that I asked to be "warmed up". When I complained at the cinders presented ot me, they said "it always looks like this after we heat it up". Eating it was like eating ash from a campside fire. And I could go on, but I won't. Suffice it to say, I won't be going back.

• Pros: Good coffee
• Cons: Apathetic service, overpriced mediocre food

10/12/07

The cheapest place to eat in the Columbus Circle Mall (if you don't count the lukewarm offerings from Whole Foods)

by shanir

Their policy to not seat you until everyone in your party arrives is obnoxious, but the staff is not rude about it, at least. Once we were seated we found our waitress to be very friendly. The bread that we munched on while waiting for our food was better than average, but I would have liked it warm. I ordered a bowl of chicken soup with dumplings, which was one of the best, if not the best I've ever had. But $12 was kind of steep. One of my friends had the special (squash soup) and loved it. She also enjoyed her grilled vegetable sandwich (don't know the French name). My other friend had the quiche, which she was very excited about, but in the end, was underwhelmed, giving it a 5. Having heard raves about the desserts, I had my heart set on trying some, which we came back for later. I had the chocolate bouchons, which were a good size (three mini brownies) and ice cream. It was good, but did not rock my face. My friend ordered the pear tart, which didn't thrill any of us. The lemon tart might have been the better choice. I had tea, which the waiter initially forgot, but after, was very solicitous about bringing more hot water when I was just about ready for some. Good thing I had the tea, because it was freezing. Fix that and lower the volume on the piped in music and it will be a much more enjoyable dining experience.

• Pros: The view and the food
• Cons: The temperature, noise, semi-successful menu and seating policy

10/05/07

Horrible coffee service

by archiangeljen

Honestly, I love the food, location, and atmosphere at Bouchon. It's a great place to meet a girl friend for a quick bite before shows and "girl" dates, and I always let my out-of-town friends have the seat facing out - to get a breath-taking view of the 59th and Columbus Circle. The food is just the right portion, not too big, and not "NYC-portion" tiny - a sandwich is actually a sandwich, and not a thin sliver of barely nothing.

Service overall there is decent, I am usually seated promptly, unless there is a crowd already there.

However, I find that ordering coffee there (at least for me) can be quite frustrating. On two separate occasions the server completely forgot about my order. The first I had ordered an iced mocha to go with my meal. I was half-way through my meal when I flagged down my server and asked her where my coffee was, when she finally remembered to put in that order. The second time was even worse. After our meal my friend and I wanted coffee before going to a show. After ordering the coffee, we sat there for 10, 15 minuted before I got fed up and asked my server where the coffee was. She launched into an excuse "The coffee will be coming out, we are just waiting for some clean cups" - a bald-faced lie, as there were clearly clean cups at the coffee station that I could see from where I was sitting, and another waiter was serving his table coffee a couple tables down. Both times Bouchon did comp my coffees, but I don't appreciate being lied to, especially so obviously.

I would go back to Bouchon, but when I go, I will definitely keep an eye out to make sure what I order actually makes it to the table.

• Pros: location, food
• Cons: inconsistent service

09/24/07

For a bakery, and as a cafe I expected better.

by laslo_h

First off, I was there primarily get takeout. What a shock when I couldn't order some french bread, a baguette, or some brioche to go. The display case showed off some nice, not obscenely priced desserts. I picked the pan-au-chocolate, a fig pound cake, and the coffee cake. Pan-au-chcolate had a skimpy, though well distributed, portion of chocolate. The fig pound cake had the right consistency, and I'd say it was the most pleasant texture of anything I ate from there. The figs on top were cloyingly sweet, the figs in the middle of the cake were a pleasant component. The coffee cake was tasty, much better than yr average entenmann's loaf (though about a third as much, portion-wise, for the same). So my selections have been bagged up, and I find out through casual conversation with a cashier that most of the staff of the kitchen and checkout part of the a-la-carte bakery (and the bakery kitchen) (or should I say, sandwich and salad shop) were actually externs from various culinary schools. This would be a slightly better paying job to offset the extremely low pay that an externship yields. Good luck, kids.

The bar was pretty cool. I was seated quickly and I ordered a double espresso. It came out of a machine. I was not impressed, and I said so. I said that for a place that Thomas Keller attaches his reputation to, the coffee was no better than adequate. She just looked at me with a bored, slighly disdainful stare and asked if I "wanted anything else." Just the check please. Now I'm no cheapass. $2 on a $4 drink, and $5 on a $12 of pastries. It is sad that the business cannot afford to pay the true "help" very much, or at I suspect that to be the case. I wonder how the wage and tip policy works at Bouchon Bakery, and whether a portion of floor tips are given to the kitchen staff? It's got the structure of a traditional restaurant: kitchen, chefs, cashiers for take out, a hostess, bussers, servers, barbacks, and bartenders

• Pros: Keller does pastry or some anointed one from KellerCo... we hope
• Cons: Not quite high concept enough or down home for me. An uncomfortable middle ground

08/31/07

GREAT!!!

by nitesurfer

Great food, great surrounding, great view, VERY friendly waiters who know their job (they don't treath you like you're just a number, like most newyorkers do). Overall it's just GREAT!

Just one slightly bad comment closes to early (us europeans aren't used to that, lol)

• Pros: View
• Cons: closinghoures