Le Pain Quotidien

Incredible healthy, tasty food. I loved the natural wood tables in a country French ambience. The service was good. It was quiet for good conversation. And it’s Carbon Neutral! How cool is that!

So this was for take-​out.
My coworker and I came by here and got a soup, and I got a café au lait.
The soup — HAD to be in a pint. Okay, fine. Whatever. We got the split pea soup, and it seemed a LOT more watery than usual split pea soups we had in our lives. Bread was good, so it made up for that.
The café au lait was a HUGE disappointment. I was so upset when I got the coffee. It tasted so burnt and awful.

I will start this review by saying, I LOVE Le Pain Quotidien. The restaurant chain as a whole is fantastic. The food is health conscious, sourced consciously and often organic… And of course, DELICIOUS.
I’m rating this place 2 stars for only one reason: The service.
I come to this location AT LEAST 6 times a month. Every week for sure, sometimes 2 – 3 times a week.
For the past 2 months, the service has progressively and consistently gotten poorer and poorer. As a caveat, there are a couple or a few servers that are always excellent, and when the GM is there, things run more fluently… But lately, the MAJORITY of their service staff are absolutely horrible. The next words are chosen carefully: This store’s servers are totally complacent, totally lethargic and totally indifferent to creating a good customer experience.
Specifically:
It takes them FOREVER to take your food order. You literally have to stare them down and actually use hand-​motions to get service.
NO sense of urgency. Even their body language is horribly lazy. Just carousing from the kitchen to the POS system, to their customers. No hustle, no care. Just slowly, lazily walking.
Same thing after they drop food. As a customer I have to actively seek out service, as the staff avoids eye contact.
That’s just about it. They just don’t seem like they give two craps about making anything happen with any sense of urgency or customer service.
I am open to adjusting my rating if the store manager acknowledges this review and commits to couching her staff.

Crusty artisan breads. Yes, please!
Everyone knows that bread can make or break a meal, and this place understands. The breads are truly well made.
Everything on the menu made my mouth water, but I narrowed it down to a small selection (that I shared with my kids :). Mac & Cheese was rich, hot, and gooey. Croque Monsieur was PHENOMENAL; crusty and velvety. Ham and Cheese Croissant was flaky and flavorful. Belgian Waffle was ridiculous; crispy and accompanied by fresh cream and jam.
The lemonades are a bit tart, while the sparkling Hibiscus seemed a little watered down. Still very pleasing to the eye.
We ended with a GIANT chocolate chip cookie and a pair of coconut macaroons. I would have ordered a latte but realized we had overstayed our welcome by staying past closing. Nonetheless, the waitstaff was pleasant and accommodating. I did have to find the waitress for a drink refill but to be honest with you, it annoys me to no end to have someone «check in» every 5 mins.
We’ll definitely be back!

Pretty good. I liked the Paris ham and guyere omelet. It could have been cooked better, though. The service is very good. I think it’s a better restaurant for lunch than brunch.

I first tried Le Pain Quotidien many years ago when it first opened here in DC and in Doha. I’ve never been a fan of their open face sandwiches for one reason or another. However, I recently tried different things on the menu and was pleasantly surprised!
I had the salad, which had a great vinaigrette, and a bowl of gazpacho, which was really, really good. The gazpacho also came with some yummy bread. There were many jars of delicious jams and nutella spread available on the table, which were perfect for the bread! Had a really wonderful lunch here!

The brunch was so good so we went back for dinner! So delicious! We bought the homemade hazelnut spread also. Love everything about this place!

This was a terrible experience. We ordered two tartines to go and waited for almost 20 minutes. I ordered the avocado and my guy ordered a ham and Gruyère. None of it is cooked. It’s just pieces of food on top of bread open faced style. How could that had been so difficult. The place wasn’t packed and there was plenty of staff twiddling their thumbs.
People who worked there would just walk past and ignore us. We were standing by the counter and no one asked if we were being helped. Fuck this place.
If you’re hungry, keep walking. This place is NOT worth your time.

Amazing food, amazing food… the omlete are divine and the bread feels very european… I took my family there and my mom specially loved it and she spent most of her adult life in the best café in Europe

It was my first time at LPQ this weekend for a quick brunch/​breakfast before I was on tour guide duty with the family. So maybe it wasn’t the easiest option for a quick breakfast but it did the job. The place worked for me, they’re veg and vegan options are plentiful for that kind of eater (which I am). On the other hand, I was with my bf that’s 6’3 and could eat a small person so I think one little tiny waffle for him is the equivalent of eating a mentos for breakfast. So portions could be slightly larger but it is a French place and that is how food is prepared.
We sat outside, it was a beautiful morning weather-​wise (for once). I ordered the avocado and tomato omelette w/​egg whites which came with salad, bread and a baguette — it was tasty but I found the tomato to be on the spicy side but still yummy. The french toast looked delicious, they must make it in a muffin pan, at least that’s what it looks like, maybe that’s a French thing but either way it works.
I enjoyed the ambiance and the food — I had lovely service and a nice big cup of a decaf latte with almond milk so I was happy.

I got the mushroom quiche with the side salad and dressing. The quiche was good, but nothing too spectacular. The salad was a collection of mixed greens and the dressing was okay. It was a good portion for the size.

The space and the coffee and pastries are fine. But I don’t like the service model. You go to a counter to order. Instead of paying and giving you your stuff on the spot, there is table service and a check is presented. I’d much prefer the simpler quicker approach.
At the old La Madeline restaurants the only thing brought to your table was food cooked to order.
All this model does is add time and the cost of a tip for «service» that has no value to me. I’d rather pay at the counter and carry my coffee and pastry to the table myself, thank you.

Context: Vegetarian dining with a toddler.
The wait staff was patient and they also have plastic cups with lids (albeit, standard to-​go cups, and the straw was a tad too long for my little guy). They have high chairs and they have a kids’ menu. My little guy really likes berries, so he was happy. They offered him crayons, but he just likes signing the check.
I had ordered the Brioche French Toast, in a departure from my normal (as of late) vegan fare. First bite tasted off– I couldn’t taste French Toast, I could just taste bacon. This skeeved me out. I sent it back. I never send things back. The manager came over to reassure me that they don’t cook bacon on the same surface and they don’t use lard, but still offered to replace my French Toast with something else. She was kind. I was embarrassed. I got the Belgian Waffle instead. It was delicious. (My kid also had the waffle– it only tastes delicious while still hot. It’s still good when it cools down, but not as delicious.)

The strong point for me was the very fast service. Our food took probably right around 5 minutes to come out. I had the tomato avocado omelette. It was decent, nothing special not too flavorful. I also tried the goat cheese one and it was a bit more flavorful. The coffee was about average. The prices here are bit too high (two omelette’s, a pot of coffee, and a small Chai latte cost $ 33.80). There are definitely better options around, but not a bad experience.

Whyyy is everything in Clarendon so horribly overpriced? LPQ is located in the heart of Clarendon (so beware the street parking situation). It’s a chain, so the food seems pretty reliable. But it’s also nothing to write home about and at $ 12+ for very basic and somewhat small portion sizes, it’s not the best option around. My very basic goat cheese veggie omelette was $ 12. Also, I’m not sure about the «veggie» part of the description. It was basically just eggs with goat cheese and maybe a few stray mushrooms mixed in. Comes with a teeny tiny, but nice salad with light tasty dressing and with 2 slices of baguette.
A couple other concerns: the «cups» they use for coffee and teas are really bowls. Yes, bowls. It’s very odd. We laughed when the waitress put them down on the table and were both asking «is this for real?!» There are no handles and you’re supposed to just drink out of these little bowls I guess. Like drinking miso soup at a Japanese restaurant. Odd as hell.
Additionally, they have these nice containers of spreads/​jams out for you to put on your bread. The hazelnut and blueberry ones are DELISH! However, it weirds me out to no end that these are out for customer after customer to use. With the same spoon stuck in them. When I took some of the blueberry jam out to spread on my bread, there were some bread crumbs floating in it from, presumably, a previous diner’s usage. Maybe I’m a germophobe, but GROSSsssss.
This is an ok place to stop for a coffee or light bite to eat. It’s not too crowded and it’s pleasant inside. But for similar food at a cheaper price (and to go to a non-​chain restaurant), I’d opt for Northside Social up the street.

I feel like this place is expensive for so-​so food and small portions. It’s a good place to hang out for coffee, and to go if you want to get wired on the chocolate spreads.
Entrees have always been disappointing. On the last go around, I got the chicken salad — they were out of my first 2 preferences. $ 20 bucks later, I was still hungry.

Having read the reviews (after my visit), I see the service is hit-​or-​miss.
For me it was a «miss.»

I loved this restaurant! My friend and I went for breakfast at 8:30 on Saturday and we didn’t sat down immediately. It was still quite busy at that time though.
The ambience is very posh and everything looks new. The food is up to expectations. You could kind of see it coming out of the kitchen, which makes it interesting. I ordered a goat cheese omelette, and it was delicious! I love goat cheese, and the omelette is just the right size. There’s seasonal salad and vegetables next to the omelette, and it made me think super healthy. It also comes with two pieces of bread — with the variety of jams — blueberry, apricot etc., the bread is so amazing.
Overall, would recommend it to anyone.

As a café, I can’t really fault this establishment. The coffee I’ve had has been potent enough, and have yet to have a weak cup (knock on wood).
I guess what makes it a nice place for me is the outdoor seating. It’s great to sit back and relax with your brew and just people watch, or read a bit before dandering on with the rest of your day.
Having said this, the earlier you get here the better because on good sunny blue-​skied days, its near impossible to find a seat and worse if you’re part of a wee group, because everyone is just sat there, with or without a laptop, and you get to take it away. C’est la vie.
The location is very convenient and a very brief walk from the Clarendon tube stop, and other useful places like Trader Joe’s and the Cheesecake Factory. Clarendon generally has a good, busy, young vibe to it — and Le Pain Quotidien is very much a hub that adds to it.
I’ve not explored the food here much — I’ve only had the croque monsieur (grilled cheese sandwich) with coffee and on another occasion with a lemonade. Like most all of Clarendon shops, it is pricey for what you get — so unless you’ve got deep pockets or have a laissez faire attitude when it comes to food and beverage, then fair play to you and indulge.
Tres bien.

As a frenchie myself, this place is typical French style seating, cuisine, atmosphere. We had the croque mosiuer and iced lattes as well as lemonades.
The salad dressings are with vinegar so for me it was delicious, but my husband wasn’t the biggest fan :)
Overall it’s great here!