Le Pain Quotidien – 3 Park Ave
“Didn't realize there were some branches in Los Angeles on the West Coast where I'm from but decided to give it a try for breakfast/brunch.”
“The croissants are among the best I have had.”
“The ambiance is perfect- casual and relaxing; a great lunch spot and place to unwind for an hour.”
Le Pain Quotidien – 3 Park Ave
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Outdoor Seating: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Good for Working: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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Le Pain Quotidien is so good and so addictive! If you're looking for wonderful organic bread and pastries or a healthy but tasty lunch, this is the place to go!
The croissants are among the best I have had. The bread is lovely. The granola and yoghurt parfait with fresh berries is wonderful. The avocado toast with chia seeds and lemon salt is perfection. The coffee is great. The fresh apple juice is amazing. I could go on, but will keep it short by saying: everything from the menu that I have tried, I loved.
I was sceptic when I heard it is a chain of bakeries/restaurants but I have now tried more than 5 different locations in both US, Spain and France and the quality has been equally high in all locations.
Oh my, despite having just had dinner, I got hungry from writing this review. WHY isn't there a Le Pain Quotidien in Denmark yet?!?
If you're lucky enough to be in a country where they are, do yourself a favor and give it a try! 🙂
Love this place, this Chain…and I'm really not a "chain restaurant" person. But Le Pain, knows how to do it right. Staff is always friendly and courteous, and the food is always fresh and delicious. And this last visit I got hooked on their "stone fruit black ice tea"….sooooo gooood!!! Please come to SF. We need you!!!
Croissant and a coffee rang me up to a little over $5, which isn't bad. The service was very pleasant. The coffee was only lukewarm, so I asked him to heat it up – he apologized right away, and made me a piping hot coffee (per request).
I loved the space that this LPQ has … it was very open, quiet, and there was plenty of space. I spread my books and laptop out, and it was an enjoyable time.
The only thing that was unattractive was the scaffolding that currently hides the exterior of LPQ. Signage directs you towards LPQ, but it was a little bit difficult to navigate to the entrance.
Note: I promise you this my final update on this particular location of LPQ, because after yesterday, we won't be returning.
My husband, daughter and I headed to LPQ yesterday for lunch, after receiving a gift card to be used for a future visit (see update #3). From beginning to end this was a terrible idea.
1. We arrived before 2 other tables but our waiter was, as usual, nowhere to be found.
2. When our food finally came – quinoa taboule (me), chicken tartine (husband), bowl of soup (daughter) – it came in pieces. The soup first. 5 minute wait. My quinoa taboule. 10 minute wait. Tartine.
3. The quinoa taboule, which I order on a weekly basis, didn't have the basil dressing, but rather something creamy looking, which I later found out was some type of lemon dressing. I requested it to be fixed.
4. 10 minutes later I flagged down the waiter to ask where my replacement salad was. He said he'd check on it.
5. Another 10 minutes and still no salad. I flagged him down again (not sure why he didn't care to follow up) to find out the status. I saw him speaking with the cooks who were gesturing confusedly. Apparently they'd forgotten to remake the salad.
6. Salad finally comes out (I lost track of time by this point). THEY GAVE ME THE SAME SALAD I SENT BACK 20+ EARLIER WITH THE LEMON DRESSING ON IT.
6. Flag down a different waiter who takes the salad back to the kitchen. Our waiter comes by to apologize and offer me a brownie. I decline and ask for the manager.
7. Manager comes by and says our meal is on the house and assures me the salad will be made correctly and quickly.
8. 10 minutes later I finally get a wilted salad that's half the size it usually is.
9. 1 minute later my husband points out there is a hair on my avocado.
10. We decide to cut our losses and leave and the waiter says he'll get us the bill. We tell him the manager said the meal is on the house. He checks with her and she says no, just the salad is on the house.
I give up 3 Park Ave Le Pain Quotidien. You win.
Located on Park Ave, between 33 and 34th st, this branch takes place right next to Starbucks so we can say that they are competitors. To me, Starbucks is ahead, at least for now. The very first reason I say so is that you can not figure out where or to whom to order for 3-4 minutes if no one else is ordering. People await their order to the right of entrance and it seems like they are on line but actually where they take order is right ahead when you enter, which actually makes sense, but no one stays still there. Anyways.
I wanted to get a cookie to go, they have a really really chocolate one which I didn't know the name but I called it the chocolate cookie :)))) The girl didn't get it till I repeat 3 times. It was like $2.75. No way to eat it at once. So rich in flavor. I liked it. They have other pastry choices and they all look tasty and fresh.
It is good to have an alternate place around so i'll keep visiting.
Super overpriced (a pastry + hot chocolate were $8) and also very disappointing. The hot chocolate was totally lacking chocolate flavor, and the chocolate croissant I had was dry and tasted stale, although I bought it first thing in the morning. The only redeeming thing was the mini Belgian brownie ($1.50), which was great – it tasted a lot like a Thomas Keller bouchon. With so many options in the area for a pastry and hot drink, this isn't a place I'd go back to.
I always vowed that I would never eat at one of these in the United States because it would just be too, too disappointing. Especially after what I still mentally refer to as the "Pret-a-Manger debacle" and the less upsetting, but still not stellar "Brioche Dore incident." I bent the rule once, on a recommendation, and the Georgetown location was really rather good.
However, this location is truly superb. I had a couple of hours to kill before i had to meet friends, and the staff were lovely. Accommodating and nice. I had the lox plate (which probably seemed better to me because of my long exile in Boston and the fact that I had just walked three miles), which was fabulous. The waiter was simply delightful.
I have been here twice. Never again. Except when I want to pay too much and be treated like an interloper and be barked at by pretentious children with fake French accents, who are allowed to masquerade as waitstaff. Means you wait for them.
I am treated better and with more courtesy anywhere I have been in Paris, this place is a joke, and most of the baked goods are stale. It is ridiculously expensive for what it is.
The cheese plate is a good deal. But say goodbye to your wallet here. And your dignity. The child waitress who had outgrown her little uniform, never brought us splenda, that she claimed they had, and then took ten minutes to bring the check.