Le Pain Quotidien – UN Plaza
“I order the Chicken Curry tartine, although Steak tartine & Salmon tartine also sound good.”
“With that said, the food was good and the spreads in the middle of the table allow for trying some unique flavors you may not have had before.”
“I got the soft boiled egg with a side of salmon and toast along with the shaken iced vanilla bean latte.”
Le Pain Quotidien – UN Plaza
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: 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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I only had one item here so I am basing this review on that. I seriously thought about giving this place 5-stars, but decided to reserve that for after I try some more stuff. But man, that one item was GOOD!
This place is a sort of breakfast-brunch type of place. Specialty coffee from Spain, fresh breads and pastries, salads & some breakfast items, and this absolutely delectable thing called tartines! I needed to grab a lunch to go, and wandered in here more as a curiosity. I didn't realize they had no sandwiches, but the place just looked so inviting that I decided to just eat whatever they had, even if it might have been an apple tart.
The interior is large, clean and well decorated, and sort of exudes gourmet coffee shop feel. Their baked goods look fantastic, and I really wanted to try those French cream donut thing, but it's lunch time… So I look up to see what they have, and… breakfast? it's lunch time. salads? bird food. The only other choice? Something called tartines. I figured, I'll ask what that is, and if I don't like it then I'll just order that French cream donut thing. Alas, he describes what they are and they sound good. So the French cream donut thing will have to wait for… breakfast.
Basically, tartine is a fancy word for open-faced sandwich. I order the Chicken Curry tartine, although Steak tartine & Salmon tartine also sound good. It comes in five pie-shaped pieces for around $11, so not thinking it's a great bargain, but it looks fabulous! I bite into the creamy curried chicken on top of multi-grain bread, and topped with sunflower seeds & raisins. They also give you a cup of peach or apricot preserve-type thing, which I spread on top. At first bite, I'm thinking this is possibly the best tasting "sandwich" I've ever had. I scarf it down it no time flat and now I'm thinking I want that French cream donut thing! With a cup of coffee! Well, next time for sure.
Table-for-1 Factor: It's technically a coffeehouse, I guess, but after you seat yourself they come and take your order. So, restaurant? Anyway, it's as natural as a coffeehouse to sit by yourself and indulge.
This restaurant is truly sub-par as far as Le Pains go. And I've been to many. This particular Le Pain runs out of oatmeal almost every day before traditional breakfast hours are even over. How can a restaurant repeatedly plan this poorly? If people come in at 10am and ask for oatmeal and you have run out and then the next weekend they come in at 9am and again you are out and then months later they try again and the same thing happens… this is a problem. Either don't serve oatmeal if you are incapable of making enough for your customers or–here's a wacky idea–prepare more oatmeal. (Not to mention that they are obviously not making the oatmeal fresh. They make one vat, serve it up and then call it a day when it runs out. Weak move, guys.)
I'm giving two stars instead of one because the food is healthy and organic and it's a nice option to have. As a vegan I can recommend the white bean hummus in addition to the regular hummus, and the rotating chickpea, quinoa, and lentil vegan dishes.
But not at this location.
The service here can best be described as "preoccupied." And when your occupation generally revolves around tending to customers, that should probably be your focus. I could be wrong.
The piece de resistance came today when I actually had to go back for a second time (after being denied oatmeal in the morning) to pick up a take-out order for my mom: The Organic Lentil & Avocado salad which contains: arugula, frisée, flax seed, raw vegetables, chickpeas and basil vinaigrette. When I placed the order I specified one ingredient to make sure they included it. Chickpeas. She told me they are in the salad as it is on the menu so they would obviously be in the salad. Obviously.
I picked the order up and brought it my mom's apartment only to have her open the salad up and find no chickpeas. Amount of attitude when I called and reminded them that she wanted chickpeas in it? A lot. Amount of chickpeas in her salad? Zero. And to ass insult to injury they also completely left off the flax seeds and their idea of a Lentil & Avocado salad (note: avocado in the title) contained one tiny piece of avocado. The "raw vegetables" they referred to were a few slices of radish. The frisée was also missing so I basically paid $13.50 for a faint layer of arugula, some lentils and a hint of avocado.
When I called to let them know they had left off the one ingredient I had asked they include, the woman said nothing. To the point I had to make sure we weren't disconnected. When she finally spoke again she said, "I don't really know what we can do. If you want you can come back and talk to the manager."
I didn't. I bought a can of chickpeas and added them myself to her salad. So I suppose all's well that ends well but I can't go to the grocery store for all of you when they run out of oatmeal or don't include half of your salad so my best advice is to avoid this location at all costs.
Great for brunch… Tasty bread and omelets; strong coffee, indoor / outdoor seating, friendly service.
Haven't tried other locations but this one was good.
If you have a sweet tooth, the hazelnut praline spread was yummy, especially with some raspberry jam on top.
Our party of 4 enjoyed brunch – the salmon, with ricotta and a soft boiled egg was satisfyingly good, as was the goat cheese and seasonal vegetable omelet.
We had breakfast here yesterday and while it was an overall decent experience, we weren't too impressed with the service.
We walked in around 9 and were told we could seat ourselves anywhere. We seated ourselves outside and informed the barista that that is where we are sitting. We waiting for ~10-12 minutes and no one came to serve us. I went in and reminded the lady again, and eventually a server did come to our table.
For some reason our server didn't seemed to pleased to be there and was rather grumpy – a far far cry from the pleasant servers we usually encounter at breakfast/brunch places.
The food itself was pretty good, the service, however, left a lot to be desired. It was not a particularly busy time of day either, so the apathetic service was a bit surprising.
I will likely return, but should this service persist, not.
We're here at LPQ and it's a structural issue with this chain to provide sub standard customer service while also providing great food.
Every visit has been a trade off. I just had the ham and gruyere toasted croissant. A little greasy but tasted great.
The dressing for the accompanying greens was amazing. Ask for extra dressing.
My wife had the butternut soup which was too sweet for me but she loved it.
Best coffee in NY.
Le Pain Quotidien consistently provides POOR service, no matter the location.
Avoid it at all cost, literally
Before I delve into my story from this Le Pain location I would like to say I am mostly a fan of this chain and their food (with the exception of 53rd and 5th which is slow as sludge). That being said, I highly doubt I will ever return….
Party of four arrived around lunch time, sat ourselves, ordered standard brunch/Le Pain fare. I was excited that this restaurant served omelettes considering most of their locations are seriously lacking in the egg prep department (hard and soft boiled only). We all get our food and about a quarter of the way through our meal by partner bit into a fairly large piece of sharp plastic while eating her chicken tartine. Now I don't use Yelp to tell stories of kitchen misfortune, as a matter of facts i even continue to patronize restaurants who make small errors similar to this, but Le Pain WILL NOT be one of them. First, I call over our waitress to alert her as my partner is much too embarassed, fairly so, but we ain't paying for plastic! Second we request a toothpick necause said plastic continues to irritate her mouth. The waitress acting as though this sort of event happens on a daily basis, she asked if we wanted anything else, and said 'no toothpicks but we have a bathroom'. To our disappointment, we find the plastic cracked a back molar and now we have an actual incident on our hands (boo, I hate incidents). Call back over the waitress and she tells us her manager will take it off the bill and she'll get an incident report. Again, nonchalantly as if she was performing normal lunch service. To make matters worse, the manager never came over to our table to apologize or check up. Incident report was taken by the waitress with zero compassion. What type of management and staff behavior is that? Forgetting the plastic, it's just unacceptable.
In addition, just as a little background, we've been pumping money into Le Pain as a couple for years. Between weekly coffees and lunches several times a month (we both work across from locations), bringing groups on the weekends, and sending their gift baskets to family, I'm incredibly disappointed. I'd seriously hope someone at this particular restaurant was having a terrible day personally or truly unaware of how inconsiderate they were being.
Oh, and my omelette was Le Mediocre….
The one and only good thing I think here is their pound bag of espresso beans. Excellent coffee. Now that I see a review for amazing hot chocolate, I will have to try that as well.