la Madeleine French Bakery & Café
| Address: | 6211 Columbia Crossing Cir, Columbia, MD 21045, USA |
| Phone: | +1 410-872-4900 |
| Site: | lamadeleine.com |
| Rating: | 3.8 |
| Working: | 7AM–9PM 7AM–9PM 7AM–9PM 7AM–9PM 7AM–10PM 7AM–10PM 7AM–9PM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 7
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Laurel Besseck
I dont usually write reviews online about restaurants but I was really impressed the last time I went to La Madeleine, which was about a week ago. Ive gone there frequently in the past and have always loved it - the food is great, the people are awesome and I love there there are French lessons put on the speakers in the bathroom. This past time I went with my sister. I have food allergies and ordered the pesto/chicken crepe, completely forgetting that most people use nuts in their pesto. When I make my pesto I omit the nuts because of my allergy. I had remembered about 2 seconds before taking a bite of what looked to be a delicious crepe and went up to talk to one of the staff members about the pesto. It turns out that La Madeleine, like most others, use nuts in their pesto. So I handed back the plate and went to pick out a new - nut free - meal. I chose a spinach pastry and wanted to pay for it since it was completely my fault that I ordered a meal that I am allergic to. They instead paid and offered to make me a chicken crepe with a different sauce but we were in a bit of a time crunch and couldnt wait. So I was very happy eating my delicious spinach and cheese puff and then the manager came out. He apologized for my meal - which is absurd because I was the idiot who forgot about my own allergy! - and gave me a $10 gift card! I was floored. I highly recommend La Madeleine - every time Ive gone Ive never been disappointed with their service or food and this past time they went above and beyond!
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Warren S
Well ... the wife and I wanted a nice Sunday brunch away from the kids. Leave them home and get away for just 1-2 hours for a nice quiet meal and quiet chat. We decided to try La Madeleine in spite of long-ago memories of this chain not being the best. It was ... OK. It does have a very nice ambiance. Old-time French decor and food. All that stuff. Wait staff was pretty good. Not much more to say about that. Seen better and seen much worse. Food wasnt quite as good as we had been hoping. I got a crepe. It was kinda gritty. Not the kind of crepe I got in France at a true crepery long ago (looking for one of those in the general Columbia/Baltimore area if anyone has any suggestions). The food line itself was a bit confusing. Im not the biggest idiot around (I dont think), but when I go to a restaurant It should be somewhat intuitive as to where to go, how they work, what are the food/menu options, do you grab your food and then go down the line, and on and on. This was not intuitive. We werent even sure exactly where to begin. Not a good start. Overall this La Madeleine wasnt too bad. Doubt we will go back, but we wanted to give it a try. And that was our result. BTW, was very tossed up between 3 and 4 stars. Could easily have gone to 3, but Im feeling generous right now.
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A Private User
My husband & I stopped here for breakfast on a Monday morning and were highly disappointed. Perhaps our first clue about the service should have been the lack of customers. You would think for the price we paid the food & service would have been better. We both ordered the french toast, which we were told 5 minutes later would be about 30 minutes because they were out of bread & had to make more. After waiting for more than 45 minutes a customer who had sat down 5 minutes prior was served french toast, prompting my husband to flag down the wait staff. Their response was "Oh, yes. Your food will be be out in just a minute." When the food finally arrived they didnt bring out our sides. Once again we needed to ask for our food. When the sides arrived both my husbands bacon & my potatoes were cold. I have been to restaurants where the service was similar however the restaurants were usually very busy with customers. When you only have a handful of customers and a full wait staff there is very little excuse for such poor service. My husband and I will not be going back.
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Amra S.
The food is overpriced and mediocre. The employees are insufferable. I guess that they are being hired for their ability to mutter words with a seemingly french accent, since most of them are obviously from former french african colonies. Other than that, they lack basic skills of polite human interaction. Remembering la madeleine from my time back in TX, I know that customers are supposed to be greeted with a cheerful Bonjour. Enter la madeleine in columbia, md, you will not be greeted at all. If you are lucky, they might look your way with an indifferent expression just to keep going on shuffling items, carrying pots, going in and out of the kitchen with a rag in hand. Ordering a small item to go is a mute process of you stating your wish and the employee saying the price. All the hellos and thank yous will be coming from the customer. It is pretty much like the shopping experience in sears, where we have the same employees profile. I made a conscious decision not to go there anymore.
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Eugene Kim
I mean the desserts are good, and the food is decent I guess? But the place seems so pretentious in general. I guess it all depends on your own preference, but I dont really like these kinds of places personally. Even if the food/dessert is any good, the prices are way too high, and its very very high-calorie. Also the last time I went, I ordered a lemonade, and I was told that it wasnt free refill (it wasnt any type of special French lemonade or anything either -.-). I dont know about everyone else, but I personally was a little unpleasantly surprised by it. One good thing I like about it though is the section near the back where you can get all the free bread and jam you want. Also, the desserts really are very very delicious, but only if you dont care at all about gaining weight.
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Bob Henig
My wife and I plus a good many of our staff (we have the local BMW motorcycle dealership) dine here frequently. We love holding breakfast meetings here as we can spread out a bit early in the morning plus weve found the service to be great. The food is consistently tasty (omelettes are my favorite) and the coffee be it French or American (with free refills) is strong and flavorful. Its a pleasant, relaxing and casual place that you can enjoy by yourself or even a large group. I recall that weve treated as many as 15 of our staff before one of our Open Houses in the spring or fall. And weve found that lunch and dinner are equally enjoyable and yes, like any popular place it can get busy at times but we always get good service and smiles from the friendly staff.
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Malik L Griffin
Not a very good experience at all. This was my first time here and what looked promising from the outside was not so much once you got in. The staff was a little frazzled due to the crowd so my order in particular was not taken correctly and we got billed for additional items. Once we got that straightened out the vibe of the restaurant made me want to scarf my food down and get the hell out of there. I honestly didnt like this place at all and have no plans on going here or any other location ever again. The one good side is that the quiche that I ordered was very good which was the only redeeming quality of my visit. Unless you are starving to death dont come here. Your money is much better spent somewhere else.
