Francois Payard Bakery

I got the breakfast sandwich (chive omelette, bacon, and tartar sauce spread) here and regretted it later as there are seemingly better and, most importantly, more cost-​effective options nearby. It was an okay sandwich but it was totally overwhelmed by the copious amount of tartar sauce within the sandwich.
I made a mistake by ordering with my eyes and thinking their sandwich was too small. As a result, I paid around $ 16 for two sandwiches. To its credit, half of one filled me up enough, but still — two okay sandwiches with too much tartar sauce at a too-​high price.

An incredibly wonderful experience, thanks to both the fine Chocolate Mousse, but
the warm and friendly Richie who made a great cappuccino for me and did not
make me feel I was taking up space while drinking it. True, it was Xmas vacation,
which means the pressure of those INTENSE TRADERS who frequent the place
and want their coffee BEFORE they order it were not there, but nevertheless I had
the impression that Riche could handle these mad people and remain smiling.
I wanted everything in the pastry case: I have eaten at many of the Bakery’s other
locations, for years, but this one, located in the trendiest of neighborhoods (Battery Park city)
just can’t be beat. I will always return to this branch and can’t wait to go back.

I only came in here for a Macaron Ice Cream Sandwich, but that’s enough to make me want to come back.
We got the vanilla bean brownie ICS. Not quite a macaron, but still delicious. It was a good size for a dessert and it wasn’t too sweet. I liked that it wasn’t to hard to bite into — the brownie and ice cream layers almost melted in my mouth once I took a bite. Probably not the best for an on-​the-​go treat, but they have seating in there anyway!
Service was good — the cashier was friendly and a bit sassy. In a good way, of course! It’s kinda dark in there, but the place itself is a cute spot to meet up for some dessert or coffee.

Their cakes are goo but a staf was not motivated, reluctant to respond our order…
He seemed to be tired of something…
Papa payard cake was great, though.

I truly love (loved I guess) the sandwiches here but often there’s only one employee who preps food and mans the cash register. Here’s the problem — he keeps wearing the same pair of gloves. If you’re going to have one person prep food and interact with customers, he needs to keep changing his gloves after ringing up each customer. I’ve stopped going there, especially given Hudson Eats, El Vez’s Chipotle clone, and Parm all nearby.

I had one mission today and it was to get one of Francois Payard’s Macaron Ice Cream Sandwich! Mission accomplished! $ 5, no tax; I had the raspberry pistachio macaron ice cream sandwich. It tasted a bit tart-​like, kinda like raspberry sorbet, but with a creamy and sweet twist. I enjoyed my dessert and I am on another mission to come back to try the remaining three flavors!!!

I would have missed this place if I wasn’t sitting in Shake Shack just looking around. When I went, they seemed to have more lunch options than sweets. I wasn’t able to see what I was looking for and I felt like I was rushed to the side even when no one was behind me on line.

Love the almond croissant and I always find myself craving it! It’s the perfect balance of chewy texture with almond flavor that’s not too overwhelming (the amaretto taste can be a little off putting sometimes).

Mini pretzel roll — delicious! Do yourself a favor and try this. Many many places don’t get their pretzel bread right, but this one does. Not too salty at all and topped with a sprinkle of sesame seeds. Delicious, soft, flavorful. Shaped like a mini baguette. Would get this any day.
Croissant — good, but would’ve expected a bit better. Could have been a little softer and would’ve been nicer warmed up a bit. Still good though.

$ 2.50 per macaron.
I’ve yet to try their individual macarons though.
I came here for the macaron ice cream sandwich. I had the pistachio-​raspberry one and it was tart-​sweet and refreshing. I really wanted to try the cheesecake one but it was all sold out. Maybe next time.

These macaroons were a tad bit too sweet for me, especially for the price.

The macaron ice cream sandwich is overhyped. There was nothing special. I just tasted sweet on sweet on sweet. I wouldn’t come back for another ice cream sandwich. It costs $ 5 a piece. I’m glad I tried it though. Now I know I can spend $ 5 on better ice cream, because this was not worth it at all.

The lady in front is mad at the world for some reason and has a serious case of BRF. The macarons are great tho.

I only dropped by this location for the macaron ice cream sandwich.
I ordered the passion fruit cheesecake one, and it cost a flat $ 5. Macarons run about $ 2.50 a pop, so the price makes sense. The thing is roughly the size of two macarons.
I understand that passion fruit is tart, but it was a bit too tart for my taste. On the other hand, the ice cream was melting so fast (as in dripping) before I even left the store. This is the reason for such a low review and my incredible disappointment since I live macarons and ice cream. When the weather gets hotter, how in the world will these hold up? My suggestion is to freeze the suckers till they’re like bricks.

Came here for some macarons because I am obsessed. They were just okay. I almost even gave two stars. There was nothing special, or sweet about them. They were smaller then most macarons, and of course over priced. Probably would not go back here again.

It was drawn attention to me by numerous people that yesterday was free Macaroon day in New York City and I guess also the first day of Spring.. .. and International Happiness Day. .. and like frigging marriage proposal day or some ridiculous bs. Who invents these International Days ANYWAY?! But I noticed that this was the only bakery within a reasonable distance from my office and trekked out the several blocks from the east river to the Hudson in hopes of free baked goods. I was not disappointed. I did totally walk past the bakery though initially. It’s inside of a little strip of restaurants and quick bite places under I think the Goldman Sachs building. The staff was overly jovial when I stepped in and was all: «YOU WANT A MACAROON!» «Well.. .. yes».
Gorgeous array of colors. I could not decide for the life of me if I wanted pink, blue, green, yellow.. .. asked one of the workers if there was a favorite amongst them and he said his personal favorite was vanilla but that most folks come in for the salted caramel and that they sell out the most. So I lunged for the sell out. Who wants plain boring nilla vanilla? I would like to commend that there was absolutely no line and people didn’t linger in here which was nice. There were other treats in their display that looked out of this world amazing. I don’t usually step into fancy bakeries so this was a first day of spring treat. The macaroon was tasty. It lasted two seconds like they do. They weren’t the freshest as fresh could be with verging on being chewy when people have been describing macaroons to me as melty and chewy warm (when coming out of the oven) because I’m sure they were churning out hundreds of them. But the flavor of the salty caramel was delightful.

On my second visit I showed up 20 minutes prior to close. Eventually I was motioned at through the glass that they were already closed. When I pointed to my phone and motioned a «6» with a puzzled look on my face, a woman came to the door and very rudely pointed to a small sign in the bottom corner of the window which states they close at 5 on Sundays. Really no need to be rude.
As for their macaroons, the salted caramel is done well, as is the pistachio. Wasn’t particularly fond of the other flavors – I found them to be lacking and bland. The salted caramel is no Ladurée but will suffice when you don’t feel like waiting an hour in line for a cookie. I found the pistachio to have a better flavor than that at Ladurée.
A bit disappointed with the customer service the second time around, but not so much so that I won’t be back to grab a quick coffee or cookie in the future.

I love this place. I gauge a lot of places on their cappuccinos since so few American places get it right (e.g., Starbucks does not with that milky mess they try to pass off as cappuccino forcing me to always ask for it «dry» for them to get it, well, still wrong), but Fracois Payard Bakery served me up a perfect soy cappuccino. Sometimes a perfect cappuccino is all a girl wants in the morning along with a yummy indulgent pastry.
This place is more expensive than Le Pain Quotidien, but I do love both and they are both in the area. Francois Payard is more elaborate/​dessert-​like and reminds me of Bouchon Bakery in Time Warner Center and Le Pain Quotidien is more casual and is what I imagine more of a casual French bakery to be like with perfect iced tea and baguettes the size of one’s arm. I like going back-​and-​forth between the two for variety. They both are more expensive than say Starbucks, but I refuse to patronize Starbucks now that I’ve found these other better quality café chains that still retain that small café feel with friendly customer service and a true appreciation for breakfast.
This place is also unique in that it is macaroon heaven with macaroons sometimes added to their cakes (something I hadn’t seen before) which you buy by the slice or whole, which is nice in case you need to quickly pick up a cake for a special occasion and/​or to bring if visiting someone at their home for say like a group dinner.

These Macarons are to die for. The shop is filled with other goodies from Payard but I come here for the Macarons. These pricey cookies are so damn addicting. He has some unqiue flavors such as rose and lavender. You can’t go wrong here.

I go here usually for mid day snack. I really like their Orange Blossom flavored ‘Le Gâteau Roulé*’. However to my surprise its seasonal and they recently replaced it with lemon flavor which is not as good.
They have 8 – 9 variety of cold sandwiches and few selection of salads. I have tried their Niçoise Salad and Turkey and swiss sandwich for lunch. They taste like regular salads and sandwiches and the price is reasonable.
They have few seatings (5 – 6) two seater tables and chairs. And people seem to mostly do take outs.
I wouldn’t go out of my way for this place, but to get lunch once in few weeks during work hours, its not a bad option.