Paul Bakery & Cafe

Service is terrible. I ordered a Salman sandwich for lunch, the staff behind the counter picked up a sandwich from the tray and I thought my order is taken care of. Only at check out the cashier told me they ran out of Salman sandwich. Then what was the it that the staff took out of the tray and prepared? When I asked why nobody told me they ran out of it when I ordered? The staff who took my order rumbled something in another language go the cashier and refuses to look at me or address my question.
Will never come back.

I like the Paul bakeries, but this is the worst one I have been in. The staff are surly and merely grunt at you. I ordered a pastry and they microwaved it to oblivion, completely ruining it. Don’t bother coming here.

I have never received such disrespectful customer service! I was a loyal customer, who comes to Paul everyday, but now I have no desire to go after the way the manager treated me.
There was an influx of people for the lunch rush, so the manager came up to me while I was on my laptop and told me to leave! I had just finished my pastry and tea, and was about to get lunch, and he had the audacity to tell me that Paul was not a place for me to do work. He kicked out two other tables of University students, who had also just purchased food; and stormed away after I tried telling him that I was going to purchase more food. This is no way to treat PAYING customers, especially, loyal University students who go there consistently because it is ON CAMPUS.
It is appalling the amount of disrespect that this man had. Frankly the food isn’t that great so I won’t be returning there after that incident, I would rather go to an actual French café and pay the same price, and be treated with respect than to that place.

So many good things to choose from here. I usually have their sweets before or after work because it’s on my way there. Normally a supporter of locally owned and operated but there aren’t many options downtown, and their quality is the same as in Europe :)

Terrible cappuccino. All foam, almost no coffee. Tasted like a hot glass of plain milk.

Surprised to see Paul in DC. There are Paul stores in my homecountry Japan, but i have never seen Paul in NY where I live. We enjoyed their croissant and chocolate croissant for our breakfast along with Café au lait.

Baked goods on display with coffee or tea.
Adequate seatings and a great rest stop for whatever reasons.
They serve up big sized macaroons too! A plus.

Excellent coffee. Like — seriously — good, strong, tasty coffee. I like the atmosphere/​look/​ambiance as well — definitely gives off a nice European vibe. However, because I stay away from gluten, my food/​snack options here are quite limited. The enormous macaron at $ 5+ was good, but no one needs to eat such a large macaron (not saying that I didn’t). It seems they sell the smaller ones only in packages of several.

Cute place. Unfortunately, both our almond and our chocolate pastries were doughy and undercooked. Paris has nothing to fear from this place if our visit was representative.

Love their egg baguette! A little over priced and can have slow service on the weekends. But nice spot during the week if you wanna have a treat

Stopped by to get something for my sweet tooth and decided to grab an éclair.
As the french noun «Éclair» suggests itself, I successfully could finish the whole thing in few seconds!
Unfortunately, they only do chocolate flavored éclair which is too sweet. I’m also not sure why the éclair was not that soft, maybe because of the fridge temperature.
Overall experience was fine, but not super impressive.

The quiche, macarons, and salads are the best things to get here. Don’t waste your time with the baguette sandwiches. They’re small and expensive. This is a cute place for a date!
They have a menu aside from what you see behind the glass so make sure to inquire about it!

This took FOREVER!!! We waited 30 mins for two pre-​made sandwiches and one capuchino. Clearly there was no manager on duty. 15 min for one two people to make it through the cash register.
Then, we got not one, but two capuchinos sent to us by mistake!
Come only if you are planning to be here more that 45min for a simple order. I’m not coming back.

We went here on our last day in D.C. for late breakfast/​brunch. The place is great! Very charm and cozy. We had a hazelnut and almond pastries and they were absolutely DELICIOUS!!! Then we had eggs Benedict and they were awesome too! Oh! And I can’t forget to mention the Mochappuccino (coffee and hot chocolate!!), it was just exquisite!
However, I’m not giving five stars because the service is poor; both the cashier and waiter were really cold. Prices are a little high, but being a french restaurant and where they are located you kind expect that. I’ll still recommend it, at least for the pastries, I regret not buying more to take home.

HORRIBLE!!! I ordered a Niçoise salad for 13.73 and it was served canned tuna. How do you serve a French salad that is supposed to contain seared tuna with canned tuna. When I asked the employee he said yes it’s canned tuna and that is how it is supposed to be served. Also the olives are supposed to be Niçoise olives but instead they are canned black olives. Horrible! This place has been in business since 1889 but can’t get a simple traditional salad close to right. I will never go back to this restaurant and I suggest no else does.
Update tasted the salad and literally the tuna is right out of the can. Disgusting! Just called for a refund.

The location is fine.
Nicely appointed.
For French pastry, which tends to look pretty but taste… let’s say «refined» (but not as in sugar)…this place is pretty standard.
But after being ridiculed by the staff for asking an honest question, there’s no way I’d ever set foot in this place again.

Rather generic chain café in foggy bottom packed with GW students. The atmosphere is semi modern and clean. The pasteries (croissant and chocolate mousse) were adequate yet dry. Not very authentic, yet not bad either. The quiche Lorraine was fluffy and light. The greens it came with were quite over dressed.
Nothing special or authentic, but not entirely unenjoyable. A fine option on Sundays when most food options in foggy bottom are closed.
Better than Starbucks or ABP — definitely. Definitely not a real french patisserie or café though.

I love stepping into Paul and being greeted with the lovely smell of freshly baked bread. Fancy french bread. It smells sooooo good in here (unlike the Au Bön Pain a few steps down from Paul. I always leave that place with an icky smell of grease in my hair and coat, but that’s another story).
I usually stop by here for a macaron, but I like their «La Gourmandise» pastry as well. I’ve also used this location for catering on several occasions and have had no complaints.

The WORST café Ive ever been to!
I walked in saying to myself. Gee this reminds me of an upscale Panera Bread… only to be literally and unsatisfyingly eating my words later…
I dubb this review SACRE BLEU!
My Sunday Brunch plans started off bleek. I drove down to Founding Farmers on a whim to get some tasty brunch treats and their amazing beignets. I know. I know. I need reservations. I was half hoping we could cram into the bar – but that was a no go. So after unsuccessfully dialing all the other brunch spots in the area we came to the conclusion that we are shit out of luck. We tried our chances with Paul.
What is this? A fancy Panera? Au Bön Pair? Zee Baguettes Marie!
No its this quasi-​ghetto trying to be french café with awful service. Upon entering with my two GF we were not greeted with a Hello or Hi or even looked at. Where do we go? How do we order? There are no signs indicating order here or start there. So I walk and circle around for a bit. Workers are busy running food out and gathering items. Theres no cashier or hostess. So I flag a worker down and finally shes like how can i help you?
Well theres no menu in front of the cashier because you are suppose to order first then pay. Order my quiche and croissant.
The quiche comes out Lukewarm on the edges and cold on the inside. Croissant was standard. Meh. Im not impressed and the service was slow. Never coming back

Came here by opening for a nice breakfast. Staff werent too entusiastic once we entered right on time. The breakfast package was discontinued they said? But it got the feeling that they just didnt bothered.
Got one of their sandwiches with scrambled eggs and ham instead. And It wasnt bad, the bread was actually freshly made and tasty. They also had a cool décor and lots of seats.
But if you cant pull it off early and maybe put a smile on your face when serving breakfast, you should probably stick to lunch and dinner…