Video
Read full review
2016-04-04
1075 views
I've been to Le Pain Quotidien (LPQ) a number of times now, but always just to grab some pastries to-go. I love their Cinnamon Swirl. I’m a sucker for anything cinnamon, and their swirl is not a let-down with rich, buttery bites in every mouthful. Reasonably priced as well at HKD22. An unhealthy, but great way to start any morning.Anyone who has passed by this quaint bistro at The Avenue will know how attractive their patio area is, and will understand why I just had to give dining-in a shot, ev
Anyone who has passed by this quaint bistro at The Avenue will know how attractive their patio area is, and will understand why I just had to give dining-in a shot, even though nothing on their menu really appealed to me. Their dine-in menu mainly consists of all-day breakfast items, baked treats, sandwiches, and some hot food. I’m not a breakfast person, so yes, I may be biased.
I’ll cut to the chase now. LPQ is expensive. I’m a pretty cheap person, but if the dining experience is worth it, you will not hear a single complaint from me. Unfortunately, this was not the case at LPQ. For their prices, and the kind of menu they offer, I not only expect the food to be flawless, but service to be decent.
Let’s start with the food. We had two tartines. The Curry Chicken and Cranberry was pretty good, I’ll hand them that. Fresh bread was generously coated in a thick, creamy curry sauce. The curry was mild, and aromatic. I think I would have preferred it if the curry was actually spicy, but I’m just nit-picking.
The second one we had was the Avocado and Spicy Shrimp, which was mediocre at best. The avocado spread was bland, not a hint of seasoning. Shrimp was definitely frozen, chewy and NOT fresh at all. If I’m paying HKD100++ for a slice of bread with shrimp on it, that shrimp better be so fresh, it be wiggling on my plate. It’s completely ludicrous how some establishments completely rip off their customers because they stand behind a “name brand”. Overall, the food was slightly disappointing and severely overpriced. If you enjoy tartines, I would definitely just jaunt a few stops to Central to Tartine.
Now, let’s get to the service. A key trick to spotting if a restaurant has terrible service, is to just observe the managers. If the managers are just standing idly around, letting their staff do all the work, LEAVE. LEAVE NOW, or be terrorized by the horrors of mediocre service that await you. I’m still kicking myself for not leaving, when I noticed this at LPQ.
We had to wait a good half hour for our food to arrive. And mind you, the restaurant was maybe only 60-70% full at this time. Yes, 30 minutes, for someone to spread ready-made curry sauce and avocado and shrimp on two slices of bread. If I knew I had to wait that long, I would have asked my 86 year old grandma to make me one. It would have taken maybe 5 minutes longer, but at least it wouldn’t have to pay HKD200+ to endure a half hour of hunger pangs.
Needless to say, we alerted the staff, who went to follow up with the kitchen. When we did not hear back within 5 minutes, we decided to speak to the manager, who neither apologized nor acknowledged the situation… gave us an “O RLY?” expression, and walked off. At least, the waitress apologized…
Also, there were two managers during the time of our visit. Someone solve this mystery cos I cant’ figure it out. Why would a restaurant need TWO managers who do absolutely nothing? This is even tougher to figure out than the Da Vinci’s Code. For the ENTIRE duration of our meal, I did not see either of the two managers do anything other than waltz around the patio area, go out and take a smoke in full view of their customers.
At one point, one of the managers was even yelling and ordering the staff around. That definitely added to the dining experience. The noise from nearby Johnston Road with its trams and traffic was not enough, the yelling really helped improve the ambience. Like really, didn’t Managing101 teach you to never air your dirty laundry in front of your customers?
Fellow Openricers, I paid the price of not listening to fellow reviewers who all complained about the service. “It can’t be thaaaat bad”, I thought. Well, it was THAT bad, and actually WORSE. There are so many better options, like Passion, who deliver much better value and service. I might come again, just for the pastries to-go, but never again to dine-in.
Post