Jacques Genin — Local services in Paris

Location: I believe this spot is considered to be in the Marais.

The place: Well, I will openly admit that I hesitated before I walked in because this place looked high class and fancy, and I was schlepping around the city in shorts and a baseball cap. But I like chocolate, and I like good, expensive chocolate at that, so I said to myself, whatever - I'm going in. And so it was. The shop is beautiful and elegant. Very minimalist in its decor and use of space. The tea room is equally elegant.

The goods: Jacques Genin is synonymous with quality. Just look at his creations and you'll have no doubts about that. Taste his creations and you will have a chocogasm on the spot. The clerk who served me offered me a coffee-flavored piece and it was incredible. They use 75% cocoa beans and the flavor of the chocolate is NOT masked by sugar. They also have fruit jelly that looks amazing. I did return (multiple times) to purchase more chocolate and have tea. That was really just an excuse to eat pastries and buy more chocolate, though.

On my first tea visit, I ordered the lemon basil tart, and on the 2nd, I had the chocolate tart. So, what did I think? Foodgasm (again) on the spot. I saw a review somewhere (maybe here) where someone was saying they've had a better lemon basil tart elsewhere. No - it's just not possible. Best non-chocolate tart I have ever had, hands down. I'll say the same for the chocolate tart. On a return trip to Paris, I lucked out and was able to have the Paris Brest. Oh. My. So, if you're in the area (and even if you're not), DO treat yourself by having tea and pastries here. Everything is made fresh daily (yes, everything) and you simply can't go wrong with this place.

I also picked up some nougat and a few caramels on my way out. No comment on the nougat because I didn't try it (I don't like it) but the caramel? Whoa. I tried the raspberry and it was out of this world. It's got this lovely buttery flavor that is balanced with the taste of raspberry - you can absolutely taste the fresh fruit in these caramels.

Service: Great. The clerk who served me explained the different flavors and answered my questions. Very friendly.

Price point: 12€ for 9 pieces of chocolate, about 8€ for pastries. The caramels and nougat are sold individually.

If in Paris, I would absolutely recommend stopping in - to me, this incredible chocolatier screams...

Me, my wife and cousin visited Jacques Genin's tea salon on Saturday 25/11/2017 and what an awesome experience! I had the Paris-Brest and chocolat chaud with whipped cream. Best hot chocolate I've ever had(be warned though that it is high in cacao, so may be strong for some - this was the opinion of my wife and cousin, although they opted for no whipped cream). If you want your hot chocolate slightly sweeter, I would recommend you order it with the cream. It is served separately and is sweetened, as well as being flavoured with vanilla, so you can just add however much you need. The hot chocolate is very rich and velvety and ever so slightly spiced. Personally, I've never had any hot chocolate quite like it. First time I've ever had Paris-Brest too and what an introduction! It was outstanding, smaller portion than I expected(like most things, seems bigger in photos) but every mouthful was just sublime. Sad to see it all disappear off my plate so quickly! Only downside to this place is there is a very very long wait as there are simply not enough seats or staff. We queued for well over 40 mins waiting for other diners to finish before we were given a table, although according to the waitress who we passed the feedback to(she did apologise) this tends to be normal for a Saturday especially after 4pm she said. According to her, mornings and early afternoons are the best time to visit, so you may want to take this into consideration to avoid the long wait. Staff are very helpful and attentive. They're clearly very very busy but doing there best serving those who want to buy chocolate and other products and then having to attend to those ready to order pastries(there isn't staff who work specifically in the tea salon). In all, on a busy day, expect to spend well over an hour and a half. Was it worth the wait and money? In my opinion, most definitely. Be sure to grab some of his amazing chocolates, caramels and other products before you leave. This is a must place to experience anytime you visit Paris. I can't wait to...

We have knows Jacques Genin for many years, and have religiously visited his shops every time we are in Paris, to get his beautiful caramels and pate de fruits. That said, there is not enough quality in the product to make up for the absolute disdain that the employees show for their clients. Today we visited his Rue de Varenne location. It started bad when, in a completely empty shop, the two attendants couldn’t be bothered to even reply to our salutations, let alone come to help us at either their caramel or pate de fruit stands. The older attendant finally decided to come and help; her face of displeasure was unmistakable. We asked to sample three flavors we had never had before, to which she felt compelled to inform us that we needed to pay for the samples. We ignored her rude comment, but her bad attitude continued thorougout our visit. At the pate de fruits desk, she seemed more concerned about the pattern of the pates in the box, than about what we wanted to get as clients. And her bad attitude and frankly rudeness continued throughout our visit. We spent over 100 euros today, but sadly this will likely be our last visit. There are many places in Paris with wonderful products, where we have felt always welcome, even with our broken French. Mr. Genin, I hope you get to see this review; you are truly a magician with sugar; please do something about your employees, as they are ruining the experience to even the most devout...