Arsicault Bakery — Restaurant in San Francisco

I am writing to express my deep disappointment and frustration with the recent experience I had at this bakery. After reading positive reviews on Yelp, I decided to purchase a significant quantity of pastries for a brunch event that was scheduled to take place within a 16-hour of my purchase in the next day. I took great care to store the pastries at room temperature and followed what I believed to be the best practices to maintain their freshness.

Imagine my shock when I opened the package to find that all of the pastries had become excessively oily and soggy, rendering them completely inedible for our brunch. This unexpected outcome was highly disappointing.

Subsequently, I promptly contacted your bakery to report the issue and express my dissatisfaction. However, I was met with an astonishing lack of concern from your manger. Not only did they fail to acknowledge the severity of the situation, but they also made absolutely no effort to rectify the problem or offer any form of compensation. I was astounded by their lack of professionalism, refusal to even extend a five-dollar gift card as a gesture of goodwill, considering the significant amount I had spent on my purchase.

This complete disregard for customer satisfaction and failure to address a legitimate concern is not only unacceptable but also reflects poorly on this bakery. As a customer, I expect businesses to take responsibility for their negative feedbacks and go above and beyond to rectify them in order to maintain a positive reputation.

I will not hesitate to share my dissatisfaction with others, both through online platforms and personal recommendations, to ensure they are aware of the lack of responsiveness and disregard for customer satisfaction exhibited by this bakery.

Pastries should not be good only for a few hrs, no matter how tasty they can be.

• Such an unprofessional reply to a negative comment, that said a lot about how you handle...

So I've been eating Arsicault Bakery for a while now but I've never actually "had it fresh" (i.e. the same day I bought it). Usually, we pick up a few while running errands for a next day breakfast and trust me, it still tastes very good the next day. When slightly warmed, the buttery flakiness is still remarkable! Can't really warm the powdered ones, but those are pretty good too.

Today, I finally had the chance to eat it on the spot after finishing an early morning appointment. There wasn't much of a line (score!) and tables were available (double score!). Mom bought a couple different pastries and a round of house coffee for us to share. The coffee is nothing to write home about, but the pastries were just heavenly!

My chocolate croissant was slightly warm (probably still fresh from the ovens) making the chocolate nice and melty inside. The croissant layers were also buttery and flaky and just SOOO GOOD. The traditional butter croissant was equally amazing despite having no chocolate within. It was also amazing watching the kitchen churn out tray after tray of the traditional buttered croissants live - definitely no hate against the powdered almond croissant or powdered chocolate croissant but it's not quite as good in my opinion. On this meal, we rounded off our pastry choices with a morning bun. While not as big as other bakeries (looking at you Tartine), it still had the right flavors - sweet, cinnamony, a delicious subtle orange zest.

Setup to eat at Arsicault is a little inconvenient though. The eating area is very small, located up the stairs from the pastry cases and there aren't any utensils or napkins there so make sure you bring all you need. Also, if you buy coffee, make sure you top off with cream before you leave the register - it's a pain to double back for it. It would definitely help to have a little bar cart up top with these items. Given this, I think I'll just keep with buying to to-go...

Oh Dearest Ariscault Bakery,

Your stunning bakes will forever have a place in my heart. As a SF local, this is one of my most coveted and cherished spots to savor in the beauty of each and every crisp layer baked to croissant perfection. It may sound boisterous, but I find myself missing Ariscault’s goods far more than any other bakery’s (better than what I had in Paris…!).

Whenever I want to impress a friend or family member visiting the city, I quickly double check when Ariscault closes and rush us over to perfectly time our order and receive a fresh batch. Whether your preferences favor sweet or savory treats, there truly is nowhere to go wrong when eating at Ariscault. My personal recommendation would be try everything in this order (spaced out week by week to maintain sanity and unbiased taste buds toward all other foods): Chocolate Croissant, Almond Croissant, Ham and Cheese Croissant, and finally… the Almond & Chocolate Croissant. Mix it up a bit with their melt in your mouth biscuits and I promise you an experience you will not forget.

“Food org*asmic”, “…food coma of love and bliss”, and “just the freaking best” are some of the average responses I receive from Ariscault virgins. This is seriously a do not miss location. Also- one croissant is more than enough, two is a dangerous game if there is not a bed of grass lying in a perfect patch of balanced sun and shade nearby for you to bask in.

All silliness aside, thank you to the incredible team and gifted bakers at Ariscault Bakery! The joy your food brings makes me proud to call SF my one true home. Just looking at my vault of pastry photos makes me wish I was there this second with a cup of hot coffee in hand… my top covered in...