Le Pain Quotidien — Restaurant in Uccle - Ukkel

We visited Sunday at 14:11 and the restaurant busy at all, maybe 40% capacity. We went upstairs because it was cold downstairs and the door was open.

It took 15 minutes for the waitress to approach us to take our lunch order. She sat us down so she knew we were in her area and ready to order had she paid attention to her tables, but no, she was too busy cleaning the coffee machine in preparation for closing the restaurant.

I am writing this review whilst I’m still sitting at the table and I had to get up to order 2 more coffees around 3.10pm because she was still not paying attention to us. (See photos).

I’m deducting 2 stars from the rating because of the time it took to take our order when the place wasn’t busy and because of the avocado toast which was an utter disaster and a final star because of the lack of service and attention to our messy table and the salt grinders which are the most annoying table salt grinders in Belgium:

To make avocado toast, as the name of the dish implies, you have to use toast but the kitchen decided to just use floppy bread that wouldn’t hold the weight of the tasteless mashed avocado.

Avocados are fatty (some good fats in there) BUT they absolutely need an acid to cut through the fat, a good generous pinch of salt and pepper and maybe offer some Tabasco or something to elevate the flavour even more.

TOAST the bread. Tasteless avocado on wet cold bread is just depressing.

You can’t grind wet salt that is already grounded. It’s frustrating. Get some new brand of salt or introduce normal salt shakers.

The croque is delicious and the Ketchup with paprika is to die for. Well done there.

Attaching two photos to this review. One at 14:21 (machine being cleaned) and a second at 15:25 machine being cleaned and our table being a mess and me having to get up to go to the waitress to order two more coffees.

Loads of room for...

I went to Le Pain Quotidien in Uccle with two friends — we were planning to have a coffee first and then stay for lunch. We sat upstairs (a beautiful space, by the way), ordered our coffees, and started chatting. About 30 minutes later, a waitress came by to ask if we wanted anything else. We politely said not for now, but likely later. From that moment on, she began circling our table every five minutes, clearly trying to pressure us into ordering more. For the record, we did plan to, but we simply wanted to take our time and enjoy the moment. And it’s not like there was a queue of people waiting — the upstairs area was nearly empty, with only one other table occupied. Eventually, she returned and told us — in a rather cold, accusatory tone — that her manager had instructed her to ask us to leave if we weren’t going to order more. We were shocked. So we left and went to La Brioche, just down the street. Warm welcome, delicious food, and — most importantly — no...

Eviter le “flat bread oeuf sur le plat” qui est juste impossible à manger ! Je demande à transmettre l’information en cuisine. On me répond que j’aurais “du le manger à la main”… malgré la sauce au yahourt qui débordait partout dès le départ mais merci de me laisser utiliser mes couverts à ma guise. Ensuite j’entends le staff qui discute, le ton monte un peu, et je cite “quand c’est trop cuit, on arrive pas à le couper”. Au bilan, un service exécrable me propose de m’offrir une boisson ou un flat bread nature pour gouter. Non merci je n’ai pas soif. Et oui, on doit me facturer le plat. Bref il y a des matins comme ça

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Quelques temps plus tard, et malgré la réponse « officielle » de l’établissement qui espère que ma “prochaine visite se déroulera au mieux”, la même serveuse me demande de quitter l’établissement, hausse le ton, ma mère qui m’accompagne ne comprend rien, les clients se questionnent. Je cite « on a lu ce que vous avez écrit et on ne veut plus vous servir », « mon patron est d’accord avec moi»… je ne pense pas que ce soit légal… je refuse de sortir, je lui demande de s’excuser pour son attitude… ma mère commande deux cafés… je trouve juste cela scandaleux ! On vient pourtant plusieurs fois par mois, depuis des années… bref il y a des matins comme ça

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Je reviens 2 semaines plus tard. « Bonjour, bonne année »… « Je suis désolé, j’ai reçu pour consigne de ne pas vous servir. J’en suis navré mais ça vient d’en haut. On a reçu cette consigne » me dit le serveur… je réponds « mais enfin ça ne va pas recommencer »… je suis juste dépitée !!!

J’appelle la police pour savoir si c’est légal de refuser de me servir dans un lieu qui reçoit du public, qui ne semble pas savoir ce qu’il en est. J’appelle aussi Test Achat qui me confirme que c’est illégal tant qu’il n’y a pas d’infraction et que donner mon avis sur internet n’est pas...