Olivier's La Boulangerie — Restaurant in Coquitlam

TL;DR: Bad service and worse bread led to a miserable experience. Skip this place.

This review is going to rapidly devolve, so let's start with the best of Olivier's: the space is beautiful. The early morning sunlight was shooting in through the flour dust riding the air, giving a cathedral-like atmosphere to the cavernous bakery and display cases.

Sadly, everything else went horribly wrong, but I did want to take a moment to point out how beautiful the space was and how pretty the filled display cases looked. Even the industrial sounds of bread being made on a large scale were somewhat musical, if loud.

I arrived at Olivier's soon after it opened in the hopes of ensuring that whatever I ordered would be fresh and exactly as the baker would want it to be enjoyed. I asked to see a 400g loaf of rye and a 400g loaf of sourdough; asked to buy a 400g Parisian baguette, and a jambon beurre (on their website as "Sandwich, Paris").

Sadly, of the breads, they had only the Parisian baguette in front. The employee kindly checked in the back for me and brought out... two 800g sourdough loaves. I said "no-thank you" and asked for just the baguette and the "Normandie" sandwich (Camembert & prosciutto on a batard).

The employee then proceeded to ring me up for my purchase, and the price seemed rather high. She had added in one of the sourdough loaves I specifically said I didn't want. And then she proceeded to put mayonnaise and cheap yellow mustard on my Normandie. Not at all the simple butter and ham I was hoping for.

As one might imagine, cheap yellow vinegar-forward mustard doesn't go well with Camembert and prosciutto. More disappointing, though, was the tough and chewy bread. All I could really taste was the mustard, but the texture of the loaf was off and the color was pale.

After finishing the Normandie, I rinsed my mouth out with water and tried the (plastic-bagged) baguette. Tough. Rubbery. Flavorless. Odorless. In no way was this a fresh Parisian baguette. At a guess, the yeast used was no older than three or four hours despite the website claiming slow fermentation. If this was a preferment, starter, or poolish it definitely did NOT taste or smell like it. The crumb contained large beautiful pockets indicative of high hydration, but my guess is the dough was seriously overworked by a machine given how tough it was to pull apart. The bottom of the baguette hadn't gotten much spring in the oven, so the crumb at the top of the bread was thin and at the bottom too thick. Sadly, the baguette had a rubbery exterior as well, likely from the plastic bag.

Finally, I tried the sourdough. It had many of the same fundamental problems as the baguette. First, and foremost, this was in no way a flavorful sourdough. There was no sour taste, there was no joyous aroma, there was no flavor, and the salt may have been off too. There was nothing to love about this loaf. And then they pre-sliced it and stuck it in a plastic bag while still warm, letting it steam. I ended up giving it to a neighbor.

Honestly, the bread was so bad I'll never be back to try out their pastries, which might be delicious (assuming the pastry chefs are better than the bakers). But as to Olivier's breads, they had no flavor or aroma (and no, I don't have covid) and were ruined by other baking mistakes.

At least the...

I found the bakery over a year ago and regularly use to buy croissants there. The quality was great and they were real very close in quality to original French ones. Unfortunately couple months ago the price went up and the quality went radically down. The price doesn't justify it at all. You can get box of dosen for $7 at the Costco and they are actually same or better quality. Very disappointing. The rest of products I don't mind, is up to anybody's taste but the pricing, especially that this is all manufactured there, is a rip-off. edit. I got the answer below from the owner of the business. Fortunately I know what are French croissants, were people in Canada (provinces other then Quebec, which has still good traditions in French bakery) might no experience, so they don't know the difference. This is what it is but it seems to me that the amount of butter was reduced which resulted in the quality of the cake drop. The difference was spotted also by another person, so it is not my personal preference or taste. I can see the difference and sorry to say but seems like now I am being gaslit into believe that it was one of occurrence. First we didn't notice, second time we new something was off. I believe the company got ground in the business and looked for more profit (rise of the costs mentioned) it explains it itself, nonetheless is quality or profit. Bit of a shame, as the...

I ordered online birthday cake for my son. I was expecting to get it fresh since I gave them 2 days notice. When I was picking it up it was frozen and looked just like all other chocolate cakes sitting in the freezer. To me it looked like the cake was made long ago, put in the freezer and the happy birthday writing was added on top of it and I was right. The girls working there said that the cake was made yesterday. Since I complained a woman from the office called me back and said they make cakes only once a week and when they get an order they just pull one of from the freezer and add writing on it. They should add that information on their website cause 48-72h notice is very misleading and it made me think the cake will be fresh. I bought one frozen cake from Olivier's and we didn't like the texture. In the end it turns out the girls I talked to in person lied to me saying it was made the day before. I asked for a refund and got a cake elsewhere fresh for less.

My response to your comment below is that somebody is confusing me with someone else, cause I didn't come two weeks ago asking about the cakes but 3 days ago and only bought small chocolate royal to make sure I will like it before I order a big cake online. Nobody never mention anything about freshness, I assumed it would be freshly made since she cashier said 'we require 24-72h notice...