Le Boulanger Français - The French Baker — Restaurant in Ottawa

I went there for the first time to buy their galette des rois and the old man at the cash was extremely rude. I called 20 mins before arriving at their store to ask if they had any galette de rois left and he told me he had two left, I asked if he could set one aside for me and he refused. I decided to take the chance and drove there, I arrived exactly 20 mins later and he told me he had none left, he decided to sell me “his own galette de rois” (which was very small and pricy pastry). but since I had already made the trip, I decided to buy it.

When I walked out of store I decided to check inside the bag, only to find out the product was unfinished, I walked out with a piece of pastry cut in half with no filling or figurines inside the tart. I went back to complain and got the most rude and arrogant customer service ever, the idiotic old man accused me of cutting open the tart when I had literally left his store 30 seconds earlier (like if I had a knife to perfectly cut the tart in the middle, take out the filling, figurines, all in 30 seconds!). I was very offended that he dare make such accusation and I demanded my money back, which he did in the most rude way possible and even told me I was “ungrateful” because he had sold me his galette des rois, he even made gestures to leave his store (like if he was doing me a favor or giving me something for free). It is a shame that this was my first AND LAST visit there. It was a HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE EXPERIENCE. I will NEVER go there again unless they get rid of this...

They serve you a coffee with no napkin and there's none around. Every time. They have them tucked away. If you look at the 'lowest rated' reviews here, you'll see how the "owner" reacts to bad reviewers, including mocking, insulting, and even some bigotry. I think the glowing reviews might be fake because suddenly there is zero reply from owner to those lol. It's ok keep ur increasingly tasteless coffee and other bad service habits I won't bother sharing here. EDIT: Did you read the unhinged reply to me below? Anyway, again, real people reading this, look at the lowest-rated reviews and you will see the 'owner' scolding anyone giving normal criticism (eg, stale or wtvr) but WORST OF ALL, a reviewer called Karen and clearly white got racially insulted by this owner so badly and told "too bad you didn't just tell us in person" (as opposed to writing a review), That is a veiled THREAT. She kept typing her name which is a moniker for a white woman who is complaining, in capitals like it was an insult . Ps A normal business would give at least a single napkin or make it available when you serve a coffee. Making people request it is laughable at best. EDIT2: OWNER ERASED HER RACIST THREATENING REPLY TO reviewer called Karen below (but it's screenshot). Also, staff said the place was sold a couple of years ago so I dk why they keep saying otherwise in these...

It’s okay, they were closed for a long time and the quality is just okay for the price. In my opinion considering many many pastries I’ve been to all around the world, it’s waaaaaaaaaaaY tooo overpriced for the QUALITY you get and a lot of attitude! I mean okay I get how a little cutie selling bread and minimalistic picture you wanna sell yourself, but I wanna have a quality bread and pastry since I don’t pay for decoration or I consider professional attitude by having a good price and quality. That’s what’s going on there.also their working hours is quite majestic which I wonder how they are not going through bankruptcy considering high rate for rent?!?!

Update: Thanks for your reply, received and read. You have some points and to be fair I will stop by in the near future and post pictures with reviews. Just a heads up that Montreal has some of the world best pastries and they are quite cheap ( I’ve lived there and been to many of them) for the quality they offer. I am not understanding how 3 hours drive can make such a difference….literally anyone who has been there can...