Le Génie Bakery & Espresso — Restaurant in Toronto

Since the owner wrote a sarcastic comment in response to the one-star rating I gave their establishment, I decided to write something anyway. Instead of improving the quality of their products, the owner prefers to rudely respond to all negative feedback, claiming that bad comments are paid for and boasting about working 15 hours a day—as if that’s supposed to mean something. You’d be better off working less and sleeping more because it’s hard to find pastries as terrible as yours in Toronto.

Now, point by point:

Almond Croissant Its shape is fine, but it crumbles excessively, which means it wasn’t made fresh this morning but likely the day before. Alternatively, you might be storing your baked goods improperly, which is why they’re already dry by noon. As mentioned in other reviews, the filling is simply awful. The cream makes you want to gag.

Choux Pastry Dessert It was stale. The shell was hard. The filling was okay, but I wouldn’t order it again.

Baguette Sandwiches These were very dry. The price is unreasonable for a dry baguette with ham and cheese.

Paris-Brest This was decent.

Chocolate Croissant The one fresh out of the oven was the only tasty thing worth eating.

And most importantly, the coffee. This was the worst coffee I’ve ever had. Please don’t call yourself a cafe if you can’t make decent coffee. You’re just a diner.

Here’s the thing: your cafe is in a tourist area, and on a Sunday, when the streets are busy, you don’t even have a line at the counter or full tables. That tells me people come once and never return. You must be surviving solely on tourists.

Visit other croissant spots on a Sunday, and you’ll see people waiting at least 10 minutes for a table.

The way you respond to real customer reviews says everything about why nothing will change at your place. Instead of reflecting, you write that the reviews are paid for, that you refuse to pay for bad reviews to be removed, and that you work 15 hours a day (as if that proves anything). You can work 24 hours a day and still get bad results, which you seem to excel at.

Frankly, I don’t care what else you write in response. What matters is that neither I nor my friends will recommend your diner. Instead, we’ll go to other excellent cafes with amazing...

As recommended by chef Romain Avril and as The Smoke Bloke owner Mike said "it is glorious" I couldn't help myself and come all the way downtown just to try their 🥐 and pain au chocolate. As the former GM for Thuet production bakery who oversees the qaulity control of their croissants and have eaten hundred of them especially since they supplied to the best restaurants and hotels in the city ... This crossiant I ate today is definitely better than any others I have had ... It's the high grade butter that makes the difference..this is glorious !!! Thanks for the recommendation!!!

For the people who complains about the high prices for their pastries, this is restaurant and 5 star hotel caliber, I know that because I am a Professional Chef and consultant myself . They use the best Ingridents also this is as good as any pastry you can get in fine dining restaurants to 5 star hotels. There is a reason why some of the best chefs in the city comes to this place to eat their pastries and croissants.

Also for the people who say the plain crossiant or the Pain au Lait are pricey... They definitely didn't mention how big that croissant is, and certainly not familiar with the price of high grade butter on the market. 🤷 There is nothing pricey about their pricing , base on size , ingridents and this is a premium product made by a very experienced and talented pastry chef.

College park Yonge Street location it's in the same building Ikea is at , the other side of building

This is 15 out of...

After seeing a bunch of reviews on opposite ends of the spectrum, it got me very curious and I have finally tried their croissants today. My first impression, the store was very beautiful and at an excellent location with a nice patio. Very elegant and beautiful for a girly talk with your gfs. Pastry case was filled with a variety of croissant flavours and then an empty case, followed by an assortment of tarts/personal size cakes. (This was around 3-4pm, so, expected to have some sold out items by then.) The person who assisted me was polite, and quick to serve me -overall, great service and experience. Now to the croissants: I ordered an original butter croissant and an almond croissant. Very very tall and super layered. They’re slightly on the chewier side but I am not complaining. It is super buttery and flaky. Pricing, personally, it’s slightly on the steeper end but, I can see they put a lot of love into what they do and the fact that it is in a prime location, I would understand their prices. The almond croissant had a creamier filling, I thought I was gonna bite into an almond paste -just a personal preference but again, no complaints here as well. Maybe I’ll be back for a tart/cake someday in the future, as they look delish. My only observation that I didn’t think it was great in my experience, I saw fruit flies in the pastry case. I know they’re harmless but it’s never pleasant to see something flying around the food that you’re...