BO&MIE Louvre-Rivoli — Restaurant in Paris

Before I begin my review, I want to say that I really wanted to enjoy the food here, but it’s really not much to write home about. My wife and I came here after a very jam-packed Louvre tour, and we wanted to go somewhere local to enjoy a nice baguette. This viennoiserie came with good reviews and the keywords, average rating, and sheer volume of reviews seemed very promising. Unfortunately, that’s where the disappointment begins.

The mezzanine floor is very poorly utilised, the cavernous ceiling and stone floor means that the reverberation is very strong and not conducive to having a conversation. It would benefit from being carpeted. Oddly, the internal elevator was only for the use of staff (the sign very clearly says “Sorry, the elevator is not for the people.”). When my wife and I had arrived, we saw two families leave and one come in, and the fathers in each instance were carrying their children’s prams up and down the stairs, which is very hazardous but was something the staff and proprietors seemed to treat like a regular occurrence?

I ordered the Viennois poulet césar, which is a cold sandwich but which felt like it had just come fresh from the refrigerator, the salad was just some rocket, and the cheese was nice, but it barely tasted like a Caesar salad, so the name feels like a bit of a misnomer.

My wife’s Toaste jambon was made using nice ham, but there was just one long slice, and it was layered with Emmentaler cheese, it tasted like one which was made in a supermarket or homemade, not delicatessen quality. It was probably the better of the two baguettes, but only by a thin margin.

Our desserts were equally as disappointing. My Cookie duo de chocolats & noisettes was very chewy, clumpy, and rough. It had the taste and texture of half-baked biscuit dough, and I would wager that it’d taste better if left in for a minute longer. It didn’t taste like a properly baked biscuit at all. My wife’s Croissant framboise had, as its description, “filled with raspberry jam”, but maybe only had a sliver of jam in the centre. Our coffees and drinks were about the only things which weren’t disappointing, which is not really what you want to hear or say when you go to an eatery.

I wish I were able to say these were unfortunate accidents or an odd oversight, but, based on my experience, this is not the...

Coming here and getting something is my ritual! And my rating after various visits is GOOD and that is three stars!

Once you come out of louvre rivoli M1 station, you face the image of a long queue of people (mostly toursists) waiting to enter this strategically located cafe & bakery which says thousend words about its success! So probbably no need of getting a complementary review by me, thus better to dig into my personal experience after several visists.

First thing in mind, here is by far king of NewYork roles in Paris, I wish they add a chocolate cream stuffed version as well! (Always put chocolate lovers in priority than adding a cherry or berry version man! )

Afterwards, I think about the chocolate praline croissant that is very good, the double chocolate eclaire is intensively tasty and I was very happy with most of the salty or foodie choices there.

But, the cheesecake definitely is not something special, the brownie is overrated, the carrot cake is awful, any type of madeline is just as ordinary as being able to pay less in a typic bakery to buy, almost all sweet choices are more sugery than what it should be probably due to managing landed costs or getting close to american taste of sensible sweetness, the same thing you experienxe in starbucks!

Cleanness and organization of the place is very inportant for me, it happened to see two times that staff touch products without tools or gloves. Anyway, purely impressed by the team spirit among the staff despite the huge workload.

Almost everything is freshly baked and served here due to speed of sales and that should be very important factor for you to buy something here, also indicating that if you like or don't like it so that is the best could happen about that product there, so bo potential drop of quality due to age...

Summary: It’s a trendy cafeteria with fairly good pastries and sweets — but far from being incredibly good.

We had the plain croissant and the pain au praline, which I would rate at 3/5 for not being as buttery and flaky as expected. We also had the quiche Lorraine, which had excellent texture, but lacked a tad of salt luckily, we carried some seasonings and hot sauce in our bags… so 4/5). The portions are generous and the prices are fair considering this last aspect. We also had an espresso and a macchiato, which were good considering the common European selection of coffee (which tends to be overly bitter and super dark roast, masquerading the unique flavor coffee beans should have… if they are of good quality).

If you don’t expect the echelon of food here, then it becomes a good and safe option for coffee and an enjoyable bite — its selection is very varied, so you’ll find something to like, but not LOVE (at least that was me). As most trendy cafeterias, this place is a bit overhyped (the comments on google maps are a great example) but it’s far from being a bad place to eat. The atmosphere is comfortable, except for the rush hour (12pm-3pm) when it fills up with tourists coming down from the Louvre. Again: Safe, reliable, but overhyped.

Quick note on the service: the guys at the counter are very courteous and kind with everyone at the line, which was long but they helped move quickly! This store has a very good team behind...