Echo — Restaurant in Paris

I was excited to visit Echo, as it is a welcome addition to the current cafe offerings in Paris. To start, I will say the food is justifiably hype worthy. The pancakes were delicious, as was the grilled cheese and the egg and chorizo sandwich.

It is a great shame that the service does not match the level of food the kitchen is sending out. At the register whilst ordering at the counter I was rudely interrupted by a clearly flustered staff member rattling off to the waiter while I was mid-order with him. I love open kitchens, but needless to say the area is transparent and all staff should be acting with a level of professionalism - you’re on show after all. The floor was over staffed and those working on the floor were ironically inattentive, no where to be found if needed. There were sweets on offer in a glass cabinet, though half of them already looked chewed up and battered. A sad banana bread broken in pieces, without any consideration given to present these goods in an appealing manner. A little care and a minute’s work from any staff member could’ve rectified this, but no one bothered to in the 2 hours we spent at Echo.

While the design of the cafe is contemporary and modern the layout and functionality of the space seemed to be an afterthought. Menus get delivered to you by waitstaff but confusingly you are then required to line up in the middle of the cafe to order at a register down the back of the space. It doesn’t make sense, it does not flow and it’s down right confusing for the customer. The food and beverage program warrant and deserve table service and not a tacky table number cheapening an expensive (for Paris) brunch experience. Also, to be fair on the day my friend and I visited there were more than enough staff working to provide this.

I will be returning to Echo in hopes that these issues will be smoothed out because the food is fresh and exciting for a city doomed to forever be reliving the same stagnant brunch menus. Please get it together guys, I’m...

In this cafe me and my friend got explained that we are not welcome to stay because our order was “too small”. Read below and judge by yourself, but I wouldn’t recommend to visit the place who treats people like that. Me and my friend (who was a loyal client of this cafe before) were waiting for a table for 15-20 mins, finally well installed we ordered 2 drinks and a banana bread. The waiter came back to us and explained that this is a lunch hour (13.30) and we should leave because our order is too small...We tried to negotiate saying that we were waiting and nobody prevented us that it is for lunch only, that there are some free tables in a very big terrace of the cafe... but she was insisting that we need to leave what we finally did... To be honest I could not believe that nowadays you can talk to people like that and it is not just the question of client and service ... it is just the question of respect of other people. Very very...

The food here is good, but could have been more flavoursome. there was only a minimal amount of hot sauce and dukkah on my crispy rice bowl - which meant that half the dish became slightly bland once I’d eaten the top layer. We remember the food being better here three years ago, and probably wouldn’t bother returning in a hurry. There is a good selection of creative vegetarian options on the menu, which is a plus, and the avocado toast actually looks like it would be worth ordering (i.e. it comes with exciting accompaniments and toppings). It was disappointing to see the staff member in charge of seating and taking out delivery orders being quite dismissive towards the delivery riders/drivers. The tables are also VERY close together - to the extent where you have to move your table if the people seated next to you...