Le Pain Retrouvé — Restaurant in Paris

The kind of place that gives Parisian bakeries a bad name.

To be clear: everything is delicious, from specialty breads to cakes. The latter lean on the rustic, but so good you won't regret not buying more "refined" patisseries.

BUT: the staff is unpleasant. Not outrageously, spectacularly unpleasant, but just enough to feel unwelcome, and yet not enough that it's worth calling the manager. They hardly make eye contact, never smile, and don't even say "s'il vous plaît" when they tell you how much you have to pay - basic courtesy, even in Paris.

Special mention to the young gentleman at the till tonight: he had red Halloween wings on, but didn't seem particularly caught up in the party spirit. He ticked all the wrong boxes, just short of rudeness.

And this was not an off night: I buy from them every now and again, when I don't mind paying 15 or 20 euro a kilo gram of bread (you read that right), and they never disappoint: always that slightly unpleasant attitude, making it plain they'd rather be working for some fashion designer somewhere.

Could it be the overpriced everything giving them wings? Or the faux-dilapidated décor that makes them think they're actors in some kitchen sink drama? Your guess is as good as mine.

Long story short: come here for the delicious bread, leave in a...

we came here on our last day in paris and i wish we came before so we could have gone more than once! this bakery has a wide variety of sweet and savory baked goods. it is takeout only and there is usually a queue but it goes relatively fast.

// bacon quiche (12) // get the quiche!! they are big and fresh (we asked them to hear it up). they come with a wrapper around it so it holds its structure which is really nice for transporting and eating it. the bacon and egg inside was so good!

// almond croissant // this croissant was VERY buttery and also very sweet. a bit too sweet to me, but it had slivered almonds and almond paste.

if i came back, i would get a cookie. the cookies in the display case looked...

This was the first boulangerie I visited when I was in France, and it was the best first impression of French baked goods ever. The ingredients to make these food were probably super light because I genuinely felt like I could devour so many more of quiches and bread. Customer service was great as well - shoutout to the employee who played along with my attempted French without being rude about it haha (probably because they’re in the younger generation and I love their humor on social media too). Only thing that needed improvement was probably how to better handle customers (there was a long line to get into) but I think I just went in during peak hours. Overall, je pense que cette boulangerie est à...