Malongo — Restaurant in Paris

Absolutely disgraceful customer service – never setting foot here again.

I can’t believe I’m actually writing a review over something so seemingly trivial, but I’ve had it with this store and its ridiculous inability to provide even the most basic level of service.

I walked into Malongo, my used-to-be favorite coffee shop where I’ve already spent quite a bit of money over the years, just to buy a pack of ground coffee and some filters. I picked everything out myself, went up to the register — and was met by a cashier with the most vacant, uninterested expression. She didn’t even bother to look at me. Fine, I thought, maybe she’s just having a rough day.

But when I paid, looked her directly in the eye, and very clearly said, “thank you, goodbye,” she straight-up ignored me. Not a word. Nothing. I walked out stunned, and a few seconds later, it hit me: this wasn’t an accident. This was intentional rudeness. I’ve worked in retail and hospitality — I know exactly what passive-aggressive hostility looks like.

So I came back in, politely asked for her name to leave feedback and help the management understand what kind of staff they’ve hired and how they might improve the customer experience. Instead of just telling me her name (which is the absolute minimum), she started blatantly lying — saying there was no manager available (which I don’t believe for a second), denying everything, and then had the audacity to accuse me of being the problem.

I get that people have bad days. I get that working in retail is hard. But nothing — nothing — justifies unprovoked rudeness to customers who are literally paying your salary.

Seems like this store has forgotten that overpriced coffee is a hyper-competitive market in Paris.

I’m done. Never coming back. A real shame considering all the money I’ve wasted...

The waiter who took the order earlier at the counter has a very bad manner. I’m referring to the one with curly hair. We were being very nice at first when it was our turn. When we took the order, he interrupted us and intervened with an aggressive tone asking us to “wait” simply because he couldn’t handle his job, that is to take order. Few seconds after (we were still ordering) we wanted to simply understand if there is any sugar contained in our drinks, he interrupted us once again for the same reason. - aggressively and impatiently. There were just two of us, two people! We weren’t even speaking at the same time, so tell me if it’s his issue or our problem. What I saw was a simple fact that someone doesn’t fit this job because he can barely handle a proper conversation in ordering. That’s very funny and we won’t...

I enjoyed coming here during my time in Paris, I found it to be the best coffee shop in the area. During the weekdays you can come here to work on your laptop with access to free Wi-Fi, but on the weekends, they turn the Wi-Fi off to encourage human interaction. The coffee was delicious and far superior to Starbucks. However, some baristas pull a better espresso than others, but that seems to consistent amongst all coffee shops. There is a good amount of seating available, though they don't seem to wipe down the tables every often. I found that the pastries were a bit stale. The baristas were friendly, and most knew English, even though I tried to order in French best I could. I'd recommend checking this place out if you're in the area and want a good...