French Baker SM City San Mateo — Restaurant in Rizal

We headed to The French Baker to order some delicious pastries and bread; perhaps we can try their other menu another time. During the time of our visit, there were a lot of people eating, but fortunately, there wasn't a long line, so we were able to get what we needed instantly. ✨

We ordered two peach danishes, one blueberry danish, and six pieces of pesto garlic bread. I wasn't able to look at their interior design for a while, but it is definitely reminiscent of French decor, and there are a lot of added touches that make the ambience feel cozy. The staff themselves are kind, and they're quite fast with their service, but they made a mistake with one of our orders. We didn't mind, but we hope they'll pay more attention in the future.

The danishes themselves are quite appetizing, with the base having a flaky and soft texture while also tasting like butter. It is in perfect harmony with the subtle sweetness and creaminess of the custard while balancing itself with the overpowering flavors of the peaches, blueberries, and cherries. It is quite big, so paying 125 pesos for it is reasonable. 🎀

Lastly, the pesto garlic bread's quality fell compared to the last time I had it—this time, the flavor is quite subtle, and the garlicky taste that I truly appreciated is slowly disappearing. I think I may have gotten a bad batch if it was a bit bland, but I hope it's just a matter of time instead of the quality dropping. Overall, I had a fun time at The French Baker, and I'll try their other pastries...

I eat here quite often and it's a good choice for light meals. Service is usually quite fast for sit down meals but the staff can be quite slow attending to counter sales. What's annoying is they have two cash registers but even if there is a queue, often they won't serve you at the second one. The other reason I go here is to buy their multi-grain bread and baguettes which are very nice, but it's annoying the baguettes are not available until around 1pm, so very inconvenient if you want to buy one for an earlier lunch. A couple of times they've had them earlier in the morning and I've asked if they were baked that day - and they told me they were - but they lied because when I got them home they were tough and dry (obviously they were baked the previous day). They have some nice pastries too, but check there are no flies on them before you buy because several times I've been there and there have been flies in the display cases (probably because they are right next to the open doors of the main entrance to...

Ordered their Hikory Bbq meal with potato Salad last week, the food was disgusting, the “bbq” was fried pork belly slathered in bbq sauce. The Rice was over watered and mushy, the mashed potato tasted like it had mold, everything was disgusting. Couldnt eat anything, Tried to order a salad to clean my palette, but they slathered it in dressing, it looked more like dressing with some bit of of lettuce and tomato slices. I left as quickly as i could. Never eating there again, when i asked them to redo the salad, the server had the audacity to blame me why it was swimming in salad dressing. Disgusting food and service, do not recommend...