Mademoiselle Paris French Restaurant & Bakery — Restaurant in Anna Maria island

While vacationing, my husband was looking for a good place to eat. And came across Rudy's on Yelp. It got great reviews, and since I pretty much love anything sandwich or sub related, we felt we had to try it. We pull up to a little restaurant, with parking in front, and go inside. It is equally small inside, with maybe about 5 tables to sit at. We decided to take our subs to go, and we ate back at our rental house. I had looked at the menu online first, but was unsure of what came on the Turkey sub, so I asked. When I did, the woman taking our order, gave me a menu, and on the bottom, it had a little sentence that said "All subs come with: lettuce, tomato, onion, etc" (I don't remember all the fixin's that come standard, but it answered my question.) The menu she handed me looked like the one online, but with that added to the bottom. I couldn't decide between the turkey and the italian, and I voiced my conundrum out loud. The woman said the spices and all the things that come on the sub, taste way better on an Italian, so I asked if I could get turkey on my italian, and she said it was no problem and that it was a good choice. I also didn't get any cheese on mine, as I have an aversion to many types of cheese. They made our subs and while they were doing that they asked if we had been there before, and I said no, but the reviews were great, so we had to check it out. She asked what reviews and I told her on Yelp, people seemed to really like this place. She nodded and smiled, seemingly flattered. She asked if I wanted to try dessert, and I remember reading a review about the homemade pie, so I gave it a whirl. I tried the banana cream pie. The two ladies (who I assume are the owners) were entertaining. You can see your food being made right in front of you. My husband got a Philly cheese steak. He got the 6" and felt like he wanted more, and wished he gotten a larger size. Marinara sauce came on the side and he tried it, but he didn't really feel it added anything to it. He said if he ordered it again, he wouldn't put the marinara sauce on it. I enjoyed my italian with turkey. :-) The only compliant I have is that while toasting it, it kind of left the edges of my sub burnt. It happened to my husband's sub as well. But other than that, the meat was fresh, the toppings were good, and the homemade pepper relish was really good. It had a bit of a kick to it, but it was yummy. I got the 6" as well, and I felt it just was too small. I probably would have been better off with the 8". We also got a 6" plain ham and cheese sub for our toddler who wouldn't touch it. (But he also could win the Pickiest Eater of the Year Award, LOL). My husband and I split the piece of pie. It was definitely fresh, like it was just made within a couple days. There were chunks of banana in it and the crust was really good. I kind of wish I would have gotten a slice of the banana cream and the coconut cream (the other offering that day) so I could have tried both. If we ever go back to Anna Maria Island, we will make...

Giving poor reviews is always something I dread, but I strive to be honest and quality of service is something that is very important in an experience at any business. It’s especially disappointing to me the customer treatment I experienced here because I have been wanting to visit for so long. Anna Maria is one of my favorite spots and I’ve driven past My AMI countless times, having been unable to go because they are primarily a breakfast/ lunch place that is not open in the evening.

But finally, I had been early enough and hungry enough to go, hooray! So we walked in, and were not greeted for several minutes. And the first thing the woman says to us, is rudely asking if we have masks. Now, I understand we walked in not wearing any, and in this covid age things are weird. I’m fine with them asking us to put on a mask, but there is simply a kind way to ask, and she did not do that. So immediately we were off on the wrong foot.

So we ran to our car put on masks, respectfully. We come back inside and wait to be seated somewhere, only to not be acknowledged for another several minutes at least. Confused, we saw a sign for the back patio which is where we wanted to sit, so we started walking back there because we thought, maybe we are supposed to seat ourselves? Then finally, this caught the woman’s attention again and she starts basically yelling at us not to go back there. Again, it was just very unnecessary and she treated us like troublesome toddlers.

To be honest, after that I really just wanted to leave and not even give our business, but we were finally seated out front. The woman was slightly more friendly after that, but for me the damage had already been done. They were out of what I tried to order, and yet again they were most unapologetic about it and it was just off.

The food we got was very good. It was high quality and what I was hoping for in a French inspired island cafe. The eggs were fluffy and full of flavor.

Lastly, as we went to pay, apparently they were having an issue with the wifi, so we couldn’t even pay by card. Fortunately we had cash, but the woman again took over 10 minutes to come and take it back and give us change. She also did not apologize once for the inconvenience of not being able to use a card, and only complained about how bad their internet provider is. Nice. She took so long that we just decided to leave and not even get our change, and she ended up receiving a higher tip because of this- if we had paid with a card the tip would have reflected the service, subpar.

I completely understand that this is a small local business, and it was obvious the woman worked her butt off to keep it running. And I know that different cultures sometimes clash, but to me at least, this is still never, EVER an excuse to be rude and unpleasant with customers. Though the food was good, I am so disappointed by how I was treated that I doubt...

There is no question that this place has top notch food. But there is just no way I can give it 5 stars due to the owners behavior.

We came to My AMI on a Friday morning at 8:15 AM. We were the only ones walking in and every table outside and inside has ‘table reserved’ on it - which we thought was odd. We entered and it was empty and the owner was tucked back into the kitchen. When I asked if they were open I was treated with an exacerbated throw of the hand upward and A heavily accented (behind a mask to be fair) phrase I could not understand. I asked excuse me, and she replied again walking towards us. I still cannot understand what she was saying so I smiled and said ‘I’m sorry I can’t understand’. So she pulled on her mask and said ‘SERIOUSLY!? The doors are open! I am here! The sign says open!’ I told her I was confused since every table was marked as reserved and there was no one in the restaurant. We then asked if we could sit in the back porch, she glared at us grabbed the menus turned around and walked away from us. Did not ask us to follow her did not say hello did not say anything.

I grew up working in the restaurant industry for 10 years and my girlfriend worked for 15. We are veterans of both working inside restaurants. I don’t know if it’s the cliché of the rude French person they’re trying to hold onto but they did it flawlessly.

This is not a fire and brimstone article to rip against the restaurant, because they forgot my water or something. The food was outstanding, great location, and the restaurant is quite nice looking both inside and out. I just want everyone to be prepared for what could happen if you ask a question THEY FEEL is silly...