Bayou Bakery, Coffee Bar & Eatery — Restaurant in Arlington

I was a regular customer at their DC location. Still sad about how they disappeared without any warning to their customers. Very strange!

So I'm in Ballston/Courthouse. My friend is visiting from Ohio. We were chatting about how great New Orleans cuisine is and wish we lived nearer. I thought to get coffee & beignets at Bayou Bakery to surprise her.

NO BEIGNETS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.

WTF? Are there no fryer repair people in Arlington, VA?

Ordered bacon-egg-cheese on a biscuit. Biscuit was excellent - flakey and moist. Bacon was a huge disappointment. Extremely salty. Egg and cheese was good - I think - sodium exploding bacon was ruining it.

Dear Chef Gaus - It makes zero difference to me if your bacon friend was nominated or won a James Beard Award. A better description of the heavy sodium content in this bacon would have guided me to ordering something different.

Why didn't I make it known while I was physically in the cafe? Because it was apparent there were several issues going on the morning of my visit. I had the displeasure of being seated next to the counter. I could see the chaos and hear all about, at least 2 incorrect orders. In addition to beignets being out (although not really) another popular item not being available either.

My apologies if I ordered my coffee incorrectly. Cafe Au Lait tasted different than at the old DC location. Different coffee blend? Different machine? Not sure but I doubt I'll return unless they have beignets. Sadly it seems the owner isn't anxious to restore them to their menu. I say this because it sounds like I interpret "until further notice" differently than you Chef Gaus and your Krewe.

Employees are nice, as in polite, but not really concerned about their patrons, or the business. Fryer was magically repaired at some point during my stay but Chef Gaus' Krewe didn't think to make an announcement that beignets WERE suddenly available. Nor did they remove the signs which read "No beignets until further notice." I left in disgust.

Street Parking is difficult but there are other options. My apologies for not mentioning this in my original review. From their website:

PARKING

Metered parking available on cross streets. Garage parking is on 15th St. just past the eatery. We offer free garage validation for up to 2 hours, every Monday-Friday from 5pm-close, and throughout the day on weekends (per parking garage hours).

Atmosphere isn't as unique and charming as their DC Eastern Market location.

See Chef Gaus' rude reply below to my honest 2 star review, now 1 star because of his atrocious response.

It's very apparent that he cannot graciously accept constructive criticism. 99% of his cafe's reviews are awesome. It's bizarre he should care so much about my critical review.

It's also apparent that something strange happened at his DC location and not only did he not want his customers to know of its impending closure; he didn't want his employees, landlord, bank, etc....to learn of this either.

Now that I've found out what type of man Chef Gaus is I'll be making my own beignets. So far I'm surprised how well they've turned out. The recipe is quite simple and inexpensive. Wish I would've tried 2 years ago and not given this...

Omg. I don't even know where to start. I've had beignets in New Orleans (Cafe Beignet) and the ones from Bayou Bakery definitely satisfied that craving!!!

The mufaletta was everything I could ever want in a sandwich. It was piled high with quality meats, served on a delicious roll, with mayo and yummy olive tapenade. It was bursting with flavor, and definitely one of my new all-time fave hot sandwiches! I was torn between ordering this or the Arm Drip (roast beef Po Boy, looks similar to a French dip). I compromised and ordered the mufaletta with a side of the gravy that comes on the Arm Drip. (They don't actually have the option to order the gravy on the order online menu. I requested a side of gravy in the "notes" section (alone with extra mayo). It didn't occur to me that they have more than one type of gravy, ha! When I arrived to pick up my order, the lovely human who greeted me (Karla) asked me which kind of gravy I wanted, and was able to quickly add a small cup to my order for just $1. I dont expect much as far as customer service, because I know first-hand how rough it can be to work those jobs. You'd never know it based on my interaction with Karla. She was all smiles, extremely friendly and personable. It felt like having a conversation with a friend as opposed to a business transaction. I have nothing but good things to say about this place. I cannot wait to return and try more items. I definitely want to dine-in sometimes as well. The seating is somewhat limited but its got a cute ambiance. I definitely need to try their baked goods sometime. Oh! They sell yesterdays leftover baked goods for $2! How fun! Love that, because not only do you get a good deal with the "old" pastries, you know everything else is freshly baked that day! You can tell a lot of love is poured into this place, and the staff seem happy, so not only is it good for my taste buds, it's a place I am happy to support. Do yourself a favor and go try them asap! ​

What my stars mean: 5 is outstanding, memorable, a place to write home about! A must-experience. Someplace I would love to reccomend to tourists, and visit myself again and again. 4 is great, somewhere I'd love to return again and again. Back-up reccomenation for tourists. 3 is good. A solid option if I am in the area. I may reccomend to locals, but would probably leave it off my list of reccomendations for tourists. 2 is ok, but only because it a great value, unique, and/or convenient. 1 means I...

My kids and I stopped here this morning. My daughter went in to get beignets. I waited outside with hazard lights on thinking it shouldn’t take more than 5 to 10 minutes. Three beignets. Nothing else. No coffee. Me and my son were outside waiting for half an hour and no sign of my daughter! I finally found a parking space, walked inside the cafe and found her still standing waiting for those 3 beignets! And the place wasn’t even that crowded. Two people in the order line. I waited my turn and after another 10 minutes of wait, asked the cashier about our order. After checking she proceeded to nonchalantly say “looks like someone else picked up your order by mistake”. Then through the corner of my eye I saw a few beignets lying at the pick-up side and I asked the cashier if I could get those. (Thats the least I could expect since they let someone else pick up my order). The “manager” overheard me and pretty rudely said to me “thats not the way how it works! That is someone else’s order.” And I’m thinking - Ms. manager, your cashier just acknowledged that you screwed up my order. I have waited 40 minutes for three lousy beignets and you say you cannot give me the beignets that are lying there?! If the owner is reading this, I hope you recognize that you have a manager that does not know the a,b,c’s of customer service and is probably not representing you. Oh, and if as your cashier stated that someone else picked up our order, is anyone checking the receipts before the food and drinks are being handed out? It wasn’t a great start to my Father’s Day as my kids had to endure this with me. 40+ minutes wasted because of bad service and a manager with a bad...