Pain D'Avignon Restaurant Boulangerie — Restaurant in Barnstable

We weren't there for long as they were closing the coffee shop and setting up for dinner, so I hope to give more details in the future. We ordered some kind of chocolate cake/hazelnut thingy that was delicious and very rich - so glad that we split it! A whole piece would have been too much of a good thing, and we would have been in chocolate comas for the rest of the evening, LOL! The restaurant ( what we saw of it ) was clean, and staffers were polite and pleasant in a distracted way, but considering that they were so busy with evening setup they went above and beyond in my book. Prices were comparable to other area bakeries and the quality was excellent. Hope to go back soon, but earlier in the day!

Update: My friend and I have been back several times to take advantage of the authentic French pastries. Never disappointed - quality is superb and service is quick and polite. We have tried the addictive cream puffs, each a fluffy, crispy choux pastry encasing a layer of custard, fresh raspberries and topped with a huge pile of real homemade whipped cream. The key lime tart is a generous disc of sweet-tart custard, redolent of fragrant key lime, cool, refreshing, and never cloying. Another gem is the raspberry strudel bun. Topped with crunchy strudel bits, this is made with pieces of buttery croissant pastry and raspberry glaze baked in an oversized muffin type tin so it creates a tall, crispy-tender pull apart treat, buttery and just sweet enough. Enjoy as an after shopping treat, a light, rich dessert, or a delicious breakfast departure from the humdrum bagel or muffin. Pain d'Avignon also elevates the humble roll to a new level of fresh flavor. My multigrain roll had the classic crisp French crust and tender, slightly chewy crumb - very difficult to get authentic French bread texture with whole grain, but they did it! Plan on going back soon...I can't wait!

November 11th, 2020 Further update: My first dine-in experience at PDA and it did not disappoint! For starters, we split the PDA salad, an extravaganza of fresh baby greens, tender asparagus pieces (not at all bitter!), cherry tomatoes lightly sauteed to bring out the sweetness, crispy bacon bites, fresh avocado slices, a tender and perfectly cooked hard boiled egg and generous chunks of the most decadently rich bleu cheese I've ever had in my life. This would easily make a meal for one person and was an ample starter for two. Served with a chewy, delicious whole grain roll. Our main course was seafood. My friend had the special which was grilled shrimp and veggies - sauteed spinach, tender baby carrots and something else I was too busy eating my own lunch to notice, but she said it was wonderful. The bite of shrimp she gave me was tender and flavorful - perfectly cooked. I ordered the fish tacos - two generous portions of grilled halibut, fresh and tender served over minced onion, avocado and a lime creme freshe with lightly dressed greens on the side. The flour tortillas were crispy yet pliable and full of flavor. My only quibble with the dish was that to my taste it needed a squeeze of lemon to make it perfection...my friend got a half a grilled lemon with her dinner, so I used hers. Nirvana on a plate. Service was courteous and accurate, but a tad slow as the restaurant seemed a bit short staffed, but they were very busy and we were in no hurry. I would recommend if you are on a lunch break or otherwise pressed for time to call ahead and order your food for takeout. Also, if you want dessert (assuming you have room!), I would again either place your order ahead of time or visit the bakery first as the product moves very quickly and favorites may sell out. I recommend keeping a cooler and a freezer pack in the car for just such an "emergency", because you will want extras for evening snacking, breakfast, etc. Overall, another stellar performance on the part of the entire restaurant...

Wow, were we disappointed with our dinner this past Saturday night July 3! PDA has been one of our all time favorite restaurants and we often recommend it as the best cuisine on Cape Cod.

To start off the evening we arrived promptly at 8:00 PM for our dinner reservation. We were informed by the manager that she had put three small round high tops together to accommodate our party of six. Unfortunately that was not the type of dining table we had anticipated. She then went on to tell us that they don’t have tables for six they just have tables for five or eight. Give me a break…please. In addition, the table at the back of the dining room facing the bakery warehouse was just about finished with there dinner and would have easily accommodated us if the manager had asked us if we would have liked to wait a short while. Then after the party vacated this table, she could have asked us if we wanted to move. The number one rule of hospitality (which restaurants are expected to offer) is that the customer is always right. This was a totally mismanaged debacle.

Continuing on to our dinner which was also fell short of expectations was the abbreviated menu selections. We started off sharing three appetizers which of course included the steak tartare and it as usual it was the best. The octopus appetizer on the other hand was one scrawny tentacle. The squid and the duck confit appetizers were acceptable, but nothing too exciting.

We are usually intrigued by the daily special but the fish offering that night was from Hawaii, not a more local type fish. Since the choices were limited on the menu five of us had the scallops with the risotto and one of us had a salad with baked oysters. Everyone was pleased with this entrée, but wished there had been more choices. The baked oyster were basically three over cooked oysters on the half shell saturated with butter.

The wine list features mostly French reds and we chose one of the less expensive $50 wines I believe from the Pays d’Oc. It was quite warm and we asked to have it dunked in an ice bucket. Which brings me to our accommodating and friendly waitperson, a local from Barnstable. No complaints about her service which improved our mediocre dinner. Appreciated her professionalism.

The evening culminated with a parting gift of one bag of brioche hamburger rolls in a plastic bag like you would find on a grocery shelf. In the past we were accustomed to receiving a crusty loaf of bread given per couple and presented in a brown bag. Thankfully we were having hamburgers the next day so we asked for a second bag and our waitperson graciously produced another six. Oh well, the simple things that make a restaurant hospitable and...

Food was ok, service was horrible. We visited on a Sunday at 2pm. There were more than 5 parties waiting for a hostess who disappeared and everyone was asking “what is going on?” There were many empty tables that needed to be cleared and waitstaff running around in all directions. We were seated and given menus. The waitress came over and told us the soup of the day and said she’d give us some time to look over menu. It was brunch so there was only 1 entree without eggs that had meat. So my husband ordered a PDR burger. The waitress said “We are out of that. I should have mentioned that to you before”. So my husband, a meat eater, had a salad. Our meal took awhile, which we had expected, but finally came and the waitress asked if we needed anything else. I asked for catsup for my fries. I never received my catsup. We finished our meals, except for my fries. The table was being cleared by another person and they asked if we’d like anything else. I said I’d like the fries removed from my bill since I never received the catsup I asked for. He said he would box them up. I told him no that I had wanted to eat them with my meal and once again I asked to just take them off the bill. He said “They come with the meal”. I said “I know that but I didn’t get the catsup I asked for so I couldn’t eat them”. Then the waitress showed up, for the first time since bringing our order out, with catsup in hand and apologizes. She’s trying to give me the catsup and I told her to just take the fries off my bill they were cold after sitting for more than an hour now and our table had been cleared except for the fries. It took a team of 4 of them about 15 min to discuss this and come up with a plan. She finally came back and the bill had $3 taken off of it. We will not be going back since there are so many other great restaurants on the Cape we’ve visited with far superior...