French Corner Carlsbad Village — Restaurant in Carlsbad

This place is cute inside, with a quaint Parisian feel to it. Large signs hang above the display cases, with all their menu items clearly visible, as you stand in line, waiting to order.

We came in here on 10/2/22, looking to try one their Chocolate Eclairs, which looked incredible on their web-site photos. We were disappointed to find out they didn't have any today, & the cashier told us they bake these on Fridays, & they're usually out by Sundays, the day we unfortunately showed up.

The Patisserie case wasn't exactly overflowing with fresh French pastries, so I chose a French Shortbread Cookie, with a large dollop of jam in the center. It looked really good. My wife chose a Regular Croissant & had them warm it up. We ordered two Americano Coffees, my wife's being Decaf. Their coffee was spot on, we thought, after trying that first sip- steaming hot, decadently rich & mine felt like it would put more hair on my chest. Both our goodies were tres bien, with my wife's croissant being ultra light, flaky & super buttery- in a word, delicious! My cookie was 😋.

Of the 2 breakfast entrees we ordered, my wife's Breakfast Crepe was best, by far! It was a large crepe, loaded inside with ham, egg, & chunks of tomato-so satisfying, bite after delicious bite. Topping the crepe, was a feathery dusting of fresh-grated Parmesan cheese.

I wasn't thrilled with my Breakfast Frittata. It was a small rectangular, fluffy egg portion, slightly over 2" wide X just over 5" long & 1" thick. This frittata was supposed to contain bacon, potatoes & Parmesan cheese. Freshly-grated Parmesan was sprinkled on top, though I only found 1 microscopic bit of potato, and several equally tiny bits of bacon inside. The frittata contained almost entirely moist, rich fluffy egg. It tasted ok, but if they say they'll have certain ingredients inside, you should be able to identify them without a magnifying glass- just sayin'. The bed of greens, which accompanied my frittata, were the best thing on the plate- super fresh & crisp, with just the right amount of flavorful dressing, plus a dash of balsamic beneath the greens.

We took home a slice of Caprese Quiche. The day after our visit, we tried it. The tasting verdict was pretty much the same as my breakfast frittata evaluation. This quiche was supposed to contain tomato, basil & Parmesan.

We found only Parmesan cheese in our slice of quiche. The crust was perfectly-baked, & delicious, but the flavor was definitely lacking, as this dish clearly missed the added flavors of tomato & basil, that should've been in here.

So...to sum it up, there was a lot we liked here. My wife & I were disappointed in a couple of their entrees, that didn't have the ingredients they advertised, found within them. French Corner's lack of a fully stocked patisserie case was also disappointing, when we arrived, an hour after their 8am opening...

WORST customer service ever. NEVER experienced such a lack of care as a client.

Part 1 After asking if they have Gluten free bread and receiving a negative answer I ordered a veggie-sandwich with regular bread. Five minutes later I overheard another customer asking if they can make Gluten-free veggie crepe and they answered YES. So I asked to change my order and they refused since the sandwich was already in the making. I was asked to order a crepe if I wanted (and pay for it). Not the best answer, right? wait it gets worse...

Part 2 As we were in a party of 4, someone coincidentally ordered a veggie GF crepe so he kindly offered me to switch the plates. The surprise came when the crepe was filled with Ham and Cheese. The person who ordered it told them about their mistake and SURPRISE!!! they REFUSED to change the plate since in their computer appeared that he ordered a crepe with ham. It never occurred to them they pressed the wrong button in their screen. So they made him order again and pay for the second order.

BTW, 1) the person next to the person that ordered heard that the order was for a veggie-crepe 2) no one in our party eats pork so no chance her ordered a plate with ham.

What are the expectations

1. if someone asks for gluten free food, you can suggest other GF options... not rocket science. It happens everywhere I go.
2. Get to know the words: Sorry, apologies, my mistake (for bringing you the wrong order). It helps...
3. Be nice to your customers... unless you don't want us to come back again. You did...

This is a good little spot if you want to get away and have a nice bite. There is great jazz music playing in the background, and perfect for that sidewalk cafe experience. The food here is SO good. The homemade french bakery items are scratch made, and amazingly flavorful. It is truly hard to choose what you want from the pastry case, as everything looks so good. The sandwich I had today was made on a scratch made baguette, that I parked with a side salad. The sandwich was a large portion, packed with flavor. The salad was dressed with a simple dijon mustard vinaigrette. I have also had their quiche and fritatta, which is a huge portion, rustic, and packed with flavor. My only disappointment is that evey time I come in here, the cashiers I have had never smile, and are extrmely dry and bland. They are not rude at all, but just don't act like they want to be there. I try and go out of my way to give them a big smile, good morning, and hello, but they just aren't into it. Not sure why, or if they are unhappy with their job, or each other, however, hoping that their days get a little better, as it definitely disheartens the customer service experience. It makes me flip a coin to decide if I want to go here, or another French bakery in town, where I get the smiles and proactive "good morning" and "how...