Paris Baguette — Restaurant in Cary

| Overview

Great variety of fresh pastries & cakes Iced Butter Pecan Latte is delicious Prime location in Cary, NC Customer service lacks warmth Seating inside can be tight during busy hours More ideal for morning (& afternoon?) visits due to limited choices at night

| Full Review

Located in a prime location at Cary Towne Blvd., the newly-opened Paris Baguette is already becoming one of the hottest spots in the city for pastries, cakes & coffee. The South Korean multinational chain of bakery-cafes has over 4,000 locations worldwide & 200+ locations in the USA, and this new Cary location is just the 2nd in NC (The first one is in Raleigh). The Seoul-based franchise has set its sights on opening 1,000 bakery-cafes in the US by 2030, and I can see why after our first-ever Paris Baguette experience here.

My girl & I arrived here around 6:30 PM, and we were surprised to see how the bakery-cafe was packed; almost all the seats inside were occupied. My girl got a tray right away, and got a $3+ coffee-flavored pastry.

She was disappointed to see that the center glass case for baked goods was empty, so our choices were kind of limited. That's when we realized that it's more ideal to come here in the morning (and maybe early afternoon). There were no croissants & some of the other pastries left the night we went. The only ones left were mostly cream breads, red bean bread, and cookies. There's also a $4+ pepperoni cheese bread, which made me question, "Why would I pay $4+ for a small piece of pepperoni bread if I could get two large pepperoni pizzas in many pizza places for the same price?"

My girl got a medium-sized hot hazelnut coffee & I got a large Iced Pecan Butter Latte. We were satisfied with our coffees. The pecan butter flavor was delicious, and it wasn't too sweet, and the amount of ice was just right. My large coffee cost almost $7 - a price that's worth spending on a rich boba milk tea, so despite how good it was, it's still as pricey as Starbucks.

There were no major customer service issues in our first visit, but the frowny face of the cashier didn't match the inviting atmosphere of a classy bakery-cafe. We noticed there's an app for Paris Baguette so we'll try that next time.

While my girl was waiting for our pastry to get heated, I was able to find a seat in between two occupied tables. Due to the limited space of its indoor area, the seating here felt cramped; seats were too close apart from each other, so it's not ideal for those who prefer to have a more private conversation with a date, as other customers could easily eavesdrop. There's an outdoor area but it was raining that night, so we had no choice but to sit inside.

We enjoyed our coffee while we split the 1 piece of coffee pastry, which wasn't bad but it lacked the coffee flavor we were expecting. Knowing that wasn't enough, I went back to the pastry section and bought 1 order of the 6-piece Mini Grain Cream Cheese Pastry for $4.89. We enjoyed this buttery pastry more than the coffee pastry, and could see ourselves ordering this again.

While it'll take us another -preferably morning- visit to share a more complete review of this sweet bakery-cafe, we learned one clear fact: Paris Baguette offers higher-quality items than Dunkin Donuts, Crispy Creme & Starbucks. No wonder it's rapidly expanding in America, and I wouldn't be surprised if the franchise hits its 1,000 bakery-cafes goal by 2030.

| Overall...

Pastries and coffee were good. It was fun to walk around the displays and pick out the pastries you wanted. However the person working the register seemed to be having an awful day and didn’t make it a pleasant experience. I greeted them with a “how are you” and they looked at me like I had 3 heads. I had to tell them twice I was eating there and was not taking my order to go and then they rang me up expecting me to pay without giving me time to order coffees. They also didn’t offer to heat up my pastries. No receipt given either. Very disappointed with that interaction as first time customer. There are a decent amount of tables to eat at but I noticed multiple tables with people just on their laptops. So the people who needed tables to eat at all had to compete for the small number of tables opening up as people finished their meal. Made it stressful. People can choose to inconvenience others and it happens everywhere but this is what the experience was like for me and I’m giving potential customers a heads up. I’m not sure if...

The food is excellent and is what will keep me coming back. The location is very nice & renovated from the old days when it used to be a Thai restaurant. The negative is the customer service. Each time I've been here recently, there was a different young guy at the register lacking in customer service skills. One guy on Sunday was ok but seemed really bummed out & new working there. The other guy was just blase and acted like I should thank him for doing me a favor. He also messed up my drink order, but I didn't bother to correct him. Another young woman behind the counter on Sunday also seemed pissed off & frazzled. If the food weren't that great, I wouldn't be back. They also ask for a tip on the screen when you pay. Prices are a little steep ($42-60 for a whole cake; $7 for a slice of cake, etc.), but it's a clean, nice place to meet a friend or relax (if it's not a weekend). I hope the management can hire better staff or at least train them better. Customers should be thanked and not treated...