Amélie’s French Bakery & Café | Carmel Commons — Restaurant in Charlotte

I got a notification that my order was ready… So, I went inside and I could see them put it behind the counter. I was literally 10 feet away from it but could not get to it. The staff did not engage at all. A staff-member asked if everyone was waiting on online or to-go orders. One lady got her attention… but after that, they disengaged. The 10-foot rule is apparently not a thing here. Several staff members passed by with zero acknowledgment of my existence. Again, my order was ready… I was almost to the point of going behind the counter and grabbing it myself! Someone finally asked my name but then disappeared into the kitchen with a dine-in order for someone else. Then, they grabbed another dish for someone else before finally handing me my food. Literally, It would have taken 2 seconds to just hand me my bag! This is not the first time this, or a similar instance, has happened before. I got the notification at 11:23 that my order was ready and it was not placed in my hand until 11:45. All the while, it was sitting on the back counter! The food was excellent! It always is. The kitchen staff is amazing! However… unless I am a dine-in customer… no one seems interested in being helpful. I just don’t think I am going to come back for a while again. I stopped coming after a similar instance happened a while back… only that time they said they put my food on the to-go rack but did not. I was there waiting. Then, they tried arguing with me before I gave up and just left without my food. So, I tried to give a little grace. I really do like the food… it’s just not worth the frustration when I can just go to Chicken Salad Chick and grab my food from the...

I wrote a good review last year, but I have to agree with another reviewer who said that the offerings and quality on some of the bakery items have dwindled. Like her, I also visited about three months ago, and a few times since then, and the cases were practically empty. I asked the employee if they sold out because of the holiday. I was told that they were in the process of hiring three more bakers. Lately, the cases seem to have a few more items than in the recent past. It’s not uncommon for me to take home an Amelie’s shopping bag filled with boxes of pastries. However, the last two times I purchased the Strawberry Petit Gateaux, there was no cream filling! The chantilly cream is the best part, but it was cake on top of cake! TWICE!!! And I have to mention that the first time, the cake was dry. Also, although the Mirror tart is delicious, it used to be so pretty with the swirl of chocolate ganache on top. Now, the ganache is just spread on top and looks very plain. I had lunch with my son there also, and we were both looking forward to having the Asparagus and Leek soup. I told my son that it looked like they forgot to add the cream, and there was no flavor, as if they added unsalted broth and forgot the seasonings. The sandwiches on the croissants were good, though. I have great memories of visiting the Flagship store in NoDa. That’s where I was introduced to all the good food and pastries. The Carmel Commons location is closer to home for now. I hope they can replicate the quality of the flagship...

This morning my husband and I pulled up for curbside service. We parked in front next to the "curbside service" sign and phoned our order in. We gave them our our order (1 iced coffee, one hot chai tea) and they asked if we wanted to add a tip. Feeling generous, decided to tip 20%. They said to come inside "in a couple minutes" to pick up our order. I politely stated the last time we were here (which was last week), they brought our coffee out. After all, that is what "curbside service means". She agreed and said she will bring out our order. Tipping 20%, I did not think this was unreasonable, especially since we pulled right up to the curb. We waited 10 minutes in the car and could see no one walk in or out of Amelie's. We waited another 2 minutes and saw a car pull up and another customer walk inside. We decided to call them to make sure we get our orders first before these new customers. We tried to call and got answering service. My husband decided to walk in and they were not polite to him, saying that they don't do curbside and they never said they were going to bring out our order. David said his coffee was lukewarm and they did not offer to make him another once due to miscommunication. We will not be back. It is a shame that Charlotte lacks good, independent coffee houses. We don't know of any others locally... I guess we will be going back...