La Croquantine de matthieu — Restaurant in Doral

I was so disappointed by my experience dining here. I normally don’t write reviews but I had to point out the lack of customer service from this place. From the moment we entered we were ignored by the staff who sat everyone else behind us before they sat us. Even those with a greater party were sat before us and we were only two. But I shrugged it off, because it happens sometimes or maybe they had reservations. But once we were seated, our server came up to us to introduce herself and get our drinks in but then afterwards completely forgot about us. Never checked up on us even after 20 minutes to get our order so i eventually went up to the front to place my order there instead. When the food finally arrived, my boyfriend’s fries were cold and soggy and honestly the quality of the food was not worth the wait we endured. On top of that, the server forgot to give us our drinks. I am starting to feel thirsty at this point and was still waiting on her to bring in my water. One thing that really bothered me was that she gave service to every single one of her tables except for us. Even coming back to them repeatedly to ask them how their food is. But with us? Didn’t even look us in the eye. Still feeling extremely thirsty I asked another one of the servers who was passing by if it was too much of a bother to ask for a glass of water. Clearly it was, because he gave me the most disgusted look and never said a word back to me. And he never came back with that water. So the only way I could catch our servers attention was to go to the front where I found her chatting with the cashier lady and asked for some water. I found it really unprofessional that not only did I have to go place my order at the front earlier after already being seated because my server failed to do her table touches with us, but when I asked about my water she seemed annoyed. I couldn't help but feel like the staff had some sort of preference towards the other customers, just an assumption only, but it was a feeling I got. Now I usually always give the benefit of the doubt because I try to keep the staff in mind and can understand how busy it can get. But this was another level. I have never felt this ignored and disrespected ever in an eating establishment. I just hope that this place reads this review as a means of improvement rather than getting defensive. We can all use improvements, and this place could...

So, first let me say the portions are perfect, prices are good, the food is excellent, and the baked good are divine, but the service - or lack of - could have been bad enough to make it a wash. I live in Cape Coral, FL, which is a two hour drive from Ft. Lauderdale/Miami/Doral area. So, we go to Miami a lot; three times in the last month. My aunt flew in from Virginia/DC area for a conference and we drove over to see her. She selected this bistro and we were offered chilled water for the table, on a 95° day, and the waitress was charming. We ordered promptly as we had to get my aunt to the airport. The food was very good and came out quickly....we never saw our server again.

Okay, that's an exaggeration, we saw her, she just didn't see us. We were ready to go, just needed a box and a bill. After 5 try's we had to resort to jumping up and down and lighting fireworks to get her attention (ok so maybe not, but that's what it felt like)! Mom and Aunt finally got the bill and I went to the counter to order a few to go pasteries. The crowd had cleared out, there was a woman ahead of me at the counter being served, and I waited my turn. When the clerk finished with them, she walked away. Not a word, no acknowledgment at all!!! In the meantime both my mom and aunt had time to go to the bathroom(there is only one) and even ten minutes later none of the three girls working had offered to help me or even acknowledge me.

Finally, I saw our waitress and said, I would like some pastries and my aunt has a plane to catch. She came over and prepared a box, then left to make multiple cappuccino and left us waiting again. All in all it was about 15 more minutes just to get the prepared pastries boxed and to pay for them. Just the pastries were $32 so you would think that they'd want to sell them and not waste them if they were not sold by end of day. It was 12:45 PM.

So, the food is great, amazing desserts, but the whole experience was diminished because the staff ignored us starting halfway through the meal. It was sad. I'm a small business owner, I get it. If they were slammed, I'd be writing a totally different review. It may be Miami, but we still expect...

As I am originally from France, I always love when I stumble upon a new French place, a cafe or bistro or boulangerie. La Croquantine is in the heart of Doral yet the owner is French and you can definitely tell by the quality and the taste of the food. Step aside boul'miche and welcome to La Croquantine! My test when i find a new boulangerie is always the almond croissant as you must not only have the know-how to a perfect croissant but also to prepare the filling, not too pasty and not too dry, just creamy enough and not too sweet either but always very very tasty with an explosion of almonds: the croissant was good!! We then ordered a sandwich and a plat du jour for Friday which consisted of a onion soup (ohhh waowww the bread and the cheese and the broth and the caramelized onions!!)q And an entrecôte. The meat was excellent and came with a fragrant creamy mushroom sauce for dipping a small side of sald and French fries. It's not a steak house, just a bakery/bistro, yet the quality.ofnthe meat was better than in many other restaurants so kudos for that too. The baguette for the sandwich was also typically French, well cooked crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. With all this I didnt have room for any pastries (they all looked amazing) so I will definitely come back even though this is not my usual neighborhood. Just know that if the bread and the almond croissant are good, the rest should not disappoint. Now if the steak and the soup were surprisingly delicious, I have no doubts the entire menu is up to par! Keep it...