Pâtisserie Coralie — Restaurant in Evanston Township

My husband and I were staying at the Graduate Evanston (hotel) and opted to have breakfast to-go from this cafe 2 mornings in a row. The coffee at the hotel was terrible, so we were looking for decent coffee and a light breakfast so this seemed to fit the bill. We ordered online yesterday (June 7th) and both ordered a ham and cheese croissant. They were relatively tasty, but were refrigerator-cold which is kind of gross for both a croissant and béchamel. My husband didn’t like his coffee drink and my Moroccan Mint tea was completely flavorless. This is usually an extremely flavorful tea, so it was clearly poor quality and/or improperly prepared (the tea bag was left in so I’m sure it steeped longer and hotter than warranted for delicate green tea). The employee that waited on my husband was all flustered and didn’t start making our drinks or boxing our macarons until we arrived even though we had received a text stating our order was ready before he walked over. Even my husband, who has pretty lax customer service standards commented on how overwhelmed and out of her depth the server seemed. Overall, we felt it was an underwhelming, overpriced experience so we intended to dine elsewhere the next day. In the interim, I received a promo code to place another order, and since there’s not a lot open early in walking distance, we decided to give them another chance. I placed an online order shortly after they opened, and received a confirmation. Around the time it should have been ready, I received a text that the order was cancelled. No call, no email, no explanation or options. We called and the same female employee seemed to be having a complete meltdown. She said she couldn’t possibly take an order over the phone, that she didn’t know anything about the online ordering, and that she “just can’t deal” with online orders first thing in the morning. I genuinely think she cancelled the order because she didn’t want to go to the effort of putting our food in a bag! She ultimately said we could place another online order if we wanted. Around the same time, I received a text from the business owner stating they were having technical difficulties and I was welcome to place the order again. I went through all the effort to put it in again, but the promo code didn’t work because at that point the system thought it had already been used. I text the owner and asked if they could just refer to the original order and let us pay in-store. They responded sure and that it would be ready by the time we got there. My husband waited a few minutes then walked over, and the employee hadn’t even started our order! It took much discussion with the owner, but we finally got our food, about an hour after starting this process. She forgot the sugar for our drinks (we asked for sugar today because she was so put-out getting honey for my tea the day before). The employee actually deigned to warm up our croissants this morning, so they were substantially better than the previous day. My coffee drink tasted like dirty dishwater and the macarons were beyond stale. I literally bought some macarons a couple of weeks ago at a grocery store that were much better, much fresher, and much larger for about half the price. Pre-pandemic, we traveled to Europe at least once a year, so we’ve been to France several times and one of the biggest pleasures was the French cafe culture with great coffee and pastries. If you’re looking for a similar experience, this is...

I've come to Coralie multiple times in the past, but today was a rather horrible experience. Their store hours on Google says that they are open at 7:30AM on Sunday (see picture). So I got there at 7:30AM sharp, because I was hoping to place a large order for a special occasion. When I got there, the door was locked, but there were still two employees inside. I knocked a couple times to get their attention, but the lady with glasses at the register glanced at me once and completely ignored me. As a business owner of a food establishment, I understand that you may not be ready to open on the dot, so I waited outside for a few minutes. Still nothing.

I was standing outside in the cold for 15 minutes, and the lady with glasses at the register did her very best to completely ignore me the entire time.

Finally I got so fed up that I started knocking repeatedly and the lady just motions for me to call the phone. Apparently their answering machine says that they are open at 8:00AM on Sundays, not 7:30AM, like advertised on Google. Note that it took 15 minutes for her to simply acknowledge my existence and produce a gesture.

I started knocking more, and the baker comes to the door and points to their business hour sign. It's in French. I understand and appreciate that you're going for a whole French aesthetic, but it doesn't do any good for non-French speaking customers.

Finally the lady with glasses comes out, and says very condescendingly, "You can also just Google it." I tell her I already did and that Google says they are open at 7:30AM. She shrugs and walks away. Let me repeat, after completely ignoring me for 15 minutes, she just shrugs and walks away like it's not any of her business. How hard would it have been to do anything at any point earlier?

The lady with the glasses also said something to the effect of how it's illegal to be open earlier? Well, Bennison's was open and happy to take my business. I won't be coming back to Coralie. I'm sorry, but you guys lost a faithful patron to your business because of your total lack of customer service and...

Honestly what is with the staff? We came in 40 minutes before close, to celebrate a romantic milestone - so a French patisserie seemed like a cute idea. Vibe was not romantic or Parisian on this day. Years ago I spent HUNDREDS on pastry here for my daughter's sweet sixteen and am actually a little heartbroken that yesterday's experience put such a bad taste in my mouth and messed with my sweet opinion of the place. The second we sit and my husband goes to the counter, some guy YELLS "just letting everyone know we're closing in half an hour!" in the manner that a dive bar gives last call. Bordered on aggressive!? Like, he yelled it SO LOUD my ear drums wobbled and it was only us and one other quiet couple in this tiny space. Just obliterated the atmosphere. I would have walked out if I hadn't promised our son a treat. Consider acting appreciative that a nice little family of three comes in to drop $50 when it's Superbowl Sunday and business is slow. Not romantic. No music. Dingy and mismatched furniture. Dirty floor. There were also strange rules about having to buy a chocolate cake if you buy another flavor? Weird. I expected high romance and cleanliness. Marketing did not align with the experience. Bennison's bakery is down the street with better macarons and a can-do and welcoming vibe instead of huffing and puffing about a well dressed couple with their son forty minutes before closing. The guy with the long hair and bad attitude also should have had his hair back, it's an eatery. I'll never go back and the weird branding cards in all the cakes are obviously for marketing on social media and...