La Boulangerie & Co Wilson — Restaurant in Lake View Township

I don't live far from here, and I've been trying to make this place a regular part of my week/weekend. Despite the long wait, the food is generally pretty good. I've brought friends here that really liked the sandwiches (though I've not tried them myself), and the almond croissants are fantastic. The baguettes are better than what you'd get at a normal grocery store and are why I kept giving the place a chance. My issue is that the service is almost always disappointing and I don't understand.

I've been here multiple times and, sometimes, I see that people (never me) are told that if they just want bread, they can go to the register. They're ushered to the front with no problem. There's not always a lot of space to move upwards in line and I've never been told to do so directly, so, in those moments, I just stay there since I'm already waiting and I'm never in a hurry. Next time, though (when there's not a big crowd), I make my way to the register but then I'm ignored, so I step back and just wait. I don't mind waiting. I know crowd dynamics can be confusing and change based on circumstances. That said, there have been so many times where I come, and I'm waiting there for some time before I am even acknowledged/glanced at. Some days there's not a lot of staff. Some days there's 4 or 5 people that never look up even though there's only 2 people in line (including myself). This does not change. I've worked in similar places, and I've been to French bakeries/shops. I'm used to hearing/saying "Bonjour" when I walk in. Here, there's not even a "Hi" or a "We'll be right with you". It bothers me, especially considering the staff will pretend I don't exist until they're ready to deal with me.

Some days I come, and my baguette is hard. Other days it's fine. It's weird to me that the bakery stops running so much earlier than the store is open, but such a big difference in quality is hard to wrap my head around as a few hours should not make it almost inedible.

There have also been a couple of times I've gone in and they're out of regular baguettes - understandable. What absolutely isn't understandable is deciding to just ring up the more expensive non-traditional baguette with no word/notice beforehand. There's about a $1-2 difference. It isn't the end of the world/a big deal, but, after waiting without acknowledgment from at least 3 people, and then having the employee just make this decision without a word really bothered me. Just say you're out and ask if I'm ok with the other one. Let me know that it's different. I'll probably say it's fine, but it's not ok to just ring it up on your own.

I only noticed because the price was higher than normal. The employee wouldn't have acknowledged it had I not asked about it. That is unacceptable.

This was my last time trying to give this place a chance. I'll go if my friends absolutely want to go back, but I've been here way too many different times with the same disrespectful cold treatment and it's just not worth putting up with.

There's a guy here that wears a hat/beanie and he's usually nice/attentive to customers, but the rest of the staff here is consistenly rude. I've never been a difficult customer. I ask for simple things and I never complain/shown irritation, so it's just a weird and...

I placed an online order for pickup on the way to cafe. After arriving 10 mins later, I waited in line to place an additional order for juice. There was a lady in front of me, who seemed to waited for her pickup order for a while. The place seemed chaotic, as there was only 1 barista, but 2 cashiers, and one waitress, and I thought they could've staffed better for a Saturday morning rush hour. Anyways, patiently waiting for my turn, as I'm approaching the cashier, and they started taking orders from people behind me. I said that I wanted to order juice and didn't get a chance yet, to which cashier apologized and started taking my order. I also told the cashier that I placed online order for coffee and croissant earlier. Only then she marked the cup with my drink choice and put in front of barista. Then I stepped aside, and as I was waiting, I see people who placed orders after me already being served their drinks. I waited to see if mine would be next, only to see 3 other drinks being prepared. I grew impatient and asked why my order was not being prepared, to which barista who didn't even see me earlier, said that because mine was an online order I had to wait. I told her I waited for a while, came in person and literally was there to order first, and instead of apologizing, the barista scuffingly brushed me off, uttering whether I wanted my coffee or not, now that she finally got to it. Other staff were not helpful as well and wanted me to take this elsewhere. If I was there to order and pickup the order, why should I wait extra, what is the point of ordering ahead and waiting in line in addition? I skipped other places only to enjoy my croissant and coffee here, but was so dissappointed with service, I had to leave without getting the drink. People there seemed disoriented, and the service needs to improve. Luckily, a great service from another cafe cheered me up and made my morning.

Another thing I noticed while watching my croissant being prepared: a woman without gloves was putting meals in bag, then she went to scrub her head and continued in other side of kitchen. I wanted to make note of that to the manager, I saw that he was just served a cup of coffee, when there were so many orders behind. I became distracted as it was my turn to order. Just read other reviews and it seems like a pattern here. Would not come...

Edit: I’ll add an additional star because Boulangerie handled this well post-burnt sandwich & lack of pickles. They offered to send me new sandwiches, without burnt bread. My caprese sandwich was great like I remembered it & my partner’s still lacked extra pickles, but at least they were edible this time. We’ve just resigned to buying our own jar cornichon pickles instead of trying to pay for extra on our order, since the amount of pickles never changes anytime we’ve selected that option for the Parisian sandwich.

Thank you for correcting your mistake with the burnt bread. I’m less hesitant to order again.

My partner was trying to be sweet and order my favorite sandwich for delivery through their website, but I was given a sandwich with super burnt baguette… why???? I barely noticed the color of the bread until I bit into it… pure burnt taste on a sandwich with delicate flavors, which was super unpleasant.

The person who helped me over the phone said it was probably left on the grill too long… but it’s a caprese sandwich… it’s not even a warm sandwich. It’s cold & doesn’t go on a grill. Are the staff trained even on their menu items? Also, how does anyone think brunt bread is okay to use for a sandwich?? I was refunded for the one item, which I appreciate, but a refund doesn’t get me another sandwich delivered for lunch. I had work meetings all day and not enough time to even reorder and I felt annoyed of having to pay yet AGAIN for delivery, so I ate the stupid filling.

Also, every time my partner pays for extra cornichon pickles, he never gets them. This was our go-to spot for YEARS for bread, pastries, quiche, and sandwiches, but I’m so over it. There are other bakeries around, fortunately. They can take my...