Le Citron European Cafe & Bistro — Restaurant in New Braunfels

Cute idea, but won't return. The food was okay, but the over an hour wait with poor service and no apology when they became aware they lost our ticket was not. I visited on 7/15 with my husband and small (2 years old) child. They were aware we wanted to sit outside. After placing my order, paying for my food, and tipping, I asked if I should wait outside. They young lady at the counter said yes.

We waited over 30 minutes with my two year old outside. Finally, at my husband's request, my child and I went in to at least get her milk and chocolate croissant. It took several minutes, they must have became aware they had lost our ticket at this point, gave me her milk and croissant but said nothing about the ticket being lost. At this point, they should have apologized and offered a refund or at least let us know. They did not. I took the child outside. Our coffee came... still no mention of the fact our ticket had been lost and no apology.

Another 20 minutes, I finally go in and ask how much longer and voice my frustration at the wait being over an hour and the fact that people who came in after us had already been served. Only then did they say our ticket had been lost.... because we were sitting outside and they don't allow that. I pointed out that I asked if you wanted me to wait outside, and I was told yes. I was offered banana bread for the trouble. No thank you, not when waiting on 60.00 worth of food.

I am a very understanding and patient person. But if you make a mistake... own up to it. If you need people to wait inside, say so. If you dont want people outside, dont put tables out. And if you lose a ticket, offer a refund... especially when its been that long and you aware the meals havent even been started because you arent losing anything. Had we been told at that time, we could have walked to the bakery next door and had food in five minutes. It was very wrong .... especially when small children are involved.

In addition when the order did get there, the salad...

We arrived at the restaurant on a beautiful Saturday morning… right ahead of us was family A. After us various other families arrived… after waiting for about half hour for our food to arrive I go to the counter and ask for a pastry. Exhibit 1: On my way in I notice another table having the same order as me and there are fruits in that order, which is a savory one, in the same basket. Because I don’t like savory and sweet mixed, I saw a young server and asked if I could substitute the fruit for something else. As I was talking, arrives the more senior server and says “ what’s the problem”… a simple request had just turned into a problem! I said there is no problem just a request. The response was no, there are no substitutes… ok… then I request if I could have the fruits in a totally separate basket. Then I receive the response “ I don’t think so, I’ll ask the chef but I cannot promise anything”. Very impolite service and definitely not doing much to keep the customer satisfied with a reasonable request. Plus… “the chef”?? Really? A córner store? A chef who would refuse to put the fruits on s separate basket?? … I said ok, I’ll go back outside with a pastry to munch on something and whatever happens happens. Then EXHIBIT 2: another 15 minutes pass, I notice that Family A is already finishing their food, similar food to ours, and they are getting ready to go. Another family who arrived well after us has already been served!! Us, nothing! I go inside I ask to cancel the order, then that server goes “no I think it’s getting ready”… ok… another 15 minutes and then I go back inside asking to finally cancel the order, and then the server goes into the kitchen and finally brings it back. I rarely leave reviews but this one is well deserved and hopefully the management will fix...

It really takes quite a bit for me to leave a bad review of a small business in NB,.. with that being said, Le Citron was very disappointing & I would not recommend based on rudeness of staff alone. The cafe itself is adorable, and my daughter was looking forward to having a 14th bday brunch there this past weekend… We called 2 weeks in advance to set up the res. for 9 people over the phone,(her stepmom did this, she had it time stamped w/ time phone call took place & took down whom she spoke to), thought everything was good to go. I had Juneteeth off (the Wednesday prior) so we decided to go check the cafe out as we had never actually been inside. My daughter and I got there right after 2pm, door wasn’t locked, sign wasn’t turned around, other patrons were inside.. but as soon as we stepped one foot inside, the girl announced “we’re closed”, so we didn’t even get to really speak with anyone or look around. Ok. Whatever. We both were like “oh well, we’ll just hope its great Sunday” 🤷🏼‍♀️ But that shouldn’t been our first clue the experience would be bad, lol Sunday comes around & we arrive for the reservation and the same treatment at the door. They’re full though, can’t seat anyone else, before we say ANYTHING ELSE. Daughter’s stepmom says “we have a reservation” and they told her… “no you don’t.” 🤷🏼‍♀️😂 Apparently they don’t take reservations & the person working that day should not have taken the reservation, and that’s basically the only answer, resolution or apology. We can wait an hr to be seated. As you can imagine, we did not. We walked over to the Mess Around and were seated in 30 mins in a private room area and it was a much better experience than we probably could have hoped for with Le Citron. Blessing in...