{petite} maman — Restaurant in New York

Food was standard, expected for the price paid. Nothing special, but then again it is located in a train station and not an avenue known for culinary talent. Some of the heated food wasn’t heated all the way through. Suspiciously, as if it was microwaved, hot on the outside, cold on the inside. Personally, if I order a ham and cheese croissant sandwich that is heated, I usually get it with the cheese melted, or somewhat warm at least. This time the cheese was cold, as if it just came out of the fridge, not heated at all.

The service was very poor. The person taking the orders made no eye contact, you could barely hear her as she mumbled a lot, no smiling, no thank yous. Just rushing through your order without a care in the world. Considering we payed a $15 tip by default with the available tipping percentages on the touch screen, the service was well below the bar. Tipping culture or not, if I was part of Maman’s corporate team I would be reconsidering the customer service training and management of this branch/franchisee. Just because a person is rushing to get their food before catching a train, doesn’t mean you should fall below the standards of basic service. It’s as if the staff expect customers not to complain, as it’s too time critical for them with their deadlines to board their trains. Finally, with our order missing two drinks and a pastry that was paid for, we asked for our order to be completed. The staff member we asked checks the receipt multiple times, as if this part of our order never existed, despite the payment going through and these items being on the receipt. After she decides that it was part of our order, she hands us the items without any apology. Usually if this happens at a cafe/restaurant, the very least the staff will say is “sorry about that”. Even small amounts of manners makes good customer service.

The atmosphere was poor, although not as bad as the service. Difficult to maintain a good atmosphere in a train station I will admit that. However things within the control of the staff made the atmosphere worse. Although having an A for their sanitary inspection, there are flys landing on the pastries on display (which were being sold to customers). There is a lack of communication between the staff, which is clear as they forgot to give us one of the pasties and two of the drinks, that we ordered and paid for (again a poor service, especially from the cashier).

On a positive note the barista was performing well, all of our ordered coffees were of good quality. You can very clearly see the barista performing his role from the order pickup window, he was performing efficiently without sacrificing quality. He kept his work station clean, which along with his efforts and barista skills, allowed him to perform his job very well, right in front of the customers too. Well done to him, the only staff member who shouldn’t be retrained.

I finish this review to say that I do not leave this in malice, rather just in shock at how poor the experience there was. I hope this review, along with the other low grade reviews, for this location forces the company’s higher ups to sort things out here. It is ruining the reputation for the whole Maman business. Please fix this....

I want to share an experience I had at Petite Maman that still sits heavy with me. On the morning of May 9th, around 6:30 a.m., I stopped in for what I hoped would be a peaceful start to a stressful day. I ordered a chai latter, hot chocolate and a ham and cheese baguette —simple, comforting, and something I usually look forward to when traveling. Unfortunately, the exchange I had with the cashier on shift completely threw off my morning.

From the moment I approached the counter, I could sense the energy shift. The cashier barely acknowledged me—no greeting, no eye contact, just a cold, dismissive attitude. When I got my sandwich I nicely asked if she can warm it up that was a problem I was immediately met with an attitude. We get our latte and hot chocolate my daughter tells me the cup is extremely hot so because i noticed other customers receiving two cups, I asked can we get extra cups please. When she returns with the cups she reprimands me and tells me I need to be patient and reminds me is very busy. I stood there trying to maintain my peace, but I couldn’t ignore how I was being treated. As a Black woman, I’ve experienced subtle racism and microaggressions before—but when it happens so early in the day, in such a public and high-traffic place, it feels especially violating. I didn’t raise my voice or make a scene, but I left the café feeling disrespected and diminished. It wasn’t about the food—it was about being made to feel like I didn’t belong.

I’m sharing this not out of bitterness, but in hopes that management takes this seriously. Petite Maman is a beautiful café with good pastries, but kindness and inclusivity should be just as much a part of the customer experience. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect, no matter what time of day or...

Bottom line: don’t order the quiche

Look, I understand this place is in a train station food hall. In fact, I expected the food to be somewhat mediocre. That being said, the food shouldn’t be gross.

The good: ordered a cortado, it was solid. No complaints here.

The bad: hungry but not in a sandwich mood, so I ordered a quiche sophie (spinach, artichoke, feta). Was told the wait would be about 6-7 min for the quiche, which wasn’t a bad estimate, it took about 8 minutes). Got my food, which was nice and warm… promising, I thought.

then I started eating possibly the worst “quiche” I’ve had in my life. The quiche was wet and soggy, as though it had been made with wet veggies, dunked in water, reheated, then served. And being a quiche, it contained dairy which would normally lend itself to a rich and unctuous and yummy experience. Not so here—each bite was simultaneously giving salty water + greasy mouthfeel. I’m not particularly picky and can usually power through most foods (especially when hungry), but I couldn’t bring myself to finish this.

Giving 3 stars because the coffee was good, the service was fine, and it feels mean to rate the place 1 or 2 stars based on one wet and greasy quiche when the other food options are probably (hopefully) fine. And who knows, maybe it was just an off day. But man am I hungry right now; this is gonna be one...