L'Algeroise French pâtisserie — Restaurant in New York

I'd like to think I came on a bad day or maybe it was getting too late (9:30PM) but I didn't have a good experience and let me tell you why...

Upon arrival, there was 1 person who had ordered already and the staff was already assisting him with the Napoleons. The staff took his sweet time packing and everything which I was in a bit of a rush but I understand since it was only him and the person in front wanted 8 items. 1 concerning thing I noticed was the staff allowed a child to use someone else's card and he spoke to the child and still charged it. Shrug...

Other than that, the part that really triggered me was after he had completely finished the transaction, he knew I was waiting in line and he refused to acknowledge my presence. I waited a bit before I said excuse me and when he was ready to take my order, he was a bit rushy and seemed to want to get me out of the shop asap (impatient feeling).

I had a few questions since most of the pastries were not labelled along with looking to pick up a ready-to-go cake. It seemed strange when I asked what size cakes he had and what flavors, he immediately told me I'd have to pre-order. It did not answer my question...

I ended up ordered 4 napoleons, 1 opera cake, 1 mixed tart and 1 large passionfruit cake. My cousin came in and was monitoring the cleanliness of the staff and here is what we noticed;

First off, the staff did not change his gloves are handling a a credit card transaction. Second, he used the same gloves to pull the pastries out from the display case and no liner was on napoleons so he was straight up just touching the pastry itself. Third, he pinched his mask/nose area with the SAME GLOVES. Fourth, 1 guy came out from the back and was preparing an espresso but he pull his mask to his chin the entire time. Fifth, the baker from the back came out without a mask in sight and was walking back and forth taking out garbage.

My transaction pretty much took a whole 15 mins from start to finish. Craziest thing was, he held my credit card, processed the transaction and then went on to assist another customer right after me WITH THE SAME GLOVES.

Last thing, the passionfruit cake was poorly made. The passionfruit on top is supposedly more gelatin like but it spilled out onto the box before I even pulled off the plastic holder. The mousse was clumpy and not smooth (No, it was not because of the coconut shreds. The mousse itself was not prepared properly)

Aside from all this, the other pastries were actually pretty good. Just wish the level of customer service, hygiene and the...

Wish I could give a proper review.. I'm French and as I waited for my bus I saw this new pastry shop that says they're a French pâtisserie, I thought maybe for once chocolate éclairs will be filled with the mandatory chocolate custard and not the "regular" underwhelming custard that you find in every chocolate éclairs in America. Well.. As I entered an empty shop and waited for a good 2 minutes for someone to come out, the lady behind the counter replied with an annoyed "no no regular" to my question. Needless to say I would have been willing to try something else out of this pâtisserie but her attitude just cut me short from it. Nevermind, chocolate éclairs are never as good as when they're eaten in Paris...

I went in to this pastry store as a recommendation from my friend. I got the almond croissant, strawberry tart and some other dessert. First of all, I got an almond croissant for myself and one for my sister. I thought the top of the croissant was pretty yum, but the bottom was quite soggy. My sister said the croissant was alright, except that the last bite tasted like cleaning product. HUH? Anyways, that could’ve been our tastebuds playing us or something. What was most shocking for us was when we finally got to try our strawberry tart. As soon as I moved one piece of strawberry over, the one inside had MOLD. Unbelievable how they will serve old food to their...