L'acajou Bakery and Cafe — Restaurant in Oakland

Really bummed to be put in this position because this is a local restaurant and I was happy to support them despite regularly missing items from orders (I assumed it was because I was using a third party app, but I digress). Today, I tried to use a coupon I was given via email, and stated on the bottom that it was valid both in store and online (via their square) and would expire 5/23 (today is 5/22). It did not work online, so I tried calling in the order. When I went to redeem the coupon, I was told that the coupon code did not exist and was therefore not valid. Confused, I asked if the email did not come from L’Acajou and was told “it clearly did”, but he was unable to do anything about it. I then asked to speak with someone who could do something about it, and was told no. I then explained that, in my understanding, coupons coming from a company needed to be honored and made a joke about not remembering the legal code (realizing now that it’s likely to be misinterpreted and for that I’m sorry). Eventually the owner showed up, and while I did get the coupon applied, the owner was unnecessarily rude during the whole interaction, seeming to imply that I was wrong for wanting a coupon that appeared to be valid and came from them to be honored. The whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth that I would have dropped had the owner not continued to deflect any responsibility for the confusion (keeping in mind this all stemmed from a coupon that came from them, and they admitted to coming from them), which is why I took the time to share this here.

Go if you would like, the food is good! Check orders before you walk out if doing takeaway, and don’t try to use coupons if you do go. This experience means that I won’t be going back personally. Owner probably says good riddance, which is fine, because it sorta bolsters my point about the whole experience of being told a coupon they created wouldn’t be honored and why it left a bad taste...

I have been here when they recently opened this cafe/bakery everything was so good including the kind crew who were baking things and managing the restaurant. Today I had a very bad customer service and the food was very bad too. Hamburger beef was something like fast food restaurant, bread french toast smells meat. Potatoes that comes with omelette at least a day old and has the same meat smell. I went to the counter and told them this and response was "yeah we use the same grill for everything"!? Even I told them I can not eat the bread they didn't replaced it. If you are a good cook and you are using the same grill for everything then you would intuitively know meat would be the last on that grill. Vegetarians vegans have no choice here unless you like that meat smell on your French toast potatoes and even bread. Everyone working here is very rude and very spoiled I don't understand why people go eat here and pay $66 and above for 4 people when you have better options like Rick and Ann s, Fournee etc. They are not a bakery for sure everything was at least a day old and chewy and they were out of plain croissant at 9 am on Saturday, when you don't bake those you say we don't bake plain croissants here. I regret going there again and won't go back and waste my money again for sure. Even an average breakfast place like Montclair egg shop is better than this overrated place. In addition to all these we cleaned up the table ourselves tables were not clean. And while we were leaving a spoiled and rude staff yelled behind us "you should clean your stuff" is it my mom talking to me like that, even so it would be a...

Great new bakery, perfect for hiking supplies! (4/5 Green Stars) Downsides first: the layout could be improved and the young chap who served me was a bit surly – but neither of these things bothered me (and the chap was fast :). The coffee and pastries were both very good and I’m wavering between 4 and 5 stars, but I’m going to go for 5 stars because prices were reasonable and it’s really one of the best places that I know of within a radius of a 2 or 3 miles – that’s the approx. distance to La Farine or Timeless Coffee ;) And speaking of La Farine, I think my plain croissant from L’acajou was every bit as good as theirs. (Perhaps Andrew C. visited on an off-day.) Their cookies were pretty good, but the standouts for me were the cheddar chipotle biscuit and the banana bread – both very memorable. Also – organic, fair-trade coffee for around $2? Yes please!

I’m also giving them 4/5 Green Stars for social and environmental impact, based on these reasons: • Nomadic Coffee: All of the coffee is organic, most is fair trade certified, and some is even Smithsonian bird-friendly (that’s pretty much the highest sustainability standard for coffee). Nomadic seem like a good bunch. • Waste minimization at L’acajou was pretty good. I had my own cup but forgot to notice if there was a cup discount. • Decent selection of vegetarian options, and a vegan salad. • They do seem to use organic quinoa and greens for some of their...