Bonjour French Bakery & Cafe - Pembroke Pines — Restaurant in Pembroke Pines

I wish I loved this place more. I checked out this place when it first opened and I've been here several times since. Because bakeries are my jam and I'm open minded to come back and try again and again. Especially since they have so many things to try here.

I wrote a review about 7 months ago when I first tried Bonjour. I mention canelés are hard to find. The first time I had it was at the Dominique Ansel Bakery in NYC. The same Dominique Ansel that created the famous cronut. He is hands down my favorite pastry chef!!! It's tough to compete with him. Anyways, I've had canelés at a few different French bakeries and it's caramelized goodness on the outside with an almost burnt chewy exterior and custardy center. The one I had at Bonjour was just ok. It had so much potential. The price point is great at $2.99 each and the exterior most of the time looks perfectly caramelized. Unfortunately, the center doesn't hit the mark for me, it’s either too dry or too something. And sometimes the exterior isn't caramelized enough. Ha. I know. My expectations are probably ridiculous. But I know what I like. And I try a canelé every single time I come here and that would be about 5 times so far. I think it's time to move on. But somehow, I am always hopeful that one day, it will be perfect. Lol.

We've had a few different things here:

Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict Traditional Eggs Benedict Bonjour Roll Passion Mousse Palmier Crepe with Nutella Croissant

Most items are decent. I find the brioche on the Eggs Benedict to be way too thick. The bread to eggs ratio isn't cutting it. My kids enjoy it though.

The Bonjour Roll is way too sweet. They only offer the Bonjour Roll on the weekends so it's first come, first serve. Not worth it. Pass. It’s pretty but doesn’t taste good.

Listen, I love the space and I love the appeal of all the beautiful and inviting pastries. They had me at PASTRIES!!! The main food items can get pricey, pending on what you get. I would come back to try the savory crepes, French onion soup, lobster bisque, quiche and croissant burgers. I still have hope for Bonjour and won't give up. But it's not my first choice.

Service is usually good and they try to stay on top of everything. I will say, however, my most recent visit, they served a chipped ramekin with my daughter's Crepe with Nutella. When I told them about it and showed them the chipped piece that fell off, they seemed to brush it off and just exchanged the ramekin. I honestly should have asked them to make another crepe and new dish altogether but they were so busy and the wait for the food took forever so I just triple checked the crepe myself. Luckily my daughter is fine. Now that I think about it, I should have totally asked for a new dish. Broken glass in food is a...

So I'm kinda on the fence about this place. Yes I gave them all five stars because I kinda think I'm the problem lol. First let's start with the location. It's a great spot. Parking all around there are other shops in the area and other places to eat. The bakery itself is huge. Plenty of tables to grab and sit down. When you walk in you have all the pastry and desserts to your left. All you have to do is look over the desserts or menu and at the end you place your order. They give you a number and you go grab a table. They bring everything to you. The decor is a modern simple French look which is nice. Soooo the food. I have been trying a ton of French bakeries and I do like this one the most. I have come twice so far and I am trying to try all the mini cakes. They serve cakes and smaller versions to see which one I would like more. The food, I ordered ham and cheese puff pastry which was great. Brownie cheesecake, I was not a fan.. kinda tasted like Christmas to me instead of a brownie. Fraisier, (one of the smaller cake versions) I loved, the cake and the strawberry were so good!! Passion mousse, (this is one of the smaller caker versions) I kinda liked it, it was more tart than sweet. Fruit tart, was perfect like any other. Financier, I got the raspberry one and they also have a blueberry one, I really liked it as well. It was nice and fluffy and light. I also ordered bonbon, I got 3, raspberry, cookies, and vanilla. The worst one was the cookies. It was grainy and I was not a fan. I also think the bonbon are really expensive but I must assume it takes forever to make cause they do look beautiful. Chocolate souffle, I was not a fan. It was thick and not like a souffle. And last we got a crepe fruit Delicious, it was as it's named delicious. Full of fruits...

There's one of these next door to my mom's house in Kendall in the hammocks. It's basically our go to every time we want an indulgence snack and it has also become our go to fancy birthday cake stop when Publix just won't do. Besides this they have absolutely fantastic crusty French baguettes and all the other phenomenal breads in their bakery section are worthy of mention - I dare you to eat one single one of their sugar crusted Pan Dulces and not think about it everyday. To add insult to injury their confectioner is beyond reproach all the truffles cookies and the patisserie are excellent and perfect! Their saint honore rivals any on the Seine and same for the millefeuille. The one tiny exception to the rule are the macarons -they are not great. Not sure why. They're not bad, but they're just ok which is very much not inline with all the other pastry and bread selections. If this was the only thing you tried you'd leave amazingly unwowed. Lunch and breakfast was forgotten by me initially upon my first visits but when I finally sat down and had an actual meal instead of my usual guilty pleasure pastries, I did not repeat this mistake. Their food is every bit as good as the pastry! The crepes, the vol-au-vent, the croque monsieur, the omelette.. all excellent! I will be back for the boef burguinone and others. When I heard they were opening a location in front of my house, I shuddered... I have a moderate dairy allergy and am fairly gluten intolerant, so when I say that I confidently while simultaneously ashamed of myself march in there with my EpiPen in hand at the ready, you can imagine the level of yum present that I'm willing...