Paris Baguette — Restaurant in Phoenix

The experience: Today was my first time here. I didn't realize it was like a Mexican panderia where you get a tray and some tongs and serve yourself out of the cases. It took a little searching but after a few minutes I found the trays. I never did see any tongs so I just reached in a grabbed what I wanted, being careful not to touch anything I wasn't going to buy. Hopefully everyone else was equally careful.

What I got: 1 french opera cake slice 3 cream cheese doughnuts 2 almond croissants 2 almond pastries

A little confusing was that some items were self serve and other items were provided by employees. The employee served item, which was the opera cake, was wrapped up in a very cute package, like a little suitcase with a tray inside holding the cake. The cake itself was kind of "meh" - I prefer custards to creams and the filling in this was cream. It didn't taste bad, it just wasn't my first choice.

The cream cheese doughnut was an odd experience. While it tasted good, it was kind of like what I image it would feel like if you bit into one of those squeezy stress relief things .... I have 3 of them and they're shaped like pigs and are fluorescent colored. While the doughnuts were flexible, actually biting into them took some effort.

The almond filled croissants were a disappointment. It was supposed to be cream filled and cream coated. I didn't see any cream on the inside or on the top; just slivered almonds and powdered sugar. I wasn't sure if I would be getting custard filled or cream filled and apparently it was supposed to be cream but, as I say, I didn't see any. And the outside was hard. I'm not sure how a thing can be hard and yet flaky at the same time, but this achieved it. Every time I took a bite, there was a shower of croissant flakes flying. I guess perhaps the best description of my experience with the croissants was that I did not enjoy eating it.

I haven't tried the almond pastry yet; that's for tomorrow. It looks suspiciously like the almond croissant. My hopes...

Let's do the old fashioned pros and cons. PRO's: light and airy interior makes the place inviting. Great and abundant display case with all of their bakery goodies. Friendly and efficient customer service

CON's: Unfortunately the restaurant has some significant cons. First and foremost they are serving Italian Lavazza roast at a French bakery, which I find pretty funny. The drip coffee was absolutely tasteless. Could have been brown colored water. I actually had to order an expresso shot and add it to get any semblance of flavor. The music they had cranked up was house techno which is a little tacky considering that the average person in there was over the age of 30. I don't mind upbeat music but at least make it French or some semblance of it. The other thing is the price. Yes I understand, post covid everything has gone up but paying for 4.50 for watered down drip coffee and $11 for a pre-made egg sandwich just seems too extensive. I get it, everyone's prices have been raised but drip coffee should be 2.50 and the sandwich should've been under 10. The sandwich itself was an egg, cheese and bacon sourdough which was tasty but again, pre-made and just heated up.

All in all I would probably go back and try some of their pastries as the only thing I had was the sandwich. They need to make their coffee about double the strength to jazz up the placid and unremarkable cup that I had. You should really switch to French roast people come on. Also if you really want to up the experience, have your servers in black pants with a white apron. It's how they do it in France and it always looks classy. This place has the potential but I'm not sure I'll be able to hold on for long with their prices as high as they are and their quality just being a little bit above...

It's no secret that I'm a dessert girlie. Or, I don't think it is a secret lol. Often desserts end up being my favorite thing on any given menu. With the absolute variety of different desserts & cakes, sandwiches and drinks that they have, is it any wonder that I absolutely enjoyed all the amazing selections that PB has?? The custard with berries was stellar. It's softly creamy, not like a Boston cream donut (likely different filling), but sweet, light, and delicious. Everything i picked up, I enjoyed! Though I did box up leftovers for home for breakfast tomorrow. My blueberry matcha frappe was delicious. The peach (iced) tea was sweet as expected but better than most I've tried elsewhere. Super happy with my experience. The line was fast and boxing your own selections was easy! I will be back, though probably not for a bit - be aware that when you select premium desserts that taste this good, they're pricier than your average Dunkin, etc. You are paying for above average desserts and drinks. Affordable if you only select a couple items but definitely a bunch more if you select like "a dozen" of something. What a happy place...