La Gourmandine Downtown — Restaurant in Pittsburgh

Employees at this place must learn FUNDAMENTALS of working in a food serving facility. I always refrain from writing a negative review, but today was the last drop that spilled the glass. So, today I was waiting to make usual baguette and while waiting I was watching the young girl serving the client in front of me. I saw her briefly making up her hair and then taking and packing pastries for that customer. She was wearing the same gloves all the time while punching at her screen, packing the goods and making up her hair. When it came my turn I asked her to change the gloves for which she said something that i barely could hear, like "no offense", or some politically correct bs. Then I told her that she did the wrong thing because as a food serving personnel she must not touch her hair and then touch the food products. That made her even more defensive, and then couple more employees got involved, and one of them said that I was aggressive and asked me to "leave his store". Back a couple of weeks or so earlier it was the same girl when I pointed out that there are flies flying around and sitting on the food. For which she just waved with her hand over the bacon baguettes. And the flies surely resumed exploring the pastries shortly after. Finally, a month or two ago, again, another young girl at the check out, this time with bare hands was excited with the cat that was sitting on the customer's shoulder. And as it usually happens in such situations she couldn't resist herself to pet the cat. Again, observing this, I made a remark to her that if she is a food serving facility employee she must not at any time touch any animals at work. For which she also became defensive claiming that she was just checking customer out and not serving the food directly. Which means she clearly doesn't understand the whole point. The young employees at this place should be meticulously trained and instructed about food contamination prevention and be vigilant about this issue at all times while serving foods. When someone visits such place he expects high standards of service especially when your goods are...

Update: I literally just walked our from having the absolute worst restaurant experience ever! There was mold on my food, which I didn’t discover until I had already eaten half of my turkey sandwich. I went back with it, asked to speak to a manager. When I told Tiffany my situation Tiffany didn’t apologize or even show any concern or regret, Tiffany just asked what would I like for her to do. I’m in shock and disbelief bc I can very well get sick or worst. When I told Tiffany I want a refund, Tiffany refunded my money to the wrong transaction via debit or credit. Tiffany never asked me any information to insure I got my money back. I paid in cash so while she’s getting that sorted out, I’m telling Tiffany how often I come, I leave tips and great reviews. I even sent people over from my job! NOT ANYMORE! I was not treat as a valuable customer or even a decent person. I’m highly disappointed and I feel sick already! I asked her what should I do if I continue to feel sick, Tiffany says she doesn’t know. I don’t think she deserves to be a manager anywhere with that attitude and such poor customer service skills.

I’ve been coming here for years and this past experience I had was the best yet. Matt took such great care of me, he went above and beyond to help me. I ordered 2 pink macarons, as usual made to perfection. Instead of a smash cake of our baby’s first birthday we got she a macaron instead and she loved it! This place is a true gem here...

I went on a weekday around 3 PM, and it was pretty empty. Their closing time is 5 PM, so it was pretty close to the closing time. The space is large with plenty of seating, however it’s all rather plain looking. But I wasn’t here for the decor, so I didn’t mind. I I ordered the iced latte in a large size and was informed that their iced drinks only comes in a medium size. That was not a problem for me, and the barista was really sweet and nice. The latte was very good. as to the food, there were limited options because I guess they had run out of most of the stuff by 3 PM, and the shelves were also pretty empty. I ordered the almond croissant, which is unlike your typical almond croissant. The croissant was smashed down to give rise to a flat and thin croissant and it was crispy at both the top and bottom. Of course, it was not flaky anymore because it was smashed, but I quite liked the texture. There was your typical almond filling and shaved almonds on top. I suspect that maybe the bottom of the croissant was soaked in syrup because it was pretty sweet, but I can’t be sure. I would probably come back sometime in the morning so that I can try a variety of other pastries that they are known for. Overall, it was a very good experience, but it was definitely nothing out...