French Meadow Bakery & Café — Restaurant in Saint Paul

First, while we waited to be seated for our reservation, it took 15 minutes just to be acknowledged. Once we were sat it took another 7 minutes to place our drink order. We ordered two cafe vanilla lattes. We then waited for another 10-15 minutes just to place our order from the given menu. We ordered a bread plate and a salmon entree to share. We stated that we were there for the desert, but wanted to share an entree, asking for an additional plate. Over 15 minutes went by when the waitress let us know the bread was almost out. Another 10 minutes went by and she came to tell us, at 4:47 pm, that the entree we ordered from their given menu could not be cooked until 5 pm. It had now been almost 30 minutes since we had placed our order, only to be now told that they wouldn't even begin cooking it for another 13 minutes. We were still waiting on our bread and lattes we ordered when we first arrived. The lattes finally arrived, without the vanilla, and then our bread finally arrived. As she placed the bread onto our table she knocked the butter off the board into the drinking glass and the table while also knocking the loaf of bread off the board onto the table. She then, with her hands, picked up the bread and, without offering to replace it, laid it back on the board, walking off to grab a rag to wipe the butter off the table. Again, without offering to replace the fallen and then handled bread. At this point we had been there for so long and were so hungry, we ended up eating it because we also knew based on this service that it would likely be a while before we saw her again. She finally came to our table to drop the salmon off, not bringing another plate, and in fact grabbing the bread plate so we had to share the plate across the table. We then waited, and waited, and waited, but she never came back. She walked by us several times without even glancing in our direction. I, on several occasions, tried to flag her down because, as I had mentioned, we were there for the dessert. After another 15-20 minutes of waiting... my daughter, the entire reason we were there, asked to just go. She is 10 and it was her big ask for our mommy/ daughter day to go to a French restaurant and have a French dessert. We gathered our things and then walked to the register where I felt like I had to corner our waitress just to pay our check. Without showing me my itemized check, she ran my card... there was a service fee, which I guess these days is to be expected, but I definitely didn't feel like we even had an adequate experience for a $60 tab. I tipped, though I don't feel like it was deserved... after working for over 5 years as a waitress in busy high end restaurants, I was very disappointed. I do not recommend and I will not be returning. We arrived just after 4pm and are now leaving just before 6pm, without even getting the dessert...

To start- the food is good- not great and some of the prices are laughably high for what you get- 4.50 for A CUP ( the literal unit of measure) of BLACK coffee and $17!!! for the apple pecan salad (which is about the size of a grapefruit and the materials cost was probably between 1.25 and 2.00). I understand that food costs are at a high right now but that was insane. The london fog was delicious (and probably the most reasonably priced thing available at $7) and the eggs benedict ($18 ) tasted pretty good, but the egg was a bit undercooked (the whites were not quite set) The service was by far the worst part. Our server wasn't rude per se but she wasn't helpful or welcoming in the slightest. She did the absolute minimum and frankly didn't do it well. She -wordlessly- took our orders, left, brought it back and brought our checks before we could even attempt to order a dessert. We asked to get a croissant to go and she left and didnt come back for almost twenty minutes. ( also - the croissant that I received was cut in half kinda soggy and grilled?? I'm pretty sure I just received an ingredient to their breakfast sandwich and not the delicious flaky pastry one would expect at a "french" bakery) One member of our party had an item added to his check that he didn't order. The server was very blase about getting it fixed. We weren't sure if we should pay at the table or at the front. basically, If I weren't there with friends it would have been a really awkward and frankly bad experience.

lastly - the atmosphere was nice.- trendy and has some charm (its Saint Paul! that comes standard :P) The women's bathroom is a little awkward but it has fully enclosed stalls so that was nice. The patio in the back area is surely a...

Quite disappointed at this location. I liked their Minneapolis location so I was hoping this will turn out good too.

First off, the host. Just a note to restaurants, your host will always be the first person whom customers interact with when they come in so have someone there who's at least friendly or welcoming. Our host looked so miserable and seemed like she didn't want to be there, even my daughter looked at me with a baffled face. Then comes the server who also wasn't that welcoming but not as bad as the host.

My daughter ordered the egg and bacon croissant and the chicken wild rice soup. I ordered the blackened fish taco. My daughter said her croissant was good but a little messy, mostly because of all the stuff inside, which is a good thing.

The soup was pretty bland though. And my taco was full to the brim but it's mostly slaw and a tiny piece of fish. The taste was also "mid", using my daughter's description.

The desserts were also pretty mediocre. Dry and didn't taste like it was freshly baked. I don't mind if it was baked yesterday but this seemed like it's been in the fridge for days and tasted like they were just baked at your local grocery store.

Overall, wasn't the experience I was hoping for on a nice Saturday.

But, I always say, it doesn't matter to me if the food is not that great but the service makes or break it. I'm a pretty easy customer but I don't go to restaurants just for the food but also for the experience. Plus, you expect us to leave a good tip.

Lastly, like one of the reviewers mentioned, they charge 5% for "wellness" service charge. Why is it everybody's responsibility to give your employees the benefits they deserve?

Will not come...