Bakery Lorraine at the Pearl — Restaurant in San Antonio

I will not dissect one-by-one which pastry was good and how good. I will say that on my first-ever visit to San Antonio, in for barely two days for business, I made it a point to drop by this bakery.

By French standards, the pastries were reasonably good. By American standards they were very good. The Kouign-Amann stole the show, albeit I'd have preferred it without the tartness of the lemon curd — although it was light, lovely and distinctive. I understand it as an identifier that sets apart from other bakeries.

What I will commend like no other was the service. I came in, querying about some of the ingredients, for medical reasons. I was provided with an explicit list of all the ingredients in every pastry. I then went pn to order myriad goods and requested butters and jams on the side. I was given a hefty, overly generous amount. When I paid, there was an error on the bill – I was charged for three kouign-amanns rather than two. I only noticed it later when I got back to my hotel, the Emily Grand, from which I hiked over through the River Walk on this sweltering day. Before leaving the bakery, I went over to get cold water; the tank was empty and promptly refilled at my request, and a lidded-cup of ice water handed to me.

When I called from the hotel some thirty minutes later and brought up the error on the receipt, it was refunded instantly and I received a confirmation email. The refund came with profuse apologies from management for the inconsequential error, apologies that were not necessary but exhibited graciousness and top-tier human relations.

The next morning, when I returned to the bakery before flying out, I was greeted by management and given multiple compensatory pastries for the day before's mishap. Nothing I would have ever expected nor asked for, which in a scything, bureaucratic world left my mouth ajar.

My husband also ordered a cold brew and a wonderful butter cake, while I an iced tea. Some ten minutes later, before I even had a chance to get around to the tea (for photographing food), the barrista came over to our table and profusely apologized that she had given us a hot tea rather than iced, and brought the latter with her, saying, "So sorry! Enjoy both!"

I had forgotten what I ordered, and had not said so much as a word — she remembered all on her own and took initiative. Admirable and commendable.

Now I fly back to Florida wishing Floridians had half the etiquette, respect, politeness, moral framework and humanity of Texans.

Service at this bakery was sublime. I would give it 6 stars if I could, and will surely be back if and when I end up in San Antonio again. Food is good, vibe is awesome. Some of the best customer service I have ever witnessed...

Last night after having dinner at one of the Pearl restaurants, we went to Bakery Loraine to have a coffee and a pastry. They were quite a few people in line and the establishment was still open and had plenty of people sitting inside. I needed to use the restroom and the guy that was mopping the floor outside of the restrooms said no the restrooms are closed. I didn’t understand because the business was not closed yet. At first, I thought maybe they’re just closed because the floor is wet and he doesn’t want anybody walking there and possibly slip. Once he was done, he walked outside and I proceeded to walk towards the restrooms. He came back in yelling at me and said “NO NO I SAID MY RESTROOMS WERE CLOSED DON’T TRY SNEAKING IN LIKE SOME KID” I said excuse me, but your establishment is not closed yet. He said if you wanna go to the restroom, there’s restrooms across the way or there’s restrooms in another direction I said to him, but I’m waiting for my order. Why would I leave to go to the restroom somewhere else when there’s a restroom right here and you’re still open? He said because I said they’re closed!

My friend and I are both in the hospitality industry. We both work for major hotels in San Antonio and Austin and I’m sorry but if you’re establishment is still open so are your restrooms unless they’re out of order because they’re broken or whatever the case may be but to say that they’re closed just because you don’t want to clean them again and yell at a patron in the middle of a full restaurant is unacceptable. I know in our establishment yes restrooms get cleaned throughout the day, but they certainly get cleaned one last time AFTER we close not before and we certainly don’t yell at our patrons in front of EVERYONE that was the rudest Person I have ever met. he also turned way and her 2 little girls that needed to use the restroom. I will be contacting the manager to discuss this further and discuss the what their idea of customer...

They pissed me off today!! I've been in there many times, ordered salads and sandwiches. They tried to screw me before on my salad and tell me their blue cheese is their white cheese. Who are you trying to fool?! I've had their blue cheese before, and it was blue cheese they gave me crumbled cream cheese. She came back with a small bowl of blue cheese and said sorry after I showed her my pic of my salad, they served before. This visit, I ordered grilled cheese sandwiche with bacon and asked for fries in substitution of the chips. They wanted to charge me $24.00. They've never charged me $24.00 for that order. She told me it's $5.00 for fries. I asked how much the fries were separately, and she said $5.00. That's not a substitution that's an additional charge. I told her I should then be getting fries and chips then. Her reply I'm just doing what I'm told to do. Wth! Then I waited 45 mins for my order, and I got the worst grilled cheese sandwich served crumbled cheese and 1 slice of bacon, it didn't even hold the bread together. Wasted my lunch break 45 mins, and they didn't even say sorry and offer to remake it. They just refunded my order and stayed silent. Additionally, The Cellars need to find someone else to supply their complimentary breakfast this place isn't worth funding! I walked myself to the Boiler House after this screw up. They've always served me right! I wish I had taken pics of the sandwich, but I was so pissed off that my time was wasted. All I wanted to do was get out of there and get good service and food somewhere else. People make sure you ask questions and pay attention to the prices. Desperation shouldn't turn into scamming people behind the counter. You insult me, and you'll get a review...