Café Saint-Germain — Restaurant in Somerville

I am shocked and dismayed that this place has so many positive reviews given my and my girlfriend's experience with this place.

I live right around the corner and love fresh baked bread, so I was overjoyed when the bakery opened up. That said, my excitement did not last long at all after several purchases.

I have had one recurring major health concern: approximately 2/3 of the pastries that I have purchased from Boulangerie have been undercooked in the middle.

The first time this happened, my girlfriend and I brought the offending product back, and the cashier apologized profusely and immediately offered to exchange the undercooked pastry for any pastry of our choice. We accepted.

The second time this happened, we weren't nearby afterwards, and were just disappointed as my girlfriend's breakfast was inedible.

The third time this happened, my girlfriend, knowing there might be an issue, explicitly requested that they make sure they give her a fully baked product because she has Crohn's Disease, which means that undercooked pastries can be much more dangerous for her than for an average healthy adult. The employee responded by LAUGHING at her, and wishing her "good luck" in a sarcastic manner. The other employees also laughed. My girlfriend's pastry turned out to be particularly undercooked that day.

I've also experienced some other smaller concerns since this place opened. When they first opened, the sizes of the pastries and breads were about on par with the market price for those goods in this area. Over time, the price-to-size ratio of products has worsened dramatically. The breads are half the size they were when the store opened, but the same price! Additionally, we were accepting some mistakes on fully-cookedness of pastries initially, but at this point after a few months, there's no excuse.

For the time being, until Boulangerie proves that they've resolved outstanding issues, my girlfriend and I, who live a 3 minute walk away, will be going to Maprang in Union Square for pastries, and to Clear Flour in Brookline for bread! We highly advise you do the same if you value your GI health...

Very excited for this place to succeed; we need this place to thrive, the absence of The Biscuit still smarts and, with apologies to Broadsheet Coffee Roasters (coffee's good, pastries not so much), this neighborhood still doesn't quite have a good replacement. Until now? Alas, Boulangerie has no interior seating, but maybe in the future we can dream?

Anyway, only 4 stars from me just because it seems like they're still getting their sea legs. I tried the pain au chocolat several times now and sometimes it takes me right back to my many times in France (Paris, Lyon, Limoges, Nantes, Aix, and other cities), but other times it simply (and sadly) resembles the blah American versions that just make me hang my head in hilarious shame.

Not sure if there are staffing issues, unforced errors by way of supplies or baking equipment, but whatever it is I hope it gets worked out, and I fully expect it will. Opening a new branch / business is hard and I am 800% along for the ride and will keep trying out Boulangerie as PRB establishes it in this awesome little weird neighborhood of Somerville!

BOTTOM LINE: They're more often very, very good than they are mediocre, and are working out the kinks as all early stage businesses and new branches do, so do give 'em a shot and share feedback for this new, awesome addition to the area. They're definitely doing...

I love Cafe Saint-Germain and am lucky enough to live around the corner. I've never had a disappointing bite of food and their coffee is great. I did remove one star as a was a bit disappointed with allergy safety the other day. I have a nut allergy (not severe) so a kitchen also serving nuts is not an issue for me as long as some precautions are taken to avoid cross contamination. A couple years ago, when this place first opened as Boulangerie I was thrilled when the pastry chef told me it would be safe for me to eat the chocolate croissants. At the time, the chocolate croissants were displayed on a different level than the almond croissants or with a different pastry separating them. Now I'm disappointed to see that the chocolate and almond croissants are displayed next to each other and touching on the counter, with almonds sometimes scattered around the counter. The staff member working also informed me that they're carried to the counter on a shared tray in the mornings too. I would really appreciate if the pastries containing almonds could be displayed on a tray or something on a different level from the rest. I would also love if they could be carried to the display on a...