Patisserie Salzburg — Restaurant in Stamford

This latest visit is probably my final. I paid over $30 (no receipt offered even though I asked so I can’t even show the line items) for an inedible breakfast sandwich with souring brown avocado and chewy bread and mediocre baked goods. I threw the entire breakfast special away and am considering contacting American Express for a refund. I would go back there but they’re such a chaotic environment it would be at least another 30 min to sort out, and I’m sure it would seem like I’m just being high maintenance. I’m really not that picky with food—it takes a lot for me to throw out something I paid for, and I usually overlook service issues when I know staff is trying. I’m additionally upset today because I’ve been on a budget and this was my one “eat out to support local business” for the week, but I ended up throwing it away.”

My first visit here was when they first opened, and I brought a friend visiting from out of town. They were disorganized and slow with service but really friendly, and the food was great. I really like trying to help support new businesses and thought the harbor point area needed a good breakfast joint, so overlooked the service issues. I’ve returned a few times since and had similar issues with order confusion, people not knowing who is next in line, slow service, etc, but everyone always seemed to be trying their best and friendly and the breakfast foods have been good.

Today I went in after checking the menu online and seeing the avocado toast. I found out that’s not available right now, so I instead went with poached eggs, salmon, and avocado on brioche (I was told there was not another bread choice). I ordered this, and then somehow lost my place in line even though I had more to order. I know it’s hard to keep up on a busy morning so I didn’t mind, and was joking with other customers about musical line spots (nobody seemed to know where to stand to order or to wait, so two women waiting for something to the left of the registers confused everyone, and then people started waiting all over thinking they were next). I had the rest of my order taken my a second person, and asked for iced coffee, a small pack of biscotti, and a few macaron cookies. It took quite a while to get all of this because they were helping other people between, but I was rung up and it totaled just over $31. I asked for a receipt mostly out of curiosity for the coffee and cookie prices but she wasn’t able to print one. I didn’t mind the long wait for the sandwich although I had to keep moving to try and find a place I wasn’t in the way of someone trying to order or trying to sit at a table. It wasn’t really that busy, maybe 3-4 people trying to order; it was more that there was no system to where to stand so people were moving around confused and taking up extra space rather than queuing . I was glad to finally have my order, over 20 min later, and took it home. I opened the breakfast special and found it hard to cut through with a knife, because the brioche, which was really more or less a hamburger bun, was so chewy. It seemed like it had been sitting out and then heated up. I actually picked it up to take a bite instead and found the texture awful. I also tasted something sour, which I then realized was the avocado. It wasn’t just browning a little but still good— you could taste it turning bad. Combined with the taste of salmon it was stomach-turning. I took a few photos, picked out some of the salmon, and tossed the rest. I tried the macaron cookies and biscotti instead. Meh. I was really disappointed as these are two of my all time factories. The macarons were ok, but one was crushed and the filling texture wasn’t quite right, the flavors nothing special. The biscotti was sort of soft and chewy, not the dry, dunkable baked goodness you want. I didn’t toss these, since they’re edible and maybe I’ll try to bake them a bit more in the oven, but I didn’t bother wasting calories on them...

I've been going to this café consistently every week for the past two years for lunch. Great food, pastries and coffee overall. It's in a great location, the place is clean and the staff is friendly. One of my favorite places in the area for coffee.

What knocks two stars off for me are the prices and the quality control of the food. Prices are very high for the amount that you get. I understand the area is high end, but some things are a little much.

Prices seem to fluctuate, or just get input wrong by different staff. I've had the same exact order be rung up as 4 different prices in the same week. There is a lot of turnover in staff and a lot of the time the newer members don't exactly know what they are doing. The usual staff members are super nice and accommodating however.

The quality of food fluctuates as well which is the real disappointment. Some days the chicken quesadilla's are half as full as other days. Or the bread is hard and a little stale. I've gotten bread pudding that was moldy. (Though they apologized and gave me a free pastries without me asking for anything) Also, when they warm items up, they just stick it in the microwave. This always makes the bread soggy and a little chewy. Not what you would expect when the prices...

I enjoyed the taste of the bakery store, and normally go there for breakfast, and desserts for occasions. However, I had a horrible experience today when ordering dessert. The line was long today, I waited in line for more than 10 mins and didn’t complain anything as I know it’s July 4th. When it was my turn to order food, the cashier lady skipped me and asked the gentleman after me what he wanted. Both the gentleman and I were surprised as I haven’t ordered anything or even spoken a word, so the gentleman answered: “the lady in front of me hasn’t ordered.” The most unacceptable answer received: “normally the line starts from the right, you were standing in the wrong spot” (even there was no one standing in front of the deli counter!) We were following a lady in the line to the cashier and I feel DISCRIMINATED as I was ignored TWICE as the first time they turned to customers for deli and I waited until they helped all customers for the deli counter and thought finally it was my turn. I am Asian and I was surprised all these happened on the special July 4th day. Thankfully the gentleman is nice to stand by me so it eased some of my discomfort. Even in the end I got what I want, I won’t go to the...