Bon Vivant Patisserie & Cakery — Restaurant in Town of Orangetown

Serious Allegation of Discrimination: Dear Bon Vivant, Many of the local residents in the neighborhood have been very excited to welcome you with open arms (and a long awaited desire for a dedicated pastry/dessert shop in the neighborhood). My family and I visited on your opening day. I went online to see how your reviews were coming along and was extremely disheartened to see one of the shop responses to a review. It is a very serious thing to accuse a customer of discriminatory behavior and profiling based on an accent, especially in your first week of opening. It so happens that I, and many long time local residents, know the individual that you accused of profiling and unreservedly know that this individual 1) would never speak to any human that way or with that attitude and demeanor; and 2) would never profile someone because they have an accent.

This is an international community and is full of people who travel abroad regularly, have lived in Europe, and are very familiar with the cafes of Western and Eastern Europe. There is no need to talk down to customers in reviews that you are unhappy with or to make such a slanderous accusation about a customer who was excited to patronize your shop. There is a way to disagree or start a dialogue without taking the tone that you have in your response.

When we came to the shop on opening day, we also found the demeanor of the customer service a bit cold and patronizing, as if we were being talked down to for not understanding the business model. Nothing could be further from the truth as we lived in Europe for many years and have enjoyed many cafes across France, Austria and other locals with a similar model.

The local community is here to support local businesses and isolating them or taking a combative tone is not going to foster the goodwill that is needed to keep local businesses afloat. If you want to succeed and have strong community support, maybe take in the feedback and adapt to the needs of your customers and the community. And please do not accuse someone publicly of discrimination when there are many character witnesses on that day and in the community to counter that accusation. It will only make customers hesitant to visit your store and share honest feedback if they know they will be falsely accused of...

This café is a true treasure! Beautiful atmosphere, delicious desserts, and very high-quality coffee. They even have a custom-made coffee machine, and their coffee is imported directly from Italy. The desserts are not overly sweet and full of rich flavor. The setting makes you forget for a moment that you’re in Piermont — the abundance of taste, the art on the walls, the ornate chairs, and the beautiful tableware transport you to a little street in Paris or perhaps somewhere along the Italian coast. Many thanks to Andrea and the rest of the team for creating such a welcoming atmosphere. Your effort and attention to detail will be deeply appreciated by those who love beauty and refinement in food. As for those who complain about the price of a coffee— well, it costs the same at Starbucks, only there it’s served in a plastic cup. And if someone doesn’t enjoy these desserts, there’s always a Crumbl cookie for $7 in a...

was really looking forward to trying this new pastry shop — the space is beautiful and the display case looked amazing. Unfortunately, the experience didn’t live up to expectations.

There were no prices listed in the display case, which made ordering uncomfortable. When I asked where the cookies were made, I was told they weren’t made in-house. I also asked about a few desserts and was met with a dismissive attitude when I didn’t realize they weren’t authentic French pastries.

The desserts were decent but not exceptional — certainly not worth $16 each. The cookies were $2 apiece (about $48 per pound) and fairly average in taste. I didn’t try the coffee, although the café setup looked nice, because by that point I had already spent $45 on two cookies and two small desserts.

I don’t mind paying for quality, but the value and service here fell short. Beautiful shop, but overall not...