VanDough French Bakery — Restaurant in Vista

I went today for the first time with my family. The fruit tart looked burned but it didn't taste like it, there was just enough cream (the best part) to hold up the fruit (not enough cream) and it wasn't smooth like its suppose to be (didn't look appetizing) looked chunky but it was so so. The apple filled pastry tasted more like butter than anything else as did the ear looking pastry (so much that it wasn't enjoyable unless you like eating butter sticks). The cannoli thing is good but basically wrapped in hard sticky caramel, don't eat it if you have trouble with your teeth or if you don't like picking the hard caramel off your teeth afterwards. I was looking forward to the chocolate slices of cake but they barely tasted like chocolate (very disappointed as was my child who chose it) the best part of the cake was the whipped topping with shredded chocolate (grocery store cakes have much more flavor) unless that's how its suppose to taste "tasteless" (you never know). Both chocolate pieces I was told was a solid piece of chocolate but it wasn't, it had fudge inside as did the other one with white which had marshmallows inside both of those where good and probably the best of all. The long churro looking things where okay. The chocolate flavored macaron was also one of my favorite out of the box. Don't get me wrong, half the things where good but the chance of us going back is low (my family of 7 agrees with me). There wasn't much to choose from either (very sad looking like if they only make the popular items ). The store doesn't look like the pictures on the internet where its stocked with many things...

I am so very disappointed with my experience. My mom comes to visit me every couple months and she absolutely loves the Macarons from this bakery. I make a special trip even though I live 30 minutes away to come get them for her. She is arriving today for her birthday trip this weekend and her birthday is tomorrow. I placed a call last week to order a ham and cheese quiche and have 12 Macarons made requesting that they be ready for pick up by 2pm. I arrive to find out that the order is not made and I have made the drive all the way over here for no reason and the customer service is basically sorry the girl that took the order didn’t write the information down. Pretty much oh well and who cares. This is what I had planned for my moms birthday breakfast tomorrow and I’m very disappointed that now last minute I need to figure something else out

An update to this post is that I was told the owner would give me a call as soon as she got in which was supposed to be an hour later. Didn’t hear from her that day and two weeks later never heard from her. No apologies for her rude staff or the fact that an order that was placed a week earlier was not prepared. As a business owner myself it is shocking that you wouldn’t wanna reach out to people that had a poor experience with your business. I will never come here again not only because of this particular incident because while being there in line I saw them preparing food with cooking trays and cutting boards over trash cans. This place is in many health code violations and someone should probably...

This restaurant is filthy! You could barely see through the grease on the windows and there was a thick layer of dust on the window sill right next to our table. If this is what the dining area looks like, where customers can see, I can only imagine what's going on in the kitchen. There is no ventilation and there was a terrible burnt smell that stayed there the whole time we were there. The pastry looks appetizing, but we went there for breakfast, and it was horrible. The bacon was so overcooked it was hard as a rock and the scrambled eggs were...yukky. Nothing was hot, not the food and not the coffee, which was also very old and bitter. I've had some pretty bad coffee experiences, but I left a full cup behind at this place, and trust me, that's bad. I also tried the little fruit cup, pie thingy and the fruit and custard were good, but the pastry part tasted like lard and flour pressed together. Maybe that is how it is supposed to be, I don't think so, but I'm not familiar with the item. The service was as if it was everyone's first day. The person who delivered the food didn't seem to notice how gross it was, and no one seemed to care about, or address the grime, or stench that was all over everything. I felt like running to my car afterward and couldn't get away fast enough. It's pretty bad when you feel like you need to wash your hands AFTER you eat. This place is an insult to all three words in its Name - French, Bakery and Cafe. I have a whole new appreciation for McDonald's coffee and cherry pies. You've...