Le Bon Café — Restaurant in Washington

Previous two reviews are puzzling as I've found the young staff to be intent on their jobs, and friendly. Their two weekend staff members are exceptionally outgoing, professional, and anxious to please. I had but one disappointing order—from a new employee who was still learning how to make the orders.

The place is small. It can be elbow to elbow, which some find part of small cafe charm. To me, a crowded cafe says there's something good going on. In warm weather, there are tables outside which offer a bit more space. Sparrows pick up dropped crumbs.

The food is cooked behind the counter (except for prep in the kitchen) in what I think is a hi-speed convection oven (not a microwave). Their lattes come in huge cups that are almost like soup bowls. Their fruit is fresh. Somehow they found a local farmer who delivers big raspberries and blackberries that they combine with healthy chucks of melons, bananas, and grapes.

The croc monsieur is a ham sandwich with cheese on top of the bread. It's big and tasty. They don't skimp on size. It comes with a helping of red potato salad, well seasoned. The salt and pepper grinders contain sea salt and pepper balls. Their coffee is an off-beat brand that I like, "illy." It doesn't leave my nerves jangled. They have raw sugar cubes w/tweezers for selection. They also offer slender yellow tubes of Splenda in a glazed blue cup.

Where there are no waiters, the custom in Washington is to pick up your food from the counter and choose one of the marble top tables with iron legs. When finished, customers place the square ceramic plates and (usually) heavy silverware in a bin on a ivory painted, wooden kitchen cabinet opposite the tables. On one occasion, demand was so heavy, they ran out of silverware &substituted heavy, white plastic forks and knives.

Your expectations are misplaced if you want an authentic Paris style cafe with a real French chef (although one clerk is studying french and brings tapes of french music for the background sound). It's decorated with a genuine french theme, pastel light blues and contrasting dark blue trim, white whites and blacks. Huge skylight. There's one bay window table with cushions on the window seat.

Prices are within reason for 2014 Washington. They seem to have devoted customers who wouldn't miss their morning pastries (a cut above Starbucks), and soup-bowl size latte cup, for the world....

The atmosphere was shady, the welcoming was tense, and the Cafe itself needed a good cleaning. The floors, even though it was raining a bit, we're a mess; even beyond the rain tracked in, it looked as of the floor hadn't been properly mopped in weeks.

The prices? Too much. The ham and cheese croissant was delicious, though not worth about $5. The food isn't hand made from scratch or anything (which is fine), but I don't think you should charge $5/$6 for a Belgian waffle that you made from boxed mix.

The way they have the food being called during rush hour is ridiculous; instead of your name or order number or something, they just yell out the food, and then people just come and grab it. It's not covered or anything. Just on a plate with people standing around it and you come and grab it. They don't check to make sure it's going to the right person or anything, so I waited about 10 minutes for (probably, most likely) microwaved ham and cheese croissant, while everyone else snatched up their food.

The Chai latte (hot) was pretty good, though I prefer the ones from Dunkin Donuts (more chai in it, I guess).

The staff weren't very welcoming and when my bestfriend asked for almond milk, they made it seem like it was a big problem and one of the workers practically forced her into paying for another drink, full priced, for their coworkers mistake.

There were too many people inside during a pandemic and there were people who were either too close for comfort or not wearing a mask, even when they were sitting at a table on their laptops, not even eating or drinking. It was ridiculous. Makes you feel unsafe, during this time.

I reccomed Compass Cafe for all your...

It was pretty dirty when we walked in. It just rained, but there was constant mess and mud on the floor. The tables weren't cleaned either. The cashier didn't notify me of different options for drinks, like different sizes or different milks. I ordered a Chai latte and I wanted it with almond milk. Since I'm lactose intolerant, I usually automatically request for other milk options! I don't rememeber if I did or didn't, but the latte was made with whole milk. Of course, I felt like it was on me for not requesting almond milk! I took full blame for possibly not requesting the milk, but when I asked for the latte to be changed, the cashier said "But I already made it." I'm lactose intolerant, so...I wasn't gonna take that option. I definitely offered to pay for it for their troubles, but the vibe was just...off. They seemed completely inconvenienced by switching the milks to the point where their coworkers were kinda looking at the cashier to make sure that I paid for it....even though the almond milk was just $0.95 more than what I just got. I didn't have an issue paying for the trouble, I vocal about that. I even apologized to the cashier! Then when I received the latte...it wasn't even hot. So I just paid an extra 7 bucks for a latte that wasn't even hot and for a service that was pretty standoff-ish.

Thankfully, the waffles were pretty tasty, minus the slightly molded...