Rhea M.
Yelp
Yet another healthy eating cafe to hit the current growing trend in Paris - Cafe Moco.
3 stars for several reasons - mainly because it's very likely I won't return or recommend this cafe. (And I'm being nice with 3 stars..)
We arrived just before 3pm on a Sunday for brunch. Personally I find this completely acceptable for Paris standards, especially when a place is advertised to close at 6.
I asked at the counter for a table for 2 and was told to sit wherever there was space, so we did. After sitting there a while expecting someone to bring a menu, the girl came over and said we should order at the bar. Ok fine, but quite awkward since there is no menu so I had to go take a photo of the chalkboard to then bring back for my boyfriend to choose, before going back to the bar and placing the order. I tend to take issue with these places that can't serve you at the table, or at the very least provide a menu to look at when seated.
The whole ordering process made me want to leave immediately but since it was already 3.15pm I stuck it out.
They have 3 meals available - and they were out of one and had one piece of quiche left, ok fine, I'll have one quiche and an avocado toast, as advertised on their window menu. Not possible, that's the morning one - I was just getting fed up by this point, and to top it off, while I was trying to think what I would have instead, I had the girl giving me some speech how everything is fresh and it's not a fast food... blah blah. C'est bon j'ai compris but leave me a few minutes to decide what I want since you didn't have TWO of the dishes I did want!
In the end, we manage to order, they'll do me the avocado toast from the "not advertised" morning menu since I didn't want to eat a quinoa salad.
19€ brunch is a good price and included a meal, coffee, drink like juice or citronnade and a dessert.
However I wasn't allowed to order the cake on display because it was "maybe already ordered by people already sitting down but they weren't sure". You get the gist. I decided on the granola, which was fine as it was probably what I would have wanted anyway had they given me 2 seconds to decide.
Basically just attitude with a capital A - not how you want to treat customers for a newly opened place...
So we received the drinks and food quickly, the food was fine, nothing to write home about and after their speech of 'freshness', you'd think the avocado would be ripe... no such luck.
When we'd finished eating, we sat there for 15 minutes minimum before I gave up waiting and went to ask if I could have the granola now - she replied with attitude only to then relay the order and have it come out 2 minutes later... cue eye roll - obviously she forgot it. It was a nice granola - with honey and figs but I've now had to leave my seat 4 times for a 30 minute brunch..
For context; 3 girls behind the bar and probably 8-10 people seated?
A stressful brunch experience that I won't be repeating in a hurry, especially for such average food. If you're going to do healthy food and claim the fresh quality produce then you need to deliver.
I'd usually let the food issue go as it's new and they're perhaps adjusting their stock, but it's no excuse for the attitude, particularly the dark haired girl. If you only have 3 meals on the menu, when I come in and ask for a table - THAT'S the time to tell me 1) you have only one left and 2) it's bar service. Avoids making the customers feel put out. Service 101
Les + :
* Decor very trendy; think marble tables and funky wallpaper
* The price - our 'light' brunch set us back 24€ total