PAUL

I want to hope other things at this place would be better than what we ordered. However, reviewing off of our experience.... Awful. Service was not rude, just unfriendly. The wait was what you'd expect for this type of spot and not awful. We came for breakfast and I ordered the eggs Benedict with smoked salmon... The MAYBE 2oz of salmon (probably less) was fishy tasting and low quality. And I have never seen such poorly made poached eggs. Raw whites. Stringy. Bland. One side had only the yoke almost and the other had double the egg whites. The "side salad" was pretty skimpy as well. No baguette on the side which is somewhat misleading based on the menu. My husband's croissant sandwich was just bland but not bad like mine. Also. The pricing was crazy high considering what was served.

I was very excited for breakfast time, but I was not impressed. Service was not friendly and she did not even smile or try to interact with us while ordering. The food was ok. I did not try the tarts since they were not out yet in display and it was already 8:30am and I had to catch a flight. The coffee and Hot chocolate was good. We had the Ham and cheese croissant and the chocolate croissant those were ok. Apple almond pie was good

Absolutely love PAUL in DC! This charming French café is a true gem. Every time I come in, the staff are genuinely sweet, smiling, and happy to help—it makes the experience even better. The food is consistently incredible, with fresh, authentic flavors that make you feel like you’ve been transported to Paris. And the coffee? Absolutely fantastic. Whether you’re grabbing a quick espresso or sitting down for a full meal, PAUL delivers every time. Highly recommend!

Came based off of reviews. The quiche Lorraine was great! Super fluffy. Wasn’t crazy about my partners ham and Swiss. The ratio was off. The hot chocolate was normal but a bit sweet towards the end. The croissant and chocolate croissant were fluffy and good. Eclair was delicious my partners tea was okay. The strawberry shortcake was dry. Not worth the amount of money.

Updated September 2024: Went back to this location again today and the staff was awesome. But they are understaffed by a lot so be patient. The cashier is literally cooking and bagging food while running it to tables and the manager was the barista and trying to cover the cashier role when the actual cashier is doing food prep. Be patient, the food is good and worth it and the staff are doing their best. Original: One of the best places to grab a quick breakfast if you want quiet in the morning or a fast lunch during the day. And yes this is the same Paul bakery you’ll find in Paris. My favorite was the blueberry tart but they stopped making it a few years back, but I still love the prosciutto sandwiches. This morning I had a sausage, egg and cheese croissant and my friend had the ham and cheese one. We finished with pistachio and raspberry macaroons. It’s a great place for a quick bite to eat, and quiet first thing in the morning.

Located in a great area atmosphere is nice lots of chairs to sit and have a cup of coffee. Food options are good I tried the vegan avocado croissants sandwich which was good but it was missing the cucumber and the spinach. Almond croissant was amazing. Would come again.

Great breakfast options: we tried the quiche, croque madame, and the egg-cheese croissant. The cappuccino was good too. The staff were friendly and attentive. I was so glad we decided to stop here for breakfast, would definitely recommend.

Love, love, love this place. Is it a little pricey? Yes. But this is DC and the quality is fantastic!! Seriously…best almond croissant I’ve ever had. The sandwiches rival what I ate when I lived in Germany and the coffee is very good. There’s also seating available both inside and outside. I would go here every day if I could! It’s probably for the best that I don’t live nearby but I wish I did!

Fantastic food with a true French flair. Delicious! Great service and breakfast experience.

Was the only person in the store with two employees who didn't take my order for over five minutes. Everything looked terrible anyway.

A cute French bakery chain. Their $10 half sandwich + side salad combo is a great deal, and their pastries are good too! It's a chain, so don't expect too much, but a solid option for French pastries

The mocha was simply delicious. Loved it. Good taste of the chocolate and coffee. Nice balance. The strawberry Chantilly croissant was just as good. Flaky and buttery. The cream and strawberries are perfect. Service was fast and the barista friendly.

I like the variety of pastries available. We ended up trying the strawberry chantilly croissant. It was fine - with fresh strawberries; the chantilly cream seems to be lacking in vanilla and sweetness. Very unusual for me as I like my desserts not sweet. The mocha is absolutely my favorite drink.

Cute bakery next to McPherson with tasty food but sort of overpriced in my opinion. You can look at their food options from the counter and then the staff will heat it up for you. The quiche was surprisingly really good and cheesy. The cheese danish was great as well.

Underwhelming, ordered waffles and eggs with a hot chocolate. Hot chocolate was good. Waffles were basically reheated like an Eggo came with no toppings (not even butter) and the eggs were so much mixed egg from a box with no salt/pepper added or available. Service was fast and some of the baked goods and sandwiches in the cabinet looked tasty. But I'd opt for some where else in future.

Discovered this spot around the corner from my hotel, and had breakfast there twice during my short stay in DC. They were busy, but not so busy that there was no seating, so I made my order an eat-in experience and patiently waited for my ham and cheese croissant and macchiato. That croissant was just what I needed! flaky, buttery, warm and huge! That macchiato was expertly crafted and little bits of chocolate at the bottom just made it all amazing. Had to return for a second croissant a few days later!

Food amazing! Service eh not so great. While in DC I wanted to try a French bakery , so we found this place , which is had everything I wanted. Coffee and pastries and savory ! They had a great selection of pastries and baked goods in the case, plus they have a menu to order hot breakfast items. Ordered a cappuccino, and had the raspberry chocolate croissant , absolutely great flaky pastry. Great coffee not too milky. My cousin had the egg and cheese croissant which was good and pretty classic. The almond croissant was good just a tad too much almond paste. Their croissants were amazing. Casual cafe atmosphere. Like I said service was kinda slack. But got my hit of pastries. Delish and carby.

I stopped by this location while in DC on a business trip and was pretty impressed! I was promptly greeted when I entered and found the service to be friendly and efficient. Although it was pretty busy on a Sunday morning, there was plenty of seating available. The whole place has lovely, cozy vibes that made me feel like I was visiting Paris. I ordered a latte and ham and cheese croissant - both were served fresh and piping hot. Paul was a great place for a quick breakfast that was decently priced and good quality. I'll definitely be back next time I am in the area.

Very nice cafe in this central location in downtown. Their croissant is easily top 3 of all croissants I've had. Price is pretty high compared to average, but it seems all cafes in downtown area are kind of expensive. Service is very nice, there's quite a handful of seating and you don't have to clean up your table.

Great food & service! Will go again! Wonderful barista. Try the pastries, too! Easy walk from our hotel. It was a nice Sunday brunch.

I was shocked when I was in DC and saw Paul French bakery. Only place I have been to was in Paris, France. This cafe right around the corner from the Hamilton Hotel where I stayed which is convenient. They serve breakfast and lunch faire and it's all delightful, flavorful and decent portions for the value. As you enter you are greeted by friendly staff and the long row glass display houses a delectable variety of sweet and savory goodies. Whether you come here hungry or not, you may want to order everything! The hot sandwiches, the baked bread, the creamy desserts all were inviting. I ordered the hot sandwich Croque Madame and came with a green salad with fruit and ordered a strawberry chantly frasier cake. The sandwich was absolutely divine, crunchy on the outside, savory melted cheese oozing. Salad was fresh. Strawberry Napoleon reminded me of my visits in Paris. I also had the macaroons here. I had the chocolate and strawberry. Perfection! Ordering coffee, pastries. Bread, quiche, sandwiches, you cannot go wrong. I hope they will expand all over the east coast. It's not easy to find authentic French croissants. Most importantly the service was e flow t, friendly and knowledgeable staff. I cannot wait to return. Merci beaucoup!

I've been here before and have visited amazing Paul's in France . And unfortunately your service and quality of food have been far overlooked. Starting from the Frangipane Cake looks like they were not cooked all the way and the rise of the puff pastry was non existent. The eclairs were old and stale the chou looked dry... the server checking us out was overwhelmed, he was the cashier, grabbing and heating the pastries and barrista. Not the best service we went around 1:30pm and had no eye contact whatsoever. To the Paul manager get your staff some help and quality is what Paul is known for so please deliver.. to the server that helped us thank you for doing it all..

Really good food but the service is super slow and inefficient. I ordered the Croque Monsieur which was really good. Yum!

Service was great and didn't take too long with our orders. The staff was really patient with us picking our food. It was somewhat busy so we took a minute to find a spot. They have seats outside as well but it was too cold. Here's what we got there: * Chocolate Moelleux Cake - we loved it! On their website, they describe it as French version of a brownie. Spot on. This what I would expect it to taste like. It's not as sweet as an American brownie because of dark chocolate. * Napoleon - we've tried napoleon before but this one was different. The pastry wasn't as flaky, but that's not a bad thing. Custard was not too sweet, which balanced out well with the glaze on top.

Good, quality food offerings, obvious care taken. Employees were friendly but seemed tired. Could have been the rain. Prices were what I expected: cheese danish $6, drinks ~$7. Nice decor and sound level.

I remember this place from their Georgetown location.....so charming. Now thier prices have gone through the roof. Who is paying $6 for a croissant? And that's just the beginning......everything has gone up a lot. I just can't anymore. I can get a great fresh croissant at whole foods for about two bucks. Good luck, Paul....you're gonna need it

Great location for a coffee,reading time and a little meal.The location is quiet ,clean and classy for the area is in which can be pretty busy

We came here for brunch while on vacation and were so pleased. First, just walking in you see a great display of pastries that are mouth watering. You order your food, pay, and then take it to your table. I ordered the ham and cheese baguette, a salted chocolate macaron, and an iced chai latte. The baguette was wonderful. The bread is just perfect with great cheese and ham. I had it heated, which I recommend. The macarons are large and pricy--but decadently delicious. The iced chai tea was very good also. I also tried the three chocolate mousse and the donut with chocolate filling. Both of those were outstanding as well. Definitely worth a visit.

First off the cheesecake wasn't really creamy. It was like whipped cream cheesecake and for the price is no bueno and the chocolate croissant was all right, but the chocolate was like dark chocolate so it was bitter I was really disappointed on the cheesecake !

Tomato basil soup and Margherita pizza were okay lunch options. Coffee, pastries, other sweets offered as well.

I tried several Paul locations in Europe and North Africa, they are usually pretty good. I don't know why when they open in the US they feel like they have to dilute their coffee, like we can't handle good coffee here! The latte was not good, the raspberry macaroon on the other hand was good, although at $8 the piece it was way overpriced. No paper towel in the restrooms.

If you're looking for an authentic French cafe you've come to the the right place!! Best coffee and delicious baked goods that are made fresh everyday!!

If you have ever been to PAUL in Vancouver BC. You will be very disappointed with this cafe. Old, everything is sticky and run down. Pasties look like they are week old. Customer service - ladies that you would see at Airport cafeteria. Fast, dismissive, and careless. Vanilla Latte - something out of a coffee machine on a ferry. Awful. Lots of froth on top. Too much vanilla. I am confident the owner doesn't know a right latte from a cheap frothy machine coffee. So so disappointing. If you know what's good coffee and food. DO NOT come here. If you want cafeteria food ... this will suffice.

We came here for breakfast -the coffee is good (Lavazza) but the food is TERRIBLE. I ordered Eggs Benedict with French Ham and my husband ordered fried eggs with bacon. The ham was grocery store variety and the eggs were hard-boiled (not poached) The fried eggs were fried overdone. Not great value for $50!!!!

After a previous visit at a Georgetown branch, it was natural to go to and check out this franchise near the convention center as well. Fastforward 2 years and that crazy pandemic later, and the result was not all that convincing. The display had only limited choices, the croissants were fresh, but some had the appearance of having been run over by a car, and the staff placed the wrong sandwich (tuna and salmon last I checked are not the same!!). And the sewage truck parked right in front and leading a larger tubing into the place did not transpire confidence into the place...

Overpriced and not tasty. I've had much better French pastry at more reasonable prices. Keep looking for something better.

It's ok. Nothing to write home about. It's like a buffet spread with stuff they baked and kept in bins you can see but need a counter person to retrieve. The bakery section at a good grocery store is the same but without a counter person. So there are tables to take your selections to consume if you're going to consume right away. The ambience is nothing special. Tables with windows to watch outside people walking by. Internet? Can't remember. Music? Can't remember this either. It's so so. Not bad but nothing to jump up about either. They complete the assignment as requested I guess and should get a good mark... but I want to reward excellence not just that you did the right things per a script.

Got Lavazza and I helped myself to the skim milk at the counter which has turned sour. I requested for a change and was served another cup instantly as replacement.

Appalling service by the young attendant. She did not utter a word. Made a regular coffee with no milk, when I asked for some, handed me the one gallon container from the refrigerator. Still, not a word from her mouth. My hot chocolate was weak and lukewarm. We shared a chocolate croissant, and as we say in Spanish, it could sit in one of my molars. Awful overpriced place. I have visited the one in Santiago Chile in an upscale mall and it was great.

This was a great find during my time in DC. It was so good to find this place as i had encountered some very disappointing customer service everywhere a had been in my visit in DC. At Paul's the customer service was excellent!! The staff was friendly, had eye contact when talking to you, they were kind and patient if you had questions- they were just how it should be!! To Paul's owner- your staff is excellent. Consider yourself lucky! Unfortunately, nowadays , people don't want to work or as i have experienced here in DC - some workers just don't want to be disturbed while on the phone or talking among coworkers (sigh) The pastries, bread and coffee was excellent! The bathrooms need a little bit of care but it was not bad. I would recommend this place.

Absolutely the worst service I've ever received in my life. Ordered 100$ worth of breakfast (including 3 sides of bacon). They forgot to bring out 2/3 of the orders and claimed that it was all on one plate. When asked for a refund or to have the food brought out they claimed they would however, one of the other employees told me that the manager wasn't actually going to honor the order and to just leave. DO NOT EAT HERE!

Paul in Franklin Square is very meh. I used to go there sometimes, and it was fine. But now? It's dirty! The servers are very, very slow. The food is not at all worth it, overpriced, and not good. And I'm sticking to my opinion.

Breakfast selection was okay with their sandwiches. Ambience is nice, plenty of indoor seating. My only complaint was the service: it took me asking the hostess 3+ times to get our sandwich (15+minute wait) - apparently they had forgotten our order the first time and couldn't get it resolved until asking multiple times!

Disappointing. After a wonderful visit to Planet Word Museum, we ventured across the street for lunch are

Great bake shop (a chain restaurant)! Very efficient staff and clean shop. The almond croissant is a must! The chai tea latte was a little sweet but still made very well. Great variety and options for breakfast or lunch.

Loved the lattes. The breakfast (omelet, quiche, ham/cheese croissant) was decent as well but pretty overpriced for what it was. Most came with a side salad that didn't have any dressing, so unless you enjoy chewing on greens, you probably need to ask for some vinaigrette. We ordered a lot so they accidentally charged us from something extra but did correct it without any issue... Just, the waiter out back tried to force it on us when we mentioned it wasn't ours (what's with the attitude?). They also forgot all our drinks due to a miscommunication up front - which no biggie - but the whole experience was odd and off-putting. On the plus side, the other staff were super nice, especially as they corrected the misunderstanding. Still, we were on our way to some touristy attraction, and I know the dine-in breakfast at the hotel we stayed at was just as tasty but a lot cheaper. We should've skipped this and dined there twice. Hindsight.

This review is strictly for the pastries!!!! I have been to this location a few times to get an afternoon pick me up. They are super close to work, so it's very convenient. I am obsessed with their chocolate croissants they are so decadent!! After a few times I decided to buy croissants for my coworkers and they all loved them. The prices are a little steep, but so far what I had tried has been pretty remarkable and worth it. For Valentine's Day I stopped by to see if they had anything special going on and they did not disappoint!! I bought a heart shaped Napoleon for my hubby and a brioche heart for myself, each for $6.99, and totally worth it!!!! I will definitely keep coming back and trying more things! They have some nice deals for lunch combos.

My friends and I were actually walking to another coffee shop when we unexpectedly came across this place. We liked the vibe of this place and so we all agreeably decided to have our breakfast here instead. They had a wide selection of fresh, beautiful looking pastries and baked goods, as well as coffee and other drinks. I got a hot chocolate, which they market as "imported" and a ham and cheese croissant. They asked if I wanted the croissant heated and I said yes. It was pretty flat and floppy when it came out of the oven, but it still tasted really good. The hot chocolate on the other hand, was less than subpar. They had a whole poster about this hot chocolate in the cafe, marketing it using words like "french, imported, rich,..." What I ended up getting was a really watered down drink in a paper cup, that really didn't taste any different from those swiss miss packets (but watered down). The hot chocolate was pretty disappointing, but the three stars are for the cute interior and the croissant.

Perfection. I will visit every chance I get. The food tastes exactly like my childhood visits to the bakeries in Europe.

Solid french bakery. Local chain I think. The staff here are great. They made a mistake on my order but fixed it no problem at all.

Searched for a French bakery on yelp and found Paul French. Ordered a delicious oat milk latte and a bag full of pastries to take back to the hotel. All were perfection. Will definitely stop by again.

Great quality baked goods and breads but could the cashier be any ruder! Perhaps this young lady needs to follow a different career path.

I for one loved this place for a quick breakfast slash brunch, especially that raisin danish thing that was so buttery and flaky it took me to pastry heaven. Quiche was excellent as well and yes I ate a quiche and a raisin danish and no it wasn't too much food. Solid espresso bar too, love the flat white which was perfectly constructed. I'll go back and try a different pastry soon, so tasty.

ooh la la they need to learn how to make eggs Benedict, the pastries were good and the mini donuts I would buy again. Funny I easily spent about 100 at that place on pastries and breakfast. I would get the pastries again they are just overpriced wonder how many trips before I can afford a trip to paris.

we made 4 large orders for a 6.30am drop off daily for 50 people and everything was perfect! the customer care was impeccable and all orders delicious and much appreciated. i will continue to recommend as it was all amazing from start to finish - huge thanks to Alan and his team

I usually don't leave reviews for chain restaurants or cafes but I'm urged to warn you: this place is not very good. I've been coming here consistently but always run into terrible service. They seem to be doing their job with disdain. Today I didn't expect otherwise but the food was the problem. I ordered a salmon avocado brioche and it was just unacceptable. No avocado at all. I went to complain and they told me it's avocado cream. Are you kidding me? I then checked the cream out and it was brownish, which means that likely an old avocado was used to prepare it.

Had the chocolate croissant which was similar to what we were able to get in Paris. The baguette was decent but nowhere near what you can get in Europe. It's in a nice neighborhood and the inside has nice places to sit and work.