Le Pain Quotidien – Chevy Chase

I’ve always had amazing service at this LPQ. Their servers are attentive and pay attention to detail, which is rare. Valeria and Chris in particular have always gone out of their way to give great service. I’ll definitely be coming back!

So, here’s the thing: I love LPQ. I think their ingredients are always fresh and delicious, their service is stellar, the menu is creative, and the atmosphere is lovely. I’ve always loved their Belgian waffle — it’s perfectly done just like the liege waffles I loved in Belgium. I really like the tartines, particularly the prosciutto & fig one, which is exceptional. I think they make great coffee drinks and I also really like the sparkling iced hibiscus. The baked goods are great!
These are all really great things. But recently, I went here and I ordered a Tuscan white bean & prosciutto salad. The salad itself was yummy. I ate it readily. A few hours later, I was feeling a little weird. My stomach felt strange. I figured… I only had a salad for lunch, I’m probably just hungry again. I ran some errands, grabbed a few crackers as a snack. They didn’t help, I still felt weird.
Fast forward four hours. My family is having a dinner party. My stomach still feels very weird, but I still just assume I’m very hungry. I’m about to dig into my brisket when I get cold sweats. I put the brisket in my mouth but I’m hit with a wave of nausea so intense that I have to spit it right out. I drink a big glass of water, but it doesn’t help. It’s getting worse. Within five minutes, I’m sweating profusely and curled up on the floor of my bathroom. I’m hot and cold at the same time. The vomiting starts within another 20 minutes and continues for two more days; the stomach pain and sensitivity lasts for a week, during which I’m almost exclusively able to eat rice and applesauce, because everything else makes me throw up. It is ranked in the top ten most unpleasant weeks of my life.
Listen, I understand that food poisoning happens. It happens to the best of restaurants. Maybe a little bug crawled onto one of my singular lettuce leaves. Maybe an employee sneezed or a particle flew in from outside. I get that can happen and I’m OK with it because it’s the reality of eating food… sometimes it turns against you. My issue though, was that once I realized I had pretty bad food poisoning, I called LPQ. I wasn’t calling to threaten a lawsuit, or to yell, or to demand a gift card or whatever. Believe me, I was quite preoccupied with the porcelain throne I was leaning over and had no desire for anything but for the vomiting to stop. But I called because I was worried — I called and said «Hey I think something might be off with the ingredients of this salad, I got sick. Just wanted to warn you for future customers» — and I got an EARFUL from the manager. Among the things he defensively blared at me were that their ingredients were fresh and clean, there was no way I could have gotten food poisoning from them, I was wrong, and (even though I didn’t ask for money) that I wasn’t going to get any money out of them. Eventually, tired of this tirade, I hung up. But what the heck, LPQ? All I wanted to do was warn you of a possible bug that might have infiltrated your kitchen. I don’t get the defensive attitude. I didn’t even get an apology.

Worst service!
We watched the server say, «I don’t think they’ll mind» to the cook. ABOUT OUR FOOD.
Also watched a different server touch the part of a soup spoon that goes in your mouth.
Took way too long to get our orders and the check. Such a disappointment.

I am a big fan of le pain quotidien and I’ve always enjoyed my time in most of their locations; except in this one.
It is poorly managed, the employees were arguing between each other about their section while we didn’t even have the menus after 10 minutes. The service was really poor. For example, the server dropped my salad and asked me if I wanted cutlery — is that a serious question? I had to get up to get my own napkin and I asked for water twice, and the restaurant wasn’t even completely full. Last but not least to mention, my quinoa salad wasn’t fresh so I sent it back. Such a shame, I never experienced a stale or old food in le pain before. They have to do something about this location asap since they are known for their daily bread and freshness.

Just FYI this review will only cover the pastries and coffee. I did not have any of the entrees.
First of all, the interior is cute. It’s very busy and rustic and you are seated at unvarnished wooden tables. The tables are adorned with honey, sugar, salt + pepper, and glass jars of jam.
However, that’s where the romance ends. It’s very overpriced. I came here with my sister and my mom for some coffee and sweets and our total came out to $ 28 which I think is ridiculous when you consider the fact that we only ordered a plain coffee, a hot chocolate, two tarts, and a waffle. If you didn’t balk at that price, you’re probably really rich.
I understand that french/​Belgian bakeries tend to be pricier, but the quality of the food here could not ever justify that price. The raspberry tart was great, the lemon tart was alright, and the waffle was awful. I don’t even remember what it tasted like because it was so mediocre. What I do remember is feeling angry that it disappeared in only five bites, which meant that the stupid thing cost more than a dollar a bite. Ugh.
We ordered a pot of coffee ($ 3.50) that filled up our cup about two times. It also came with a little cup of creamer. The hot chocolate was frothy and milky and was accompanied by a tiny cup of melted chocolate to pour into the drink. It didn’t taste chocolatey at all; I’m almost convinced that they used baking chocolate instead of normal chocolate to flavor the drink.
They also served our drinks in a mug with no handle. We had to bring the drinks to our lips using two hands when the cup was full so that no liquid would tip out. You could switch to just one hand after you drank enough but I still found it cumbersome. Is this a Belgium thing? Am I uncultured for thinking this was irritating?
Overall, this was a very disappointing experience. I might come back for brunch one day since other reviewers seem very happy with it, but the prices I saw for the entrees along with descriptions of the menu items weren’t particularly enticing. The chances of me coming back are slim unless I’m craving a raspberry tart.

I love Le Pain Quotidien, a great BELGIAN chain not French. I’ve been to most of the locations in this area as well as NYC and this one is different because of it’s size. It’s by far the smallest one I have been to and I believe it was by design. I always come here when I’m hitting the H&M nearby. The staff here is very friendly and welcoming. They always smile and go out of their way to make you feel comfortable in such a small dining room. They have have a rather large patio which is great in the spring and summertime. The menu is limited compared to the other stores. No omlettes. They told me they don’t have a stove and that the place before it was a Tynan Coffee shop. (The coffee LPQ has is their secret weapon– it’s amazing.) My favorite menu item is from the seasonal menu — the Warm Autumn Grain bowl. Ask for the apple and pear syrup on the side to make it delectable.

I live within two blocks from this location and while I love LPQ’s organic and fresh dishes, this location is a disgrace. I keep coming back thinking surely — given the number of times I’ve witnessed dishes being returned, customers walking out for the insanely long waits for any kind of service, and tables sitting empty because they have not been bussed — the chain would have stepped up and hired a proper manager for this location. But alas, no. For the price of the food, I would assume they could hire enough properly trained staff to make eating here a pleasant experience. Instead, the disorganization is so consistent at this point that I’m not even mad, I’m impressed. Do not go here if you are hungry, thirsty, or have less than two hours to devote to being ignored. Save yourself the pain and go to the nearby Spring Valley location.

We made a pit stop and we’re surprised when a host of organic health oriented food. I had the warm autumn bowl and was thrilled with it. A little pricey but worth the coziness of the place and the people.

The lack of organization; I just cannot! I spent 20 minutes here and left without food. Le sigh.
I order brown rice pudding; figured I’d try it. The gentleman who checked me out was super nice and very polite. He came out after a couple minutes of me waiting and said they didn’t have what I ordered and to find something else, so I did. There was a $ 2 difference for the new order. The cashier said to not worry about it, so I thanked him and waited for the new order. About 10 minutes goes by; and a man (dressed for a Steampunk event) came over. I’m assuming he was a manager, he then explained there was a difference in price that I would have to pay. Now, I have no issue paying $ 2 for the difference, but I do when I’m that inconvenienced by their errors. So, I accepted my refund and left. I am insulted that a manager, or anyone for that matter, would ask a customer to pay for their mistake after wasting lots of that customer’s time.
A really crappy way to spend my lunch break, for sure.

Seems like they spent all the money on décor and furniture instead of utilizing their income on paying chefs that actually know what they are making. 4 pieces of cold bread with cold Gruyère and cold ham does not make for a delicious tartine. It was lifeless and sad and was not worth $ 12 – 14. We sent this back. My boyfriend’s quiche and salad that was worth a little more than mine was a tiny slice of quiche and a light salad. Your ingredients are so called «top shelf» — you should really. really bring those ingredients to life by stopping with the petite portions and concentrating on how to elevate your dishes. This joke of a restaurant was so bad I forgot my watermelon cooler to go on the table, I was in such a hurry to get out of there. The waiter (even though I tipped you over 20%) was as sour as a cherry because he couldn’t believe that the food was terrible. He didn’t fix it, offer anything else or at least show the slightest concern. Do not waste your money here. I’m sure there’s a Whole Foods around the corner that can satisfy your needs if you can muster up the energy to cook food for yourself.

I stopped in this morning for a quick brunch, and while the food was amazing, the service was even better.
Lily was my serve, and she was so warm, genuine and truly made my day.
Next time I am in the area again on business I will definitely stop in to try another amazing dish! Lily recommended the Tartine and it was SO so good.
Thanks for recharging my batteries!

Just stopped in for coffee and pastries. We had iced mocha, iced latte, a mousse duo tart and a banoffee tart. Everything was delicious and the service was fast and friendly. Perfect summer stop after shopping!

The salmon on toast was very good, first time ever having it with yogurt instead of cream cheese, but I didn’t really notice, it was excellent. The fruit was fresh the croissant was delicious, we will go back.

This place was disappointing. Service was mediocre. Food was also bad. For a bread place, you’d think that they wouldn’t serve stale bread. But that’s what they just did. Blech. Not coming back.

Great food and the worst service you could possibly imagine. Kitchen is very slow. I waited 40 minutes for a bowl of oatmeal. Servers seem disorganized. Too bad because food is good but it’s a very unpleasant experience

Came here thinking this would be a quick lunch before shopping in the area… instead…received a not so pleasant experience. This place looks cute for outdoor seating — the inside doesn’t have too much seating. My friends and I sat outdoors but there wasn’t enough wait staff to assist with the number of customers. I had to wait and track down a server to know where to sit. Even though we told them we had a party of 3, we received 1 menu to share. We had to ask twice for service and for them to take our orders. After getting some attention, I just let the waiter know that we were ready to order. We ordered a smoked salmon breakfast and 2 tartines. The flavor of the smoked salmon tartine was nothing to rave about — it was just smoked salmon, avocado slices and one sprig of rosemary atop their bread with maybe some spread on the bread. If you’re looking for quantity, this is definitely not the place for you. I don’t think it was worth the $ 15 for a smoked salmon tartine. The roasted turkey and avocado tartine was also nothing magnificent. It amazes me that there can be so many chains of this in the DMV area, yet the flavor is not there… maybe it’s better for pastries and coffee to go? For $ 60+, the 3 of us could have eaten elsewhere for much better. I don’t think I’ll be frequenting this place again unless things change or if I have a gift card to use here.

The food was tasty. The service was lacking. We had to wait a considerable time to get our drinks, dishes and the check. Once our food came one of our soups was forgotten, had to remind the server that it was still missing when he came back later to check if everything was all right. When the check was brought it had one of our drinks miss-​rung as a more expensive item. Overall not a great experience which is too bad considering the quality of the food.

$ 11 for a slice of quiche and a small side salad. Definitely not worth the high price.

Very small and way overstaffed. But being overstaffed does not mean better service. We asked for basic things and were waiting a while.
Very unimpressed.

This Le Pain Quotidien is tiny, but a welcome addition as a quick, casual place for a bite while shopping in Chevy Chase.
I only picked up a few pastries, but staff seemed overwhelmed and unknowledgeable. Due to the space issue, and that breeders had overtaken the place, including one with a double-​wide, so I didn’t have the best experience. There’s plenty of outdoor seating, which I recommend. However, I’ve definitely been to better locations of this chain.