La Madeleine Country French Cafe

Ordered To-​Go over the phone. Waited 10 minutes after arrival, which was 27 minutes after placing the order, only to be told they did not have my order «on the board» when I finally asked if my order was even in progress. The manager blamed it on the «call center» and did not offer any kind of discount or even apology. We left without our food and now my husband has vowed to never go to another La Madeleine anywhere! I love their food but they just lost a (long-​time) customer due to exceptionally poor customer service and poor ordering process (call center vs direct to store ordering). So disappointed!

Two things that bring me great Joy in life are good value and full, robust, and bold flavors. La Madeleine is one of my favorites because it hits the nail on the head for both of these. While it isn’t the fanciest, most efficient, or greatest; it doesn’t try to be. This location was good. The staff was courteous. My wife and I waited behind some people off to the side trying to decide on our meals. When we got to the counter the girl at the register was gone. We waited for 30 seconds at most and she was back in front of us. I’m rather complicated with anything I do and she was more than accommodating and helpful. They forgot my wife’s chips and brought her a full plate of chips to make up for it. It’s the little things in customer service that make the difference. Not the GREATEST location on the planet, but definitely not deserving of two stars. Food was great. Here in a reasonable amount of time. Wife and I enjoyed it. You earned these four stars today!

This is a good place to come if you want something quick without having to pay an arm and a leg. The menu is simple with mostly light fares. I’vc gone several time when I didn’t feel like cooking — the prices aren’t cheap, but not outrageous either. The portion sizes I think are on the small side. I usually come for the salad trio, but the last time I came they were out of mushroom soup and the strawberry dessert that I love. :(
They do have wine a wine area, but it’s a little misplaced, I“m not sure if it’s waiting area of meant for people justing wanting wine/​coffee?
Nonetheless, I always enjoy the service. Everyone from the cashiers to the cooks in back are always friendly.

I don’t sit down and eat in a ton of chain places. That being said I am a fan of LaMadeline’s, especially for breakfast.
This particular LaMadeline’s has a different layout from all the others I have been in. I’m used to being able to see the food behind the glass. Not that this makes any difference in the taste or quality of this one just a note.
The country French breakfast is my favorite. The eggs were cooked as ordered. The potato gallette was crispy on the outside but soft on the inside. The coffee was as always delicious.
If you want a step above fast food for breakfast, lunch, or dinner but not wanting your average chain experience. I highly recommend LaMadeline’s.

Worst experience ever. I normally love La Madeleine, and this location needs much improvement. Their fireplace and heat were broken. They got our order wrong. When they corrected it, my husband’s omelette was burnt. They ran out of coffee and cream. They forgot to make my cappuccino. It wasn’t until we asked about it that they started making it. I’m not sure why this location is so different from the rest, but it’s not the first time they have messed up our order. We will not be giving this location a 3^rd chance.

I just stood in front of the counter for 11 minutes before I was acknowledged. 11 minutes!!! Then once I order they have no bread and 50% of the tables are dirty. While I’m waiting on my food I can see it sitting on the counter while one of the employees eats a dessert at the coffee bar. This is by far the worst experience I’ve had at a restaurant in a long time.

Decent food — chicken and pesto sandwich didn’t have enough pesto sauce but they were generous with the amount of chicken so I guess that made up for it. Turkey and Brie sandwich was good but the turkey wasn’t evenly portioned, kinda messy to eat. French onion soup was very salty. Tomato pesto salad was good. Deserts were really good, great selection, especially the strawberry cheesecake parfait, coconut cake, and coconut macaroon. The jam they have at the drink counter is very very good.
Service was okay kinda lacking.
Online ordering DOES NOT WORK. We ordered online and when we got there the guy said the order never went through even though we got a confirmation email saying it would be ready for us in 10 minutes. We had to reorder at the counter.
Took one star off because the online order issue and another because the food was just okay. Probably not a go to place for me.

What?!? Two and half stars?! These guys deserve much better than that. I’ve been to this location a handful of times for breakfast and lunch meetings and every time they have been fantastic. The team is always very helpful and the food comes out quickly, so you couldn’t ask for a better spot to have a quick meal while talking business. Kudos to the management and entire staff.

This place was terrible. The staff was slow and I waited in front of a cash register for about 7 minutes before someone told me to wait in front of the other cash register on the left side of the dessert display even though someone said that they would be with me shortly.
After I ordered my grilled cheese and tomato basil to go, I waited about another 10 – 15 minutes for my food to come out. There isn’t a display here like the typical Le Madeleine to where the food is out and you get it right away. I’ve been sick for the past few days so the wait was an absolutely horrible experience.
When I got home, I looked at my grilled cheese and it was the most pathetic thing I’ve ever seen. It’s basically two slices of the bread you get next to the soda machine with a slice of cheese in the middle FOR FIVE DOLLARS. That was most definitely not worth it. I was so disappointed and it was almost inedible. I could barely finish half of it. The tomato basil was just a typical tomato basil from any Le Madeleine, so I have no complaints about that.
Overall, I would not go back here. The grilled cheese was pathetic. I was sick and the wait was incredibly long even though there was no one else in front of me and the place was empty.

Horrible place to eat. This is not the good olé La Madeleine that we know of. Staffs are unfriendly and lazy. The manager is careless of his customer and business. We ordered 2 pastries and one American breakfast. I asked politely for the pastries to be warmed up. The register lady just sat pastries on counter and let us wait. My wife’s breakfast came and my son’s pastries still were sitting on the counter. I asked her how much longer, she said they are short handed and if she were to put my pastries in oven, she would have let them sit and burn. The manager heard her and just turn his head around and turn his deaf ear on. We have gone to many other La Madeline over the years, never experienced such rudeness and unprofessional crew. They don’t deserve to have a business here in the Heights, our friendly neighborhood.
Note: the foregoing was posted by my wife, (with my consent, and from my POV). She was very disappointed, as am I. We’ve been to lots of La Madeleines over the years. The food here was very consistent with all the others we have frequented. Sadly, the service both times we have come here has been deplorable. Unforgivably bad. Even though we live within easy biking distance, we’ll hop in the car and go to the one on Shepherd & W Gray, or visit one of several reliably good and friendly places to eat nearby, (Lola, Dry Creek, Onion Creek, Common Bond, Baby Barnaby’s, etc).
I second my wife’s opinion you should avoid this place and help it on its way out of business.

This is probably the worst La Madeline I’ve been to so far. It’s really small and the customer service sucks. When we came in for lunch yesterday there was only one line open! I ordered a chicken Parisian with potato soup and caesar salad. Wow, the salad was the worst. It was so limp and had about three croutons on it and half the size of other locations. The sandwich was just ok, and that’s the only thing I ever order. The ppl I was with didn’t like anything about their meal either. The lady bringing the food was just so loud when calling the letters. It interrupted so many conversations. I Felt terrible for suggesting this place. Also when I asked the manager for straws he said they were out, so I used a coffee straw

I will never eat breakfast here again. Terrible! Eggs taste like powdered eggs. The oatmeal was a cold, clumpy mess that appeared to have been cooked yesterday. To top it off the cappuccino was cold. There are far better places for breakfast, so skip this place.

This location is smaller than most but food is always good. Good quality. Nice greetings by the staff in French. Always get the roasted veggie sandwich. Yummy!
Potato soup is creamy and hearty. Always a good companion on a cool day.
Free wifi makes it great hang out and do homework or surf the Internet.

I wanted to give 2 stars, simply because I have certainly experienced better locations; however, I just couldn’t justify giving that low of a rating because I love so much about La Madeline. At this location, the menu is the same and the availability of fresh free bread and jam is also available. My main complaint is that the entry does not display the food like other locations. It was more like a fast food counter. Also, for some odd reason they told me they were out of crepes. How can you run out of crepes? It’s just basically water and milk. After I posed that question, they miraculously were able to fulfill my order. All in all, this is a good place, but it just cannot compare to the other locations that have so much more charm. The food quality is still the same, so all is well.

I ordered a large chicken caesar salad with light dressing and a cup of potato soup (my favorite) online and picked it up after work yesterday, ¹⁄₂₆. It was a quick walk in and walk out. The location wasn’t busy and my order was ready when I got there, which was surprising since I was 15 minutes early. Which is why I took off the star, if I had arrived at the time my food was to be ready, the chicken and soup would have been cold. I suppose it’s standard to put the dressing on the side but I would have liked the salad already pre-​tossed. Something I will specify the next time I order online. Other than that the service was quick albeit lackadaisical. The food was good and freshly put together. The location was clean and looked brand new and I will definitely be going back.

Yes, it’s a very different La Madeline. Everything is ordered and brought out, so you don’t get salads or soups first. This was probably the issue.
We placed our order — 2 duet magnifiques with soup and salad. Sat down and had some bread (with the VERY stingy jam containers)
5 minutes pass, a group of 3 come in and order, sit down next to us and a few minutes later, their order starts coming out. We think, hmmm ok… because we’ve seen our 2 salads sitting at the counter for awhile now (before this group of 3 even came in). David goes up and asks if he could just take the salads first. Server says she’ll bring it out for us. We wait. The rest of the other partys’ order arrive. No salads yet.
FINALLY our order comes out. I had asked for light dressing on my salad. Poor guy has no idea which is which and says we could probably taste the difference. Erm ok. I told him it’s fine, we’re too hungry to care by now.
No cheese or croutons on my soup either. Made to and checked receipt, yep it’s there. Oh well. Hungry and in a rush. Never a good idea because something always goes wrong.
It wasn’t a busy location at all. As far it seemed, there were no orders pending when we arrived (we sat in a way that we saw staff entering/​exiting the kitchen), and the 3 person party was the only other one that came in while we were waiting for our food.
This won’t be a regular destination for us, at least not this location.

YUMMY Tomato Basil Soup!!! Great Sandwiches and salads…
I am so happy they’ve come to The Heights!
For Dessert… the Strawberry Napoleons and Lemon Tarts rock!

Probably the most mismanaged La Madeleine I’ve come across in houston. Ordered by the phone for take out, and arrive 10 minutes after I called. Payed for my order and decided to add an iced hazelnut coffee. The attendant at the register made the coffee, she made it hot. I cannot stress enough how annoying it is to tell someone a minute beforehand what you would like and them not doing it correctly.
Annoyed, I waited and waited for my to go order. After waiting for a good while, I finally had to ask where my order was. Oh just sitting there on the counter, where it had been for awhile.
Came home, eggs benedict lacked hollandaise sauce. The egg was also overcooked so the yolk didn’t even spill out. Threw it in the trash because it’s not even worth eating. Never coming back to this location ever.

First notable difference for this location — the layout. The feel of the service line w/​the food not being shown up front anymore reallllly felt weird compared to all the other locations. People in the back kitchen prepares everything after you order from a board from atop. Maybe I’m just not used to the new look and feel yet, but the layout really took away the usual La Madeleine feel.
Food took a while for it to come out, even on a regular weekday w/​not much people in the restaurant. Food was okay, everything was pretty par besides not having much dressing on the spinach salad. The place also wasn’t packed on a weekday night.

This store just opened.
Pros:
Very Clean
Nice interior-​open airy compared to others
Good location
Coffee bar is nice
Cons:
Front register staff unfriendly and not personable, no «bonjour»
Food presentation of Parisian Eggs Benedict was lacking