Le Napoleon Cafe

(Reviewing visit from 6÷26÷2011)
Considering that it’s just a café, this place is not cheap by any means, but I would call the prices reasonable considering that was the best reheated quiche I’ve ever had. Obviously it was probably made from scratch at one point, then put in a refrigerated case, then warmed and served to me. Therein lies the source of my minor dissatisfaction: when the quiche was served to me, although the crust was perfectly warm, the rest of it was still chilled. I let the owner know (I’m assuming he was the owner, since he was speaking french, and his wife and kids showed up while we were eating and helped themselves to whatever they wanted behind the counter), and he apologized sincerely. He left me with the plate I already had, asked me to continue with my salad, and informed me that he would bring me a new quiche. I woulda been happy if he’d popped the one on my plate back in the microwave, but whatever. When he did bring my new quiche, it was an entirely new plate with a new salad and everything. And that warmed-​up quiche? Awesome.
My fiancé had the Croque Monsieur (possibly his new favorite way to east a ham ‘n’ swiss), and we shared an almond croissant, which, by the way, was heavenly.
This place is definitely worth a try if you like authentic French café-​style food. The service is as good as the food, but don’t expect cheap eats.

Sniff, the place I experienced my first macaron is now closed. I am very sad :(Will have to travel to LA to get «Lette macarons now or just get some of my favorites at Layer Cake.
Oh yay, update from Unilocal friend, Mel L, who says that she thinks Le Napoleon is just closed for remodeling and the petite location is still open with mac’s. Irvine Spectrum guest relations had told me they were closed when I called. Thanks for the information, Mel :)

Ok. Macaroons here are to die for, just because they’re from ‘Lettes! Ahh! Although the 30 cent markup makes these lil tasties just about 2.00 each, it’s still worth it. I think of it as a convenience fee.
So for people who are still wondering whether these macaroons are from Paulette’s, I’ll confirm that they are. They aren’t made fresh everyday (sadly) but are picked up and delivered down to Irvine about once a week. But who cares! They still taste delicious.
They also recently changed locations in Irvine Spec and are over by the main food atrium next to the movie theater.

This place is located in the Irvine Spectrum next to the Jamba Juice. The shop is split in two; the site next to Jamba Juice has all the food like sandwiches and salads, while the shop directly across the way has all the macarons. Both shops are tiny with limited to no seating in doors, but you can eat outside in the courtyard patio area.
Like most people who have tried this place, I was here as a result of a Groupon. I had high hopes for this place, but it was quickly dashed when other people had commented that they were unable to use the Groupon for the macarons. I would have loved to know that before hand, because that was really the only reason I bought the Groupon to this place.
Rolling with the punches, I invited my friend to lunch, on me. She ordered the turkey avocado sandwich that came with a side salad and she ordered a ginger iced tea. I ordered a Salad Nicoise. Since it was a Saturday, I don’t believe there were any specials posted, and the cashier didn’t let us know of any. It ended up costing me an additional $ 1.44 out of pocket, after the Groupon was applied.
The first thing I want to note, is this place is not a sit down place. You go to the cashier and order. In my case, there were 3 people in their early 20s, and none of them seemed to know how to use the cash register «because I had a Groupon.» Seriously?! I’m sure a lot of people had come in before me to use the Groupon, so they should have been familiar with it.
My friend and I chose to sit outside. They brought the plates to us. My friend’s only comment about her lunch was, «it was ok. I liked the bread.» Hmm, not really high marks there. As for me, I thought the salad was ok, but it really lacked tuna. Also, the tuna was dry and basically akin to canned tuna. Heck, maybe it was canned tuna, who knows. The portion sizes were ok; not big, but not small. Nice for a light lunch. I just wish the food was better.
All I know is, if I didn’t have the groupon, I wouldn’t have dined here. I also would never go back. It’s over priced for mediocre food.
Side Note — I did go across the way and try a passion fruit macaron. It was good, not stale at all. It was full of passion fruit flavor, and I liked that the middle was more like a jelly than a cream. The macaron is slightly bigger than the size of a half dollar and costs $ 1.95. At that price, I’ll pass. The macaron was nice to experience once, but I’m not paying that again!

The French Macarons here are soooooo good. Pricey. but GOOD!
I only knew about this place because of Groupon and bought it thinking I could buy macarons. The picture that showed on the groupon website was a picture of a bunch of macarons. You would THINK I’d be able to buy macarons using my groupon based on that right? NOPE! I was sadly informed that I could not use my groupon after gawking and drooling over those little bites of deliciousness. SO SAD.
However…despite all of that, I’d have to say these macarons were delectable. Nice crisp on the outside and chewiness on the inside. Perfect combination. There is just soo much flavor in each one and you can definitely tell what the flavor is.
I got the Earl Grey and Almond and both were not too sweet. Just perfect. Although 1.95 a pop can be quite expensive. You can definitely taste the tea in the earl grey, which sadly doesn’t happen a whole lot at other places. The almond one had a great almond filling and crunchy candy-​like pieces sprinkled on the outside. What a party in my mouth!

Dropped by the Spectrum so that my brother and sister-​in-​law could try their very first French macaron.
The day was delightful and the macarons delicious. We also ordered some ginger tea and a crème brûlée, as it is one of my brother’s favorite desserts.
The crème brûlée is served in a tart shell, something very unusual and too expensive for me — expensive as in I would have to pay too dearly in the gym to indulge in something that rich (pun is completely intentional).
I, nonetheless, enjoyed my ginger tea and several macarons.
The macaron selection becomes scarce as the week comes to a close, FYI.
Such a magnificent afternoon.
Cheers!

So after reading all of the Unilocalers’ reviews, I had to go try this place because I had NEVER had a French Macaron in my life!!! The review is more like 3.5 stars though… But I rounded down since my overall experience wasn’t great…
I came in the afternoon on a Saturday so it looked like their selection had been a little bit picked over. My fiancé and I tried the vanilla and the caramel; we also both thad the roast beef with swiss/​sundried tomatoes sandwich on a warm toasty baguette, side salad, and bread pudding.
The good: OMG, MACARONS ARE BOMB BOMB BOMB!!! I’ve definitely found a new love! The bread pudding was also equally delicious and had a lot of really good flavor and texture. And I couldn’t get over how warm, crispy, and flaky the baguettes they used for the sandwiches were! Yum!
The ok: The roast beef was overly flavorful and I wasn’t WOW’d by the overall dish itself. Bread aside, it was just a normal french-​style sandwich to me…
The not so good: HOLY CRAP $ 1.95 for ONE macaron? I dunno… Maybe since I’ve never had them that seems really overpriced but that could just be a me thing. I mean they were definitely delicious, but this seems like a once in awhile treat or something I might need to learn to make on my own so that I don’t have to pay an arm and a leg for a batch of my own. Also, the interior was decorated really cute but there was barely any room to sit!!! Once other customers started getting in line, they were literally standing right in front of me or bumping into me as I was eating… Sort of weird to me I guess.
All in all though, I would come again… it just won’t be on the regular considering how expensive this place is.

Really adorable French café. Delicious food & pastries. Friendly service.
Good Deal! I had the lunch special, good size portion, and on this day it was the warm goat cheese spinach salad + coffee + chocolate prailine bread pudding = $ 7.95. Ordered Paulette macaroons to go.

I wanted to snack on some Paulette macarons after doing some shopping at the Spectrum. Great macarons, of course, but don’t expect to be greeted and thanked. The lady behind the counter sucked in the customer service department. She seemed reluctant to help me. It wasn’t even busy. From other reviews, it seems like service here is just inconsistent. I’m always waiting for people to say «thank you» and she didn’t say it. Not sure if she’s staying true to the French stereotype, but heck, you’re in America now… be nice to your customers!
By the way, for some delicious macarons in Irvine, check out Layer Cake Bakery!

We were on the search for macarons and successful to find it here at Le Napoleon. Just looking into the refrigerated glass made my mouth water, dying to taste these beauties. It was my first time trying these colorful and petite confections. The first bite into it was not what I expected… I thought it would be soft and fluffy but instead you get a cookie with filling. I believe its an almond cookie with food coloring and the flavored ganache filling.
Earl Grey: teal-​ish color with a dark grey/​brown ganache filling. Whoa, it tasted like Earl Grey. The earl grey flavor was definitely captured in the filling and it is quite pungent.
Coffee: light brown, it was like drinking an espresso. Dark brown ganache filling. Paired well with the cookie. It balanced out the flavors.
Salty Caramel: yellow-​ish, brown. this had a caramel filling. The taste of salty caramel was on point. It was caramel with a little bit of salt. This was surprisingly good.
Chocolate: dark brown, with dark ganache filling (basically chocolate). This tasted like a really thick brownie. Not my favorite. The chocolate was just way too sweet.
I actually can’t wait to try more flavors. There seems to be such an array of flavors, almost like a rainbow! Downside is that they are $ 1.95 each!
Give it a try!
ps– I was so drawn in by the macarons that I totally didn’t even look at their food food.

Macarons are the only reason why I came here. And if you haven’t tried them before, you may want to just sample a few of them first since they’re $ 1.95 per macaron.
But if you loooove macarons like I do, then you should go all on out and get one of each. They have 15 different ones, but during my visit only 14 were available.
Almond — slight pink color, bits of almonds on both sides.
Coffee — light brown or khaki color, with a hint of chocolate and coffee.
Passion Fruit — slight zing to it, citrusy, brown-​orange in color.
Peanut Butter — tan brown in color, with purple jelly in the middle. Peanut butter wasn’t too overpowering.
Earl Grey — dark green in color, brown jelly. You can definitely taste the tea inside on the after-​taste.
Salted Caramel — yellow brown color, with a salty caramel filling in the middle. Can probably skip this one.
Pistachio — light green, and yes it does taste like pistachio ice cream.
Vanilla — cream color, with a white jelly filling.
Raspberry — dark purple color, aromatic, kind of like a lavender Bath and Body Works soap… wait. why would I know that?
Coconut — same color as the vanilla, with bits of cooked coconuts pieces on one side.
Lemon — yellow, sweet and tangy.
Rose — light cream color on the outside, pink middle and white jelly that actually tastes like rose petals. Yes I’ve accidently eaten rose petals in the past.
Violet — Dark red color with a purple colored jelly filling. Not sure what the taste was. But it was sweet.
The only one macaron they didn’t have available was orange. Of course I’ll be back. I loooove macarons. And they’re hard to find or at least limited and sporadicly dispersed in different cities. Again, it’s $ 1.95 per macaron, but they’re little bites of deliciousness that one can splurge on occasion or on a weekly basis.

I finally gave into the array of colorful macaroons. I’ve strolled past this little café a couple times when shopping at the Spectrum, but didn’t particularly find anything appealing other than the macaroons. Since I’ve never tried macaroons before, I bought 5 to try:
Earl Grey (bright green color): tea flavor is subtle. It’s definitely there, but since Earl Grey is usually a pretty intense tea, I expected more flavor.
Rose (light pink): again, the flavor was subtle, but pleasantly floral. I guess it would be weird if you had an explosion of rose flavor in your mouth, haha.
Passionfruit (orange): I LOVE passionfruit. This one captures the tropical, fruity, tangy and tart taste nicely. The first bite was a tad too sour for me, but it quickly settled into a sweet taste.
Coffee (light brown): woo, this one was strong. but coffee should be strong! It tasted like a freshly brewed espresso, yummy.
Chocolate (dark brown): mmmm chocolate. what’s not to love about chocolate? This was intensely packed with slightly bittersweet chocolate ganache.
I was pleased to find that the cookies were not too sweet and didn’t leave me gasping for water (as some sweets make me do). I’m sad that these cost almost $ 2 a piece, but macaroons are notoriously fussy to make.
The sandwich items look a little plain for the price the café is charging, so I wouldn’t bother trying them. However if I’m feeling like I need fancy sweets to celebrate something (and have the pocket money to spare), I’ll drop by Le Napoleon to pick up some macaroons. :]

Macarons were delicious and beautiful… a great Valentine’s Day present :) I liked their macarons here better than others I’ve tasted because of the cream of the ganache, rich and delicious. The macarons came in nice box with a pink satin ribbon that said «Le Napoleon Café» The attention to details were nice.
I liked the atmosphere, cozy and inviting. Staff was nice.
I have yet to try the other items on the menu. The seating is limited, but is perfect for a casual date. Can’t wait to come here again.

The macarons are fantastic but what I really love are their chocolate croissants. Had one today and the croissant is buttery & flakey with the perfect crunch to it. The thick layer of chocolate inside is really wonderful — you immediately want another one so it’s best to get it to go and not eat it until you are far away.
The folks who work there are efficient and personable. I like this place!

Me: I’m craving for sweets…
Kelley U: La Napoleon has Paulette Macarons…
Me: 0_​_​_​0 WHAT?! THEY HAVE PAULETTE MACARONS?!
There we went, & I got myself 3 of these at $ 1.95 each… OMFFG, these were the «completely cooked, chewy, bomb diggity almond cookies» (quote from myself re: Star Bakery) I was «destined» to try, only w/​their respectively potent jam. Particularly…
Pistachio Macaron: YUMMMMMM… It had the wonderful, subtly nutty blend of pistachio & almond, which the latter is the main ingredient of these miniscule, sandwiched cookies.
Rose Macaron: It certainly tasted like a florid, innocently delicate rose, w/​o any thorns =P.
Violet Cassis Macaron: The cookie & jam were so f’in uniquely delicious it somehow reminded me of an edible «Moonlight Path» at Bath & Body Works ^_​^.
Agh, seriously! I don’t have a favorite b/​c I love ALL THREE of these flavors equally. Hate to sound banal, but I’m so damn happy that these macarons de-​virginized me xD. Although I’m grateful La Napoleon Patisserie – now called «La Napoleon CAFE» as of 4.13.2011 – served these, it’s a legit 4-​star; I must go to the one w/​the fresher, $ 0.30 cheaper versions.
Thanks for bringing me there, Unilocal buddy Kelley U: D! Paulette of Beverly Hills, here I f’in come!!!
(BH b/​c that’s the closest to my work…)

The food is pretty good. Specially their salads! The macaroons are pretty darn good too! BUT they have the worst customer service there. Twice we sat inside and waited 15 min + for a salad/​sandwich. Does it really take that long to make those? It was not during busy times either.
We usually sit by their «kitchen» entry and we can see all the dishes coming out. I watched the chef leave ready to go dishes on the counter and it just sits there… They need a bell or something to let the waitress know food is ready to be delivered to tables.

I knew the macarons tasted familiar! When I ordered one of each flavor of macarons, I thought to myself «these look exactly like Paulette macarons!» and then when I bit into them I thought to myself, «oh my God, these macarons are perfect almost like Paulette macarons!» Low and behold, they ARE Paulette. Rejoice, no more driving to Beverly Hills or Downtown LA. But…$ 0.35 mark up? Sure, it’s just a quarter and a dime but when the actual Paulette store is selling macarons at $ 1.60 and Le Napoleon sells it for $ 1.95 (a mere nickel away from $ 2), it’s a bit shocking.
I purchased a Groupon for this cute and quaint café because I often shop at Irvine Spectrum. My friend juat moved nearby and I thought, what better housewarming gift to bring than macarons? Denied. I was told by the owner (or I assume the owner, she was extremely friendly and had a French accent and directed the younger staff around) that I could not use my Groupon on the macarons because it costs the store too much. Bummer. I got the macarons anyway and paid about $ 20 for 10. I saw that the store had the full size strawberry croissants from Cream Pan on display and used my Groupon on those. Hmm, macarons from Paulette, strawberry croissants from Cream Pan, does this store make any pastries in-​house?
My biggest complaint is the service. If not for the owner or manager (lady with the accent), I would have probably walked out of the store. It got very crowded in there and there was not much organization in how orders were taken and the girl who rang me up was not that friendly. I’m sure I’ll be back for more Paulette macarons but I’ll try to keep my time spent in-​store to a minimum.

Ah, lunch and where to eat. Joa K. and I made plans to visit this new French café after I mentioned to her that Kelly’s was closed. Now I’ve never been to Paris, but eating here was as close as I’ve ever been. Delicious sandwiches made with French baguettes, butter, and cold cuts. Yum! I had the Jambon beurre (Ham, butter, and swiss; $ 8.25). I’m not a mayo kind of girl so the fact that they use butter is wonderful to me. The mini pickles went well with the sandwich too. My only complaint was that the bread was cold. I would have preferred to have it warmed up. The bread was also slightly crispy and deliciously golden. Being Vietnamese, I have an appreciation for French baguettes. The side salad was overdressed for me but had dried cranberries, walnut chunks, and spring mix lettuce. It was ok but could have used less dressing. The dressing was a vinaigrette which was better than something creamy. Maybe I’ll ask for dressing on the side next time.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that they have Strawberry croissants here labeled «Strawberry cream pan» and knowing that they bring in macarons from an outside company (Paulette’s), it’s safe to guess that they bring in their strawberry croissants too. The strawberry croissants look exactly like the ones they sell at Cream Pan in Tustin. Whether or not they are one in the same, I have yet to find out. I know where I can get one on my lunch hour now.
Despite the lure of croissants, I came here for the macarons! At $ 1.75 each, I opted to get only two. I tried the raspberry and caramel. The raspberry was perfectly sweet & tart with the best being the texture. The outer shell was delicate and there was an airiness in each bite. I can see why macarons are the next cupcake! The caramel was just ok. It was chewy but that was because the paste inside the macaron was pure caramel. It was good but not as wonderful as the raspberry one. Definitely a treat to be had.
Service here is great. I can see that being a new establishment, there are kinks to work out but we didn’t experience any of that. The servers are especially amiable, stopping by to see if everything was ok and the food is served on real plates with real cutlery. Fancy! Definitely a place to check out if you’re in the mood for something other than a burger and fries.

If you’re like me and are a sucker for pretty packaging and nice food presentation, you will appreciate this place. It seems to be a modern French-​American style in food and atmosphere.
Le Napoleon’s bakery section is not all in-​house stuff, most of it is from other bakeries or specialty kitchens. But their sandwiches and sides are made in-​house, I’m pretty sure.
Fellow Unilocaler Trina D. and I think the manager or owner of this café is French or French-Moroccan…the staff all speak French/​are French but thankfully there is no language barrier — the staff is polite and helpful. You can tell they are happy to have opened up at the Spectrum. Then again, this place JUST opened…
On with the food! I got the Salami sandwich and three Parisien Macarons. As my photos show, the food looks nice — it tasted decent too. It’s $ 1.75/macaron which is pretty steep but I had to give this place a chance.
The Salami sandwich was nice and simple — Salami slices, some butter, mini pickles. I am so happy they do not use mayonnaise! The bread was good — slightly crispy and soft, did not have the «stale» texture or taste many sandwich shops have. It comes with a potato salad — an overall nice light lunch.
For the macarons, I tried the Violet Cassis, Pistachio, and Raspberry macaron. They were decent but I think my favorite of the three was the Raspberry… Please let me preface this next section by saying I’ve tried several times to make Parisien Macarons and have failed every time to make a good batch. One batch came out too flat, another had oil stains on top (ew!). I am just not that good at baking perhaps… It’s difficult and takes patience to make the perfect macaron, I think. With that said, the Cassis one felt over-​baked — the little pied (s) looked a bit dry. However, I thought the Raspberry one was very well balanced and yummy! Pistachio one was sort of an afterthought even though I generally love Pistachio flavored desserts.
My tea + sandwich + 3 macarons = $ 17 which is a lot to pay for lunch! I would never come back here if it was all about price but I enjoyed my time and appreciate the aesthetics and vibe. The food is pretty decent, they have unique items, and the people are nice, so YES I see myself coming back again even though my wallet protests.

After we saw that Kelly’s coffee place shut down, we noticed a boarded sign outside the windows advertising French pastries, sandwiches, macarons, etc. I’ve been transformed into a macaron monster by my wife, so I wanted to try one a few days after they opened.
We walked inside and up to the glass window with all the macarons, and started bombarding the girl with questions about whether they make their own macarons (no, it’s from some place in LA), what flavor this particular color was (she was clueless with most of them). Poor girl. I know they just opened, so it’s understandable for now.
Ultimately, I just picked a passion fruit macaron and forked over $ 1.75 for one. In comparison, Layer Cake Bakery on Barranca has some pretty decent macarons for $ 1.60. The macaron didn’t taste fresh at all, didn’t quite have that delicate outer shell, but more of a «mushy» texture from either sitting around too long or something. 2-​stars just based on the one macaron we tried, so take it with a grain salt.