Le Pain Quotidien – 3 Park Ave

I work upstairs from this location and have been consistently disappointed with the level of service and the quality of the product. Just now I attempted to call ahead to order a sandwich and drink (because you will wait a minimum of 20 minutes for the simplest thing) and NO ONE PICKED UP THE PHONE. Then I went downstairs, was ignored for several minutes, and then dialed the number from my cell. The counter person glanced at it and ignored the ringing. FOR REAL? As for hot drinks, coffee drinks take FOREVER to come out and always seem to be wrong. Even when you give your order to the person who actually makes it, they cannot remember you asked for skim 20 seconds later. The food – the pastries have been fine, no complaints there though the chocolate chip cookie is not as tasty as it once was. However the sandwiches have been just awful – the fillings several times tasted of «fridge» or were dry. In particular the bread is NOT fresh, not even close. $ 13 for turkey and avocado on old bread? Are you kidding me? For all these reasons, we will no longer use LPQ for any kind of office catering – everything is so inconsistent and the service is poor. What a shame, this used to be my favorite place. I now have no choice but to go to the Starbucks across the lobby instead – for all their faults, they will at least get you what you asked for and get it to you with no fuss.

As always I really liked the food. White beans soup was amazing. sandwich ingredients were really fresh.
Service is on the other hand went from bad to non-​existent during my last 2 visits.
Almost impossible to get attention from the waiter. Prepare to be ignored if you decide to visit this location, especially if you are sitting outside.
Waiting time is another issue at this location. Took 45 minutes for 2 sandwiches to arrive.

I have been coming to this Le Pain Quotidien for over four years.
I actually distinctly remember the day when they increased their prices and the cold brew price increased significantly. At that moment I started getting iced Americanos instead which always came to an even $ 3 (as they should — it’s just espresso and water).
But two weeks ago, I went to LPQ with $ 3 in hand and ordered my iced Americano and the girl behind the counter said «that will be $ 4.34.» I paused and said «Are you sure? I just bought this last week and it was $ 3.00 even — in fact, it is always $ 3.00 even».
She said «Yeah… sorry, we raised our prices a little bit.» Not wanting to cause a scene, I took out a few crinkled dollar bills from my wallet and paid for the order. I have not given LPQ any business since then, nor will I give them any future business.
It is absolutely ridiculous for this café to raise their prices over 40% on something that is made primarily of water and has no lengthy brewing process. I’ve taken my business elsewhere where I can get a great cup of iced coffee for less money than an iced Americano from Le Pain Quotidien.

A huge disappointment. The quality of food and customer service has gone down dramatically. The quality of the food is substandard to other LPQ places and served inconsistently — sometimes, ingredients listed are not served! Salads are made with not so fresh arugula or mesclun… Hygiene is also an issue. They do not wipe down the tables until you ask. Most of the time, you have to flag down a server for any requests– even ordering! And to top it all off, I was charged twice for a meal. I was told I would be reimbursed and it never happened. I now have to go through my credit card company to do so.

Located on Park Ave, between 33 and 34^th st, this branch takes place right next to Starbucks so we can say that they are competitors. To me, Starbucks is ahead, at least for now. The very first reason I say so is that you can not figure out where or to whom to order for 3 – 4 minutes if no one else is ordering. People await their order to the right of entrance and it seems like they are on line but actually where they take order is right ahead when you enter, which actually makes sense, but no one stays still there. Anyways.
I wanted to get a cookie to go, they have a really really chocolate one which I didn’t know the name but I called it the chocolate cookie :)))) The girl didn’t get it till I repeat 3 times. It was like $ 2.75. No way to eat it at once. So rich in flavor. I liked it. They have other pastry choices and they all look tasty and fresh.
It is good to have an alternate place around so i’ll keep visiting.

Food is ok like all of the locations but the service is terrible. Stay away if you only have an hour to eat lunch, it will probably take more then that

For the price I paid for a smoothie and a croissant, I would have at least expected a «thank you» from the woman behind the counter, but she barely glanced in my direction when she slid it across the counter, and she was kinda snappy when she took my order. When I can get better service (and a cheaper drink) at Starbucks, that’s saying something.

So to be fair we randomly stumbled upon this spot, and we were all hungry, so maybe we shouldn’t have stopped into this place for a quick bite. We were greeted and seated within minutes, so A+ for that. Then we ordered coffees for the table, the mugs were really bowls, and the waiter never had all his supplies ready. No joke he had to go back for cream, then he had to go back for silverware and never came back. We literally got up and helped ourselves to silverware from a tray. We all placed our orders and then the waiting continued. The portions were ok, except that by the time we got them it was now over an hour wait so we were hangry. This place was a joke and I can’t believe it’s still open in NY.

This location needs to be a bit more keen to the needs of their customers, the staff is not very friendly at the register in the am and my order was incorrect 2x.
I love the food but the service is not up to par.

Note: I promise you this my final update on this particular location of LPQ, because after yesterday, we won’t be returning.
My husband, daughter and I headed to LPQ yesterday for lunch, after receiving a gift card to be used for a future visit (see update #3). From beginning to end this was a terrible idea.
1. We arrived before 2 other tables but our waiter was, as usual, nowhere to be found.
2. When our food finally came — quinoa taboule (me), chicken tartine (husband), bowl of soup (daughter) — it came in pieces. The soup first. 5 minute wait. My quinoa taboule. 10 minute wait. Tartine.
3. The quinoa taboule, which I order on a weekly basis, didn’t have the basil dressing, but rather something creamy looking, which I later found out was some type of lemon dressing. I requested it to be fixed.
4. 10 minutes later I flagged down the waiter to ask where my replacement salad was. He said he’d check on it.
5. Another 10 minutes and still no salad. I flagged him down again (not sure why he didn’t care to follow up) to find out the status. I saw him speaking with the cooks who were gesturing confusedly. Apparently they’d forgotten to remake the salad.
6. Salad finally comes out (I lost track of time by this point). THEY GAVE ME THE SAME SALAD I SENT BACK 20+ EARLIER WITH THE LEMON DRESSING ON IT.
6. Flag down a different waiter who takes the salad back to the kitchen. Our waiter comes by to apologize and offer me a brownie. I decline and ask for the manager.
7. Manager comes by and says our meal is on the house and assures me the salad will be made correctly and quickly.
8. 10 minutes later I finally get a wilted salad that’s half the size it usually is.
9. 1 minute later my husband points out there is a hair on my avocado.
10. We decide to cut our losses and leave and the waiter says he’ll get us the bill. We tell him the manager said the meal is on the house. He checks with her and she says no, just the salad is on the house.
I give up 3 Park Ave Le Pain Quotidien. You win.

It seems that everytime I try to give business to this place, they actively try to dissuade me from ever again trying.
Either it’s the online order that they don’t see for 30 min, or it’s the order that they get all wrong, or it’s putting me on hold for 15 min when trying to get an answer about previously mentioned order… and then not having any adequate response.
To be honest it’s surprising they still get business considering the incompetence the staff has displayed time and time again over the course of the past 6 months.
Whenever enough time has gone by and I manage to forget the pain of my previous experience there, I think to myself that I’ll give this place another try (as some of their food is relatively appealing). However, I soon regret my decision to ever consider spending money here as all the signals i get from this place is that they simply don’t care about their customers.
Save your money, go spend it elsewhere. The staff here are practically telling customers that themselves.

Service was AWFUL! Our waiter Hector probably didn’t want to work today. I ordered a latte and he didn’t even give me a spoon for my drink. I waited at least 10 minutes to get his attention so that I could have a spoon for my latte that was starting to get cold. He completely ignored us after we placed our order and I had to have one of the young women get my oatmeal that had been sitting waiting to be picked up for at least 10 minutes. I had to ask the same young lady for water. She was awesome! Hector continued to ignore us and then finally came over and asked us if we needed anything after he saw that we had our food. Tip = $ 0 which is commensurate with service! BTW, I always tip 20 — 30%!!!

I love LPQ but this location is awful. The room is very pretty but our food was terrible. First 3 of 4 of our soft boiled eggs (both part of meals — salmon ricotta dish and soft boiled egg dish) arrived hard boiled. We sent 3 eggs back and we received 3 new eggs which were so undercooked the whites were not even white. We sent the 3 eggs back and the manager took $ 6 off the bill which was ridiculous. She should have taken the two meals off the bill since we ordered them because of the eggs. We also received the wrong bread order and the service could not have been slower. The staff was very nice — just the food was subpar. I am not so excited about going back — I fear this chain has gone downhill. Normally when I am in NY I go every day. Sad. Very sad…

Most indifferent service I’ve had in a long while — over 5 min to get menus, then about as long to get the order taken. Asked for the check when we got our food and then had to wait a long time to get that, and then get it picked up. One big table but not especially busy otherwise.
Food was ok, but coffee was just lukewarm. Overall very overpriced for the food and experience.

First time at Le Pain Quotidien. Didn’t realize there were some branches in Los Angeles on the West Coast where I’m from but decided to give it a try for breakfast/​brunch.
Had the waffle with berries, the chia seed pudding and the special: Shrimp on avocado toast. All three were very good. Waffle had embedded pieces of sugar in it so when you ate it, it had surprising pops of sweetness. The Chia seed pudding was kind of like tapioca pudding but less fatty because its chia? And the Shrimp on avocado toast was yummy with a corn salsa on top of the avocado with the added protein of shrimp.
Atmosphere was nice, mostly business people on this Friday around 11 AM. Place was well staffed for all the guests who were there, place was clean and there was plenty of seating. My service was fine and friendly, managers were attentive and checked in on me and my gf a couple times.
Overall, a good first experience at LPQ. Maybe I’ll try the one on the West Coast now.

Well, I was in town for an early morning meeting and had a delicious breakfast here. The gazpacho was outstanding along with the smoke salmon breakfast plate. Coffee was served in a pot with a bowl instead of a cup — ie a little too cute for me. This location is just off the subway line making it super convenient for meeting someone. Would definitely dine here again.

Le Pain Quotidien is so good and so addictive! If you’re looking for wonderful organic bread and pastries or a healthy but tasty lunch, this is the place to go!
The croissants are among the best I have had. The bread is lovely. The granola and yoghurt parfait with fresh berries is wonderful. The avocado toast with chia seeds and lemon salt is perfection. The coffee is great. The fresh apple juice is amazing. I could go on, but will keep it short by saying: everything from the menu that I have tried, I loved.
I was sceptic when I heard it is a chain of bakeries/​restaurants but I have now tried more than 5 different locations in both US, Spain and France and the quality has been equally high in all locations.
Oh my, despite having just had dinner, I got hungry from writing this review. WHY isn’t there a Le Pain Quotidien in Denmark yet?!?
If you’re lucky enough to be in a country where they are, do yourself a favor and give it a try! :-)

I always vowed that I would never eat at one of these in the United States because it would just be too, too disappointing. Especially after what I still mentally refer to as the «Pret-​a-​Manger debacle» and the less upsetting, but still not stellar «Brioche Dore incident.» I bent the rule once, on a recommendation, and the Georgetown location was really rather good.
However, this location is truly superb. I had a couple of hours to kill before i had to meet friends, and the staff were lovely. Accommodating and nice. I had the lox plate (which probably seemed better to me because of my long exile in Boston and the fact that I had just walked three miles), which was fabulous. The waiter was simply delightful.

Today I had the Winter Quinoa Salad for lunch, wow! The portion was so large and they gave me two plates filled with bread! The quality of ingredients is excellent and unparalleled to much else in the area– I appreciate their high standards.
The ambiance is perfect– casual and relaxing; a great lunch spot and place to unwind for an hour. Service was pleasant and timely!

Croissant and a coffee rang me up to a little over $ 5, which isn’t bad. The service was very pleasant. The coffee was only lukewarm, so I asked him to heat it up — he apologized right away, and made me a piping hot coffee (per request).
I loved the space that this LPQ has … it was very open, quiet, and there was plenty of space. I spread my books and laptop out, and it was an enjoyable time.
The only thing that was unattractive was the scaffolding that currently hides the exterior of LPQ. Signage directs you towards LPQ, but it was a little bit difficult to navigate to the entrance.