Vie De France Bakery Cafe

The chicken salad sandwich on a croissant is like no other! The buttery and perfectly flakey croissant melts in your mouth while the cool chicken salad with pieces of celery gives you a nice refreshing taste. It will feel like you just consumed a healthy meal, when in reality you just ate a bunch of buttery carbs and crap ton of mayo!
The shop itself is pretty large compared to the other Ve De France’s that I’ve been to. They have a huge option of baked goods, which all looked delicious, and other menu options for food… but seriously, just get the chicken salad sandwich on a croissant.
The store is in a open shopping center with a cute 50’s esq architecture for all the shops. Not much has changed from the outside of this shopping center except for the updated store front names.
Prices are a bit high but the taste of that dang sandwich is just too good.
P. S. You know you’re in Potomac when the parking lot consists of a bunch of ranger rovers!

Pretty good I love the croissants and I’m hoping they make those raspberry cookies again which they are only doing for Valentines. We come down here or go to Pittsburgh for good pastries

Good pastries and bread. Very nice and friendly employees. I wish they had more choices for salads.

I was so pleasantly surprised by this place. My impression of Vie de France has always been that it was kind of a strange place you might find in office building cafeterias or airports, with stale pastries and mediocre coffee. This location was anything but that. The store was packed with people — a good sign already, and it smelled so good with all the fresh-​baked baguettes and croissants. I got a veggie wrap, which was really good. My friend wanted a chocolate almond croissant and they had just run out. I waited for a couple minutes, and they brought me one just out of the oven, freshly drizzled with chocolate. The servers were very friendly and helpful, and both my friend and I enjoyed our meals. I would not hesitate to go back here!

Ive been going to this bakery all my life (born in 95) food is great and never disappoints very highly recommend the chocolate croissants.

2 stars because a bakery shouldn’t sell stale bread!
My husband and I stopped in for a quick lunch. I ordered the Ham and Brie Croissant and my husband ordered The California Classic Sandwich and a bowl of split pea soup. The croissant used on my sandwich was stale and I thought the honey Dijon dressing was too sweet. I regret not asking the employee behind the counter to heat up my sandwich. I think it might have been remotely better if it was not served cold, although it would still have been covered in the awful honey mustard. My husband swapped half of his sandwich for mine, but I didn’t think his sandwich was that much better. The alfalfa sprouts were wilted and turning brown and the French bread was stale and bland.
Shame on me for buying premade sandwiches from the deli case, but shame on Vie De France Bakery for serving stale sandwiches!

Just went to the vie de France boulangerie in Potomac and there was a lady with an ascent who was so rude to me. She refused to sell me the item that I wanted because she didn’t want to go in the back to get it. I will never going there anymore. The customer service was so poor.

Your standard lunch spot in Potomac village. Nothing truly mind blowing here, but the sandwiches are first rate. My standard picks involve the Turkey and Brie on a croissant as well as the smoked turkey Cobb. Both of these are consistently fantastic. The staff is very nice and if you are a regular they will give you a discount.
If you need to pick up a baguette for dinner, there no where better then V. The pastries however leave more to be desired.

I always get the Turkey Californian for takeout which is delicious! It has sprouts on it which adds a nice touch to it, but you can always order it without. Their fresh baguettes are the best I had. They also have whole wheat baguettes. Their pastries are good as well!

This location is usually crowded. Full of locals and bikers, hikers, and outdoor enthusiasts. So beware.
They have sandwiches, pastries, and drinks… I always try to stop here on my way to great falls and buy something! The pastries and cookies are very good. I dont think I’ve tried anything I didn’t like…

Its not the closest place to get my bread but it is worth it. The fresh baguette and the amazing pastry are my favorite calories of the week!
The breakfast paninis are great for a lazy morning and the sandwiches are also a great idea for day trips!
I never had an issue with the service by the staff. I have been going there for a few months and the staff has always been nice. One has to make a line to order the sandwiches but you just have to be alert when it is your turn. Most of the time I avoid the busy peaks during the day.

A wonderful little gem in the heart of Potomac, chocolate croissants are delightful. I must stop at location for everyone!

Delish chocolate croissants and Napoleon dessert. Ask them to heat up the croissant for you. Sandwiches are pretty good too. Customer service needs improvement. Staff seem overwhelmed by crowds and are really slow/​unorganized when taking orders.

I have a hard time with this place. I really like the ham and swiss croissants and the chocolate croissants… So good. But the problem really is the staff. Its horrible. We literally spent over 30 minutes there to get a meal. They kept taking orders behind us. They were wholly unpleasant. And I’m guessing the staff gets to choose the music as I’m not sure Lil’ Jon is in line with the Vie de France image. I hate coming here because I hate dealing with these people but I feel like I really can’t live without those ham and cheese croissants in my life.

If you like chocolate croissant, this is the place!
I go there in the early morning their still warm, their flaky the chocolate is nice and smooth these croissant taste great!
These early morning croissants are way better than Panera, Starbucks, Aubon Bön Pain,
You could make them at home or go to Quebec for a better one.

I was excited to come here after a day at Great Falls, but was pretty disappointed. I’ve gotten lunch at the Whiteflint location somewhat often, and the food there is always fresh and good with lots of options. I was hoping for the same.
I ordered the «pick 2» option where you can choose from quiche, salad, half a sandwich, and soup; I picked quiche and a salad. Oddly enough none of the «salad» options involved lettuce or non-​roasted veggies. I was able to pick from two types of chicken salad, some sort of spaghetti noodle salad, and cold roasted vegetable salad. There were pre-​packed standard salads above my options, but I wasn’t able to pick one of those… not that I really wanted to. I’ve had this same pick 2 meal for lunch by Whiteflint, where they’d definitely make you a salad.
Everything besides the sandwiches, which were made when ordered, seemed to be refrigerated, and I’m still confused whether you can get a salad made at all or not. My order was taken from the refrigerator, and I was handed a cold slice of quiche and my chicken salad. I asked for the quiche to be warmed up, which they did for me, but I’m not sure of another restaurant that serves cold quiches.
Seating wasn’t available at the time we went, so we ended up eating in the car. Overall the food is pretty good but it wasn’t quite what I went in wanting. They did have a pretty extensive pastry selection, which looked good. I’ll be sticking with my usual location where the majority of the entrees are made fresh.

Very cute bakery with cooking going on everywhere. Great food I had the French onion soup and it was amazing also the pastries are great too. Definitely suggest it to anyone looking for great food at a great price.

Every time I’ve been to Vie De France, I’ve been extremely disappointed in the quality of the food. I am a long-​time customer and resident of Potomac, and will not be returning.
After eating the chicken sandwich, I felt sick to my stomach for hours. My split pea soup had a piece of plastic in it. My ham and cheese crêpe had a hair in it. I don’t believe the employees use proper precautions when preparing their food. I’ve called and spoken to the manager to alert him, but I have not seen any safeguards put in place.
I hope that this review places the employees/​manager on notice to remedy the unsanitary conditions in the kitchen.

It’s ok.
A bit outdated. And the menu doesn’t have descriptions. I asked the lady what was in the Cali sandwich and she seemed to think I should know. Sorry, I don’t frequent the culinarily barren Potomac Village enough to know you’re menu by heart.
Anyway, the sandwich wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either. Split pea soup was pretty good also, but seemed very heavy. I was left wondering if they could have achieved just as rich a flavor with less fat, and more complexity.
Sugar cookies will fool you — they look mediocre, but they’re great.

Shared parking lot and outdoor seating. Pastry cakes looked good but I was looking for something savory to quiet the appetite. I was tempted by the small pizzas until I noticed the pool of oil sitting on top of the mushroom one. Cashier protocol is a little unclear, my order was taken at the deli one but then rung up at the beverage/​bakery register. I opted for the choose two with a bowl of unseasoned split pea and ham, and half of a Californian on a cold baguette. At least the sprouts and avocado were relatively fresh. Two and a half stars, I may come back to try a chocolate croissant.