Croque Madame

Was extremely excited to find somewhere that sells Croque Madames in JFK! Alas 30 minutes and three attempts to fry an egg later and I’m currently eating a poorly constructed croque Monsieur (gave up on the egg for atop my croque Madame — after which they’re named). Wait for France!

Fancy fake! When I saw the sign for Croque Madame, the fancy version of the french Croque Monsieur (itself a deluxe grilled cheese sandwich), I started to salivate. They warned me that it would take 10 – 15 minutes, so I figured «This is the real deal!»
28 minutes later I checked the time on my receipt… I walked up and asked if they had forgotten my order. No, they were just finishing it. But on first bite I knew something was off. The bread was thick and tasteless. Lots of meat and a beautiful runny egg on top (requiring fork and knife), but only a hint of melted cheese. Yes, I dissected the sandwich: only about 15% of the toasted bread had cheese melted on it. I am normally not a picky eater (I just eat fancy on occasion — yesterday I ate greasy pizza and the day before burger king), but I couldn’t manage to finish this supposed Croque Madame. Consider a name change to your restaurant.

I literally don’t ever leave reviews but this is perhaps the most amusingly horrific service I’ve ever experienced. Note: I didn’t even order food here — all I did was grabbing a vitamin water from the fridge and going up to the cashier to pay for it, ironically because I didn’t want to sit down and wait for food or coffee. There was only one girl at the cashier who was working VERY slowly — and I thought ok, it’s early, she might have been coming off a very long shift so let’s give her a break. Then half way through ringing up she took a 5 min bathroom break with nobody covering for her. Literally 10 ppl just waiting at an empty cashier for her to come back. Then when she did come back, she decided to go make coffee for the two ladies who just shouted orders from their seats. That took another 10 mins with her spilling one of the coffees and having to start over. Again, there were 10 people who were just literally standing there staring at her, and waiting.
Now 20 mins later the cashier girl was finally ready to ring me up. She scanned the barcode of my vitamin water and it didn’t work. Instead of typing in the code or telling me to grab another drink, she picked up a random bottle of water from one of the other people in line and when I asked what she was doing she was like «Well it’s around there».
So that actually happened. I almost wanted to give 5 stars because the service was so bad it was almost entertaining. I honestly thought I was visiting one of those places waiting to get fixed up by Gordon Ramsey. This place is reality show worthy.

Great concept but poor execution. The iPad was easy to use, and I quickly turned in my order. You pay and tip without ever talking to an employee, which probably makes sense considering people often have to rush after the meal to catch a flight. I like how you enter your flight info so they know how much time you have. I didn’t like how I had to choose a tip without seeing how the service would be. My drink came relatively quickly (15 minutes) considering they were busy. I only had 40 minutes before boarding, but I was still looking for my food with ten minutes to spare. The croissant with egg and cheese had very little flavor, and there were no employees around to see if I could make it more edible with salt and pepper. I had to eat really fast to run for my flight despite they should have had ample time to prepare the simple dish. If you have a long layover, stop in to eat, drink and recharge.

Terrible service. It wasn’t ridiculously busy but I was told it would take 10 – 15 minutes for a croissant and egg sandwich, a very simple order. Okay… waited… I saw that others were being brought their food, however, when I asked about my order I was throughly ignored and told to wait. If I am paying for an over priced croissant I expect a certain level of customer service. The only thing (or person in this case) that semi-​smoothed over this situation was the kind black woman that was willing to help me and actually provide some customer service, my apologies for not getting your name and giving you proper kudos.

First, let me start off by saying that the service here — specifically the fact that they bring your food to you if you order off one of the Delta iPads — is amazing!
The food, unfortunately, is much less so. I initially ordered a savory crêpe with proscuitto, but it turned out that they were out of the ingredients for it, so I wound up going with a croque madame with salad greens instead. There was nothing terribly impressive about it; to be fair, there also wasn’t anything terribly wrong, either, but there simply wasn’t anything to rave about here.

Great idea, poorly done.
Yes, there’s something quite lovely about a place that has charging stations and comfortable chairs; however, when the food is (a) overpriced; (b) under– or over– cooked [egg was still clear and runny; meats were dry and overdone]; © inconsistently delivered [two items ordered, second came when first was cold, and not without my having to ask repeatedly for it] and the staff is surly beyond belief… well, how much is a comfortable chair worth?
Do yourself a favor – pick up your food on the way to the gate and skip this overpriced nonsense. You can sit in the chairs for free.

Waited over 23 mins for a simple order. Was not remotely crowded. Called for assurance on the iPad three times. No response despite 4 or 5 servers milling about. Asked one of them to get me some water and an eta on the food. Got the water then she left without telling me the timing. Finally had to ask for a refund.
This is an airport. Gets pretty busy. Can’t be this slow and poor of service.

Their $ 12 omelette per menu cost $ 13 for just the egg. $ 2 for bacon $ 2 for cheese and $ 2 for ham, and they didnt even put any in. Jeez.

Slowest service ever. Coffee’s decent. Jacked up airport prices but that’s a given. My advice: don’t go here if you’re rushing to catch a flight. I stood in line for 15 minutes before placing my order and there was only one person ahead of me in line. I ordered a coffee and a latte. They gave me the coffee right away and then started making other people’s orders and forgot about the latte I ordered. 10 minutes passed before they approached me and asked what I was waiting for… They should really have more employees on the schedule instead of having one woman making lattes and the other who is half-​ringing up, half-​making lattes… Both very slowly. I get that it’s early but this is an airport… If you don’t want to put more people on then at least schedule employees who can work efficiently in a fast-​paced environment. It’s not exactly rocket science.

The food is okay but the service was terrible for me IMHO (it might be good for others). First, they forgot about my order. Then, it was hard to get my order correct with them looking at my receipt. I had two orders to go and my flight was about to depart. They don’t teach the staff how to do refunds but they know how to take money… sorry for the rant. Nevertheless, will I go back??? No way. There’s not much to add in terms of the location.

I tried asking the server a couple of questions she was very rude and just walked away twice! If she doesn’t Like working as a server get a freaking degree and get a job elsewhere
Maybe she had bad breath :)?

This place was ok. Maybe I ordered the wrong thing? The only thing that drew me to Croque Madame were the free ipads and the ability to order food/​drink via the iPad at JFK Terminal 2, near gate 62.
I ordered the fruit crêpe with a side of fruit. The problem was that this was still too dry despite the fruit. I wished I had ordered the Nutella crêpe instead so that there was something to it. I think some whipped cream would have been a good way to keep the fruit and crêpe together instead of nothing.
I also had the «mystic» tea. It was very herb-​y tasting, and I like how it’s bubbly, but overall, I didn’t like the taste. There’s the option to add some vodka or liquor to this, so maybe it would’ve tasted better, but for me, drinking before a flight dries me out so I’m inclined not to indulge.
I wasn’t too impressed with the offerings and it’s kinda cool to have this iPad right in front of you while you eat, but it’s probably not sanitary. It’s cool, but I think it’d be better if they made the iPad stand moveable so it’s not right in front of you when you eat, or for the two-​top tables, just have one iPad instead of two.
Either way, this place was more of a novelty than anything.

Convenient Bistro Bar
I actually liked this spot in the terminal. It’s a cool concept: self-​service ordering on iPads while you sit-​charge-​connect; lighter bistro-​type fare to eat; and a relatively quick and friendly crew serving you. Prices are high as it’s in an airport, but hey, you go with the best choice available.

Not overwhelmed by my options during my 3 hour layover (which turned into a 12 hour layover), I ordered a crêpe and latte from here. This was not the best crêpe of my life by far, but it was decent and came quickly. The side salad was good and the service was quick and pleasant. The latte was better than expected. They seemed to always be a bit confused by who ordered what, so keep your eyes open when you are waiting for your food and drink.
I actually like the ipad ordering system when I am traveling with my two little girls because I can just sit them down and get settled and have the food come to us.

Despite clean seating areas and very easy iPad ordering, this place failed me. My husband got a French toast and eggs breakfast. Good bacon and props for serving real maple syrup because we all know how I feel about that.
Anyway. They show pix of all menu items which made me really excited about the roasted veggie salad and brûléd goat cheese…
The salad came out after my husband was FINISHED his meal. And it was literally ¼ cup greens and 3 slices zucchini with some jarred red peppers. No cheese at all. I asked her to put the goat cheese on it and she sprinkled on a tablespoon of packaged goat. Ummmmmmmm
Did I mention this salad was costing me 12.50???
The manager was really nice though and comped the salad. Didn’t comp the gratuity we had already added to the meal but still nice.

Excellent! Drink wine! Eat crepes at 1800 what else could I ask for??? Oh! Be able to place order via ipad, charge any electronic device, watch tv, & great staff! Give me a cot and call it a night!
I am highly impressed. I have been at airports all over and the level of service and customer gets is admirable. If the goal of Croque Madame was to set themselves a level apart from their competitors, they have succeeded.
The smell of butter while drinking wine and surfing an iPad with free wireless is exceptional!!! Butter… mmmmm…wine…mmhhmmm…you can even upsize your wine for an additional fee.

Cool seating. Comfortable chairs. iPad ordering/​complimentary web surfing and charging socket on almost every table or bar seat. Good customer service.
But my rating is low because of the food quality and price. Though it’s great that a charger is available on every seat which definitely makes this place more attractive in the airport setting, the bigger factor is food and flavor which this place lacks.
Ordered a chicken salad sandwich which came with the option of baguette or croissant. No option for regular bread. The addition of hummus and chefs own yogurt included as part of the recipe attracted me. However the sandwich though decently sized turned out to be very mediocre. Served on a hard jaw breaking baguette the chicken salad, hummus and yogurt inside were so sparingly used that all I could mostly taste was the baguette! The salad that I could occasionally taste was nothing special and I didn’t even notice the hummus/​yogurt part. Served with a small fresh green salad with dressing which was decent.
Prices at $ 10 before taxes I was expecting more. $ 3.75 for a diet coke which my server did refill for me free of charge but I’m not sure if that’s the norm.
The iPads and ordering are cool and extra points for the charging sockets. The food needs significant improvement or a price drop or both.

The rating is low ONLY for their high prices!
Besides that this is a neat spot for people that have layovers. It’s neat how you can order whatever you want right at your table and someone will have it delivered to you! It’s kinda cool! They have cute wall paper around the area and décor is nice. There is an iPad on every table to order from along with a charging station to charge your electronics. Also you can surf the web while you wait (complimentary)
However I paid $ 5 for a hazelnut macchiato (reasonable) BUT it was literally half empty!!! They come in a big cup and looks like someone took 2 big gulps out! It’s cool to try once but not something to waste money on.

Summary: Decent food, with an innovative and appealing service set-​up.
Details: You have two options if you want to eat at Croque Madame in JFK. The first is to sit at the bar and order in the traditional manner. The second is to sit at one of the many small booths in the area equipped with iPads and ORDER AND PAY FROM THE iPAD. It is, as SNL’s Miley Cyrus might say, «Pretty cool.»
If you choose the iPad route, which you should do, you make your selections on the screen and pay with a credit card. You can add a tip right on the screen. Your food magically appears a few minutes later, courtesy of Croque Madame’s waitstaff. I even ordered a refill on my wine when my flight was delayed (grrr).
The food itself was fine. My prosciutto sandwich was unremarkable and overpriced, but for an airport, I won’t complain. The bread was pretty good and that goes a long way in my carb-​loving heart.