This was our first time at a Paris Baguette, and given that it's a 40-minute drive from home, this…read morewas a well-planned and anticipated visit. The location is easy to get to, with lots of parking behind in a lot, and it's very clean, with lots of chairs and tables; yet all were filled this Saturday evening, which is a good sign.
There are too many pastries, treats, and drinks to even cover, and we spent a few minutes trying to find our choices, which you mainly pick from cabinets using a self-serve tray and tongs. For drinks and cake (whole or sliced), you order those at the counter.
We decided on some pastries, some cake slices, and a drink. And S'mores was the predominant theme today.
We ordered a raspberry fruit bite, 2 chocolate supreme croissants, 2 S'mores Belgian waffles, a sugar mochi donut, a coffee donut croissant, 2 slices of S'mores chocolate marshmallow cake, and a slice of rainbow cake. We also got the cream cheese puff and the crème brûlée bombolone ... quite the name!
And, of course, a S'mores frappe!
The server helping us at the register was polite and efficient, but there was only one register open and a long line. As such, other folks were helping gather the goodies from the cake case, and as we were taking these to go, we did not realize until we were home that the rainbow cake was not a rainbow cake, but a THIRD slice of S'mores cake. Ugh. That one was chosen by the 8-year-old, who was understandably not happy, and the additional insult of paying extra (above the cost of the S'mores) for a cake we didn't get made ME unhappy too! Paid $8.29, got a $6.99 cake slice.
The pastries are generally good, with some very good and some more of a "meh." Among the best were the raspberry fruit bite and the coffee donut croissant. That coffee one was a surprise, as it had a soft liquid filling we didn't realize when buying, and the taste was very coffee, which I loved. Will get that again for sure. The S'mores chocolate supreme croissant was also popular. The crème brûlée bombolone was different, with a light pastry and a filling different from what I usually find in crème puffs, and it was tasty.
The waffles were not a light and airy as we would have liked, but the flavor was good. The mochi donut was a bit dry as well, not up to true Japanese bakery standards, and the cream cheese puff was all puff and short on the cream cheese (see photos).
And the S'more cake was good for flavor, very rich and S'morey, but the presentation really is lacking. Not that I normally compare one chain to another, but for example, when we get Crumbl, the product is very close to the advertising. Not so with the S'more cake, and I am not even sure all the layers were there and in the proper order or proportion; check out the photos and see what I mean. However, the flavor was spot on, and that is the ultimate goal, although the "eyes eat first," as we Yelpers know!
And the highlight was not a pastry or cake, but the S'more frappe. It was layered beautifully, fresh-tasting, and very S'morey (yes, a new word I now love!). We even got a second, as we had to eat this there so it could be shared by the group, and it was calling us! Definitely hope it is available next visit, and Starbucks could take a lesson in quality versus price point.
Some of the pastries here are really not worth the cost for the product (would skip the cream cheese puff, for example, and the mochi donut), but everything else was very good.
Other than an error in fulfilling the order correctly and a couple a poor pastries (quality), it was a good first visit, and we all would come back when near a location.