Paul Columbia Square

I’ve been in Paul’s locations in Paris plenty of times, then a lot of times in London since they’ve opened there, but I’ve never seen that in any place they had couple of tarts on the vitrine, and were refusing to sell them by slices! It’s a coffee shop! If you have only two tarts left and you refuse to sell one of them by pieces– it sounds ridiculous!

Went in on my lunch break to pick up 2 pastries for 2 of my employees. I sat at the ordering counter while one of the ladies behind the counter was flirting with a customer ignoring anyone else that came in. The second was working hard making coffees for 4 other customers. She noticed that I had been standing there and came over and apologized for me waiting with no assistance. I ordered the 2 pastries and she put them into the bag and then asked the other coworker to ring me out. The other coworker ignored her and continued to flirt with the customer and even walked away from the counter to the sitting area to continue their conversation. 5 minutes passed and the other coworker finally came to the register to ring me out. She double charged my order and then had to call another employee out from the back office to get it fixed. The other employee came out in a t-​shirt, refunded the double charge and tried to give me $ 13 in ones and a lot of change saying they do not have enough bills to give me back. At this point while this employee was hold at least $ 5 in loose change, I handed back the 2 pastries and asked for my money back. This whole ordeal has taken 15 minutes just to buy 2 pastries. I asked for my original $ 20 bill back as the employee tried to give me my $ 20 in change and $ 1 dollar bills. Then a fourth employee comes out and asks what is wrong, I explain to her (not one of the 4 have even given me their name) that it should not take 15 minutes to buy 2 pastries. She gave me my $ 20 bill back and apologized. I think I will take my services to a competent business. I will not be back.

The service here is horrid, choose another bakery or PAUL location if possible… They don’t listen to you, they are incredibly lazy and inefficient. If I were the manager of this location, I’d be ashamed of the product that the employees give as far as customer service goes.

I screamed and ran over when I accidentally stumbled upon this. PAUL was one of my favorite places to go in London – I always got their sandwiches because no one in the world makes sandwiches like them – clean, simple, extremely quality ingredients. Similar to what you would pay at a European deli for all the ingredients. Love PAUL. Love what they serve. Very worth it to me.

Nice place. Great coffee and food is a little pricy.

Lovely french bakery albeit pricey considering the self-​service aspect.

This place is okay but the sandwiches are overpriced for what you get. They’re premade so if you want anything customized it’s a long wait. The mozzarella with tomato and pesto sandwich on olive bread isn’t bad. It’s a decent size but at about $ 8 without any sides it’s a bit expensive for a premade sandwich. This place tries to exude French authenticity but I’m pretty sure Paul must be French for «ABP» or «Cosi» with less seating. Not a terrible place but nothing special either and it’s small so you may not get a seat at lunch.

I work close by so am very familiar with this Paul location and it what it has to offer. Fine sandwiches and good salads, along with pastries galore. However, the service is slow — very very slow. I’ve stood at the cash register waiting to pay for 10 minutes while watching the staff chat among themselves. I’m not exaggerating. Better service would push this review up to four stars.

I’m so over this place. If you are going to charge these kinds of prices either the quality of the food has to go up or this better be the best goddamn service ever. Neither is the case for this location.
The food here has been consistently mediocre. Think Au Bön Pain — but So. Much. SLOWER. I don’t understand how these place can bungle up so badly so often. I’ve waited 20 mins once for them to heat up a croissant — and that’s because they forgot about me. And I believe in the 20 mins, there were 4 customers that ordered coffees and a take away pastry and 1 customer that got his made to order omelet before me.
This morning, I just bought a chocolate croissant (I wanted the pain au chocolate — not the chocolate cream filled croissant that I got) but the people behind me got to order and pay before me.
I will admit that when they manage to give your the right sandwich, they are pretty darn tasty. But I would rather not play roulette with my lunch.
I just need to get over being lazy and walk the extra steps and just go to ABP. Im sure my wallet will thank me as well.

Very happy with service and food.
Spoke only French with all behind counter.
Will return.

This review has been a long time coming.
Let me start by saying that I work around the corner from this place, so I go here often in the mornings and at lunch.
I have to say that the staff has probably gotten my order right ONCE in the entire time they’ve been open. I know, folks, it sounds unbelievable. Let me list some examples:
Sometimes I order coffee with room (so that it doesn’t spill all over my hand when I walk to my office), and I have yet to receive ONE coffee with room. Every single time, they ignore my request, and fill it to the top. I don’t know if they’re just «showing me who’s boss» by blatantly ignoring my order or if they don’t care or they forget between taking my order and filling it out. But it’s pretty eggregious. It would have been laughable if I hadn’t spilled burning hot coffee on my hands (or gloves, in the winter). Yes, thank you, Paul’s!
Other times I order sandwiches. This is when things get complicated. Not too long ago, I came in, saw some cheese sandwiches in the window and ordered a «cheese sandwich.» My order created a flurry of activity, including calling out to the kitchen, asking me what kind of bread I want (twice, once by the lady taking order, the second by kitchen staff), and asking me to wait. Mind you, my mind was distracted by other things, like my work and family. So, I’m standing there, mulling over things, and then it dawns on me that they’re making a new sandwich for some reason. I wanted the one that clearly said «fromage sandwich.» I call out to the lady taking orders and tell her that I want the «fromage» and she looks at me, incredulously, and says «I thought you wanted the cheese sandwich!» So, all this confusion ensues. I tell her I want the one in the window. So, she gave it to me, pleasantly enough. But… come on, folks. How many cheese sandwiches do you have, and why does a simple order have to be such a production?
Today I ordered a chocolate croissant. First of all, nobody at this place seems to understand «pain au chocolat» so after being misunderstood and asked to repeat my order, I said «chocolate croissant.» That seems straightforward, right? Well, apparently, the chocolate croissants weren’t yet in the window, so they were looking for one. The cashier lady asked another person to get me a chocolate croissant, and that person stuffed an almond croissant in my bag. The cashier person saw that and told the other person to remove the almond croissant, because I wanted a chocolate croissant. So, after a couple of shuffles, they finally got me my chocolate croissant.
It feels like this place has adopted all the inconveniences, and none of the charm, of a French institution. At this point, it’s just laughable. I have to double-​check every order, even a croissant, you never know. But seriously — the level of confusion with every order is really outstanding. When life feels too flat, I know that a trip to Paul’s at Metro Center will provide some material for frustration or laughter. Depending on how badly they mess up my order. And mess up they will. *sigh*

I had the worse french onion soup of my life. The cake was decent. The cashier unfriendly, nearly rude
Daniela Gilardelli

How long could it take to heat and serve a small quiche? Twelve minutes, notwithstanding five people working the counter; a few more in the kitchen at the back of the establishment; and a dozen seated customers. No one waiting at counter. And the quiche? At first it burned my mouth but after a few minutes, it was good.

Great food. Too bad their customer service isn’t up to par. The woman taking my order didn’t understand English. I had to point and say chocolate a few times before I got the message across. If you don’t speak French, you may want to brush up. Then they forgot my coffee, serving people who ordered after me their coffee before me. Disappointing.

Had excellent chocolate croissants here, a good quiche lorraine, and a great cup of tea. Service was a little slow, but not more so than anywhere else. I really like the fact that their tea is of a higher quality than Starbucks and that their food is also. Very nice place.

Paul is a good restaurant chain overall, but this is probably their worst location in DC. Customer service here is simply terrible. The people working behind the counter seem to have a lot of trouble understanding the customers as well as their fellow employees. There is so much miscommunication when placing an order that it is very aggravating and takes at least 5 – 10 minutes just to make sure they understood your order, and then it takes an inordinate amount of time to have your order prepared. Ordering just one sandwich took them 10 minutes to prepare after having placed the order. I have actually never seen a restaurant in DC that has so many line cooks/​employees and yet takes so long to prepare a food order. Additionally, this Paul location carries a very limited selection and has low inventory of all displayed foods. If you want to order more than 5 of any one item at once, you have to call ahead to place a catering order, which is pretty ridiculous. Even though Paul is close to my office, I will not be going there again as their poor customer service ends up wasting so much of my time.

Absolutely awful food.
$ 18 for eggs benedict and a coffee. Took 20 minutes to get my food (the first time), then another 5 minutes to get the hollandaise sauce.
Coffee
— mediocre, weak
Eggs benedict:
— Missing hollandaise sauce. I had to go ask them for it, and the cook had completely forgotten and had to make it or heat it up. WTF? Eggs benedict = hollandaise sauce, right???
— Poached eggs were way overcooked.
— Side of greens — drowned in salad dressing. Greens weren’t tossed in the dressing — the cook had poured it over and drowned the rest of the contents of the plate. Everything on that plate was contaminated by salad dressing.
I saw that everyone was a tourist, so I can see how Paul stays in business. I should have gone to Au Bön Pain which doesn’t try to be French in a douchebag way like Paul does, and the prices and food are better.
Also the barista is instructed to say Bonjour to everyone. Tacky tacky.
The cook and the barista were nice. They were working hard and apologizing for their mistakes, but it’s so clear that their training was nonexistent. The management definitely doesn’t give a crap!

Not very busy and service was fast! Croissant wasn’t as good as I remembered in Paris. Still, a better croissant than what I typically find. There’s an area with small tables for you to eat inside.

Great service as soon as I walked in this morning. The displays of French pastries were a sight for sore eyes. Everything looked tempting and freshly made. I love that sheen and glaze that lightly coats the tops of the pastries. I was greeted «bon jour», ordered my mini pastries ($ 0.95), croissant with chocolate and pastry cream, was rung up quickly, and was out the door in 2 minutes or less. There are tables to dine in too. This is a fabulous location right off the 12^th/​F Sts. Metro entrance/​exit. I did a quick glance over the place as I was leaving but the place looked organized and tidy.

This place opened near my work and I have to do my best not to go in each time I walk by. They have fantastic, well-​made French pastries and sandwiches (the baguette with salami, swiss and cornichons is my jam) plus lots of other sweets like macarons. The bread is all really good and the breakfast quiche with greens is also tasty and enormous.
I don’t give the spot 5 stars because sometimes service can be quite slow or forgetful — a few times I’ve gotten an espresso drink and sat around until somebody asked what I waiting for, then had to make it right then. It can be a little pricey too. (And one random thing, the menu has a sandwich called «Toscan» — I’m sure it’s supposed to be Tuscan, but it’s definitely an ‘o’ based on their font. One time I ordered that sandwich and they had no idea what I meant, which was kind of funny.)
That said it’s a great spot for a snack or lunch, just make sure they know what you ordered!