La Madeleine - Austin

Sad to the French onion soup I've ever had. Food: 3/5

Came here with my family for the first time. They have a little fireplace which was nice. The chicken salad croissant was good but small but sadly the Nutella crepe was disappointing. I got it after both my husband and 4 year old finished eating and my son took one bite saying no thank you for more because it's no good considering he loves Nutella. The cashier was nice though and even spoke with my son for a little bit when there was no one was ordering.

None of these recent 1 star reviews are reflective of our experiences here, so felt a review was needed.The employees and manager, Paul, are always extremely pleasant and helpful. We have never encountered any of the negative attitudes I’ve read of recently:

I have been going to La Madeline for over 10 years, generally in the Houston area, and it has been a family favorite. Never in my life have I experienced the level of disrespectful and poor customer service at any restaurant, let alone La Madeline, that I did this afternoon. After spending $50 for a gift card for my girlfriend (2 $25 gift cards) we came in to order 7 sandwiches for our family, and use part of the gift card as payment. After 5 minutes of the front desk girl swiping the card aggressively, and saying that it’s not working, she called over her manager who spoke 0 English. She then proceeded to translate to the manager that she was not able to successfully scan the gift card in Spanish, and after a few attempts the manager told her to say it wasn’t working. Of course, after already spending $50 there and wanting to use that money for the purpose we originally paid for it, that was not acceptable answer. We proceeded to get on the app, show the manager and the cashier the balance on their website, typing in every number in front of them, and they still said they couldn’t do anything. After getting Teresa Brown, the GM, on the phone, and explaining the situation, offering to send pictures of our gift card so she can verify it herself, she said “sorry I’m not working right now there’s nothing I can do” and did not allow us to spend the money we already spent there on food. I have never ever, ever, had the experience of purchasing a gift card somewhere, then when trying to use it and there is an error on the companies end, been told that I can not use the money I already spent there, and actually have to pay more money. The fact that not only was it impossible to communicate with the manager because she did not speak any English, the lack of any sort of attempt or desire to stay in integrity as a company and allow the use of the money already given to them makes this the last time I will ever dine at a La Madeline in the Austin area again.

I work at a law firm in downtown Austin, TX and order from La Madeleine's a lot. (Mueller location) The manager of catering, Roxanne, is the most joyful, bright light when she brings our food. She gets our order right every time. Kudos to Roxanne!