The French Gourmet Reviews

The food is "magnifique"! The service is superb. And it feels like your in France!

The best bakery and bistro for miles around. Always a treat. Great for special occasions.

Waited in line, 4 dirty tables, 2 guys seating, serving and clearing all tables while 3 females handled the bakery case. They couldn't have helped in the restaurant?? We left, it was taking forever for them to take anyone's order.

Good was not very good and the menu was not a French menu. The macarones we bought to take home were not fresh.

I had a fantastic experience here! The employees were friendly and the strawberry birthday cake was delectable! I also got their quiches and small pastries. It's all good! Definitely coming back!

A top place for delicious French food. Got there near five, it wasn't very busy. Nothing but pleasant experiences here. It has a nice atmosphere. This place has positive reviews for a reason.

Cute place, really good food...especially the potatoes with breakfast. Service was very good, our waiter was friendly and very accomodating

I wish I could give this place more stars!

The french toast, the brown sugar glazed bacon, the escargot, the payson salad!!!!!

Let's start with the French Gourmet Toast. 4 thick boy slices of french toast, perfectly cooked with blackberries, raspberries and strawberries! Omg, so good.

The brown sugar glazed bacon......once they bring it to the table let it sit. The glaze will harden a little and give the bacon a slight snap to it. De-licious! The perfect contrast of sweet and salty!

The escargot was a little slice of french cuisine executed perfectly in San Diego. Very hard to find good escargot in San Diego.

Payson salad was perfectly light, the greens were crunchy and just the right out of vinaigrette.

We accidently popped in here after our first choice was 40 mins wait to be seated for brunch. After this visit, I'll never want to go to the other place. This place just earned my top spot for brunch.

The seating area is outside under partially shaded canopies and they have heaters. It's in between two building, there is a mural painted on the side our their building to make it feel less like a space between two buildings. They have done a good job. When you come here, expect to be greeted by their friendly staff, who have smiles on (you can hear the smiles they wear!) and be ready to eat with a smile, because the food is delicious.

Interesting place to have desert. Lots of options. My raspberry tart is a bit hard on the shell.

After trying cakes at many different bakeries in San Diego, my husband and I selected The French Gourmet for our wedding cake on June 27, 2015. We worked with Trang at The French Gourmet and were very impressed with her professionalism, customer service and knowledge. We selected The French Gourmet because of their exotic, tasty flavors and they were able to create our requested design within our budget. Our reception was at the Admiral Kidd Catering and Conference Center on a U.S. Naval Base. Trang was able to work with us to get all the required documentation for security on the base while not every vendor was able to meet these requirements with ease. On the day of the wedding the cake looked absolutely beautiful and tasted delicious. We had a four tiered cake with lemon, passion fruit and chocolate mousse flavors. All the guests thought the cake was delicious too and we received many compliments on it. Trang was able to honor her commitment to create a one year anniversary cake with white chocolate shavings in our flavor of choice for us. Just this past month as we celebrated our one year anniversary we enjoyed another 4" size passion fruit cake and it was just as delicious as the first time on our wedding day. We do not live in San Diego and so we really appreciated this special opportunity as we were not able to save and freeze the top tier for our anniversary. I highly recommend The French Gourmet for anyone looking for a wedding cake in San Diego.

Honestly if i could give this place all the stars in the world I would! The food was like eating literal heaven and was authentic french food. I think I might just come back every day because im in love! PLEASE EAT HERE ITS AMAZING!!!!!!!

Nothing was good that we tried from the glass case. If you've ever had a real croissant in Paris you'll be very disappointed, if you hadn't then I'm sure you'll think these pastries are great.

Cute French restaurant and small bakery. Decent food and yummy baked goods.

By far one of the best restaurants I've eaten at in San Diego! Everything about this place is phenomenal, the service was top-notch, our server was so friendly and responsive and our food came out so quickly. My girlfriends and I went for Sunday brunch and we had the best time, we got the croissant sandwiches with their own croissants from their bakery. We also got the fromage plate and it was to die for! They also just built a new outdoor space and it's just the best place to spend a Sunday. They have great specials too with late-night happy hours and weekend brunch. Can't recommend this place enough, the owners are some of the nicest people I've met, you have to come check it out!

If you come here expecting French cuisine you'll be disappointed. This place is more of an American-French fusion cuisine. In addition to selling pastries and wine, food is served and reservations are recommended.

The food here is quite good. Due to our large party we were fortunate enough to sample almost all their main course. The Duck Wings (first time) was excellent and so were the escargot. Their flavors are spot on but the salmon was a bit over cooked.

And, for dessert, you can pick anyone as there all good.

This was our second time getting the French gourmet pre-packaged dinners. We ordered chicken marsala, pork loin chop, and salmon dijonaisse. For starters we ordered French onion soup and a Caesar salad for four. The dinners all came with rice pilaf and a combination of French green beans and carrots. The portions are generous, especially the main course. The salmon was succulent the chicken had amazing mushroom flavors, and the pork loin was a nice thick juicy piece of meat. We followed directions and heated things up for approximately 30 minutes and everything came out nicely. We know how good the food is when we go into the restaurant, and we have been pleasantly surprised with the quality continuing on when buying the prepared dinners. If you're looking for something different and good, go to the French gourmet.

At the first moment you step in this restaurant the waiters give you a nice feeling. Very friendly waiters, it is a friendly restaurant to to go out with buddies or with your date. delightful cooking, professional chef, honest price and generous service. Warmly recommended.

Great source for real crusty Fr baguettes & pastries. The restaurant serves very tasty dishes too.

Our family always enjoys the French Gourmet- we enjoy the (typically) good service and tasty food, for both breakfast and dinner. We also enjoy their varied wine list and great desserts.

This is my favourite place to have a nice dinner. I love the prix fixe menu and go for the salmon or the filet mignon. The salmon is cooked to perfection. It practically melts in your mouth. The dessert choices include anything in the case. My favorites are Millennium and Pralinsko. I highly recommend this restaurant!

I work here and I've experienced so many new delicious plates and breads and the atmosphere is nice as well...the service is also very good and I complement the chef's at their job...

I absolutely LOVE this place. The only thing I don't like very much is that they don't have a parking lot and sometimes it is hard to find street parking but now on to how amazing this place is.

They have a 3 course meal for $28! Their pate is to die for and you HAVE to try their pastries. I would definitely recommend this place, if you love french food you will love this place. Ambiance is great and service is impeccable. They also have an amazing sommelier

I ve had my birthday cake from here for years and they never disappoint! The strawberry bagatelle a d chocolate mousse are my favorites!

Went there on a Saturday. Looking forward to returning with my coworkers. Similar to a cafe in Las Vegas I loved.

Great, your signs where great for those that could read!

We have enjoyed eating here ever since we were married 7 Years ago. Our wedding cake was Pralinsko Dark, moist chocolate cake filled with creamy hazelnut-flavored mousse and i have yet to find a better tasting cake in over 60 years.

Great food. Refined ambiance and service. Offers many pastries and other desserts for sale if you want to take one home with you. I had the 3 course special with a lemon garlic lobster chunk appetizer (a special item), ratatouille with quinoa, and chocolate mousse.

Ordered dinners online. Service was fast, food delicious!!
VERY reasonably priced.
Cooked / heated at home.
STRONGLY RECOMMEND!!

Though they obviously had not accounted for our Mothers Day Open Table reservation, the food here makes up for the occasional blip. Excellent food and a great little bakery.

Great food great service friendly people. They cater and their bakery is second to none. If you're on a carb restricted diet avoid this place. Everything they bake is amazing.

I tried this place on a Friday at about 10AM. There were 3 other groups in the restaurant, casually dressed. The interior is casual nice with crystal clean glasses and upscale plateware. I ordered their egg and bacon breakfast, soft scramble, crispy bacon and garlic parsley potatoes. It came out in about 5-minutes, steaming hot and everything was seasoned and cooked to perfection. Very rarely have I had house potatoes cooked perfectly, slightly crispy outside and soft inside. Most of the servers were Hispanic, which is simply an observation, as I naively expect French servers at a French restaurant. My servers were polite, attentive, polished in their dress and mannerisms. I also had the strawberry bagatelle which served partially frozen. As I relaxed in my booth, sipping my coffee enjoying the relaxed atmosphere, the desert softened and was pure decadence. My only complaints are that parking can be a little challenging and a table was being meticulously cleaned close to me, causing me to catch a whiff of the cleaning solution. My only warning is to exercise self-control when passing by their pastry display.

My in laws and I stopped in for lunch and the customer service is wonderful! The prices are you get you pay for. Wonderful and delicious

Good food & the best pastries I've ever had in my whole life! Service is good as well. You feel they are there to please you.

We visited for a restaurant week and ordered $30 dinner per person. Please, note that we had a reservation and the restaurant was not accepting visitors without reservation. It could be temporary just for the restaurant week. We waited a More

I really liked this place! This is probably as authentic as it gets when your living here. I would def give this place a try if you haven't already.

I took my husband here as I read a really good post about the prix fixe menu and wine pairings. Miguel our waiter said they didnt do wine pairings, so maybe thats just something they do to impress food critics. The restaurant was lovely and we had a seat right by the window. The bread was warm and soft on the inside, just how I like it. For appetizers I had the brushetta and my husband had the salad, our mains were the steak and chicken and dessert was almond cake and cream brulee. The food was generally good, but nothing was amazing which is why this is not a 5 star rating. The mashed potatoes could have used some extra salt and added creaminess and the salad was somewhat bland but both the chicken and steak were tender and flavorful. Both our desserts seemed old and a bit dry, once we notified our waiter he gave us new desserts out of the cake cabinet which were fresh and good. I enjoyed the raspberry cup.

Food was so appetizing. Looking forward to coming back with my friends. The place has an awesome feel to it. Atmosphere is similar to a place in Columbus I loved.

Very limited lunch menu. No protection against numerous flies. Celebrating friends 95th Bday. Very small complimentary pastry, not enough to share with 2 others.

We have lived here for so many years and never had dinner here. Honestly my expectations were really low. But honestly this place was so lovely! Yes it is popular with the older crowd but they are so lovely. We had the Scallops and Organic chicken Marsala. Both were cooked to perfection. Scallops often are cooked so rubbery and awful. The wine we had was quite nice as well. Stephan was a great server and amazing considering how many tables he had! It was busy in there but they did everything perfect. Remember dinner is an experience and they know it here. I like to relax and not be rushed through my meal.
I had the lemon cake for dessert and it was perfectly done.

Laura was the most wonderful waitress imaginable. Her warmth and compassion made our dining experience all the more enjoyable, and all her recommendations exceeded our expectations. Wonderful food, even better service. Wish we could come more often and visit that beautiful sweetheart of a server.

The food was delicious, especially the charcuterie and cheese board. It's a hidden gem with very good wine prices as well

Can't go to Paris for dinner. How about a restaurant that puts you in the ambiance and cuisine of France. Try the seafood crepe for lunch and the duck for dinner. You will be back to try the rest of the menu.

Great service. Waiter very friendly. More casual than I thought it would be as the menus online intimidated me at first.

Typically a decent time with decent food at a high price. Most visits here went without issue, until recently "Antonio" in specific has been making the dining experience uncomfortable for my client. I am his caregiver and I take him around to run errands and we stop by his favorite breakfast spot, which is here, every morning.

He loves his hot bread and butter and Antonio gave us an attitude on our last visit when he wanted some bread, and he brought us some cold recycled bread that had a bunch of random mismatched peices. With all these sicknesses going around this should be addressed immediately, because it wouldnt be the last time he pulled this.

I dont know what the guys problem is, but we are always respectful to the workers and mind our business. Today when we asked Antonio for some bread and butter he threw a tantrum. He starts yelling at my client asking him numerous times loudly why does he want the bread? Instead of just going to grab some bread. He gets into an argument with me now about it until he stomps off to the back for 10 minutes. Then he brings us cold recycled bread again! You can tell its been recycled. The bread normally comes as a whole, sliced up and with butter and jam. All together, untouched. After we asked for hot bread and butter, He brings my client a cold chunk of butter and cold bread that is mix matched peices all thrown together. I got up and asked him kindly to bring my client fresh bread and butter. Antonio, our server, started screaming at me because I am standing up for my client. Antonio was making a huge deal about it. When all we want is hot bread and butter? Do better dude. Then when he brings us the bread how it is suppose to come, he shoves it in my face screaming "is this good enough for you? Is this good enough for you? Huh?" Putting his hands all over the bread and getting way too close to my face with his hand gestures. Then just throws the basket of the bread on the table and continues to stare me down the rest of the dining experience. What kind of service does this represent for your company?

My client spends hundreds of dollars a week to eat here to be yelled at twice by a grown man about bread and butter? Just let my client have his hot bread and butter and stop being stingy over 79 cents.
Do better French Gourment. Hire better people. This is unacceptable.

The ladies who work there are very kind though. So you at least get 1 star since there isnt a 0 star option. We are absolutely appalled by Antonio's reactions and behaviors over a simple request for bread and butter that every customer gets with their meal anyways.

Requested a king cake for Mardi Gras with brioche filling and when we brought it home it had no brioche filling it was just a hollow cake.

Definitely found one the best pear tart in the whole world!!!!! I wish I could find the recipe somewhere.
Their quiche are amazing too! Everything is super tasty. We drove from LA craving from the food here!

Our server awesome customer service! Now about dinner. Loved the food in the past. Yesterday, not that great... Two in my party. We each had the course dinner. Main courses we chose were salmon and flank steak.

Feels like I'm back in France when visiting that place. Love it and recommend it

From wedding cake to 29th anniversary the French Gourmet has always made it a point to exceed pleasing. Culinary spectacularities, welcoming service, and individual special treatment are a hallmark that continues from the first visit. Thank You for making each visit unique and truly satisfying. Your attention to detail deserves each of those 5 stars! Looking forward to many happy returns breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Pastry is horrible, the French baguettes are decent. Their standards have dwindled pretty badly, staff is very unprofessional and lack service skills. This place needs a big revamp. Seems like they are tired!!!...

Got my wedding cake and champagne from here. Everyone raved about how good the cake was! They even custom made my favorite flavor Passionfruit. Which was a huge hit!

Main course we're very good. Good service and pleasent atmosphere. Good selection of desserts.

Visited for brunch, great service, tasty food (although I do wish they had more gluten free options- I opted for the Cesar salad with grilled chicken, no croutons, no bread.)
The ambiance is small, intimate and other customers were dressed pretty upscale- we however were dressed nicely yet casual and felt very comfortable. When we return for dinner, it will most likely be for date night.
The prices are very reasonable for food and drinks. I think we've found a gem!

One of the best bakeries in town! I love all of their cakes and quiches. I stop here almost every weekend for something special. This place has the absolute best french baguette money can buy. Today, I got the twice baked almond and chocolate croissant. It was delicious and not what I expected. More dense than a normal croissant. It has a moist almond chocolate center. I will definitely get this again.

There aren't enough words to tell you how delightful this place is

This place is a gem! Best food and service I ever had in San Diego always a pleasurable experience having dinner at the French Gourmet and last but not least the home of the best double baked croissant in the world

nice inventive cooking. pastry is delicious. Drink wine because it's french and eye-catching. May be it's a beter idea to taste nappa valley wines.

Childfriendly. Great Food! Unfortunately no changing Station for babies!

We went there for dinner and we had a great experience with the food, desserts, wine and service. It's a great cozy place.

This cozy restaurant is a hidden gem that we stumbled across yard ago and return for very special breakfast, lunch and dinner. Their omlets are a favorite. Service is always attentive and 5 star. The bakery is a special treat.

French food and the scene at this place is great. Food was so yummy. The service here is above par. Prices that won't shock you.

First visited 20 years ago, and was back in the area today. So happy to find it just as quaint and great as I remembered. Our group of found plenty of delicious things to treat ourselves with. My person favorite being the Creme Brulee

Lovely French restaurant and bakery..We will be back soon..

Love this place for years
Now carrying delicious local raw honeys

Been going to and using the French Gourmet for over 20 years, always account on me experience they deliver a great experience!

This is the spot. There can be a line, but I noticed the staff has gotten really good at coming outside to take care of people in line who already know what they want.

It's great to see how they have adapted for Covid with the reheatable meals that turn out delicious when you pull them fresh out the oven.

Lastly I noticed they were repaving a driveway next to the business. Looks like they might be prepping for an outside patio!

A family owned and operated, Pastry Heaven. Croissants, twice-baked croissants, danishes, beignets, muffins, napoleons all of it is delicious and really exceptional. On top of that, the prices are fair if not cheaper than usual. This place knows how to keep faithful customers. The staff is dedicated, friendly, and I might add, uncommonly patient. Some of the most abrasive and entitled socialites of La Jolla descend upon this place, but it doesn t matter because the staff treats everyone with the utmost kindness and professionalism. You won t find a better bakery in San Diego period.

Great food, good service, no excessive breeze outside! All good!

The value here was incredible. I can't believe 25.95 for a three course meal with a knowledgable staff that gave perfect wine pairings. Next time I'm in PB I'm going to have to stop in again with some more friends.

I have been to breakfast here several times, food & service is always excellent.

Fantastic food that looks as good as it tastes! MUST save room for a few desserts!

My first visit, clients took me here to celebrate my birthday. Delicious food, rich deserts. The service was excellent. Friendly staff and the entire place is clean. If you want a caterer for your events, give them a call, they specialize in weddings. I would have a piece of wedding cake if it had been available. :)

Very reasonable price. Food is o.k. but steak is not too good

The food is good. The service makes it so much better.

Staff is very friendly and eager to please. Small cozy ambience but definely not fancy (restaurant shares space with deli/bakery). Food was OK but not exceptional. Biggest surprise: wine was sub-standard. Maybe my selection, but it was house wine.

The best brunch! Reasonably priced. We come there every time we are in San Diego.

CheeseCake is quite pretty and moderately tasty. Not as fresh as I had hoped. I will come back again and try something else next time I'm in the area! Seems like a nice family business. Cashier lady was very friendly and helpful choosing my treat! Thanks for the suggestion, George Petro!