My friend ordered a few things from this place via DoorDash and brought the macarons & yule log (Bûche De Noël) to our small holiday gathering. So my rating is purely based on this experience.
For a different kind of holiday celebration, we decided to eat the sweets first before diving into the savory dishes. We went for the macarons first.
I love how the macarons all have cream fillings and tasted good. Meanwhile, I thought it was interesting that they were of various sizes. One friend, however, wasn't having fun with them. About 10 minutes after eating the macarons. she had to go use the restroom. She ate only the red colored ones. Since the four of us all ate the macarons and we were fine, we determined that it was the heavy red coloring that cause her tummy trouble. I tried a little red colored macarons. Just like my friend, I could taste the bitterness in the shells. The bitterness usually results from heavy usage of the food coloring. I could see why my friend reacted to it, because even 2 hours after eating the macarons, my tongue was still pink due to the food coloring.
The yule log was big and looked good, but tasted super sweet and the cake was dry. I had a holiday sweet craving; so I ate 2 half-inch wide slices of yule log, while everyone else ate 1 slice. It reminded me of the cheaply made cakes from supermarkets. This time, I was the one not having fun. Within 30 minutes of eating the cake, I got diarrhea, which is one of the side effects of eating high-sugar food. This is the first time I experienced something like this when eating pastries from a bakery.
Conclusion, I would never buy food from this café.
Food: 2
kanchi masalia
Got the matcha cake with passion fruit curd! Everyone loved it!
Jxx X
My building has Cafe Madeleine pastries delivered everyday. I really love the almond cream filled pastry, but it’s very inconsistent. Many times there is very little filling. Like almost non-existent. Other times there is a lot of filling and it’s amazing. Would love to see lots of filling every day. It makes the pastry sooooo good and bursting with flavor! Also, please bring back the chocolate filled pastry! The replacement you started using a couple of years ago is no where near as good!
Food: 3
Kristina Kelpe-Viggiano
I was in town visiting and came here multiple times because it was so good. The service was quick and the ube croissant was incredible. Just the right amount of sweetness. It's hard to wow me with a tea, but their English Breakfast was excellent.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Lishara Magar
It’s surprising to see so many mixed emotions about this café. As a former employee who started working there at a very young age, I can honestly say they took great care of me. The staff works incredibly hard every day. The front-of-house team is small, especially since many locations closed during COVID, but they do their best to keep things running smoothly.
Being downtown, the café gets very busy—between regular customers, large catering orders for companies, delivery apps, and partner requests, it can feel overwhelming. Still, everyone does their best to provide great service. Café Madeline is a family business, not a five-star hotel, and the team really cares about giving customers the best possible experience.
The owner even lived in France for a good part of his life, where he developed the skills he brings to the café. The work environment among employees was always supportive. At times, we had to deal with challenges such as difficult customers or even unsafe situations with people coming in off the street, but we always tried to maintain excellent customer service. Of course, some days were harder than others, but the effort was always genuine.
I hope customers and reviewers remember that the staff are human too, with both good and bad days, and that they’re working hard to make every experience positive.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
andrew lash
This was the only bakery that was willing to help with a custom cheesecake and they CRUSHED it. Absolutely beautiful and tasty pistachio cheesecake with raspberry crème on top. They were friendly, accommodating, and the price was good. Highly recommend.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Jaydelyn
amazing desserts! cakes are highly recommended.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Alex Shimota
One of the best lunch cafes around. Their baked goods and sandwiches are made in house and are delicious. The staff is also lovely.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Divya Sethi
The mocha was yummmm and so reasonably priced!! Definitely returning to try other items on the menu.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Ashish Sardana
Delicious chicken pot pie and mushroom quiche at their respective prices. Would go back to try sweet.
Bernard is a gem and a marvel. Great food, great deserts, and wonderful owners.
Eitan Adler
Deceptively lists it's prices. Charges a fee of its own invention (not required by law and not set by the city).
One way to know for certain that this is is a made up fee is to note that not every resteruant charges it and those that do charge different amounts.
Much like ticketmaster used to do:this is a form of drip pricing and inherently dishonest.
Mr. Belardo
Delicious turkey,avocado,white cheddar sandwich on Dutch crunch. Tasty soups and lots of sweet things.
P M
Any place that has a solid lunch for under $15 in 2024 is a win in my book- it helps that cafe Madeline's chicken pot pie also might be one of the best pot pies I've had. A nice chicken medley with a great flakey crust. And it comes with a salad?? What's not to love? The folks working the counter are always pleasant and of course they also sell all sorts of sweet treats.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Margie Wu
I actually was a bit worried when walked into cafe Madeleine because all of your 1 star review. But I just need some desserts to go, so I bought a box of 4. The staff is busy but friendly, they gave me suggestions for the most popular cake. Each cake is $7, I think it's a really good deal in downtown SF. & I have to tell you, it tastes like heaven. Love it. Now it will be my go to place for dessert after Henry's Hunan at Nantoma St.
My friend ordered a few things from this place via DoorDash and brought the macarons & yule log (Bûche De Noël) to our small holiday gathering. So my rating is purely based on this experience.
For a different kind of holiday celebration, we decided to eat the sweets first before diving into the savory dishes. We went for the macarons first.
I love how the macarons all have cream fillings and tasted good. Meanwhile, I thought it was interesting that they were of various sizes. One friend, however, wasn't having fun with them. About 10 minutes after eating the macarons. she had to go use the restroom. She ate only the red colored ones. Since the four of us all ate the macarons and we were fine, we determined that it was the heavy red coloring that cause her tummy trouble. I tried a little red colored macarons. Just like my friend, I could taste the bitterness in the shells. The bitterness usually results from heavy usage of the food coloring. I could see why my friend reacted to it, because even 2 hours after eating the macarons, my tongue was still pink due to the food coloring.
The yule log was big and looked good, but tasted super sweet and the cake was dry. I had a holiday sweet craving; so I ate 2 half-inch wide slices of yule log, while everyone else ate 1 slice. It reminded me of the cheaply made cakes from supermarkets. This time, I was the one not having fun. Within 30 minutes of eating the cake, I got diarrhea, which is one of the side effects of eating high-sugar food. This is the first time I experienced something like this when eating pastries from a bakery.
Conclusion, I would never buy food from this café.
Food: 2
Got the matcha cake with passion fruit curd! Everyone loved it!
My building has Cafe Madeleine pastries delivered everyday. I really love the almond cream filled pastry, but it’s very inconsistent. Many times there is very little filling. Like almost non-existent. Other times there is a lot of filling and it’s amazing. Would love to see lots of filling every day. It makes the pastry sooooo good and bursting with flavor!
Also, please bring back the chocolate filled pastry! The replacement you started using a couple of years ago is no where near as good!
Food: 3
I was in town visiting and came here multiple times because it was so good. The service was quick and the ube croissant was incredible. Just the right amount of sweetness. It's hard to wow me with a tea, but their English Breakfast was excellent.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
It’s surprising to see so many mixed emotions about this café. As a former employee who started working there at a very young age, I can honestly say they took great care of me. The staff works incredibly hard every day. The front-of-house team is small, especially since many locations closed during COVID, but they do their best to keep things running smoothly.
Being downtown, the café gets very busy—between regular customers, large catering orders for companies, delivery apps, and partner requests, it can feel overwhelming. Still, everyone does their best to provide great service. Café Madeline is a family business, not a five-star hotel, and the team really cares about giving customers the best possible experience.
The owner even lived in France for a good part of his life, where he developed the skills he brings to the café. The work environment among employees was always supportive. At times, we had to deal with challenges such as difficult customers or even unsafe situations with people coming in off the street, but we always tried to maintain excellent customer service. Of course, some days were harder than others, but the effort was always genuine.
I hope customers and reviewers remember that the staff are human too, with both good and bad days, and that they’re working hard to make every experience positive.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
This was the only bakery that was willing to help with a custom cheesecake and they CRUSHED it. Absolutely beautiful and tasty pistachio cheesecake with raspberry crème on top. They were friendly, accommodating, and the price was good. Highly recommend.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
amazing desserts! cakes are highly recommended.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
One of the best lunch cafes around. Their baked goods and sandwiches are made in house and are delicious. The staff is also lovely.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
The mocha was yummmm and so reasonably priced!! Definitely returning to try other items on the menu.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Delicious chicken pot pie and mushroom quiche at their respective prices.
Would go back to try sweet.
Restaurantji Recommends
Bernard is a gem and a marvel. Great food, great deserts, and wonderful owners.
Deceptively lists it's prices. Charges a fee of its own invention (not required by law and not set by the city).
One way to know for certain that this is is a made up fee is to note that not every resteruant charges it and those that do charge different amounts.
Much like ticketmaster used to do:this is a form of drip pricing and inherently dishonest.
Delicious turkey,avocado,white cheddar sandwich on Dutch crunch.
Tasty soups and lots of sweet things.
Any place that has a solid lunch for under $15 in 2024 is a win in my book- it helps that cafe Madeline's chicken pot pie also might be one of the best pot pies I've had. A nice chicken medley with a great flakey crust. And it comes with a salad?? What's not to love? The folks working the counter are always pleasant and of course they also sell all sorts of sweet treats.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
I actually was a bit worried when walked into cafe Madeleine because all of your 1 star review.
But I just need some desserts to go, so I bought a box of 4.
The staff is busy but friendly, they gave me suggestions for the most popular cake.
Each cake is $7, I think it's a really good deal in downtown SF.
& I have to tell you, it tastes like heaven.
Love it.
Now it will be my go to place for dessert after Henry's Hunan at Nantoma St.
Loading...