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.
Tony Oh
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.
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.
Amber Abbey
Best Cafe downtown got all the yummy snacks and
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Zoe's Ham Sandwich
Steven Vercher
My first frittata and if this is what they are supposed to taste like, my last. One bite was all I could get down. Threw the rest away. Coffee was adequate but nothing special. Turns out it was nothing but a really overpriced cup of coffee. Lesson learned.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 1
Hilmi Ulas
Definitely an excellent lunch and coffee place to try in the area! I might prefer getting it to go though.The lasagna was one of the best vegetarian lasagnas I have ever tried - and I love lasagna. I highly recommend it.The americano was delicious - the right amount of depth and smoke. It helped me when I was running on a few hours of sleep after a long trip!The tiramisu, however, was just meh. Given this is a patisserie-style place, that was disappointing. Maybe skip dessert or try something else.The service was a bit lacking though - I don't know why but the person at the counter was only half-listening and I had to repeat myself a few times. I even started wondering if I was speaking nonsense due to sleep deprivation but nope. Any other interaction I had with the servers here all felt hurried as well, which put a damper on the experience as a whole.So long story short: get lunch + coffee for sure. But don't expect great service.
Vegetarian options: I had the burrata and spinach lasagna which gets a chef's kiss from me. There were many other vegetarian options as well.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Burrata Cheese and Spinach Lasagna
Thyllus Hannon
Just had a bad experience at this place.. went out my way to make this Review. 12/21/23 10:45 am.. I understand they don’t have “Apple pay” but doesn’t mean I don’t have money .. I reached for my debit card .And the Cashier starts ringing up another customer before I can hand him my debit card. I asked .. How does this place work ? The Lady Ignored me . So I walked off .. wasted my break time smh.. I Definitely wouldn’t recommend this Place with the service I received..!
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.
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
Restaurantji Recommends
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.
Best Cafe downtown got all the yummy snacks and
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Zoe's Ham Sandwich
My first frittata and if this is what they are supposed to taste like, my last. One bite was all I could get down. Threw the rest away. Coffee was adequate but nothing special. Turns out it was nothing but a really overpriced cup of coffee. Lesson learned.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 1
Definitely an excellent lunch and coffee place to try in the area! I might prefer getting it to go though.The lasagna was one of the best vegetarian lasagnas I have ever tried - and I love lasagna. I highly recommend it.The americano was delicious - the right amount of depth and smoke. It helped me when I was running on a few hours of sleep after a long trip!The tiramisu, however, was just meh. Given this is a patisserie-style place, that was disappointing. Maybe skip dessert or try something else.The service was a bit lacking though - I don't know why but the person at the counter was only half-listening and I had to repeat myself a few times. I even started wondering if I was speaking nonsense due to sleep deprivation but nope. Any other interaction I had with the servers here all felt hurried as well, which put a damper on the experience as a whole.So long story short: get lunch + coffee for sure. But don't expect great service.
Vegetarian options: I had the burrata and spinach lasagna which gets a chef's kiss from me. There were many other vegetarian options as well.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Burrata Cheese and Spinach Lasagna
Just had a bad experience at this place.. went out my way to make this Review. 12/21/23 10:45 am.. I understand they don’t have “Apple pay” but doesn’t mean I don’t have money .. I reached for my debit card .And the Cashier starts ringing up another customer before I can hand him my debit card. I asked .. How does this place work ? The Lady Ignored me . So I walked off .. wasted my break time smh.. I Definitely wouldn’t recommend this Place with the service I received..!
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
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