C'est La Vie French Bakery & Cafe

Lovely little bakery with a variety of beautiful (and delicious) treats. Has a great outdoor patio area to enjoy your dessert with a hot coffee. Recommend!

After a nearby winery stop on Saturday, my top tier chums and I popped by this café for some coffee and to take a bit of a breather from the insanity of the downtown New Hope area (which seems to get more and more chaotic every year). C'est La Vie has some noticeable signage on the main drag, but the actual establishment is tucked away down a little side street/alley. There's some decent outdoor seating that has a pleasant view of the Delaware River, but unfortunately we ended up getting over there 20 minutes prior to the closure of that section of the café - we probably would have lingered a bit longer otherwise.There was a solid handful of customers in the establishment when we walked in, so I'd say we ended up waiting close to 10 minutes from the time of entry to us all receiving our orders. Nothing egregious, and the line moved pretty efficiently. There was a rude older gentleman who cut the line and made some distasteful comments to the staff, but I think they handled that about as well as you can.I decided to get a small vanilla latte, and then impulsively requested a Napoleon pastry after making eye contact with it in the display counter. Neither purchase was regretted. One small piece of constructive feedback though - there's a menu up on the wall, but it doesn't explicitly indicate that lattes are an option. Not a huge deal (and there's an argument to be made that lattes are ubiquitous in any coffee place), but I did have a solid 30 seconds of debate about my backup drink because I wasn't sure if they'd have that latte. Anyway. The latte was very good, and the Napoleon was gigantic, as you can see from the attached picture. Delicate, flaky and pretty much perfect from a pastry perspective. It's a little hard to eat in my opinion because of its by definition tiered structure, but that's certainly not C'est La Vie's fault. I knew what I was getting into.There's no such as a hidden gem when it comes to downtown New Hope, but this place at least doesn't feel like you're in the middle of a cattle stockyard of tourists. And as a bonus, it offers above average coffee and pastries.

Great, everything! Great service.Friendly staff, good environment.They even have handmade dog bones!

Favorite coffee stop for cycling journeys. Wonderful selection of delicious pastries!

Come here and over indulge at least once if you wanna make sure you die without regrets some day.

Another stop on our tour of New Hope brought us to this little gem. Tucked off the street, you have to walk down an alley to find it but it's worth it. Authentic French pastries and a little hangout to eat it all. A definite must try

Clean, lovely bakery with a huge selection of beautifully made pastries and bread. The flourless chocolate cake is amazing!

After a very long walk on an extremely hot day we arrived at one of our favorite bakeries, C'est La Vie, at 2:45pm. We were ordering pastry and tea when we were told we could not sit outside on one of the many plastic chairs as we were informed "we are officially closed." (The open sign continued to blink well after we left.) I assume they thought we would want to stand in the hot sun enjoying our pastries and drinks! The owner who has been congenial and friendly in the past, particularly to our French family when visiting, was beyond rude today. Obviously we left and will never return, which is sad as this is really one of New Hope's more reliable establishments. We don't really know what has become of good manners, not to mention business etiquette.

The breads and pastries were fantastic. Taste of France with a local hometown PA vibe.

The baguette was so very disappointing. It was not even near a quality french baguette from the exterior color to the bland white interior. The almond chocolate croissant had a tiny sliver of chocolate inside although the texture and taste of the croissant were pretty good.

Absolutely love this place!The owner is a gentleman from Paris who really knows his stuff.The staff are energetic, knowledgeable, friendly, and a pleasure to interact with. The raspberry tarts are great. The turnovers are superb. Not too many people make cherry turnovers. But these guys do, and they are among the best I've ever eaten. The croissants are excellent. Their chocolate mousse is served in a chocolate teacup. The presentation is absolutely adorable, and the mousse is hands-down the best you will ever eat.The place is nestled in behind and between two buildings on Main Street abutting the Delaware River, and it is a bit difficult to get parking there. But do it. Just do it. Or park nearby and take the walk. It's absolutely worth it.I live an hour and 15 minutes away in a different state. But when I want to get my turnover on or get my mousse on, I'm there. You should be too...

Good selection of French pastries. Everything is fresh baked!

Every thing we ordered here was very balanced not to sweet not to bland. Baba Au Rhum, Cream Puff, Mango Mousse and Crème Brûlée.

Real French baker on the Delaware riverfront, what more can ask, ah yeah they do seasonal French pastry so don't miss any seasons ?

This is our favorite bakery. Real French Bakery. Anything you eat here will become your favorite choice.