Amélie’s French Bakery & Café | Carmel Commons

This place was terrible. We orderd 2 sandwiches off the menu and ordered it to go. It was Martin Luther King day so they were busy but the wait for our to go order took over 30 minutes. We had to leave for an appointment so we left without getting our food. They did refund our mo ey for the food but it was frustrating nonetheless. We never did try the food and probably never will. The staff we talked to about it were rude and blamed the backup on the kitchen staff. My girlfriend ordered a small tea and the tea was large but very weak. She asked for another tea bag and an employee took her over to the area where the tea bags were at the end of the bar and told her to pick out the tea she wanted, she even told her to try a couple different ones which was kind but then the guy making the coffee and drinks who said he was a manager told her "Hey, what are you doing, you cant just take those." She explained to him that his employee told her to select a few and he said "So.your just going to take them and walk out of here with them?" and her reply was "Yep!".

It was good before fall 2022. I liked everything about this place. However now it is different:

- no classic commercial grade espresso machine anymore, just a single "automatic" one.

- barista professionalism is questionable: coffee (cappuccino) is very inconsistent, most of the times 8oz cup is filled tops, it is boiling hot that you burn your mouth etc. It tastes more like milk than coffee (too much milk + boiling hot).

- to get an extra shot of espresso (to make it taste more like coffee) you have to pay for a separate Double Espresso (I have to order it separately and after because I never know how bad/good my cappuccino will be this time).

- prices recently skyrocketed. A "large (diameter=3 inches)" pecan tart is now 6.50 before tax. I would (maybe) agree to pay this price if the coffee section/baristas would be making it right and consistent. Still it became very, very expensive.

I did not want to hate it. I just don't understand why should I pay so much for this kind of service (most of my complaints are regarding coffee quality). I know I can find another place but the location of this one is good for me. And it used to be better.
Please take some effort to educate baristas and improve the quality of coffee.

I have been coming to Amelie’s for close to ten years. Have always enjoyed coming here for a weekend breakfast. But price increases are out of control. On top of it the portion sizes have gotten smaller. Fine if you have to raise costs, but don’t screw meet on the food amount. For example the croissants have clearly gotten smaller. Will be coming here far less.

Staff at front is friendly. Their system would work better if they brought the drinks for dine-in customers. If you order food for dine-in, you have to 'eye' the barista bar, or listen carefully, if your drinks are ready.
Would be way more pleasant if they had the food runner also bring the drinks for dine-in customers, and just to keep the table number for reference for both food and drinks. Today we got our food right away, but the drinks we had to grab from the bar way after we finished our food. The male barista wasn't very personable either...on auto-pilot and a little smug.
For to go customers, waiting at the bar works fine.
For their pricing, I'd expect service to be better as you have to keep getting up from your seat this way. I know at other counter service places, this method works best as mentioned above.
Pastries and desserts are amazing.

Very disappointed, I ordered 2 Chai lattes large size to go today, and when we were at the house ready to drink them, they taste like water , super watery nothing of what a Chai latte is expected to be, I drove 15 mins to go pick up and 15 mins back and just to put them in the sink, very very disappointed and loose of money

Almond croissant that I took out was dried out. Worst of all management doesn't seem to care about responding to customer bad experience. It's a shame. I used to like going here
Dear Owner, Thanks for your response. I sent a message on your webpage and am awaiting a still response. Not sure how you are expecting me to provide my email privately. Do you really want to make good - it sure doesn't seem like it

Lovely environment with cozy seating, pastries, and a good selection of coffee, and hot tea. I had a fruity black tea that was fantastic, and sat by the “fire” for ambiance. Staff was friendly.

Got to the front of the line and the cashier said “food and drink with me.” I ordered a pastry and got loudly berated for not ordering at the right location. Last time I checked pastry are food. As a first time customer this was very inappropriate.

I liked the food here and it is pretty cool inside to be honest. Also the lady at the counter did everything possible to help us with our order since we were here for the first time. I didn't give five stars only because we did wait 25 minutes for our order to be done and it was served in paper bowls and plastic containers - I'm not sure they always do that

Nice place that I was able to finish some work at. Seemed quieter than NoDa location. Found a cool little working nook by the "fireplace". They were accommodating to my vegetarian needs as I was able to create my own sandwich. It was a grilled cheese on a croissant with caramelized onions & sliced apples. Really good pot of tea also.