Almost everyone knows that I love looking for brunch spots and was quite excited when Ladurée from Paris decided to move to the states (first New York then California). They landed themselves in The Grove and Beverly Hills. I decided to choose The Grove location since it was their first one after all and it was next to my favorite Farmers’ Market.  I made brunch reservations here on July 29th 2017 on a Saturday thinking they’ll be busy AF or something since everyone raves about Ladurée macarons and their pastries. Low and behold, they were relatively empty at 11:00AM in the morning. We got to sit at their patio and thankfully the weather was really warm so no jackets needed.

The initial meeting was with the host at their patio, no smile, no greeting– in fact the hostess looked like she didn’t want to be there. It wasn’t welcoming at all. Although I will say their patio is lovely, covered with beautiful trees and a water fountain makes for great date place. I loved the nature aspect of the atmosphere and how calming it felt with the sound of the water fountain.

We were presented with a wine and food menu, we looked over the menu for a bit but overall was ready to order since we had looked online what they had the night before. But, WOW was our service terribly slow. We were told our waitress would be taking our order, 15 minutes later still nobody came to our table to ask if we wanted water or if we were ready to order. We had to ask three times for someone to take our order then ANOTHER three times for water, the last time being the waitress seeing us parched and asked if we needed water… (UM. YES. We had asked multiple times). The overall service communication between the staff seems very lacking.

When our waitress finally came, we ordered their Ladurée Omelette ($18.00) and their Croque Monsieur ($18.95). Before the main meal we were accommodated with with two breads with a side of butter. When our dishes finally came out I was sadly presented with a average sized omelette (filled with tomatoes, ham and mushrooms) with no sides. Luckily the Croque Monsieur came with a side salad and fries and the boyfriend shared his fries with me because I was still hungry after my meal.

I… Realized that I didn’t like French style omelettes that much. It’s thicker and denser than what I would prefer instead of the regular fluffy omelettes that I’m familiar with. Then the filling were sliced SO tiny that it was hard to eat with a fork, you literally had to focus, stare and aim for the pieces of filling to get at it. The filling was also more on the tart side because the tomatoes’ juice that leaked out (whatever kind of tomatoes they were using) were overwhelming the ham and mushrooms. The overall texture and flavor just didn’t go well together. As for the Croque Monsieur, the boyfriend was expecting a sandwich, but it came out as three small rolls (??) LOL. It was very little for $20 worth of food.

I was fairly disappointed by the quality of their food… I usually go to a restaurant with no expectations, but it’s very hard when the prices are $20 a plate for basic recipes. So I definitely was expecting more (for the ridiculous high end price? HELL YEAH).

Really now… $40 meal for two before tax and tip then a minimum 18% tip? (Almost $50 afterwards) You’d think the quality of food would be better and staff would be more lively and attentive.  We also thought about getting some macarons, but it was $24.00 after tax for a 6 macaron box order… REALLY? $26.00 for a SIX macarons?! That’s ridiculous.

It’s definitely a try once place for experience kind of place, but there are more affordable brunch places all over DTLA and Fairfax that Ladurée isn’t worth it, it’s over hyped. Pretty to look at, but definitely too hyped.

For more photos of Ladurée!

Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Address: 189 The Grove Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90036
Hours:
Monday-Thursday 9:00 AM – 10:00 PM
Friday-Saturday 9:00AM -11:00PM
Sunday 10:00AM-10:00PM