Au Bon Pain

Got the spinach and cheese hot croissant (who doesn’t love a warm, cheesy, savory baked good for breakfast???). I like how for the baked goods, it’s self-​serve so you get to pick which pastry you want (unless you’re a germophobe… then this probably isn’t the place for your baked good needs… but you can always get the made-​to-​order food here instead). The breakfast sandwich station was the most popular option here. Anyways, the croissant I picked ended up being on the dry side/​overbaked and the amount of filling was lacking, but it was still a hot and flaky, tasty treat on a cold, winter day. Plus, it’s affordable — a quick and easy breakfast under $ 4.
There’s ample seating, as most people prefer the grab-​and-​go method. I dined-​in, and while they do offer free WiFi, it was kind of shoddy (at least where I was sitting — a table in the hallway near the side entrance). That was a little disappointing.
Service while paying was mediocre, but I did appreciate that an employee checked in while I was seated to make sure I was doing okay.
Overall the place was clean, so it’s a good place to kick back and relax, maybe read the paper, to start off your morning if you have time. Or take-​out is fine too for those always on the go. There are lots of ABPs around the city, and this one will meet your ABP needs.

The food is good, but the service is terrible. They have a large sign advertising two croissants for $ 5 and are very specific about their entire set and type. I purchased a multigrain and sweet cheese croissants. But when I went to pay for them, the cashier refused to honor their special insisting that the multi-​grain wasn’t included in spite of the fact that the sign clearly said it was. I asked her to just look at the sign and she refused. So I told her to forget the sale and then she checked and agreed.
Terrible service. Won’t go back.

This place is awesome. I stop by here for a breakfast sandwich and coffee in the morning. Today I got a lunch sandwich because I was in a rush in the morning. Anyway, the food is good, the service is exceptional and the people are friendly in the morning. The food is well made, fresh and tasty. Thanks and keep up the good work. I honestly do not understand the bad complaints about this place.

Just expected more out of their bread.

*Review for Catering*
I am forever indebted to Au Bön Pain.
Leave it to me to learn the very hard way that you do not order a catered lunch for 10 people, on the morning of said lunch. No. No. No. Not in downtown DC, anyway.
I easily called 20 establishments. By the time I hung up the phone on my very last attempt, I was about to have a nervous breakdown. We were expecting international visitors in two hours, and I had no food, and no plan to get food. Talk about stresss.
Then by chance, I remembered that I always walk by an Au Bön Pain at Metro Center. I dialed in fear and desperation. They saved the day. They made the magic happen.
I was connected to their catering HQ in Boston, which routes all of their jobs, and they held my hand through the whole ordeal, and made me feel at ease. I went with their Café Creation Boardroom Lunch, which included enough eats to feed a small village… for a week — at least. Food, glorious food — beautiful gourmet food, in no time flat. ABP made it look like I’d had lunch planned forever.
Sandwiches, two salads, two trays of sweets and berries, a bread bucket. The real standout was the roasted veggie and hummus plate. It’s been a month and I’m still thinking about that entrée. The veggies were perfectly cooked — firm and crispy, slightly salty. Nom. Nom. Nom.
The damage was about $ 250, including an $ 8.50 delivery fee. Really, a very small cost, for my sanity, when I think about it. And there was no extra charge for the crazy last-​minuteness of my order, either.
Now every single day that I walk by Au Bön Pain, I count my blessings and offer a silent ‘thanks’. The next time I needed lunch for work, I ordered a week in advance. :D

The only reason why I’m giving it 2 stars instead of 1 is because the lobster salad sandwich I got there during the summer was pretty damn good. The staff at this location, however, is a disgrace. They are mostly if not all kids who have no sense of urgency whatsoever, and just pass the time talking/​joking amongst themselves rather than paying attention to customers. And yes, it takes so long for one of them to prepare anything, whether it be a latte or sandwich, that I was about to jump behind the counter and show them how it was done, having myself worked in food service and retail.

Enter Au Bön Pain this past Saturday (this location). Close to empty, one employee making a salad, goes and gets other employee to make my sandwich. I order toasted sandwich… for whatever reason, this guy doesn’t let the toaster run to the end… you can see an lcd type screen with the timer on it, and a red «x» to stop the process. The red x was pressed as the timer showed just past half way through.
I ordered a toasted sandwich because I wanted a toasted sandwich. I didn’t want a half toasted sandwich. I was not in a rush, nor was there some huge line that this guy had to keep moving. I assume he wanted to get back to goofing off in the back.
ABP should not offer toasted sandwiches if employees are not going to toast them… I’ll skip ABP next time it is an option… eight months… you won’t see me in an ABP.

This place is great for a quick breakfast or lunch. I absolutely love the breakfast museli, and the ham and cheese cressants! The staff is super cool and you can sit and eat there if you want. The have lots of different baked goods, and I cant wait to go back and try more…

We only chose this restaurant for lunch because it was the first open restaurant we found on a very cold Sunday. We placed our orders at the counter and gave the cashier our names. The restaurant was not busy, but we waited for an eternity for our orders. One guy just gave up and grabbed my brother’s sandwich after the cashier announced my brother’s name, so we had to wait for them to make another sandwich.
Everyone, but me, thought the food was bland, but edible. I ordered a tuna sandwich. Apparently, they ran the tuna through a food processor because it was the consistency of cat food. It was flavorless. The bread was also terrible. I could only eat a few bites of my food. The bathroom smelled like sewer and was dirty.

The quality of the food and the service is outstanding. I order the Southwest Egg Bacon and Cheese on a jalapeño bagel with extra southwest sauce at least three out of five days a week for breakfast. At least once a week, I will have a soup and sandwich or a chocolate croissant. All the soups are delicious, and every sandwich I have had has been great. It seems like they use fresh ingredients, their sandwiches are made with interesting combinations, and the chocolate croissants are so good that I almost chocked on the powdered sugar coating once because I was literally inhaling the croissant. The staff, especially at the sandwich station, is awesome. Staff member «M» always remembers what you order and is very courteous and professional. The only bad thing about this place is that it is too expensive.

Sort of disappointed in this location. I came in at around 9:00 a.m. on a Sunday and you would have thought it was 9:00p.m. The baked goods in the case looked like they were the same ones from the night before given the sparse trays and dry appearance. I opted for a breakfast sandwich, which was fine. Stopped be from being hungry at least. Sat down to eat, only to swat gnats flying through the air. If I am in the area next time, I think I’ll just go to Starbucks, even if there is a line.

I’ve been eating here for years. As a poor grad student, my classmates and I would wait until 8:40 p.m., then go down and buy the discount pastries and bagels that were about to be thrown out. Ah, memories.
I stopped by here when it town recently. I got an egg white breakfast sandwich with avocado, along with grapes and an iced coffee. I really like the French vanilla iced coffee, but I can’t believe a little tub of grapes was $ 2.29. I could buy two pounds for the same price, but I guess that’s what you pay for convenient healthy food.
The breakfast sandwich was tasty and filling for 300 calories and the service was quick. I liked sitting outside and enjoying my coffee, too.

Ugh, I am so annoyed with this place. After my one other experience with Au Bön Pain I decided I would never go back but about a week ago I was feeling sick and wanted some soup. I remembered that Au Bön Pain has a soup bar.
So boyfriend and I came here to get 2 «large» soups. Large is in quotes because their large size for the soup barely qualifies as a medium in my book. It barely holds anything.
Guess how much the 2 «large» chicken noodle soups cost? $ 12!!! We could have gotten two legitimately large Quiznos subs with avocado and bacon in them and stuffed ourselves silly for the same price. We finished our «large» soups in like 10 minutes and still felt hungry.
Shame on this overpriced craphole! I have learned my lesson and am never coming back. Please, if you want soup go to Devon and Blakely up the street.

Overpriced breakfast sandwiches and decent coffee. If you need a quick breakfast, this isn’t a terrible choice, but it isn’t far and above your best choice.

Favorites: Wild Mushroom Soup, Harvest Pumpkin Soup & Cherry Danish.
Also, when I bring in for lunch one of my homemade stews, I head to ABP to grab some bread — they do have some great rolls.
I’ve not had their sandwiches in a while, but I do love their selection of soups. I don’t come here often as I find them to be pretty expensive.

Au Bön Pain is not my favorite for lunch, but it is on the tastier if expensive side for the bakery themed restaurants.
My review is not about what I like there though, but rather the experience I recently had. I went to Au Bön Pain to get some chicken noodle soup to take home. I didn’t trust their to go container since I was going home on metro and bus so I asked if I could have some aluminum foil to better cover the container so it wouldn’t leak. I went through 3 different people before the manager understood what I wanted, and the container was wrapped in aluminum foil AND plastic wrap and was very secure.
Even though it took several people to understand my request, the request was finally understood and was taken care of quickly. The manager that day was very understanding and easy-​going and I appreciated his taking the time to help me out.
The soup did survive a 25 minute metro ride AND a 30 minute bus ride with no leakage! Thanks Au Bön Pain for helping me out! I’d recommend you for customer service and for a quick bite to eat.

I’ve only come here for breakfast, and am usually pleased with the service and food. I really think some of it is overpriced ($ 8 for a bagel sandwich and orange juice?) but it’s right next to the 13^th street exit at Metro Center, and the staff is generally speedy in the morning.
Sometimes there are homeless people wandering around the sitting area in the morning — just going in and out of the doors. I don’t really mind them, except that they keep opening the doors and its winter and quite cold outside! Sometimes they give me weird looks too and that makes me feel uncomfortable. Usually, I’m in and out very quickly and they don’t bother me at all.
I would recommend the salmon wasabi bagel or the bagel thin with egg whites and avocado. If you’re not into breakfast sandwiches, I love their apple cinnamon oatmeal in the mornings. If you get there past 9:30 a.m. though, they often run out!
One quick note: if you are buying many bagels (1 – 2 dozen) for a company breakfast, I would recommend bringing your own «bag». They only offer boxes and carrying 3 boxes of bagels that don’t quite balance on top of each other or close and walking 3 blocks in the cold is really difficult.

2.5 stars
ABP is really close to work. on a rainy day when I’m not wearing galoshes or boots or something, ABP is the place to go, since it’s the closest place with soups.
their soups inevitably taste like something from a can – really, really salty, and just loaded with msg or something. sandwiches taste way too buttery (not in a good way) with meat that seems almost fake… and their bread usually tastes a little on the stale side. I always get a ton of lettuce ribs in my salads, which i hate, so not a huge fan of that (plus, it looks like there’s lots of yummy stuff, but it’s actually like ¾ lettuce).
if you ever make anything «to order» here (sandwiches and salads and such, where you need to write your order on that sheet of paper), I guarantee it’ll always take twice as much time as you think it will. And even with that wait, they’ll usually mess it up somehow. and it’s really not *that* great a value.
I will, however, stop in for a bagel or something for breakfast. I’m a sucker for honey pecan cream cheese ^^” their oatmeal in the morning is great – with almonds and some raisins and dried cranberries and a little brown sugar… nom!
all in all, it’s a «meh» place… but breakfast and its location keeps me going back.

Dear God. never before have I ever wanted to leap across the counter at a sandwich place and make the God-​damned sandwich myself.
A ridiculous ordering system where you have to write everything down, but the workers invariably cannot read it, so you have to tell them what you want anyway.
All that and a homeless person jamming up the ladies — although in fairness to one of the staff she did march her out in fairly short order once it was brought to her attention.
On the plus side, they did have macaroni and cheese for Soccerballgirl, and $ 54 for lunch for 5 downtown wasn’t robbery.

My favorite thing here is probably that I can get a big bowl of piping hot oatmeal with sliced almonds, raisins, a little brown sugar and low fat milk for breakfast. Add a banana, and I’m good to go for the day. What a way to start the day in the office.
FOOD
I do like several of the soups (esp. the corn chowder, clam chowder, & tomato basil are among my favorite — soup offerings rotate on a daily basis) and I decide not to care the nutritional values associated with the blueberry muffins because they are so yummy.
The ½ price bakery items at the end of the day is a nice touch and if I’m still in town, I’ll pop in here and pick up something for the next day’s breakfast.
The new «Portion» line of snacks (small tubs with crackers/​cheese/​fruit, salads, hummus, etc…) are a nice concept — and I’d love to get them as many times I’m in the mood for just a bite or two — but I look at them and the quantity of food you get and I just see OVER PRICED. $ 2.99 is pretty steep for a dollop of herb cheese, 4 captains wafers, and 5 grapes — especially when you can walk to the Starbucks nearby, pay $ 5.99 and get the 4 times larger fruit and cheese tray.
SERVICE /​ATMOSPHERE
Otherwise — this is a chain store. They quickly turn a good crowd both a breakfast and lunch. Offerings from the made-​to-​order salad and sandwich station are good, but nothing I’m going to die about if I don’t get here. On average, I only get something from these stations every few months, and usually get soup or something from the cold case.
Location is clean and tidy. Its busy but you can usually find a seat if you are eating in. Restrooms are usually clean — and they do a good job at keeping the tables and restrooms to the patrons only. During Spring/​Summer/​Fall, they have few tables outside.