Maison Kayser

Always good food and good service
Keep up the good work, Maison Kayser

The quiche with salad. My favorite was the French onion soup with traditional gruyere. Yum!

Ladies and......Gentlemen- ever feel like you've been teased? With the promise of...very tasty food? Well- that's how I felt when I glanced over their menu before stopping here en route home.

I excitedly stashed Maison Keyser in my back pocket a couple of years ago for a low-key day. Well...it had me fooled. The feel is more like a really cute, put-together Diner and functions just like it: Desserts, hearty food and it's efficient. Really...... that's all Maison is- at least for me it is. By 8:20 on a Saturday night, their Bread and Dessert showstoppers were down to just a few selections as their front glass-marble shelves were nearly empty. So our hopes of bringing home a Baguette later on, was zilch.

I gotta say though- Bistro design is very nice then opens to a mirrored wall with tables alongside it, some cushioned Benches on the opposite side plus lots more seating towards the back. Our server Mar- was friendly and patient despite it being almost closing time at 9.

We put in our orders quick for 2 "very good" Hot Cocoas, a Green Salad- dressed simply and very good with Lemon and Oil, my Roasted Salmon on Cauliflower Mashed (ok) and hubby's Coq Au Vin which he liked served on a Creuset- before he located a wine shop 3 blocks away to purchase a French red and bring back to complement our meal.

Listen- I have my favorite uber-French spot in Scarsdale where I get superb Hot Chocolate, Vegetarian Quiche, Breads, etc- and they're the bomb. But Maison isn't the real deal and honestly feel their "Frenchness" isn't all it's cracked up to be. Hot Cocoa? It was weak- but that's what I get for coming to a "French" chain. The 'Cardinal' cake was filled with Raspberry gelatin (which I don't eat) instead of Mousse as described!!!

Price? $92 and change and that's not even with drinks OR tip! Service though for us-was an all-time high at a 5 and food was doable. But did it win my heart? N...o...nowhere near it.

Yes they are still are a French bakery restaurant that has a contemporary ambiance. As a bakery, they have over 80 locations and about eleven of those locations are in New York City. I have dined for lunch at this Upper Eastside eatery often. We were greeted and seated quickly in the middle of the restaurant. The restaurant was not crowded, but the bakery was quite busy.

Once again the fresh baked bread came out which I washed down with great French coffee/ We ordered Salde De Chevre Chaud which came with warm goat cheese on warm delicious bread. We also ordered the Club Poulet which was a very good chicken sandwich with salad. They also provide us desert on the house which was too good to avoid. Bon Appetite!

This review is solely for the absolutely delicious and my favorite Apple tart at Maison Kayser.
A gorgeous display of sliced and caramelised apples on warm crispy base filled with cream. Every bite is blissful and I somehow can never get enough of it.
Well it's true, no one makes desserts better than the French. Their coffees are equally good quality... Whether it's cappuccino, Americano or macchiato.
A must visit bakery in Newyork

Skip this place.

First of all ... this location is as incompetent as you can get. I had a business meeting and wanted to pick up a few treats for the table ... passing by I saw that this was a New York outpost of a bakery from Paris and the bread in the window looked good ... so I popped in.

There were 3 people at the counter and though I stood there for a minute or so, nobody made eye contact. One was drawing on a straw wrapper with a black sharpie marker, the other was doing something on the cash register while no customers were around and the third had her back to the customers and was staring at people walking outside the window. Okay ... well despite all the workers being South American, this place has the French service attitude down!

I asked for help and all 3 workers kind of stared at each other until one of them asked what I wanted. I was ordering 5 things ... pretty simple stuff. There are a lot of selections but they managed to get over half of my order wrong. What I ordered ... 1 chocolate almond croissant, 2 plain croissants, 2 chocolate twists. What I ended up taking out of the bag at the meeting was way far from that.

For some reason there was 1 dry little loaf of bread (don't know where that even came from!) , 3 almond croissants and 1 plain croissant. They managed to get every single requested number of items wrong. They gave me an item that was a completely different category than what I actually ordered and they managed to get the flavor wrong of the one thing they gave me more of than I ordered.

I looked at the receipt and they had charged me for all the extra items they put in. I should have checked the accuracy before I left as it sounded more expensive than it should have been but she wrapped each item in little paper bags.

So was it at least good? I just got back from Paris where we had lots of such pastries and I can tell you that what they serve here is nothing like what you taste in Paris. This is Au Bon Pain or Panera Bread quality pastry. I have had things at Wholefoods that taste the same or better. What a con job it is to say you are getting something even close to what you'd get in Paris.

I should have known by how empty the place was in midtown. People line up for cupcakes or pizza here. Long story short, the staff is apathetic, the baked goods taste like a grocery store made them and they can't even get a 5 item order even 50% correct. You'd almost have to try to screw up an order so bad. They say guessing on the SAT will get you at least a quarter of the questions correct.

3.5/5

Going in on a weekday afternoon, the place was moderately busy with the dining area half full. I was sad that they didn't sell the Moccacino or the pistachio eclair anymore, but the staff didn't hesitate to offer his recommendations. Speaking of staff, I appreciated how attentive and efficient the staff were at Maison Kayser.

As for the viennoiseries and pâtisseries, I got the Plain Croissant, Adagio and Mangodor. The croissant was average, nothing much and cost $3.30.
However the dark chocolate mousse, in Adagio, was super sweet and creamy. The passion fruit, hidden inside, was the perfect balance to this pastry. In addition, the almond macaron and chocolate square (resting on top of the pastry) were delectable, despite their size.
Lastly, the Mangodor was both sweet and sour (but mostly sour). The top layer (mango mousse) was pleasantly sweet and the middle layer (blackcurrant cream) was absolutely sour. When combined the sourness of the blackcurrant overpowered the sweetness of the mango mousse. As usual, the almond macaron & chocolate square on top of the pastry was delightful.

All in all, I would pop back in for a pastry or two but skip on the croissant.

I've been coming here for years. I usually get a sourdough sandwich called BACON & OEUFS BROUILLÉS
Which contains scrambled eggs, bacon, Norman sauce and gruyere cheese, great tasting. Good way to start the morning off. Can't forget that Carrot Ginger juice or the pineapple mint, both awesome and great tasting. I go crazy for their Madeleines, honestly I'm addicted to them. I get both plain and chocolate. With a good cup of Spanish coffee, these make great snack time treats or at times dessert for my dinner.

They have a selection of fresh pastries and some bread that you can take home and enjoy. The staff is friendly. There's something for all tastebuds!!

I got the almond croissant ($5.15). I enjoyed the flavor and the filling, but not the texture; it was like a smooshed or deflated croissant. It's not that it was the wrong or terrible texture, it's just not what I preferred or expected.

I enjoyed the ambience and environment and I always respect when an establishment allows you to peak into a part of their kitchen (if not the full kitchen) where the magic happens.

I think this location must be the flagship of Maison Kayser, judging by the quality and taste of the pastries!

The almond croissant here is delectable. The croissant has that nutty and crusty exterior with a dense filling of almond paste. It's finished with a generous dusting of powdered sugar.

I also tried the Mi Cuit (chocolate lava cake). I have been searching for chocolate lava cakes in my neighborhood for some time, so I was beyond excited for this find. I microwaved it for 40 seconds so that when I poked at it with my spoon, the gooey chocolate oozed out beautifully. I loved how rich and chocolatey it was, without being too sweet. The seemingly-small cake satiated my lava cake craving that I had been nursing for the past month. The Mi Cuit will be the incentive for me to go out this winter and run those extra miles, but so worth it for the happy points!

I liked the layers of apples on tarte des pommes, and they package it into a nice little box so that it is easier to transport. The tarte is a bit sweet because of the amount of apple they put on top, but I liked it very much.

The brownie is very good too, loved all the pecan they put on top.

The chocolate croissant and pistachio éclair are so so.