Over Packaging at La Madeleine
Large packages with coffee cup
for size reference
Tiny sandwich, huge box
I don’t typically go to La Madeleine. In fact, I have been to the location in Bethesda probably five times, each time stepping inside, getting the sense that my type didn’t belong there, and then leaving. I could never put my finger on what it was, but I never felt like I was welcome there. Too many stuffed shirts, maybe? Delicious-looking fancy desserts? An air of wealth and contempt? Sure, all these are reasons to stay away from such a place but having actually been a customer, I now have a new reason on top of these.
Normally I am not one to be so intimidated so I decided today that I would stick it out and get a bite for breakfast. $8.38 later and I had a croissant with egg and cheese and a cup of coffee. Apparently they only have one size cup. It was giant – about 20 ounces.
The nice young lady who took my order handed me a bag that looked like it could have been filled with a week’s worth of groceries. I looked inside and found a large plastic container that looked like it might hold enough food to gorge myself on until I purged. I opened the plastic box and found that only about a quarter of the space contained actual food.
A comment on the food – it was good but not $8 worth of good. It was more of a $4 meal. The sandwich was tasty and had sliced tomatoes, which were nice although I had not requested them. Overall, the food met my expectations for a breakfast on the way to work.
In the end, I am still pretty sure that my type doesn’t belong at La Madeleine. Not because of the obvious difference in wealth and self-perceived importance but because of the obvious difference in beliefs about conservation and being a good environmental steward. La Madeleine is a hotbed of waste and over packaging. Thanks, but I will not be back. Not even for an overpriced tasty pastry.
I often eat lunch at a nice burrito place in Dupont, but the bags they give you for carryout are ridiculously thick – at least 3 mil. I always ask them not to give me one, which seems to be a tall order sometimes. But every place is guilty – plastic flatware, fifty napkins, all of that paper – not necessary. Such waste.
The best thing La Madeleine has to offer is their tomato basil soup. It’s probably about 2000 calories in a bowl, given that it contains tomato sauce, tomato juice, heavy cream & butter (they published the recipe on a shareholder’s report years ago), but it’s well worth it.
I hit up La Madeleine in Georgetown sometime. They incredibly tasty paistries (cheesy spinach pie….mmmmmm), but incredibly incompetant service, so its sort of a wash.
La Madeleine’s tomato-basil soup is the thing, with the strawberries-in-brandy-cream-sauce dessert. A-ma-zing. Glad to see attention brought to overpackaging, since it is a problem across the board at area restaurants.
La Madeleine’s is an air of wealth and contempt? Maybe you are just in the wrong neighborhood. Try the one in Bailey’s Crosscroads to feel at home. And when you’re there- try the french onion soup, anything that will be served with their home-made chips- and when you feel like splurge on a nepolenoan- with or without the strawberries.
But I have to agree with you on the packaging. Next time- tell them to same the bag.