Cafe de Flore, Paris

As an American tourist my wife and I were repeatedly insulted by the staff. We found hair in our Tablier. Terrible service. Terrible staff. Terrible visit.

I was walking down the street, saw the sunny porch and people sitting with the look of all-the-time-in-the-day on their faces and thought that was just like me. Someone stood up from tea, I sat down in the empty sidewalk table. A waiter cleared their cups, gave me the drink menu, I said in English without a second thought - I'll have a Johnnie Walker Black, rocks, ice. He smiled, said "yes". 5 minutes later, (could have been 10, I was writing and didn't really care) he came back with a well poured drink, a stainless steel bucket of ice cubes and a little spoon. I sat there for 45 mins, smoked a petite Romeo and Juliet cigar, watched a woman in her sixties with big sunglasses and somehow perfect legs transfixed on the shirtless Africans across the street restoring a facade. I'm not sure when he dropped the bill, it was just there on that silver tray that reminded of a vintage cigarette case. I found use to rid my pockets of all the coins, 11 euro, if I remember. Pretty standard I thought. I took a picture of the refection of the cafe in the ice bucket, stood, waved at the waiter with a smile, he returned one and I kept on walking. So basically, no complaints.

Was there in March of last year. On our last night in Paris my wife and I gathered all our courage and decided to dine at the infamous cafe. Much to our surprise, we were treated very courteously. Contrary to the experience of some, our waiter actually tried to communicate in English and was very pleasant. At the end of our meal, I asked the waiter if I could keep the paper placemat and the coaster. He walked away and came back with a new and nealtly rolled placemat and a fancy folding fan for my wife. We didn't try to hide the fact that we were tourists--I had Rick Steve's guidebook in plain sight and was referencing it the whole time we were in the cafe. Some pointers: Dress up nice. Be courteous. Be willing to wait. Show some effort in speaking their language--even if you have to read from a book!

Great location and athmosphere to sit and relax because of it's history and fame but bad service and wrong attitude to tourists ruins all. Not even a "Merci" or smile from waiters. We have been treated like enemy not a paying customer. Bad experience for me so unfortunately I wouldn't advice anybody to visit the Cafe de flore.

service is horrible, waiters are arrogent and indifferent, everything is overpriced, not going again.

Unfortunately I do agree with all the negative comments. Flore was wonderful in the 60s. Now it has become a tourist trap. Over-priced, overcrowded and a shadow of its former relaxed self. Avoid at all costs.

I prefer Les Deux Magots very nearby, but the Flore is certainly very nice. The covered outdoor seating salvages a rainy day when Deux Magots is packed. Expensive, aloof waitstaff, wonderful coffee and pastries. Paris!! More emotion and interest is to be found at Deux Magots, but the menus are different; try both, definitely!

The waiters are arrogant and clearly don't like tourists. When asked to speak in French, they reply in English! The service is painfully slow. The water for my herb tea was luke warm but I was told - too bad - that's how the machine makes it!! The croissants are great but there are loads of places with good croissants. This place is a rip off - Go elsewhere. LaDuree is only around the corner and its great!!

This was a convenient location, but the waiter recognizing American tourists, gave us a bill for 34 Euros for some Croissants, coffee and orange juice. Explaining that there was a service charge. It was all baloney, and he obviously ripped us off. Would not go there again.

After a week in Paris, we came to this storied cafe for lunch. Yes, the location is beautiful, clean and well taken care of. The food was fresh but very overpriced - two salads, a glass of wine and mineral water cost us 50 euro for lunch! And in this city of delicious food, they provided only bottled salad dressing! Clearly this place is resting on its past glamour.