I have always loved this little cafe in Capitol Hill - good food and reasonable prices for DC. However, customer service has gone steadily downhill. I understand Sunday morning brunch is super busy for many cafes and restaurants. However, I stood at the register to order for over 20 minutes without so much as eye contact from staff, let alone an acknowledgement of my presence or a note that I'd be served as soon as they could. When I finally was able to order, there was no acknowledgment or apology for the long wait. The woman at the register even pulled down her mask when I asked her to repeat something - a huge no-no in these COVID times. I don't think I'll be back anytime soon. read more

Expect to find a neighborhood coffee shop masquerading as a restaurant. I'm sure it's popular with the locals, because it's... local. It's not a destination food attraction. Lost food orders and disinterested staff are the real items on the menu. In my opinion, you can skip unless you're desperate. read more

A quaint cafe right off of Pennsylvania Ave.Great prices and fast service! My daughter loathed her fruit so I happily took it on with my Orange French toast.The bacon was perfect! read more

Le Bon Cafe - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

I never give bad reviews--but my experience at this establishment prompts it. My boyfriend and I popped into this "French cafe" after a long bus ride. The woman at the counter was rude and mumbling. I ordered an omelette. My seven year-old self could have made a more impressive omelette than what I was given. It was extremely thin and dry with absolutely no seasoning. I never have to use salt and pepper at restaurants but I had to try and salvage this omelette somehow. My boyfriend ordered the waffle--it was okay. We had to ask for syrup as they did not originally provide any. We also had to use plastic cutlery although our food was served on real plates. This cafe claims to be French but it has no French elements. French eggs are a culinary masterpiece--these, not so much. Would not go back. read more

Good neighborhood spot to sit outside and enjoy a pastry or sandwich. Only complaint I have are the prices (like all DC). Ordered two cold brews, a bacon egg and cheese sandwich, and a chocolate croissant. All together $28. Food wasn't anything special and chocolate croissant had to be a day old. read more

Cute little place to stop and get a delicious meal. I went in with a large group of friends and they got all of our orders out in 20 minutes which is very quick and I was quite impressed. Everything was great quality food and made with great quality ingredients. The French toast had a delicious crust, very crispy, however the middle was raw and mushy and I couldn't eat it but the fruit on the side was very good and fresh. The breakfast sandwich was light and flavorful and well balanced with a tasty side of nicely cooked potatoes. The Belgian waffle was perfectly cooked with a nice brush of powdered sugar and delicious maple syrup with a nice side of fruit. I also got potatoes with the waffle which were nice as well. The avocado toast was hands down the best avocado toast I have ever had. It was made with a perfect avocado that was thinly sliced and completely covered the crisp, toasty bread. It was topped with very good sesame seeds and nicely salted and to top it all off there was a delicious and fresh couple drops of lemon juice. All the flavors were pulled together nicely and I would definitely recommend it. The iced mocha was also very nice, it had good strong coffee that wasn't too bitter nor too sweet. I really enjoyed the meal and recommend the avocado toast and waffle the most. I also had a latte which was perfect. Great breakfast overall!! read more

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This cafe is amazing. The gluten free and vegan options are amazing. The build your own omelette with a side of home fries is absolutely delicious. Also, the fresh squeezed lemonade is AMAZING! I've been here twice now and it never ceases to blow my mind in terms of flavor. The location is also prime since it's so close to so many great things downtown. Can't wait to come back again in the future! read more

Look no further If you want a personal-feel brunch spot near the National Mall. I was pleasantly surprised with my visit to Le Bon Café. The ambience of this quaint eatery was the perfect start to a long day on National Mall despite the eating area being smaller than desired. Pros: Location / Atmosphere / Cost / Service Cons: Cramped Recommendation: Baked French Toast read more

My go-to lunch spot on Capitol Hill :) Love the caprese sandwich and the southwest avocado quinoa salad. Option to order ahead online is great, especially around the lunch rush time. read more

This is a lovely, quaint, little cafe. French toast was great, and so was the service!

1 Star for aesthetic (music and decor, locale) 1 Star for quick, edible food, 1 Star for affordability. -2 stars for burnt weird bread that felt wrong and because they didn't clear the tables (which were also dirty) and the yell out your meal and don't have real utensils. read more

I have been eating at Bon Cafe for years. The food has always been generally good but never great. The staff have always been unhappy to provide service. Today it hit a notable low point when the staff, I can only assume by edict from the always grumpy and uncommunicative owner/manager, announced to a customer who had just bought two pricey sandwiches and more, that the restaurant had no tap water. Oh come on. "We have no tap water" the server insisted. Really!!!! Not possible if your restaurant is open. Just abusive but not surprising. Get your act together folks. The hill is a friendly place. The sour, mean attitude is not okay for a local business that relies on the neighborhood. read more

This place is a joke. It looked cute, the pastries looked promising. I ordered breakfast including a croissant. 20 minutes later, I inquired about the food, found out that they had never bother to tell the cook to make it (they just took our money and stared at the wall I guess). I asked for the croissant that had been sitting on the counter, THEN they asked if it should be warmed up Ok We wanted to leave and asked for our money back. They promised they would get it out quickly. Another mistake. They microwaved a ham sandwich with a pile of cheese on top and still cold ham inside. Not broiled, no bechamel, nothing a true croque monsieur should have. The waffle was barely cooked, corn syrup instead of real maple. Even worse? The water dispenser had algae in it! Never an apology from clearly useless staff. Unsurprisingly, they have been suspended for health code violations: http://www.wusa9.com/story/news/local/2014/03/20/restaurant-inspection-washington-dc/6660161/ read more

Le Bon Cafe - Microwaved ham sandwich with a mess of cheese on top (ham still cold) that they have the nerve to call a "croque monsieur". - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

Fundamentally, the coffee is really good here, and they know how to mix drinks effectively. So you get what you want! Pastries are solid and the service is pleasant. read more

I went back for the first time in a year or so and was reminded of how terrible the service is. It's not that the staff is unfriendly, it's just that they work at an erratic and unpredictable speed (popping out three sandwiches, including a panini, in short order, then mysteriously sandbagging on a fourth cold sandwich), and have no communication skills, as evidenced by the following dialogue: Friend: "I'll have the chicken soup. LBC: "Oh, it won't be ready for about five minutes." Friend: "That's all right." (Five minutes later, friend is served soup, takes it to table, starts to eat it.) Friend: "I'm sorry, I ordered the chicken soup, this is vegetable soup." LBC: "Right, we said the chicken soup won't be ready yet." Friend: ???? It's still a nice place for lunch, but go with patient people. read more

Fun and quick little breakfast place. The French toast has a nice, orangey flavor and the Belgian waffle is super fluffy and crispy. The service is professional. So you are aware of the setting - there is no table service - you order at the counter and they call it out when it's ready. I can see them having a lot of trouble keeping up when its busy, but for a quiet weekday morning it was perfect. read more

Delicious Croque Monsieur and Jambon Beurre sandwiches! Definitely recommend!!! The Iced Vanilla Latte and French potato salad were perfect too! read more

We ordered some sandwiches for the office (in one of the buildings on the hill) and it took them damn near 2 hours to figure out where it was. They're less than a mile away and I'm sure have delivered to the hill countless times but still managed to not find us until a decent chunk of the day had gone by. There's like a billion cops around you could ask who would instantly direct you to us but noooo not for the le bon cafe drivers. The driver was also rude to us on the phone. Awesome. My tuna sandwich was ok. Nice multi grain bread. But it's by no stretch of the imagination worth the wait. read more

This little cafe has the best coffee cake I think I've ever had. Moist, with a ribbon of chocolate! Good iced tea as well.

Great location. Grilled chicken and goat cheese salad was wonderful even without dressing (which they forgot to give me initially). My husband had the "special"- a pulled pork sandwich- which had wayyyyyyyy too much of what I assume was liquid smoke and we couldn't eat it. The tables were dirty and the wait was long. I assume if we'd asked the tables would've been cleaned but it's disappointing that they weren't cleaned to begin with. read more

We wanted to get out of the scorching heat of the sun and so stopped by at Le Bon Café. The AC was booming which was exactly what we wanted. We got some drinks here, four stars for the prices. It was bit crowded inside but overall a nice place to chill out. read more

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I've never had tea out of a bowl before. My mom would say this is stupid, but the novelty of it made me happy. :) I literally saw people drinking hot liquids from bowls and said, "I want that! What is that?! I want to drink something out of a bowl!!!" And so i did. I got a chai latte, and it was the last of the day as they ran out (it was noon). I'm particular about my chai, and I thought it was rather tasty. Our party wanted the French toast, but by the time we got there, they had run out of that as well. Instead, we all ordered the waffle, which was crisp and covered in fruit (strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries). I sort of wished mine had also come with whipped cream, but i didn't need the extra calories anyways. My friend got the eggs strata and didn't like it. He said it tasted weird, and he thought it had oatmeal in it. I didn't try it. I was scared. read more

This cafe is simply lovely! Staff here are so sweet ... their coffee & pastries are Definitely my go-to cafe when I'm in the area !!! read more

Food was delicious. Staff was friendly and service was fast. Cute little cafe. Stop by for coffee or lunch. I had the breakfast sandwich and it did not disappoint. read more

This place was always frustrating -- pre-made foods heated up, difficult seating, pretentious staff. Somehow it continues to go down hill as it can't manage the weekend morning crowd. The recipes are good but little is made to order. And so inefficient: to watch the staff look for a lid, run to the back, and then dump a pile on their working space during the morning rush is laughable. Despite its charm, waiting 25 minutes for an espresso drink and re-warmed French toast is not my idea of a successful breakfast outing. read more

Great little place, very busy but food was good. They were out of a few things but it was afternoon when we were there so that's to be expected! read more

I stopped her on the home from an appointment for a late munch. I got the day's special, a roast beef sandwich and a Madeline for dessert. Quick service and very good food. The Madeline was especially good. read more

My fiancé and I have come here before and the food is great. It's a small place and I understand that good business can become overwhelming for staff members. I also understand that things might take longer than suggested which is fine. My problem this afternoon was that upon my fiancés return to the car, he nearly dropped the boxes he was juggling whilst holding our drinks. No bags were offered whatsoever and apparently they cost 5 cents. Which to me doesn't really make much sense considering it would most likely help the staff organize their orders more efficiently. What really made me want to leave this review was the fact that they were out of one of the pastries I ordered and told my fiancé to pick another. The one I ordered was 4.50 and the only other ones available were 3.95. So now I am short 55 cents and I could've gotten 11 of their 5 cents bags but wasn't offered one and was instead told the price to buy one. Customer service is lacking here in a bit of common sense especially since I tipped nicely on a take out order. It's a paper bag. Be for real. read more

This café doesn't look like much from the outside, but the inside is charming and clean. I don't find many cafés with personality often, so I loved that this place felt homey and authentic. I loved the armoire at the front of the shop, as well as the marble tabletops. There was a decent number of people inside, either having coffee chats or doing work, and if I lived in DC, I could definitely see myself getting some work done here. The drinks and food are pretty good. I ordered a chocolate chip banana bread, which was flavorful but wasn't as fluffy as I hoped for. The menu items felt pretty standard for a typical café, so there's not much to comment on. Overall, this is a cute place to grab coffee to-go or sit down for a bit. I loved the atmosphere in here, and I can see it being a local favorite. read more

Stopped in here for lunch, while up on Capitol Hill. They have a smaller French menu. The service is a little slow in the kitchen is clearly very small. I had a sandwich and a salad, both were fine but nothing amazing. If you're looking for a lunch spot to grab a bite on Capitol Hill this is a good spot with a decent outside seating. read more

Le Bon is the best sandwich shop on The Hill. It is a treasure. They have fantastic food. Inside is a little cramped so I kind of prefer taking food to-go. It's the perfect spot to pick up breakfast/lunch (+ a pastry) before a picnic on The Mall. read more

One of the best places to get lunch on the Hill. Delicious sandwiches, soups, quiches, pastries, and more. Quaint outdoor space.

AMAZING breakfast sandwich and very friendly service. Not the BEST coffee but still pretty good!!

The young girl at the register has bad customer service. She dropped a sample of HOT soup in my hand after telling me it was hot. She proceeded to say "oh the irony" and explained that she is an EMT and I shouldn't put ice on my burning hand. She gave me a wet Napkin and told me to hold it on my hand. To top it off my $15 lunch half of a panini and salad was disappointing. If she would've apologized and maybe tried to make me feel a little better after burning me I might recommend this place. read more

Le Bon Cafe - so bland and costs $9 just lettuce a few walnuts & craisins and three pieces of bread with goat cheese slapped on it. - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

3.5 Stars This is a really cute cafe with a simple menu. After walking around sorta aimlessly looking for somewhere to eat we decided on this place. It was lunch and neither of us had breakfast and I just wanted something somewhat light. I liked that they had a good bit of outdoor seating (no umbrella's though, so i was cowering from the sun). Inside has a pretty big skylight so its nice and bright in there as well. I went with the chicken panini which had pesto sauce. My photographer buddy had waffles (breakfast available anytime). When I got my panini I was sorta hoping it would have been larger, but when I started eating it I was pleasantly surprised by how delicious it was. The pesto sauce was GREAT! The outside of the bread was grilled till it was really nice and crunchy and the dollop of potato salad went well with it. I didnt have any of my friends waffles but they smelled delicious. Onlty thing is I was disappointed at the selection for drinks there. There was barely any choices of beverages in their fridge. So I'd say here is pretty good, I just wish I felt more full for the money spent. Def recommend the chicken pesto panini. Also liked getting my food on a real plate and real silverware. read more

Why get a small piece of quiche when you can get Le Bon's egg strata???? That was my exact question to the staff here when my boyfriend Matt J. and I went here after I landed from my red eye flight into DC...The quiche looking a little smaller and they both technically had the same ingredients since their quiche here changes, only the strata comes out hot and you get more of it for basically the same price!!! And it is pretty tasty---egg and cheese and sausage all mixed together with some spices, and this paired with one of their cafe au laits was pretty much perfect. But we were disappointed that for $4.75 my egg strata was better and more filling that their belgian waffle!! That is what matt got and he is a boy so I definitely ended up sharing my strata with him....Le Bon, how could you want little ol' matt to go hungry??? You really should make the waffle a little bigger and you should be a little more giving with the fruit on top. It you could do those things we would have left so much happier. Still a quaint little spot that makes you feel like a local and kinda made me feel like I was back in France at one of those cute little cafes that just make you feel a little french and classy heh read more

So apparently it is impossible to get a non-chain sandwich on the Hill? I went with a friend to Eastern Market, but alas Market Lunch had stopped serving breakfast and the only veggie item on the menu is a grilled cheese. I love me some grilled cheese, but on a 90 degree day after a couple hours' walk it's less than appetizing. We didn't want a full heavy sit-down meal and were ready to give up (not wanting Cosi or Firehook) and hit the metro when we stumbled upon Le Bon Cafe. The menu is small but it had tomato, mozzarella, and basil so I was covered. My friend ordered roast beef, of which they were out, so got jambon beurre instead. The pesto on my sandwich was unexpectedly good--strong basil taste with plenty of parmesan. The bread was a good quality Parisian style baguette (much better than the more genuine dry and crumbly ficelle you'd actually get in Paris) and the potato salad was quite delish. The decor is cute and the music is fun--some sort of "French Bistro" mix CD. It would be nice if there were more choice but we were satisfied. read more

This was a great lunch stop near the Capitol! The chicken breast sandwich and the croque monsieur were delicious. I loved that there was a Pyrex pan of homemade dessert on the counter. read more

If you're looking for an authentic French cafe, steer clear of Le Bon Cafe. Mondieu! There ain't nothing French about this Hill joint. Just as a joke, we call it Le Bad Cafe. But that's not far off. The food is OK and the service regularly comes without a smile. I have to admit that I grab lunch there frequently, but only because I live a few buildings down and it's convenient. You'd figure after going there 300 times, they would acknowledge that I was a regular. But no, I get the same blank, lifeless stares every day. (Come to think of it, that's kind of Parisian, right?) If you want friendly service, go next door to Pete's Diner. The food is average diner fare -- certainly not for those on a diet -- but the staff is sweet. After going there once, they already knew my name. Now that's service! And no, I don't work at Pete's, nor am I a part-owner. I just like a place that makes you feel at home. read more

Le Bon Cafe is one of my go-to spots for lunch on the Hill - when I'm looking to escape the throngs and usual fare of the cafeteria, don't want fast food, and want to eek out a few extra minutes from my lunch hour. Inside this storefront (look for the FedEx/Kinko's just off Pennsylvania on 2nd) you'll find a written menu board featuring salads, sandwiches, panini, and soup. Try not to make eye contact with the baked goods as you wait in line (the chocolate cookie covered in a cracked dusting of powdered sugar is brownie-like and heavenly), and snag a drink (soft drinks of the Coke variety, water, teas) from the cooler or order an iced tea or lemonade when you get up to the register. I'm a fan of the curried turkey salad salad (not a typo) - curried mayo mixed with turkey breast, carrots, and raisins atop a bed of mixed salad greens and a container of tangy green vinaigrette on the side. The curried turkey is creamy enough that you probably don't need the dressing but it's so good that I throw caloric caution to the wind when I eat at Le Bon (either that or I save the dressing for my home-brought salads...is it bad to admit that?). You can also get the turkey salad in sandwich form, which comes with a side of potato salad. Either way, the food is always fresh and delicious, so much so that they sometimes run out of food by the end of the day. There's always a lunchtime line that moves quickly, though the paninis and croque monsieurs tend to take a little bit longer to arrive, so plan accordingly. Seating is also limited -with folks saving tables, vying for them, etc., making your ability to find a seat hit-or-miss. If the day is nice and the seating scarce there are tables right around the corner in front of the Madison building of the Library of Congress to enjoy your lunch at. read more