Chilly Reception at Fort Greene's L'Epicerie?
We’ve been hearing a lot of people complaining about the bad vibes at gourmet market L’Epicerie on Vanderbilt. Evidently, the owners aren’t exactly winning customers over with their warm and fuzzy interpersonal skills. How have readers’ experiences been recently?
We’ve been hearing a lot of people complaining about the bad vibes at gourmet market L’Epicerie on Vanderbilt. Evidently, the owners aren’t exactly winning customers over with their warm and fuzzy interpersonal skills. How have readers’ experiences been recently?
I’ve never had a problem w/ them, and I’m really glad that they’ll carry fish now. We do need a place to buy the fancy stuff now & then, after all, and I’ve found theirs to be good…
I certainly meant no insult to the French in my comment — I lived in Paris for eight years and loved it. It’s just that it’s not their culture to be all lovely-dovey to total strangers — it’s even seen as being overly-familiar and insulting to the customer. And I’m referring to small shops here — the boulangeries, fromageries, poissioniers, etc., who make up the backbone of French commerce — don’t get me started on the absolute rudeness of workers in the grands magasins a la Galeries Lafayette — that’s a totally different story!
I agree with the poster who said that when you open a small neighborhood market, you should be nice to the neighbors! I lived in France for several years and believe me you cannot blame this on a nationality – the French tend to appreciate regular customers. Much of their culture is built around having a relationship with the people you buy things from, especially food.
I’m the 1:44 poster, I don;t need to be coddled at every turn Lafayette lad. I’m buying their overpriced bread & cheese & ask for a bag & get annoyance in return? And it was raining outside to boot.
Plus they have that obnoxious sign about the bread.
This is the same person who owned that place-can’t remember the name on Lafayette Avenue and Adelphi-it went out of business THANK GOD!! They were so rude to my husband and I when we spoke to them about one of their waiters who was so condescending to my husband. We never went back. One day we went into L’Epicurie and realized that it was the same owner. I walked out and WILL NEVER shop there, any place but there.
When the French want something from you, they’re the nicest people on the planet.
When you want something from them, forget about it!
I like Provence, the French restaurant on MacDougal and Prince in Soho.
While hardly “warm” the service there is fair and efficient. (As consumers, do we really need to be coddled at every turn? Have you shopped at Pathmark lately?) Besides, as someone mentioned above, the cheeses are killer, the pate’s spectacular, and it IS just about the only place where you can get a decent loaf of bread in our hood. In any case, why not make an adventure out of it and try speaking a little French when you’re in the store. You may just break the ice…
I had no idea that they were so rude to others, but I should have known. They were gratuitously unpleasant to me when I walked in not knowing they were closed. The door was open, but a curtain was up. When I entered they said “Can’t you see we’re closed!?†I vowed never to return and never will. As far as I am concerned they were closed permanently from that moment. It’s too bad because it’s a cute looking storefront. If they had simply said, “Please come back later.†I would have and they would have had the pleasure of selling me some overpriced cheese.
Mmmmm i was thinking the same, 1:44. I’d even hand-deliver it printed on Fresh-Direct letterhead, with a smile