La Petite Dauphine
2029 Walnut St
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Neighborhoods: Rittenhouse Square, Penn Center

La Petite Dauphine's identity feels torn between being a "cafe" and being a "restaurant."   It's a small establishment that tries to be high end, yet there are little things, like paper napkins, that point in a different direction.  This is fine, I have nothing against food establishments with an identity crisis - so long as the food is good.


I ordered the chai latte, which tasted like tea bag chai with steamed milk.   The hallmark of chai is its spices - there was nothing in here that screamed cinnamon, ginger, cloves, etc.

We started off by sharing the almond croissant.  My first bite reminded me not of "Oh, it's like when I was in France."  Instead, the thought that came to mind was "Oh, the one at Au Bon Pain was much better."

Almond Croissant

Next, I had the omelete with ham and spinach.  The spinach tasted fresh, but the omelete in general was so-so.  As I was finishing up my omelete, the waitress finally brought out our water. Thanks!  I also had a bite of the Croque Monsieur.  For a fancy ham and cheese sandwich, it tasted quite ordinary.

Omelete with spinach and ham

Croque Monsieur

We ran into the unfortunate incident of "our credit card machine is broken."  I get this a lot from Chicago cab drivers, but was surprised the waitress didn't mention this earlier.  With no other choice, I dragged my butt out into the cold and begged passerbys for change.  Just kidding, there's a Bank of America ATM next door.