I fell in love with Pix upon moving to Portland a few years ago, I relished their flavorful creations and dreamed up reasons to frequent them. Now I'm having serious doubts. I recently brought my sister-in-law there. When our desserts arrived, the Jane Avril had a portly fruit fly stuck to the top layer, which I deftly removed before she noticed. The Jane Avril cake layers were tasteless, gummy and rubbery, resisting the fork. My Amelie had seen better days & didn't have the pungency of times before, it simply tasted overly sweet. I wanted to give Pix the benefit of the doubt and shrugged it off, no one is perfect all the time, why a patisserie? This last time was worse. I've often observed the bizarre flow at the NE location. People crowd the case, eventually they're told to take a seat, eventually a waiter appears, or alternatively, people take a seat, expect to be waited on and then have to go up to the case to look at the desserts and hunt down a waiter. Well, I wanted to be helpful so I alerted a waiter behind the case that I was sitting down outside, as the sign on my table had indicated that I do. She said she would be with me shortly, no one came by to ask my drink order. 10 minutes went by, I felt forgotten, so I went up to the case again and explained that I was still waiting. I was asked if I had told someone I was there, and was asked if I had asked the right person: the lead waiter, which I had. I was told they were busy and that they would get to me. I said okay& I just hope you don't forget about me! Then the waitress said, oh, well, fine, I guess I can wait on you now (as I made my way to the table) When I got to the table she accusingly said: You don't have water yet? No, not yet...I got the Royale, which was a stale dome of chocolate-colored mousse covered in a rubbery skin of chocolate ganache. Oh, the disappointment! Don't go there if you expect service under a reasonable time frame! Beware the stale desserts!
more