Le Diplomate

For a college student, price and taste are the two most important things. At Le Diplomate, that’s what you get if you can look past the pretentious name. Honestly, this has been bugging me for a while. What is so french about this place. I’m purchasing a hot sandwich. Sure, it uses French Bread but does that really deserve the name – The Dimplomat? What is diplomatic about it? Whatever, I’m done with this rant.

Now, this establishment is not just a sandwich shop. It also serves smoothies. Unfortunately, I, being a grinch, did not even bother looking at what smoothies they were and their price. I wanted my sandwich.

Unfortunately, even without this review, Le Diplomate is well known already. It has lines everyday during lunch hour, lines of ten to twenty people. If you can’t wait, then you’re missing out because the sandwiches are delectable. Served on a toasted french baguette, there are a myriad of fillings, not that you have a choice to mix and match, which is one gripe I have. You have to pick from a set list. Once you order, you’re on your way to wait!

Oh, what a wait. I ordered at 11:15 AM today for a half sandwich. My order number was seven. My friend ordered before me and got a full sandwich and had order number sixty four. Now, they hop around with the numbers because of the two cash registers so the numbers are skewed. One will be higher than the other. What I do not understand is, how my half sandwich went slower than my friend’s, and about twenty other people after me. That was my other gripe. Killed my lunch hour.

The interesting thing is that you can pick up hot sauce, the red asian kind I am assuming, to put onto your sandwich. At first, it may seem counter intuitive to mix the two cultural foods, but hey, it works.

Other than time restraints, Le Diplomate is definitely is worthy trying, if you have time.

Imagine big hunks of real chicken breast, nuzzled close to tender artichoke leaves, and then slathered with a thick dressing made of mayo, dijon mustard, and—oh yes—plenty of garlic. Now pop this creation into the freshest baguette and serve the whole thing warmed to its core.
Better order the full size, although the half is already generous. On the menu, this is called Chicken Dijon.

This place makes great sandwiches.

Vegetarians will enjoy their brie or feta melts, and the eggplant is also tasty. Again, all on those wonderful baguettes.

They do cold sandwiches too, still on the great bread,
but their warm ones are definitely more flavorful.

Their smoothies are intense.

Try to go way before or way after the lunch hour, unless you like being in a crowd of UCI students and also like waiting in long lines.

Seating is seriously limited, but there is a nice courtyard with shaded tables.

Prices are reasonable and they do take credit cards.

So why not 5 stars? Well, a little more variety would help, especially in beverages. It would be nice to let customers “customize” their sandwich or create new combinations. And they need to find a way to organize the flow so that people who come in after you don’t get served before you.