Sophia P.
Yelp
I had been eagerly anticipating the opening of Bart's Bagels for months. I work on Market Street and pass by it every morning, growing more excited each day for my eventual Bacon, Egg, and Cheese bagel. I noticed it had opened about a month ago, but today was the first chance I had to stop in with my boyfriend.
We arrived at 11:15 AM and were immediately struck by how nice the vibes were inside, even though it was busy. The shop smelled great, and the menu looked delicious. There wasn't much of a line, but the place was full of people waiting, some even spilling outside. I ordered a Bacon, Egg, and Cheddar, and my boyfriend got the Bagel of the Week: a simple Salt and Pepper Bagel with butter. The total was $15, including a tip--not bad given how prices have gone up. The young lady at the counter was very nice, but after we paid, one of the workers told us it would be 15-20 minutes for our order. This was disappointing, and it would have been nice to know before we paid, but it wasn't the end of the world. We decided to wait outside, chat, and play our NYT games, appreciating the jug of chilled water left out for customers.
After about 10 minutes, we moved back inside, assuming our order would be ready soon. However, five minutes turned into ten, and ten turned into twenty. We noticed a constant stream of DoorDash orders being prepared and picked up, with drivers often told their food would be ready in a few minutes, which sometimes turned into 5-10 minutes. This is disrespectful to their time, as waiting for an order that should be ready costs them money. The overwhelming feeling was that the workers were overwhelmed by the DoorDash orders, leading to excessive wait times for both drivers and walk-in customers like us. We watched as our bag sat on the counter with one bagel ready, waiting for the other. Then, we saw them put a new bag in front of ours, meaning it would be even longer before we got our food--and by then, one of our bagels would be cold, as it had been done almost 30 minutes ago. At this point, I walked out while my boyfriend asked the workers to toss our food, even though I hate wasting food.
As someone who worked in food service throughout high school and college, I'm extremely sympathetic to how brutal the Sunday mid-morning rush can be. But if a shop can't keep up with the volume of DoorDash and pick-up orders, they should pause incoming orders. Waiting more than 35 minutes for two bagels is ridiculous and shameful. I'm sad that I wasted $15 on nothing, but I'll be saving all the money I would have spent there in the future.