Lubbies Bagels in East Dallas takes a pause after customer avalanche

Dallas is in the nascent stages of a huge bagel boom, with a wave of artisanal bagel shops recently opened, from Starship Bagels to Shug’s Bagels to Sclafani’s, all building a local bagel buzz.

That wave includes Lubbies Bagels, a small shop that opened, briefly, at a high-profile intersection of Peavy and Garland Road in East Dallas.

Lubbies is really just two sisters: Andrea and Jennifer Lubkin, and when they announced their August 2 opening date, they also requested that customers cut them a little slack.

On July 29: “Heads-up, we’re starting with a very soft opening, next Wednesday 6:30 am -2:00 pm. Bagels and schmears only. Please be gentle!”

Again, on August 1, the day before they opened: “Bagels and schmears only, soft opening, please be patient.”

But Lubbies got deluged with lines, engendering long waits, so much so that the shop got overwhelmed, and on August 5, announced they would temporarily close down:

“Friends and neighbors! Due to the legitimately, overwhelming response, we’re opting to close for a few days and reset so we’re more well equipped to handle demand while maintaining standards. We have been so heartened by the outpouring of support and are looking forward to seeing you sometime next week! Please keep an eye out for updates! With Lub, Andrea & Jen”

If you’ve lived your life without a bagel shop closeby, and a bagel shop opens, and asks you to be gentle, do you go the very first week they’re open? Or maybe wait a week or two to give them some room?

Daniel Puente is one of customers who visited the shop the first week.

“I went on Wednesday during their soft opening,” he says. “Things were a bit hectic. On the way home I wanted to be upset about the wait. I was looking for anything to be wrong with my order….Took that first bite and y’all… their bagels are so good and worth the wait. I forgot what I was mad about. Soft openings are there to get the kinks out. The service was great and they’ll figure it out. Can’t wait for the next opening. I’ll definitely be back.”

Puente lives nearby and says he wasn’t fully cognizant of the shop’s warnings.

“I was wanting to support a new business and wanted to try it out,” he says. “We saw the line when we got here, but I thought, ‘It’s bagels, how long can it take’.” And then at some point, after waiting a while, you’re invested.”

Most of the response has been supportive, with reassurances like this one from Carrie Frisbie: “Ya’ll this is what a soft opening is! It allows them to work out the kinks, and make improvements. How the hell were they to know the number of people that were going to show up. Give them a minute to regroup…man you guys are rough! Let’s not make them regret coming to our neighborhood!”

But the delays caused some disenchantment among other customers who quickly went online to post 1-star reviews, after the business was open for less than three days.

A review of the Google reviews:

Mechelle Jimenez: “Waited 30 mins in line, then 15 inside. Then they held the line so we walked out. Not worth it. Selection is also so small.”

Perhaps Mechelle With An E missed the shop’s post about them opening with a limited selection.

Antwon Ackah: “Wanted 20 min for two toasted bagles one cinnamon rasinj/one plain with no smear on bagle ,smear on side , Pretty simple ..Get to car one bagle only ,did not want smear on bagle. order WRONG.. Took too long and still got order wrong and missed bagle..”

If one were to judge Google reviews by spelling or grammar, then Antwon would get 0 stars.

Jonathan Groves: I hope Jon Taffer from Bar Rescue rescues bagel shops too!!!
We waited 50 minutes for 2 bagels with schmear, with no coffee (because the Gen-Z baristas were clearly not up to the task) and no cold drinks either, because the drink cooler was not operable. Who wants to pay $3.50 for a warm soda?
On top of that, the owner was telling customers to “be gentle” as opposed to having any expectations of her slowly-moving gen z staff to move faster or serve customers with a smile. Maybe this is why people were walking out the door disgruntled or going across the street to cultivar coffee to actually have something to drink that while waiting in line for their bagels.
As much as we want a Bagel shop in our area to succeed, the customer experience was far worse than the bagels.
I hope to review this place in a couple months after they (hopefully) have worked out the kinks.

This former resident of Colorado gave a high rating to his dentist (“I only wish I could take this practice to my new home”), and loved the ladies at the discount diamond shop where he bought an engagement ring, but was not happy with the way the Hilton in Grand Junction handled a noise complaint issued against him.

To Lubbies’ credit, they responded to “Jonathan Groves” complaint with a chipper attitude: “If you’d ever like to see how it feels to hand roll a thousand bagels, our door’s open to you anytime! Lub em’ or leave em’ – Andrea”

The Lubkins are still working on re-opening and are planning on sometime in mid-August.