Poppy’s Bagels & More — Restaurant in Charlotte

In search of a business being run straight into the ground? How about a place with mediocre bagels at a premium price as if it's monopolizing bagels in Charlotte? Okay, okay, what if I revealed a secret of where to find a business that makes their customers pay for their past mistakes? Ladies and gentleman, welcome to Poppy's on South Blvd.

On my first visit, there was about a dozen people working. I placed my order of one dozen bagels with the person running the register directly in front of the bagels. I waited about five non-exaggerated minutes for order, because it was not the register operator's job to fetch (to literally simply turn around 180°) and piece together the bagel order. No words.

Visit #2 came with a pleasant suggestion from an employee that I could pre-order my bagels by phone or online. Legitimately, awesome. Thanks for the helpful tip. We're back on good terms.

Visit #3 aka online pickup order #1 had about half of the Poppy's staffing as other visits (as recently seen at many other businesses, especially in the food industry), no problem... until the problem. My order was placed one hour in advance of my scheduled pick up time. It was not ridiculously busy, but I waited in-store for 25 minutes for my pre-order of bagels. When I asked about the status of my order, I was told that they'll get to it and call my name when it's ready. Back to strike #1.

Visit #4 aka online pickup order #2 with a pivot from my previous online pre-order experience. This time, my online pre-order was placed 90 minutes in advance, I intentionally showed up 40 minutes after my scheduled pickup time, and my order was nowhere to be found. After I patiently waited for 15-20 minutes (because the staff was busier than usual and also down to maybe four employees maximum), I politely asked an employee about my order status and she couldn't locate my order nor the ticket for my order for her to build my order herself. After she asked other employees about the order, nobody knew anything, so she started to piece together my order, and then found my bag of bagels tossed behind the counter. The girl stated that it made no sense that nobody knew about the order, and it was found tucked in a hidden spot that wasn't even with the only other bagel orders that get placed behind the counter to indicate that a perishable/refrigerated product needs to be included in the order upon pickup. I did receive a sincere apology, and I did appreciate receiving the apology. Still, strike #2.

Contemplated visit #5 until noticing the price of a dozen bagels went up by $6. No incremental increases to pricing, just a straight punch to the face in form of a 32% spike that was countered with the closing of my online pre-order window and the loss of my business going forward. Strike #3.

The problem is that this will be compounded in so many ways since Poppy's provides bagels to many local businesses. Poppy's prices go up by 32%. Other businesses will then pass the increased cost of bagels onto their customers. Those businesses will likely see a decline in customers ordering bagel-centric items, which would lead to a reduction to their bagel orders from Poppy's. Ultimately ends with less business for Poppy's. I don't need a crystal ball to call this one.

For more information, please visit Poppy's on South Blvd and go see the boothed laptopman. This two-star review was incredibly generous. I truly do not enjoy sharing negative (recurring) experiences, but I'm a man of the people. One positive to pull is that the location is conveniently found right by Lowe's for when you have to board up the windows on the permanent closing day. ...

I don't normally leave anything less than four stars on reviews. I manage a restaurant and I understand how hard every part of it can be. Pros: they have an extensive menu, lots of options. Definitely more than most "bagel shops" would. The bagels are very NY style, chewy, super good if you're looking for a traditional style bagel. My partner got a lox bagel and was super happy with it. Cons: the place was dirty, first of all. Most tables hadn't been wiped off, there was trash and crumbs all over the floor, and lots of folks working behind the counter so someone could have grabbed a broom and towel and knocked that out in less than 5 minutes. The person who took our order seemed very unhappy to be there, but like I said, everyone has bad days, so that's not a big deal. I ordered a bacon, egg, and scallion cream cheese on everything, and I wanted to add cucumbers. My bagel came out with capers instead of cucumbers, and I don't like capers, so I returned the sandwich, clarifying that I asked for cucumbers, not capers. Then while I was sitting and waiting for my sandwich to be remade, the girl who had taken my order was talking about me, saying I had definitely said capers, etc., obviously frustrated. When the manager came out to bring my sandwich I pointed out that I could hear the girl talking about me. She had her come out and apologized, which was a nice gesture, but when you talk about customers, the least you could do is make sure you're not so loud they can hear you. The manager did what she could, the food was fine, but I definitely won't be returning to this location after being openly...

Me and my fiance decided to get breakfast there this morning, as we had never been. The first thing you notice when you walk in is how messy it is in there. It seriously looks like they have never vacuumed the carpet, or washed the windows. There are shelves everywhere, and full of junk. They need to straighten up to actually make this look professional.

Aside from the restaurant looking dirty and messy, the tables also were not clean. They were out of several coffee flavors. We did not get a receipt, we actually were never even asked if we wanted one.

I thought at least the food would be decent, but it was just meh at best.

Also, they are using Pandora for their music, which if they were to do a little bit of research they would know this is against the ToS, and can result in fines.

If that hasn't gotten the point across, I was also upset that we were never thanked for spending my money there. If you want to have any business you have to at the very least understand the basics of customer service.

The owner likes to comment on the negative reviews too, as he should. But he needs to be more professional and actually listen to the feedback he is getting. He really should not say 'No bagels for you!', instead apologize, and work on improving what could be a great restaurant instead of...