Sclafani's New York Bagels and Sandwiches — Restaurant in Dallas

I was excited to come to this store as I missed my NY bagels and had heard great things about their bagels, but I was so disappointed that their bagels were basically inedible. I ordered a New York New York on an everything bagel. As I bit into the bagel, I could barely chew especially the bottom piece of the bagel. It was so dense and hard, that I physically could barely bite it to break it down. From my sandwich, it looked almost as if the bagel was not completely cooked and maybe left out for the dough that didn’t cook to harden, particular on the bottom half. However, the filling of the sandwich was great. So, I wanted to ask the cashier if that was normal and they were super sweet and said they weren’t sure and inspected the bagel. They offered to remake a new bagel, but I declined as said it was fine as I had already bit into the sandwich. However, I was just concerned as I had ordered a few more plain bagels to go and wanted to see if they were from the same batch. If so, then I would like to just switch out those bagels. They said that they would ask to check. So, I continued to eat the inside of my sandwhich, leaving the inedible bagel bottom out. One of the bakers had come by and said that the bagel looked fine and that it was fully proofed and baked. Though I was confused as just by looking at the bagel, I can even tell there was something wrong with it, I thanked them for taking a look and the bottom bagel still left untouched as it was inedible (the photo slightly shows that the bottom bagel to be very dense). When I got home, I decided to toast one of the other bagel that I had bought to go to try and share with other friends. It was a different bagel flavor, I believe either sesame or onion. I toasted it like normal and as soon as I took a bite of the bagel, I had the same issue. The bagel was so hard to bite that I couldn’t not chew it. My friends all said the same thing. While I was disappointed about the inedible bagel after even getting confirmation from the baker that it was baked and normal, I didn’t want to them to go to waste as I physically could not eat it. So, I gave a piece to my dog instead. But even my dog, who devours everything, even struggled to chew the bagel. I felt so bad for him that I had to cut it up and soak it in some chicken broth for a few minutes for him to be able to eat. I’m not sure if it was just an off day for them or if there was a new baker but hopefully it was an off day as the inside of the sandwich was good and the staff there...

I have been coming here for years, since they opened. I haven't been in a few months, what happened here?

None of the original staff is here, the staff that is here seems like they just started and couldn't care less. The bagel bar where they prepared some of the bagels in front of you is completely gone. It's now prepared in the back "kitchen" by the restroom.

Also the food quality is NOTHING like what I loved.

I always ordered the Stallone, which was scrambled eggs, sausage, cheese and the cream cheese and bagel of your choice.

It's not even the same food now. The "scrambled egg" was a square cubed egg that tasted like microwaved rubber. The sausage was not fresh and also tastes like cardboard. Don't get me started on the "cream cheese". There was so much cream cheese I had to literally scrape it off into the trash. Also, it's not even the texture of cream cheese. It tastes like runny mayonnaise with chives in it. I threw it out.

I'm not sure what happened to this place, if they sold or what, but this is very disappointing and I have lost my favorite bagel place.

McDonald's has better tasting breakfast.

I hope whatever is going on, whoever is running this business takes this to heart. It had become a staple of Preston Center with a fantastic and warm team and delicious food.

The restaurant even feels like it's dead and cold.

Whatever this is now, is a mess. Such a shame.

UPDATE: also fascinating to me that I’ve received zero response, yet I see the company engaging in google reviews. They’re either arguing with customer complaints or offering to speak...

I'm a New Yorker who's lived on both coasts and have experienced tons of bagels pretending to be NY bagels. These are NY bagels. 100% they're huge, perfectly crusty on the outside, the right kind of doughy chew on the inside, the seasonings on the outside are abundant and they actually stick. The cream cheese to bagel ratio was perfect and everything was so yummy.

My one ilk is that it's WAY too small to handle the kind of business they get slammed with on a Sunday at 10:00AM. I know we waited almost 30 minutes for two bagels and cream cheese because I had toddlers with me and we got through over one episode of one of their shows, and I know just about everyone else in there waited the same amount of time. It's a tiny prep counter area to serve what is clearly a busting at the seams business and they should consider offering a takeout window in the front of the shop to avoid the insane crowd inside who's taking to go, or expanding their prep counter where there is a line of tables. It would reduce seating of course but most of the business seems to be takeout anyway. I'm sure none of these ideas are remotely feasible in the space they lease but it would sure help with traffic in and out of the place. But they need double the staff and double the prep space to keep up with their weekend rush. 25 or more min to wait for two bagels is insane.

We live in Rowlett so it was a trek to get here but now I know just to place our order when we get into the car because by the 30 minutes it takes us, we should not have much of a wait....