Luke's New York Bagel Shop — Restaurant in Gainesville

I've been to Luke's Bagels a number of times and the food quality is pretty consistent. The bagels are good but expensive for what you get.

What's not consistent and is quite frankly unacceptable is the service I received on this visit. I ordered a salmon lox sandwich and an additional plain bagel. I waited over 30 minutes after placing the order during UF's spring break—there was no line and only a few called in orders ahead of us.

I knew something was wrong when the rest of my party received their egg and bacon breakfast sandwiches (a cooked item!) far before mine, especially considering that I ordered first. After waiting for 10 minutes after everyone else's food came out, I went up to the ordering window to ask about my food. Apparently, it was ready the whole time but nobody called my name.

I get that mistakes happen, and I've worked in food service so I'm generally understanding. But their response just made me more upset. Initially, the person at the counter (same guy who took my order 30+ mins ago) tried to blame me, saying "the name might've gotten called out and nobody answered.” When I rebuked that (I waited directly outside the order delivery door and watched them successfully deliver to 5+ people), the response was "it was sitting at the counter where orders go out, and I don't know why." No apology or any sort of condolence offered, when it was their fault for not checking on a complete order that sat around for an inordinately long time.

Essentially, I paid over $20 for just two bagels and waited 30+ minutes to receive them. I also watched 5+ orders that were placed after mine get sent out properly. And then their counter service staff tried to blame me for their discrepancy, failed to do so, and proceeded to not apologize.

I've long been annoyed at the extreme wait times at Luke's, especially because there is no form of seating or shade from the sun. But I won't be coming back after this. It's not worth it when there are several other bagel places in Gainesville that are almost as good, cheaper, can manage their orders, and provide decent...

I really wish I could advocate and compliment this business, but this is not possible. This establishment makes up their own hours…they may be open, maybe not…there is never a continuity of availability for products…for some reason, Tuesday is just a day that they have decided not to serve anything than a breakfast sandwich…couldn’t tell me why, though🤣. This was my last and final attempt to support a small business that has really deteriorated…save your time, effort, any good intentions and if you REALLY want a bagel or any other item they have listed …but never available…go elsewhere! Wow…after reading many of the previous reviews and seeing the very distasteful and irresponsible responses by the owner…so accusatory, deflecting, and snarky…I thought it advantageous to apologize in advance for the autocorrected grammatical errors present in my comments…I can assure you that my grasp on the English language and all related are very proficient…unlike you and your employees, who obviously do not know the definition of “toasted”…I am truly shocked at how you have managed to exist when your business has been so consistently degrading and incompetent…I also agree that your bagels are the best tasting in Gainesville…but, this is NOT a foodie town and there are so few options…perhaps, focus on the very real issues that paying customers have with your business and stop being such an anus…life is too short…and you can now purchase REAL New York bagels from Goldbelly…and if you catch them on sale, they are substantially less expensive than this establishment or comparable in expense…there are always options if you don’t want to be berated by entitled individuals who want you to hand over your money for the most substandard treatment and torturous waiting times for product that is either not available or made incorrectly…btw…requesting a bagel to be toasted is NOT the same as requesting it be “burned to a crisp”. It is still incredulous to me that you respond to people’s comments in this manner…it says so much about...

Edit: sorry for the autocorrect spelling mistakes. And thanks for your response. But I'd have appreciated if you would have considered the feedback instead of defending your performance. My point WAS that you are a popular and busy place but that you are not set up to deal with the demand. (Fix your order system, stop writing down every order just to put them in a computer afterwards. There must be a more efficient way!) It's just a frustrating experience especially considered the price for a "grab and get out of here if you don't wanna sit on the pavement of an ugly parking lot" bagel store. I'm sure your place (if not busy) would be a great option as a drive thru for people looking for a grab and go breakfast. But you don't even offer parking... ;)

Original review, corrected for spelling (hopefully)

$20 for two bagels and a coffee. Good bagels and good coffee. But that's just too expensive, especially since you get nothing but the bagle on an ugly decaying concrete parking lot. The biggest problem is that the place is super popular but not very efficient. At 9:30 am they only had food colored plain bagles left - none of the advertised garlic or everything or whatever bagles. Orders are written down by hand first, then the very same order is typed into a computer. Long lines. Long wait times. For a plain balge with cream cheese. I can get myself bagles and cream cheese at Whole Foods and would even have a place to sit.

Again, the bagles are not bad, they are big, tasty. Coffee was good. It's just too expensive for a literal hole in the wall and not worth the long wait. Not convinced at all. Next time I'll just chill at Humble Wood Fire across the street - they do have a full brunch for the same price. And I'm sure they even...