WINNER — Restaurant in New York

Exceptional baked goods, sandwiches, and misc bites for dinner. By far my favorite bakery ever and a big part of why I have been happy living in this neighborhood. I've been a regular almost weekly customer for years and figured I'd do a breakdown across the menu:

Sandwiches Fried chicken (5/5) is what they are known for for good reason, fantastic, but don't take it far to eat b/c the bread can get soggy Ham & cheese (5/5) classic, great underlying ingredients - very good for picnics Cubano (5/5) excellent, holds up a bit better to travel than the fried chickn Chicken salad (5/5) - they did an update to their ciabatta and it's great, but this is a messy sandwich to eat (still awesome). Note if you go to picnic house you can get this on the sourdough pullman! Ric & morty (4/5) really nice when you're feeling it, but the sauce is a little oily and can get everywhere. It is not a hot sandwich which threw me off originally. Fish sandwich (2/5) the sandwich itself was a dud when I had it, way too little fish for the bun, bun was also dry (weird); fries were awesome though (thus the 2) French dip (3/5) - this one is hit or miss. Loved it the first time I had it, was very disappointed the second time...bun quality is key and it was dry second time Grilled cheese (3/5) good but so cheesy. Like the fried chicken the sourdough bread can get soggy so don't take it far. Having had with and without the romesco I'd do it without (the romesco makes it way too soggy)

Breakfast items (come early unless weather is bad - they sell out of almost everything regularly) Croissants (5/5) are awesome & massive - love the pain au chocolat Breakfast sandwich (4/5) it's good but the english muffin can taste rather greasy sometimes, the egg is a little souffle style almost - this is a good sandwich but it's not your "typical" BEC Coffee coffee cake (2/5) a miss for me, definitely not a classic coffee cake and you really get a "coffee" flavor to it which is jarring. Odd consistency

Other items Pizza (5/5) just tried for the first time and as expected the dough is phenomenal. Really well done, will be coming back for them for sure. You can do order ahead via email and they are quite prompt Burger (5/5) also fantastic, in the style of a "whopper", ask for the fries which are off menu and they sometimes have Sourdough loaf (5/5) this is the bread that made me freeze my starter. There is just no point when a loaf this good is around the corner and $10 Monkey bread (5/5) delightful, mini loaf in size and just so so good Salad is meh btw, but if you get a salad from Runner Up...

Sadly Winner Bakery's service has declined to the point where I can no longer recommend them. Some staff are polite, while others are inexcusably rude, and actively cause confusion and ill feeling.

One poor service experience was when I asked what the patty on the menu was, since I am only aware of a burger patty. The employee at the window unhelpfully restated that it was not a burger but "a patty" in a tone of voice that clearly called me an idiot. A simple description of a Jamaican stuffed patty would have sufficed. When talking to a manager, he offered little apology and said that he "stood by his staff" even if they needed more training and was "surprised" that anyone would have been rude.

Today, I went to pickup a pre-ordered Easter dinner. There were no posted signs about where to pickup, causing me to waste time in the long line for coffee. I tried twice to catch the eye or attention of a bakery employee, before I was redirected to the front door. Another employee opened the door and said a deadpan, "what's up?" as if I were bothering her. She then claimed my order was at a different Winner location, and did not bother to double check my receipt, or the names on the bags in front of her. I would have wasted even more time running back and forth between locations, had I not corrected her and asked her to look for my order.

If you must go to Winner, I would suggest that you stand firm on where your pick-up is, no matter what the staff try to say. I also would not bother attempting to voice feedback, as the management has shut mine down without recompense for the poor...

Placed and paid for a $75 order six hours ahead of time, walked in to get it ten minutes after the time I specified on their website that I would, and instantly got swarmed and shouted out of the place as if I'd walked into somebody's living room. They didn't ask why I was there, what business I had to transact/had already transacted, whether I was there to pick up an order, or anything seemingly relevant to them being a restaurant. Instead, their chief concern was that I get out immediately.

Moreover, after I left, the girl then comes to the door and hand motions to me to move even further away from the place, practically to stand in the street. Mind you, their website explicitly states that if you place an online order ahead of time then "no need to wait in line, just come right to the front, tell us your check number" etc.

So, thinking they either just weren't ready for me or were in the middle of dealing with some sort of mental emotional meltdown, I walked away for ten minutes. Came back to get my $75 order and they literally repeated the precise process explained above.

So, this time I stood on the sidewalk outside their restaurant hoping that through some sort of telepathy or osmosis they would learn my name and check number and eventually bring my food out to me. Which, they did about fifteen minutes later by sheer process of elimination.

Chicken was dry & tasteless, sides were good albeit overpriced, bread was excellent, sauces were mediocre.

That's my experience with this place. It will be my only experience with this place. No adjectives necessary. Interpret it...