Lulu's Bakery and Pantry — Restaurant in Salem

I do regret having to put a review like this up but I’m going to be honest… In the 70s I came to Salem and had my first Whoopie pie. My mother enjoyed it so much she found the recipe and for the rest of my childhood, she made the best Whoopie pies at home. I grew and moved around the country and found this confection to be one of my favorites. While living in Pennsylvania for over 20 years, I enjoyed many Amish bakery, fresh Whoopie pies, and… Embarrassingly. I will say I have eaten many many many store-bought Whoopie pies too. I returned to Salem this last week with family who had never had a New England Whoopie pie. Very excited to show them Salem and hopefully find a very good Whoopie pie as I had done 45 years ago. Waiting to the last minute this bakery was the only place I saw, and I purchased 4… Overly sized and overpriced pies. Excited to share with my family.

When we returned to our Airbnb, I was astonished to see that the cake was not soft, chewy and moist but… A lot more like a simple brownie. The yummy marshmallow innards was also very lacking.

My family, seeing I was quite upset told me to reach out to the bakery. Luckily, returning to Salem at that exact spot… We had tried to go to the pirate place the day before and it been closed… I addressed the issue with… The actual baker it seems! She told me that she had won awards with her Whoopie pies recipe. Also admitting that she was from West Virginia I thought maybe there was a variation of my wonderful Whoopie pie recipe that I did not know about from this small state. I was wrong! This is the worst Whoopie pies ever had in my life. It is not a Whoopie pie! I will give the baker/owner credit for giving me a refund since each of these over sized over priced, desserts was $7 apiece. And lastly, it seems all their employees are not the best people to choose for Customer Service. They are awkward and don’t seem to know how to deal...

Came here and ordered a sandwich. Was sitting at table halfway through it, and a man came over and rather brusquely and with a not very nice expression told me they were closing and “could I wrap it up”. It wasn’t clear to me they were closing when I walked in or I wouldn’t have ordered the sandwich (or tipped 20% on the iPad - to be poorly treated and eat off a paper bag no less. They don’t give you plates here). I had to get up and ask for a box to take my sandwich home. It would’ve taken me another few minutes to finish eating. Cute place and beautiful pastries but a cafe is about being a community space and offering good vibes and kindness as much as it is about having good food and the experience was poor enough that as much as I love a local coffee shop I won’t ever go there again.

The time I came before this I was up-charged for gluten free focaccia bread I didn’t ask for (+$2) and the barista was very kind about it when I pointed it about but both him and the women working with him seemed to struggle to find a way to refund the money. They couldn’t just give me cash which I can understand but didn’t seem super well versed in being able to manage the payment system. When I asked for a receipt it was another ordeal and they weren’t able to print me one to show the refund.

I can’t say I’ve felt the service is great any time that I’ve come seeing that it’s one of those places that asks you if you’d like to tip as much as you would if you were at a lovely restaurant with kind, competent...

I hate to be the negative voice but.... I really want to love this bakery but, so far, my 2 visits have been disappointing. 1st visit my daughter and I went on for a quick bite before a day of shopping. We got breakfast sandwiches and expresso based coffee. Her sandwich, on sourdough, was very small, like 4 bites. She said it was good but just not at all satifying and she left only slightly less hungry than she arrived. My sandwich, on a biscuit, was mammoth. At least 2 inches thick and a 4 inch long rectangle. Overwhelming in comparison to the single egg and slice of cheese. I wondered at the discrepancy until I attempted to take a bite. Impossible, it just fell apart, it turned into crumbs. No moisture at all. Even trying to break off chunks didn't work, it just disintegrated. Maybe the size was intended to compensate for what you could actually get to your mouth. The coffees were tasty but took forever. No sense of urgency or care. I returned today and I again ordered a biscuit, this time with honey sea salt. It was no better than the first biscuit, in fact it was worse, because it was sliced and not kept in a air minimizing environment so it was stale. Now, they are still new and I will return, this time to try a cupcake or pastry, but I have to be honest, I don't have high hopes about producing a quality pastry if you can't make a...