Is Bubby's Brooklyn a Sinking Ship?
“I am saddened to note what appear to be the early warning signs that one of DUMBO’s main eateries may be in the early stages of a painful death,” writes in one tipster about Bubby’s, the Brooklyn offshoot of the successful TriBeCa restaurant of the same name. This reader sent us the following list of…
“I am saddened to note what appear to be the early warning signs that one of DUMBO’s main eateries may be in the early stages of a painful death,” writes in one tipster about Bubby’s, the Brooklyn offshoot of the successful TriBeCa restaurant of the same name. This reader sent us the following list of six signs that “things are quickly headed for the skids,” but the tipster seems hopeful that Bubby’s could make a comeback if neighborhood folks would visit the place more often:
1) The menu has been cut from multiple pages of items down to a single sheet of limited food items on one side and drinks/desserts on the other.
2) There are now signs up at the entrance and large, bold, all-caps type on the menu disclosing that as of March 7, it’s cash only and credit cards are no longer accepted.
3) Wait staff has been visibly reduced down to a very bare minimum.
4) Various items on the menu appear to have been slightly increased in price — yes, $13 hamburger, I am looking at you… (I am not certain of this, as I don’t have prior menu, but it just seemed to me at the time that there definitely had been some price bumps added.)
5) The place was nearly empty at 7:30pm on a Friday night, and at similar times on other recent visits.
6) They used to have squeeze bottles of their two main barbecue sauces right there on the table, as part of the down-home charm. They have definitely been yanked from all tables as another apparent cost cutting measure, and if one does ask for extra sauce now, it just comes in a plastic cup. The squeeze bottles have been completely eliminated.
Could it be true that Bubby’s Brooklyn is hitting some hard times? Has anybody else noticed that the place has seemed empty lately?
Bubby’s Pie Co. [Homepage]
thanks to bubby’s for posting that! we do really like going alot, but agree with some of the compaints about the food not being as good as the tribeca space. kids don’t bug me at all. it’s nice that they have that play space…
I’m a big fan of Bubby’s chicken-fried chicken and onion rings. And we take our four-year-old there some weekends for brunch, which has always been good. (My kid behaves himself on pain of getting hauled out — that said, kudos for the kid-free zone. Parenthood hasn’t blinded me to the need for it. Quite the contrary, in fact.)
As a neighbor it was the food. What was once a great breakfast place just got worse and worse. Things weren’t fresh. They didn’t taste as good. Why do restauranteurs always forget they are in the business of serving food more than anything else. Fix the food and I’ll come back. Prices are fine, kids are fine, staff is fine. Food not so fine.
Sorry the food at Bubbys is horrible. I work in Dumbo everyday and I never go there. By the way MR Bubby why don’t you hand out lunch flyers. Never seen a menu the whole time since I have been in Dumbo. Maybe you need to hire some PR person. ( Guy on a bike)
I used to go to Bubby’s until I found some sort of weird crawling flea-like insect scampering around beneath my curly fries. Oh, yeah. And at night, the rats that live in Brooklyn Bridge Park, do wind sprints across Plymouth Street to chow down on Bubby’s garbage. Oh, yeah. And the kids. The kids are insufferable. So are the parents. Poster 10:40 is right. Bubby’s did it to itself.
the problem with the DOH is that they are too stringent about the stupid little violations and incompetently oblivious to the major violations.
Example- i’m a bartender at a bar where we’ve never served food… only drinks. we got a DOH violation for not having a meat thermometer… seriously.
Just about everyone i’ve been in contact with from the DOH are among the stupidist people i’ve ever dealt with. Oh.. and the Department of Buildings is no better.
I found that the food was not fresh and well refrigerated. I am an artist in the neighborhood and whenever I treated myself to a sitdown meal at Bubbys, I got indigestion (at best.) I think that there is not a large enough turnover for lunch and the food gets reheated and served up again for several meals. My stomach doesn’t want to risk it any more.But it sounds like the owners” hearts(s) are in the right direction and that they want very much to be able to make it in Dumbo!
Sorry…the place sucks. I went there for the last time during the Christmas holidays. Price/value is going in the wrong direction. C’est la vie!
I think it’s awesome that you have invested so much in DUMBO and have decided to talk openly about the DOH issues. This is a great way to get the community support you obviously need. I am in Fort Greene and I definitely will make an effort to come over to your restaurant more often as a result. Good luck!