Bread Alone had once been the gold standard for quality food, fair prices, good menu options and consistent service. Sadly that's no more. Something has changed in the past year and all of the aforementioned qualities have substantially slipped. Yes, it's still an interesting place to visit, with its lively cast of interesting characters, but for food it's a bust. The breads are still decent, nothing spectacular and certainly not worth the price, but at least those still seem to be produced with consistent quality. However, their menu items are duds. A former favorite, the Banh Mi, while perhaps once a little awkward to eat with its large clunky chunks of mean, is now a tasteless mess. They changed the sandwich from a sausage-like sandwich to a "pork shoulder" sandwich and with that change went the once fantastic flavor. The meat it dry, now has a strange texture to it and is lacking any real taste. The Pastrami Reuben, while tasty, is incredibly greasy. Their pre-made Hummus and Goat Cheese Sandwich (found in the refrigerator case) is so heavy on the hummus I found myself searching for the goat cheese. The Chick Pea Salad (also in the case) touts itself as being an exotic, curried vegan option. Never before have I tasted such bland Indian-inspired food.
I found myself excited to see the addition of some very interesting and appealing-looking salads on their menu so I ordered smoked trout. When I got it home it looked huge and inviting but upon further inspection, I found the reason for its size had to due with the four slices of bread layered beneath the lettuce. When I pulled them out (they were at that point too soggy to eat) I realized how small the salad actually was. For $12 I expected a more substantial meal. I did eventually learn that buying the trout salad and garden salad from the case, yielded a better result. I paid about the same but got more food. The Kale, Grain and Seed Salad is tasty but, again, I have a hard time justifying the price. The Arugula & Romanesco Salad is utterly flavorless, which is sad as it's served with a lemon-mint-garlic vinaigrette that really should have saved the day. It didn't.
Breakfast is no better. The Classic Egg Sandwich was once a gooey, cheesy, yummy way to start the day. Now it's way too cheesy and on a "Kaiser Roll" (in no way is it a kaiser roll) that is so dry you almost feel like there isn't enough cheese to lubricate it as it goes down. The coffee is really nothing to write home about (Samuel's across the street is far superior). The Sourdough French Bread is way too tough and doesn't actually feel like french toast at all. It tastes very much like just some bread coated in egg. Someone there also had the brilliant idea that they should start making their own bagels. They should never make their own bagels. Never. Dry and brick-like are words that come to mind. Any New Yorker can tell you that bagel making is an art and not everyone can do it. Bread Alone clearly does not understand that. The Oatmeal used to be fantastic but they swapped out some of the fruit with other less tasty options and now it's just blah.
The sad thing is, there really aren't a lot of places to grab lunch and breakfast so I find myself continuing to go for lack of better options. I think they know they're really the only game in town and really stopped giving a crap about their food. Or at least that's what it feels like to me. To compound the problem, they are clearly focused on reeling in the NYC crowd who frequent the area on the weekends. Prices have gone up and portion size have gone down. So, not only am I paying more for substandard food, I'm now leaving hungry as well. read more