WIBF took a big hit in quality around the time they opened the MV spot. I worked at the Clinton location during their build-out. The ingredients, recipe, process (machine rolled!), and oven are all the same in both locations. They used to have a little bit of crisp, and weren't as doughy inside. But either they got sloppy with process, or they just don't care about consistency. They roll > freeze > proof in walk-in > boil and straight to the oven. The wrinkles happen when they skip the proof step and go straight from frozen. They use a pre-fab "bagel mix" that's largely malt powder, and the bagels intermingle with the cinnamon ones at times, so there's your sweet.
I'm glad you put them on the list. Shame you didn't catch them earlier when I was there and did my damnedest to hold them to my former-UWS resident standard.
Love the inside info! That's a bummer to hear, though I suppose that tends to be the case when places start to expand. Quality is always the first thing to go.
We visited this shop in Mt Vernon. As we live in Snohomish County, we were hopeful. But our overall adjective would be: gummy. Sigh.
Yeah, sounds about right. I still need to make it to one of the island locations for a proper review. Fingers crossed it's a little better over there.
WIBF took a big hit in quality around the time they opened the MV spot. I worked at the Clinton location during their build-out. The ingredients, recipe, process (machine rolled!), and oven are all the same in both locations. They used to have a little bit of crisp, and weren't as doughy inside. But either they got sloppy with process, or they just don't care about consistency. They roll > freeze > proof in walk-in > boil and straight to the oven. The wrinkles happen when they skip the proof step and go straight from frozen. They use a pre-fab "bagel mix" that's largely malt powder, and the bagels intermingle with the cinnamon ones at times, so there's your sweet.
I'm glad you put them on the list. Shame you didn't catch them earlier when I was there and did my damnedest to hold them to my former-UWS resident standard.
Love the inside info! That's a bummer to hear, though I suppose that tends to be the case when places start to expand. Quality is always the first thing to go.