Noah’s New York Bagels celebrated the grand opening of its restaurant at 1919 Shattuck Ave. on Saturday.
The restaurant was packed with blue balloons and a crowd of people in line to order. The event featured a deal that offered a free bagel and shmear with the purchase of a drink. There was also a prize wheel that customers could spin for store coupons and a chance to win an insulated cup.
“We’ve been in the Berkeley area for a long time as a concept, and to be this close to the college again feels really good,” said Eric Past, East Bay district manager of Noah’s New York Bagels. “It’s really exciting to see how many students are doing their homework here and drinking their coffee and studying for their finals. We are just excited to be part of the community.”
Past added that Noah’s New York Bagels is “appreciative” of all the support the restaurant has received from the campus and its students.
The restaurant opened after the closing of its Telegraph Avenue location in January. The new location also came after the company stated it would be focusing on larger footprint spaces for its new business model.
“I was really excited when I saw the new Noah’s opening after the Telegraph one closed. I was also really impressed by how clean, large and open it was,” said campus senior Ashley Minooka. “It had a lot of new equipment and it was very welcoming. I hope that it does well and people come here to study, hang out and eat good bagels.”
Yuan Zhou, a UC Berkeley alumna, said she frequented Noah’s New York Bagels when it was open on Telegraph Avenue and was “impressed” with the new location. Zhou added that the restaurant transformed from being “very tiny and cramped” to a place where people can “hang out and study.”
Campus graduate student Alan Dong said there aren’t many restaurants open early in the morning in Downtown Berkeley. Dong added that it was “cool” that the store had opened.
“I am from the East Coast so I have been looking for a bagel that is not awful,” said Berkeley resident Evan Cooper. “This is the first bagel I have had since moving here about a year ago that is actually truer to what I know to be a good bagel, so I am happy about the store opening.”
Berkeley resident Mayara Andrade said she “loves” the place and enjoyed the samples given out during the event.
“It’s really exciting, we have high expectations for this store,” Past said. “It’s a great location, we’re just really glad to finally be open.”
