West End Bakery has closed after 100 years in operation

Another Bensonhurst bakery has come to the end of the line.

West End Bakery, 8517 18th Avenue, recently closed after 100 years in operation. The bakery, known for its cakes, cookies and Italian pastries, was a local staple that suffered a downgrade in quality in the years up to its closure, which was preceded by a change in ownership, according to neighborhood residents.

Many took to Facebook to share their opinions of the bakery, which most panned.

“The original West End Bakery was gone a long time ago,” said one member of the Dyker Heights & Bensonhurst Facebook group. “They were different owners and someone told me that they were not doing very well and that is why they closed.”

Reviews on Yelp of the bakery were also mainly negative in recent years, with the bakery having an overall score of two and a half stars out of five.

“West End Bakery never fails to disappoint me. An okay service, but what they put out is far below par,” said one Yelp user. The most recent review in 2017 said that her cake “did not taste good” and that she would never return to the bakery. Photos of a few of the bakery’s cakes showed mold growing inside and outside them.

However, other reviews lauded the bakery for good cheesecakes, bread and cookie selection, and one Facebook commenter called it “sad” that the bakery was closing.

Local resident Maria Markowicz said the closure of the bakery “wasn’t a big loss.”

“I stopped by it a few times and tried out their cakes, cookies and rolls, but I was disappointed almost every time. There are a lot of great bakeries in the area, such as Tasty Pastry on 13th, so I’m only surprised that it took that long for it to shut down,” she said.

The building, which was put up for sale, is under contract with Exit Realty handling the sale. When called for comment, real estate agent Rui “Nancy” Wu, said she did not know the name of the buyers, only that they were “an LLC.”

Another commenter on Facebook speculated what the space could become. “Hmmm, I predict a cellphone store, eyeglass store, or Chinese bakery maybe,” she said.

Other local bakeries that have shut down in recent years include the legendary Angelo’s, at 86th Street and 25th Avenue, which former customers lauded for its cheesecake and other pastries.

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