the original brooklyn water bagel co.

great bagels, horrible service. i went out of my way and was 20 minutes late for work and i walked in, there were 2 customers there and no one in line. still, the employees had to finish their conversation with each other for an extra 5 minutes before they waited on me and even when she was waiting on me, she continued her conversation with the employee while i was placing my order. the price increased, not by much, but i love their bagels. so instead of getting a bagel with cream cheese, like usual, i got a bag with a bagel and a little itty bitty thing of cream cheese that i paid $1.50 for. i ended up throwing it away because i didn't have anything to spread the little tiny bit of cream cheese with and no napkins, nada and i could not bring it to work and even if i did i don't like bagels much without cream cheese and there was not enough even for half of one side. i was a weekly customer, and i drove 20 minutes out of my way just to get their bagels before work in the morning. its too bad because the bagel shops here at midtown are not that great and my last day at work is tomorrow, i was planning to buy bagels for the whole firm. i will get them doughnuts instead and i will never go to any brooklyn bagels ever again.

so, here’s the thing. i do not normally write about chain restaurants, however, when i visited the original brooklyn water bagel company while in atlanta, i thought this was a spot unique to the area. turns out, there is a brooklyn water bagel company outlet around my town of orlando (three of them to be exact) and there are also locations near boston, los angeles, washington dc, and in north carolina, north and south florida.

best bagels in atlanta!. this place puts einsteins, dd, and even goldberg's to shame. their homemade garden veggie cream cheese is awesome! i wouldn't go too crazy and get a huge egg sandwich or overstuffed scooper melt, but for simple bagel and coffee this is the spot.

pretty good bagels. the chicken soup was really good. the sugar free corn muffin is good.

on a recent sunday 10.30 am they were basically out of bagels and 10 people were waiting around the counter for their orders. management is desperately needed here.

been a regular here but not going back now. was a regular here for many months - 2-3 times a week. but in the last week or so the place has gone downhill. the muffins - well seen better at walmart for certain - used to be excellent, now just heavy lumps. looks like the guy who was always working in the kitchen isnt there anymore and i guess he was the only one who could actually bake in the place.

the crowning factor for not going back - saw the owner (no less) picking up a bagel with cream cheese on it off the floor and then handed it out to a customer. sorry but no thats just wrong.

dont care how authentic the food is but you are failing at basic hygiene and your new baker sucks!


-----15 oct, 2012-----

awesome food, poor front of house staff. eaten here a few times. the food tastes great, wonderful presentation. but the front of house staff are terrible! orders often wrong, or given to the wrong people. there is one cashier type who i dread getting as she always delivers the wrong food to the wrong people. they also need to smile or at least look like they want to be there, was in there friday afternoon and was greeted by one staff member cleaning the coffee area who just looked angry and upset - like she didnt want to be there - and that a smile would have cracked her pale face.

get new/better front of house staff or else you will lose your customers out of frustration no matter how great the food is.

took me back to queens!. ok...this took me right back to my favorite bagel shop in queens, ny. i have missed bagels so much since i moved! very pleased! authentic ny bagels have arrived in atlanta!

better trip, still huge bagels. decided to try an old-standard instead of something with eggs and it was a big success. had the sliced nova, cream cheese, tomatoes and onions on a toasted sesame bagel. as before, this was huge sandwich, but it was again a very fresh and tasty bagel and everything else was fresh and in nice proportions on what was still a bigger than average version of this breakfast standard. with a big cup of the hazelnut coffee with a pump of simple syrup, this was a very satisfying breakfast. it might be that, for me at least, the key is to stay away from the egg sandwiches. all in all, worth another stop if i'm in the area.


-----03 sep, 2012-----

will need another visit to decide.... the "good": above average bagel for the area, huge 3-egg breakfast sandwich (3-egg "protein" sandwich , with chicken, spinach, mushrooms, tomato, onion and swiss on a toasted everything bagel) for the price, and a lot of flavored coffee's and do-it-yourself coffee add-ins (for us non-coffee-purists).

the "hope it gets better": the molten hot and bone-dry egg and vegetable brick in the middle of a tasty toasted bagel (way too much microwave?) with absolutely no flavor. the lack of utensils if i wanted to deconstruct and eat (ended up having to use/burn my fingers tearing up the unholy-hot egg brick) and the lack of anything other than ketchup, mustard, and mayo packets anywhere.. no tabasco or texas pete out (seems they do have a stash of tabasco miniatures behind the counter... but they make you ask for it).

i hope they can tweak it a little here and there because i think it could be a nice addition to the area if they're allowed to improve some things and aren't at the mercy of, what appears to be, a very tight franchise.

was very excited to see that it was finally open after slowwww construction. i agree with barney, will have to go back to decide. first impression was that it is slightly over priced ($16 for 2 bfast sandwiches, 1 coffee and 1 mcdonald's style hash brown). plus they got our order wrong. then we got 2 bagels to go before leaving to eat the next day. got home & they weren't sliced?? odd. i'll go back but hoping for a slightly better experience because the smyrna/vinings area needs something better than einstein's for sure!