Papa's Bagels — Restaurant in Newcastle-Maitland

I was staying in Newcastle for my Kids’ sports tournament.

On our way out for the day, I thought I’d pop into this place on the way to grab and go.

I approached the Cafe on the lane way side and on the windows it had signs saying (not verbatim) ‘If you want to sit inside come in, or take away use our app’. I had a peek inside and it looked busy so I thought I’d order through the app.

Ordered a Strawberry Bagel, Eggs Bene Bagel and a Plain bagel with a coffee and hot chocolate. My order went through around 10:05am

After about 20 minutes of waiting, the (lovely!) barista looked at me and asked, “Hey what did you order? You’ve been here for a while.”

I pulled up the receipt of the order and showed him, to which he said he couldn’t find the order.. Great! Ive been standing here for almost half an hour looking silly. He promptly grabbed another guy (I assume maybe a manager or team lead?) and I showed him the transaction and my bank statement of me being charged. He took a photo for proof (which I understand!) and said he would get to it.

To my horror, I watched serveral people get served and their orders handed to them before me. I even saw an order that was exactly the same as mine be dished out to someone else (who came after me) also.

I FINALLY GOT MY FOOD around 10:45am, 20+ minutes AFTER they knew about the issue..

The ONLY saving grace was that lovely barista (brunette, curly hair with a brown?? Hat) who profusely apologised and showed genuine concern through my time here. You are a gem mate

I used to work in food service for roughly 15 years, including management so I give benefit of the doubt everywhere I go - sometimes a little too much. In this case, I am absolutely shocked that my order wasn’t prioritised. I understand sh*t happens - in this case it did and I can forgive that. But what I cannot forgive is whoever the guy is, who took over rectifying my order - put me LAST. I had to wait ANOTHER 20 minutes when I should’ve been the next one out. Not my fault it was as system error or yours, but do the right thing and prioritise the customer who had been waiting.

I am a non confrontational person and due to my history in the industry I didnt want to cause a ruckus. Maybe I should’ve? Because this was a joke.

Again, thank you to that barista - you made myself and my kids’ morning. The coffee and the hot chocolate were...

We visited Papas Bagel Bar in the city of Newcastle for brunch. A large cafe and a cool hang out. They have a range of boiled and baked bagels to choose from; sweet and savoury, such as poppy seed, sesame, sea salt, Italian herbs, tomato chutney and Parmesan for savoury and and sweet ones like cinnamon and sultana, blueberry and Nutella. We enjoyed a plain blueberry one. There’s even a gluten free option. The bagel was light and really nicely flavoured.

There are both breakfast and lunch fillings, ranging from $15-24. Whilst this might be pricy, they are loaded with toppings. We ordered the baked Meredith goats cheese with field mushrooms filling and a side salad of poached pear, Rocket, pine nuts, sweet potato and a Zaaatar poached eggs and a side of tomato and Fuji apple relish. Every bit was full of flavour and contrasting flavours between the savoury bagel and mushroom, goats cheese filling and the sweetness of the side salad.

They do coffees and in particular their cappuccino has real chocolate shards on top.

The cafe is expensive already and could have done with an extra chef for efficiency. We don’t like the 15% surcharge. A rarity these days in most...

For some context, I was born and raised in New York so I’ve had a fair few bagels in my lifetime. Keep in mind, this is a novel experience in Newcastle. They don’t sell them buy a half dozen or dozen in a brown paper bag. They sell "packs" of two or four bagels in beautiful Instagram worthy packaging. I decided to buy two packs of 4 (aka 8 bagels - x2 Salt, x2 Everything, x2 Sweet Chili & x2 Blueberry) and two single servings of plain cream cheese which came to a total of $44. They didn’t offer to pre-cut the bagels for take away. I was so excited, I ate the Salt bagel on my way home in the car - not toasted - and it slaps! Some of the bagel bottoms were a bit soggy, most likely because they didn't dry them long enough on the drying rack but over all the taste & texture was great. The blueberry bagel did look a bit grey because they must have mixed in the blueberries instead of folding in the blueberries which would have tasted better. Did I end up eating 3/8 of those bagels in a single day? Yes, yes I did. Would I go again? Yes, but maybe for one of those single bagel sandwiches they offer instead of trying to buy...