Kettlemans Bagel — Restaurant in Toronto

I've always been a fan of Montreal bagels and would actually go to Montreal for their bagels (and smoked meat!). So when I heard that Kettlemans has opened a location downtown, I decided to check it out. I arrived around 1pm and the place was packed. The cashier I got was kind of spacey (probably smoked a bit too much weed based on his general slowness) and not entirely helpful. I ordered combo 2 (bagel with cream cheese and coffee). I was given a device that buzzes once my order is ready. I went towards the back to find a table but they were all taken with the exception of standing bar area. I waited. And waited. And WAITED. Over 25 minutes went by I still didn't get the buzz. For the life of me,I couldn't understand why a single toasted bagel with cream cheese would take over 25 minutes to prepare. I went back up to the front to follow up. At this point, many of the people that have been waiting have cleared out. I asked 2 separate people to check on my order and they just kind of disappeared. Then finally I got someone who apologized for the delay and told me my order would be ready in a couple of minutes. And as a token of apology, I was given some freshly baked bagels to take home. Overall, my experience wasn't ideal but they made up for it by giving me a bag of bagels. I was actually going to get some bagels after my taste test anyway, so that was a good guesture. From an actual food review perspective, the bagels are legit Montreal bagels. The texture and the sweetness was on point. I'll come back again, but I'm hoping they can address their service level the...

As someone from Ottawa I had high expectations for the first Kettlemans Toronto location. Kettlemans is a Ottawa institution and unfortunately I have nothing but bad things to say about the service at the Toronto location.

While the bagels themselves are fluffy and the back of house (everyone in the checkered pants) is exceptionally competent, the front of house provided the worst service I have experienced in a long time.

This store needed a soft opening before expecting people to pay full price for this sort of service.

It took 20 minutes for 2 bagels to come out and while there were 5 people preparing the deli bagels it is obvious that they did not know their own menu and if they did they did not know it well enough to execute quickly.

Furthermore, the front was often left unmanned while all the front of house staff somehow ended up at the back obviously frazzled with trying to put together our orders. The only competent person seemed to be a woman who appeared to be the manager. There were bagels fallen on the floor that staff repeatedly just walked over instead of picking up. And that was just the start of it... The lack of initiative and problem solving skills of this staff was gobsmacking.

We'll go again because its the only kettlemans in the city, but if thing don't improve we might just open up a bagel shop a la...

This place is definitely a 3/5.

I've passed by multiple times before going in and I was wondering why it had such a low score. Bagels are made fresh in front of you by hand, quality looks good, and the place is very clean. But there are a number of issues you only notice when you order.

Lets start with the bagels: They're small and they don't taste all that great. Not sure what the recipe is but I've had much better bagels from most bakeries I've been to. Ingredients they use are good but if the star of the show is lackluster it brings the whole experience down.

Second is value. Portions are tiny for the price and there's not a-lot of ingredients. Would be fine to keep it simple if they gave you a bit more, but they don't do that.

Third, and worst of all is the service. Staff are friendly but it's just so slow. Normally bagel sandwiches are really quick to put together, but not at this place.

I would give them a further half star off if I could because they leave the pits in the olives - can really hurt your teeth on that. Also I have to mention that consistent with the theme of bad value, the pit makes up 90% of the olive.

Super...