Mazál Bagels & Café – Chamberí — Restaurant in Madrid

On June 14th between 18:30- 19:00, I walked in to get a bagel for take-away and was treated the worst I’ve ever been in any restaurant by a human with absolutely despicable behavior.

I wanted to review the menu and the brunette female staff was snappy, passive aggressive and rude from the beginning and even ripped the menu out of my hand. I’ve asked her kindly to let me choose a side or ask a question about the types of bagel, and her face turned aggressive and hostile and said the kitchen is closing in 15 minutes. Suddenly, she also pretended to not even speak English anymore. I couldn’t even order my side cause she pressured me so much. I told her I am allergic to dairy, and would like a vegan bagel. She said she’ll replace the cream cheese with hummus. Even this whole procedure felt unnecessarily rushed. I truly would have only needed 10 extra seconds to decide which one I want, and which side. I just felt so extremely unwelcome and I was afraid she would explode in anger and attack me any minute so I even waited outside. While outside, I heard her speak perfect English happily chit-chatting or flirting with a man. She wasn’t even telling me my food is ready. I went back inside and picked it up. The packaging said “cheese” so I told her “hey, all is ok, please just check again if they replaced it with hummus cause I am lactose-intolerant, and she refused to double-check and just hissed at me “yeah the name is avo-cheese”. Even though it was all degrading, I said “goodbye and thank you”. She couldn’t even do the same.

Anyway, I get to the train station having a long journey ahead of me, I open the bagel and of course just as my gut feeling told me, it was fully covered in cream cheese. (See photo) She did this on purpose. I don’t know how you can just hate someone for no reason. I wasn’t rude or arrogant or demanding or anything. I think management should take a good deep look if this is repetitive behavior. She seems to be unnecessarily and extremely triggered by positive and successful women.

However, she didn’t ruin my day as she hoped. She just gave me a chance to practice empathy and do a fast, and give the bagel to a homeless person which ultimately made me happy because I am a giver.

She can deny it, come up with excuses, but I know the objective truth. If there is camera footage, please feel free to review it.

If she’s the owner, I am just baffled by how she’d want to lose out on business — not giving me a minute to order a side for example.

I hope she knows, that this is not the way to success and happiness. Good luck to her. She is definitely going to need it with this amount of darkness and misery in her heart.

The reason I am giving 2 stars instead of 1 is because the bagel in itself looked...

Hate to leave a less positive review for a business I was excited to support on my visit to Madrid. I stepped in and when I tried sitting at an empty corner table (where a man had just left, it was 1-2 seats), a female worker came by twice to practically shoo me away - no hello, no smile, no explanation of their system, just pointing “go over there” (to the cash register). I assumed there was both table and to-go service. I approached the cashier, who had a snarky attitude when I was trying to understand what’s going on. (He did not notice the other interaction.) When I then asked if it's kosher and then Israeli, he felt the need to educate me that “it's not the same” with a condescending head tilt (like “eh, are you stupid?”). I'm Israeli, masorti, the place appeared when searching kosher on Google Maps, and I wanted to make sure I was in the right place. Maybe it was worth it? The cashier repeatedly cut me off by asking for my name for the waiting list before I could even finish speaking. I was told to wait outside for “maybe 15 min” on a Tuesday at 12:30pm when I just wanted a quick lox bagel and coke, which I of course couldn’t say. The place wasn't even bustling - only one party of 3 was in line before me and people were chilling at their tables. And only one person working in the kitchen on what’s supposed to be peak hour then? No organization or clear system for customers. Having worked in hospitality myself, handling stress without alienating customers is part of the job. This kind of dismissive service might be considered “NY cool” by some, but it's simply poor hospitality. Not even the most tired workers at Aroma would treat you like this - and if they did, you'd be on good terms again quickly. I'm sorry to the owner, but this made my heart drop for a second and ruined my lunch hour. Customer service needs...

I’ve known Tamara (the owner) from her apartment bagel bakery days and absolutely love the tried and tested recipe she’s created for her bagels. You will have to get there early on a weekend day or call ahead to reserve a table, which they highly recommend you do. It’s become an extremely popular place since it opened just before the height of the pandemic back in 2020. We greatly appreciated a taste of home during the lockdown when we ordered some of their bagels and challah to help us get though that difficult time. Staff is always friendly and the menu items are varied and delicious. It’s perfect for when you’re missing a little bit of home while in Spain. It seriously feels like I’m popping into an authentic American bagel café right in the middle of Madrid every time I go. Para los españoles que les apetecen probar desayunos y brunch americanos y auténticos, ¡este es el sitio para ir en Madrid! Tienen una buena oferta de comida (típica y de temporada) y los bagels son 100% ricos y auténticos. Quizás tendrás que esperar un pelín si vayas en fin de semana pero por eso te recomiendan hacer una reserva con antelación. Merece la pena mucho ir y comer súper rico allí!...