Si Si Bagels — Restaurant in Madrid

The first time I came here, I was genuinely impressed — the food and coffee were amazing, and I left excited to come back. That’s why this visit was such a huge disappointment. I ordered the limited edition tiramisu latte and waited more than 20 minutes, even though I was the first in line for it. In that time, they made four tiramisu lattes and gave them all to people who ordered after me. When I finally asked about my order, the staff seemed annoyed and unbothered, almost as if I was inconveniencing them. It honestly felt like they had forgotten me altogether.

The girl behind the counter didn’t look professional either — she kept dropping things, seemed constantly rushed and stressed. Meanwhile, the ones who were served before me happened to be white American girls. It was hard not to feel overlooked, like Americans were being prioritized simply because this place is “inspired by New York.” To make matters worse, the girl right behind me never got her latte at all because they ran out after giving it away to people who came later.

I’ve lived in New York before, and it was never like this. Yes, cafés there can be hectic, but they are organized, fair, and respectful to all customers. For a place that calls itself “New York–style” and charges New York prices, the service should reflect that. I understand what it means to support a small business — mistakes happen. But this wasn’t a small mistake. It was careless, disorganized, and made me feel completely undervalued as a customer.

The saddest part is that I really wanted to support this place, because the food itself is great. But no matter how good the food is, if the service doesn’t improve, they’ll never be able to succeed in New York — or even keep loyal customers here. And that’s a shame, because this café could be...

SISI bagels gets the NYC vibe right, but doesn’t deliver on the NYC flavor.

I’m from New York, and I love what this shop is trying to bring to Madrid. The handwritten menu, wide variety of bagels and cream cheese flavors, and sandwich options are correct and reminiscent of a NYC bodega or bagel shop.

Unfortunately, I found the bagel itself to be really lacking. The “everything” bagel only has garlic and sesame seeds on it. I’d love to see them add in the poppy seeds, onion flakes, and salt. The texture of the bagel was, for me, very off. It was almost as if the bagel was undercooked. There was no hard, outer crust and the inside was too doughy as opposed to light and airy. The bagel totally compressed while it was eating it because it lacked structure. Overall, it felt like I was eating a “roll” rather than a bagel.

I got the “classic lox,” which was generous on the fish. However, I don’t believe the ingredient they’re using is actually lox— salt-cured salmon that is uncooked. Instead, I think the sandwich uses smoked salmon. Totally fine, except that lox is so much saltier… by subbing smoked salmon, the sandwich then lacked salt, especially since the everything bagel had no salt. Easy fix would be adding more capers!

I liked the vibe of the store and I’d be willing to give SISI another go, especially as they open a new location on c/ Santa Isabel.

New Yorkers, like Valencians with their paella, are very specific about bagels and often say the water makes the difference— maybe that’s...

Let’s start with the positive:

The place is super cute. The woman behind the counter was incredibly nice and helpful. I’m learning Spanish and she helped me engage in Spanish (throwing in English when needed), rather than defaulting to English after hearing a mistake.

The small size coffee is delicious (a medium seems to be the same amount of coffee but with more milk).

Now the not-so-positive:

The food is expensive for how it tastes. I live in New York and I’m aware that 1) things are significantly cheaper in Madrid than New York, and 2) bagels outside of New York aren’t ever as good.

After seeing prices higher than New York prices, I at least expected New York-quality bagels. However, these are not. They are not bad, but they are dry and bland. I ordered an everything bagel, and it was not everything—just a sesame and poppy seed bagel. No garlic or onion.

Overall, I would mark this 4 stars, but seeing how they respond to other reviews has caused me to react with a 3 star. I think it is already disingenuous to incentive reviews for free food. But to respond to FOUR STAR REVIEWS asking for modification to 5 stars or removal is inappropriate. It is a hostile business tactic and makes me uncomfortable to return to a place I’d otherwise give another shot.

There are comparable bagels available in the neighborhood for...