Bruegger's Bagels — Restaurant in Amherst

I love bagels and this place is FOR BAGEL lovers..or so it claims. It is Sunday 10 am on March 17th. Our first time at this famous chain and as we entered the shop, we right away approached the cashier to place our order. The cashier that had a tag of "shift supervisor" acknowledged us, waited for us to start ordering and after I had already said Hi, asked him about his day and then said my order outloud , he (with a smirk on his face) pointed in the direction of the kitchen staff and said "yeah, you'll need to order it there first!" (I think he was getting off on the fact that we were bran new customers and didnt know "their system") Fine, he is basking in his "bagel supervising" role , didnt even let that bother us, went to see young/ very friendly kitchen staff to place our order. We ordered 3 different bagels, asked for all toasted w/ plain cream cheese. Now, when you have a bad experience from just walking through the door of the shop you've never been to before, you seem to just not even care about what happens next, you want to pay for food or services and just leave to never return. So we simply discussed our plans for that morning while waiting on the bagels. Order was completed, grabbed it, paid for it with desire to never come here again. Now, who eats bagels without TOASTING them? If you do, you're an animal! We specifically asked for TOASTED, and apparantly , warming the exterior part of the bagel equals to toasting them. Sad ! One and only good thing about this place, they didn't skimp on cream cheese, but when you have a soft bagel it really doesnt matter how much cream cheese you might schmear on that! Really, it doesnt! Lesson learned- if you get "great" customer service from the "shift supervisor" the moment you walk in- you should turn around and leave! Additionally, the kitchen staff complained the entire time about the big order they had just received for 38 bagels and how "tiring and "great"" it was. Amherst is a college town, i dont see why this bagel shop shouldn't go to college to better their customer service skills. Bruegger's Bagels, please start with your "shift...

It was just ok. I may be biased since im from NJ and we have the best bagels anywhere, but I was not impressed with this place. I came in one morning around 9:30 when I was downtown, and planned to order a plain bagel with ham, egg, and cheese. The place wasn't busy and the employees looked super bored. Nobody told me how the ordering worked, so I went to the cash register (which nobody was at) and the one employee rudely told me I need to go to the end of the counter first. I went to the end of the counter and placed my order, and the uninterested employee retorted that there were no plain bagels left. What?? Every other bagel place I've been to stocks plain bagels all day long. So then I asked for a cinnamon raisin bagel and they had run out of those as well. I finally settled for a pumpkin bagel with ham egg and cheese. This is where the bias may come in. When I received my bagel the egg was one of those egg disks you'd get at Dunkin donuts. Everywhere in NJ/NY if you ask for eggs on your bagel you'll get actual scrambled eggs. Oh well, I ate it anyway. It tasted fine, as I expected. The bagel itself was super bready yet flat, and was NOTHING like a NY style bagel (as their bagels are advertised to be). It felt like it was melting in my mouth as I ate it-- nothing like the hard outside and fluffy inside of NY bagels. I will not be returning... also unrelated but I once applied for a job here and was rejected with extreme backlash as well. I can safely say I'd never want to work at this place with utterly rude employees and...

So disappointing. I haven't been to this Bruegger's in a while, but I used to go all the time. (I have an original Bruegger's refill coffee mug from 40 years ago!) Service was poor. Employee making the bagels greeted me and told me to let me know when we were ready to order. (There was no line.) I was helping my child decide what bagel to order when the employee at the register informed us we HAD to place our order there and NOT with the person who had just offered to help us. (No signage of the change in 40 years of company practice.) Rude.

My bagel was made incorrectly. (I asked for a simple adjustment - split and spread the cream cheese on both (inner) sides of the bagel before putting it together. Was told this couldn't be done. Really?! Folks, you've been making my bagels for me this way for 40 years!) No chai. No tea of any kind. No idea how much the coffee was as no price list. (Only a small sign for the cold drinks.) Employee at register less than helpful.

Add to this there is still very little seating. (Many of the seats/tables were removed during Covid. Now they are advertising as "take-out only" yet there is still some seating.) Overall, very uninviting, dark, dirty, and cold.

One star because the bagel was OK. I'm really surprised this place is still in business. I won't be back. Sad.

Adding edit - In response to the "Response from the owner" comment listed below, I did fill in their form but I never heard from Bruegger's. ...