Joey's Bagels - Asheville — Restaurant in Asheville

I was so thrilled to have found this new bagel shop with sea salt bagels as it’s the only place in my area to get them. The bagels were great, but the service has killed my enthusiasm. Out of the three times I’ve been here so far, I haven’t had a pleasant service experience. The previous two times I had missing items in my order - missing a potato salad one time and missing all the toppings we ordered on a bagel the other time. I figured it was just opening pains.

This time I went in to get a bagel with two toppings. Toasted with plain cream cheese and bacon. I stood at the counter with the employee I could only assume was new for five minutes waiting for her to put in my incredibly simple order. I had to correct her twice as she kept entering it on the screen wrong. Please properly train your employees because I could feel her anxiety not knowing what to do. I ordered and as I was walking away to sit down, one of the employees told me they were actually out of bacon. I said it was fine (not like I paid for it or whatever) and I assumed they would be making it then. I proceeded to wait twenty minutes for my order of ONE bagel. While I was waiting, I watched not one, not two, but three people go up to the counter and ask where their order was only to be told they had not been made and that they were sorry and it would be out soon. Another customer had to ask them to remake their order because they had made it wrong. I watched the store empty out and the employees behind the counter just chatting, so I went up and asked and they said they had not made mine either.

This place has good food and potential, but from what I saw, I don’t think they actually use tickets. That is the only explanation I can think of for the complete lack of fulfillment. I am sure the employees are trying their best with what they’re working with, but this place has no chance of survival if they are not being set up for success. From what I saw today and from the reviews left on here, Joey’s bagels will be losing customers faster than they can gain them. This is not to say I will not give Joey’s another chance, because I think it has a lot of potential, but something urgently needs...

Was reluctant to write a bad public review as it feels wrong to do to a small local business, but my email has gone unanswered and I’d like the manager to see my complaint and do something about it. I come to this location a lot because these are legit bagels which are hard to find in the south. I come in and order a lox bagel on sesame. I pay and I wait. 20 minutes has gone by. At least. I’m starting to think okay this is oddly and ridiculously long. This location does take kinda long to make your food, but not this long. Right as I’m about to say something, a worker asks me what I’m waiting on. I say my lox bagel on sesame. And everyone’s kinda just looking around at each other. One worker is like “I put the slip right here” and picks it up. Long story short, there were 4-6 kids working. No one made my sandwich. In addition, they sold all the sesame bagels and other savory bagels to customers who came in after me. So, all that was left was sweet bagels. I asked for a refund at this point and it was given to me. But this is a real issue. This shoulda never happened. Idk if it’s just because there’s kids working and no adults, but my time is valuable and was wasted. There should be some sort of semblance of order in a kitchen preparing food. That’s the whole point of a line in a kitchen. There shouldn’t just be 4-6 kids all doing whatever unsupervised. I’m pretty certain I’ll never come back to this location which is unfortunate because idk where else to get a good bagel here, besides brueggers. I didn’t want to support a corporation over a small business, but this was such a frustrating and upsetting experience and it’s maddening because there was no reason for it to happen if there had been order and routine for food...

I've been wondering if this location would live up to the hype of the Fletcher location so was excited to try it today, but had an entirely underwhelming experience. It could be opening pains- I am not quite sure how long this location has been open but know it hasn't been long. We ordered a bagel with lox and a breakfast bagel sandwich. The two sandwiches took 15 minutes to come out, which seemed appropriate, there was a bit of a line ahead of us. We sat down at a table that was dirty (just sesame/poppy seeds, nothing crazy) but it did cause me to take a look around and note that every table in the storefront was dirty. I imagine they had just had a busy morning, but could be something to keep in check as they get their feet under them. As we waited for our food, I watched one person get refunded for an item that had been left off their order, and then watched another person go back up to the counter to let the staff know they were missing something too. When our order came out, I was disappointed to find that my bagel had not been toasted (I had asked for it to be) and that our potato salad had been forgotten. I wasn't willing to wait more time for the bagel to be toasted/sandwich remade (it had creamcheese so it didn't seem like it would be a quick fix, probably a full remake), so didn't bother asking. We did ask for the potato salad, and upon receiving it, it was REALLY fantastic! Our other sandwich was also good.

Overall, a lot of my observations could just be new opening/growing pains, but I know I wasn't the only person who didn't receive a correct order. I think they're really going to have to up their game to survive right next...