Bloomington Bagel Co — Restaurant in Bloomington

We have been to the Btown Bagel Co downtown and had a wonderful experience. We decided to try this location yesterday for breakfast, and had a different experience. The place wasn't crowded, just steady, in my opinion. They were adequately staffed with 4 employees. They seemed to be rushing and kinda having attitudes with customers and with each other. They were out of almost every bagel, they only had plain and the sweet ones left - maybe we just didn't get there early enough. Our bagel sandwiches were incredibly messy upon opening them up with cream cheese EVERYWHERE. They were good, although we wished for the bagels we originally wanted, and the sandwiches were slippery and impossible to eat without our hands being covered in cream cheese. When we went to the location downtown, the place was PACKED with absolutely no room to wait for orders, but the staff was lovely and polite, they had every item in stock, and the sandwiches were delicious and not messy. Maybe we just went on a bad day, maybe we didn't go early enough. I'll probably try again on a different day, because this location is more convenient to me to get to than the...

As a NJ native, I recognize I have high expectations when it comes to bagels. Still, if a store uses the slogan is "East Coast Bagels, Midwest Service", they deserve to be judged on that standard. The schmears are quite good (I especially like chive and garlic/herb), and I have no complaints about service. The bagels are decent to be sure but would not past muster on the east coast. They are, as other reviewers have indicated, somewhat tiny, doughy, and chewy in a way that makes them tough.

Furthermore, the prices seem a bit high to me. The "Lotsa Lox", which, depending on the day, doesn't contain that much lox, is just shy of $12 with tax. Given the bagel's size and the amount of lox they put in, I would expect such a sandwich to be about $2-3 cheaper. It also shouldn't run you more than $4 to simply order flavored cream cheese on a bagel.

Overall: tasty cream cheese and good service, but lackluster bagels and...

Why are they ALWAYS out of everything on the weekends? Went to go get my bagel they screwed up yesterday and had to call ahead to make sure they didn't run out of the kind I wanted before I got there. Pathetic that I know I have to do that, right? I get there and they're out of sausage, muenster and LETTUCE! REALLY? Lettuce? Why do the owners not care about keeping there product in? It's ridiculous. I've been to MANY, MANY excellent bagel shops in the US. NEVER have I been told, "we're out," of ANYTHING! I'm so done with this business. Trying to be exclusive to the point of completely turning good customers off, isn't clever marketing, guys, it's just plain bad business. I'll be using your business example of what NOT to do in my business communication class. Keep your place stocked! Making extra bagels, you know you sell out of quickly, and basics stocked, is a no...