Bruegger's Bagels — Restaurant in Brentwood

I had a terrible experience this morning at Brueggers bagel . I have been patronizing this store for at least 10 years . Their prices are really high , but I felt as though I was paying for great customer service and good healthy food. I've noticed over the last 2-3 years, after this real sweet lady, who did the cash register left , management has gotten worse. New confusing rules on how and where to order your, is confusing for everyone. You get screamed at ,if you move to the wrong place or ask where to go , by this middle aged manager, who seems to have a chip on his shoulder. First of all, my orders are usually 15 -25 dollars every time I go come there for my personal order, if I include my wife it's 30 dollars. Today I went in at 7 am with alot on my mind regarding my buisness and after I gave my order, I realized that I didn't specify a 5 cheese smoked salmon baggle. I told them I meant to specify a 5 cheese smoked salmon bagel , and I apologized for not saying that in the beginning. They had just cut a plain bagel for me ,but hadn't done anything else . Then the manager hollered to me and said thhe next time that happened, it would be a .90 cent up charge .I looked and thought I'm paying 22 dollars plus a forced tip of 1 dollar. (Their credit machine won't progress unless you pay a tip), I can afford. 90 cent for a mistake and I responded, OK. Next thing I knew, the manager walked up to my face and screamed the "Next time you do that you will pay an up charge of .90 cents 2 more times ! The entire resturant heard his loud intimidating and threatening tirade. I then responded. I won't ever be back to pay his .90 cent up charge.... I have accepted their worsening service for two years, not bagging my purchased ,items , making you feel you owe them for coming in . Terrible seating. I'm sure that plenty of multi millionaires spend money on their high priced food, but they can believe this ; This multi millionaire, will never spend 90 cent or even a dime , on their high price food and terrible service again ! They need new management and ownership. Don't trust my experience, go there and see for yourself. I guarantee you will be confused and...

If someone asks me "what's your favorite thing for breakfast", my answer is always "A bagel with cream cheese". There is no other story to tell. I'm always on the lookout for a good bagel place. I discovered Bruegger's on a recent trip and decided to give them a try for brekkie.

Bruegger's is easy to find and easy to access from Franklin Rd. It's got a nice storefront with some green awnings that came in VERY handy because my first visit was in the pouring rain.

The inside is more function-over-form, as there's no real sitting area and it's not very brightly lit. You get the feel they want to do takeout...and takeout only.

Inside you order at the counter. Bruegger's has over a dozen types of bagels including, of course, plain, onion, everything, etc. They have a Jalapeño bagel that's topped with cheddar and a few slices of pickled jalapeño. While I really like that style of jalapeño bagel, it makes toasting them a challenge.

They also have about ten flavors of cream cheese that are made in Vermont and come in pre-sealed containers. They have some nice flavours (jalapeño! Oh, and plain, veggie, herb & garlic, etc), but all are pre-blended.

My visit went smoothly. Less than 5 minutes in and out. The nice lady behind the counter took my order while the gentleman down the line sliced and toasted my bagel. (I prefer my cream cheese on the side so that I can control how much goes on it). They don't have a vast assortment of coffee options. No latte or espresso.

The toasted bagel and the cream cheese were good, but I think I've gotten spoiled by visiting local (read that: non-chain) bagel shops. Pre-blended cream cheese has a vastly different look and taste compared to store-blended cream cheese. Bruegger's cream cheese is more than likely mass-produced by elaborate machinery, while a local bagel shop sources the ingredients locally and blends each batch by hand.

For being a chain, Bruegger's does a fantastic job of bageling and cream cheesing, so it's really not a complaint but more of an observation.

Will I visit Bruegger's on my monthly visits to Brentwood? Absolutely! I still love a bagel and cream cheese...

Do NOT use their app. We ordered on their app on the weekend before last....expecting them to run out of some bagels, but shockingly their app didn't show any sold out. Thrilled, we placed orders for some bagels and sandwiches.

When we got there, they were sold out of almost every single bagel (they had four bagels left), and the lady at the register said "I cant do anything for you since you used the app, we couldn't contact you and I can't refund you, you have to go on the app and request it."

Well, going on the app and requesting it is actually a contact us form. We submitted it on 2/11.

On 2/14, I reached out on twitter and asked the turnaround time because we hadn't even gotten a response. They said they were working on going through the refund requests, and were on requests from 2/3.

This is absurd, over a week later we will have yet to get ANY response to the request submitted. My roommate filed a dispute with her bank, but I was trying to see how long it took Bruegger's to take care of it. Clearly, I will have to dispute with the bank.

NEVER again, we will not be back. The customer service is beyond poor, and the fact that people are waiting this long for all these refunds is absurd -- adjust the app so it can be marked when a bagel is out of stock, and you won't have so many orders you can't fullfill?

Einstein's Bagel's isn't far, please visit...