Island Bagels — Restaurant in Carolina Beach

First of all I wanna say.I don't normally post reviews unless I was immensely astonished by an incident. I went to get a bagel at seven a m when they open. When the front staff came in A pretty young woman went Straight through the door grab the pair of Plastic gloves and made my bagel. I requested and everything toasted with butter And veggie cream cheese on the side. I did notice that she did not wash her hands when coming into work.She clocked in took my order, put on the gloves with dirty hands And she also touched her sweatshirt multiple times to roll up her sleeves while having the gloves on. I did say something to her afterwards.Very nicely that she should consider washing her hands Before putting on the gloves cause that's just pointless to touch clean gloves with dirty hands. What she said to me afterwards was just appalling. I quote she stated "she washed her hands At her house, and she is very clean" before she went to work. I stood there blank eyed Like did she really just say that. I had no words.I just walked out to my truck Open my soggy bagel that Was not toasted With only veggie cream on the side Butter was already on it all soggy The whole. Reason why I get butter on the side. So I went back in and asked if it could be toasted. Then their reasoning was.There was no way to toast fresh bagels. I used to make bagels , you can put Is bagels in the toaster after their made. Why would you argue With a customer , this is the first time i've been in this store And it will be my last!! I will stick with Seaside bagels. I even Politely asked if there was a sign somewhere. That stated Fresh. Bagels could not be toasted.I did ask Her to toast the bagel.And nobody opened up their mouth to say anything They just assumed that I already knew! Well , they ended up remaking my bagel toasted , and there was nothing wrong with It it came out perfect, so Walla.You can toast a fresh bagel! SHEESH Again my butter was not on the side even though I asked a second time at this point. I Had to get to work or I was going to be late. The young lady told me the reasoning For all this was that they changed Management In march of this year. Why that has anything to do Not washing your hands when you come in to work at a food service place??? Then I guess new management was not a good thing. If this is how they teach their employees to handle customers and sanitation. They argued with me twice. Once on washing hands and once on toasting a bagel. I wasn't asking for a lot.She should have just apologized and washed her hands. So if you wanna go eat here , just know that the girl behind the counter , makes sure she washes her hands at her house before She comes to work because that is enough for her. Even though she touches probably a 100 different things before she walked in the door. All I can do is laugh at this situation! Even though it started my day off horribly. You lost the customer over this , is this what you really want Island Bagels?? Good thing.I don't work for the health department.Maybe I should give them a call. I'm just to let you all know.I did not make this up even though it really sounds that...

This place is filled with mediocre bagels and LIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Set the scene: Friday, June 19th, 2020. 11am. Mr. Bagelmeister, Carolina Beach, NC. My friends and I arrive. We order four (4) sandwiches, one of which was a meal with fries. The drive-thru attendant takes our order, then asks us to pull under the pavilion in front of the Urgent Care building. We wait about 15 minutes (a long time) . After which time, a young man with glasses brings out one brown paper bag and one grocery bag with a food tray inside it. He hands it to us, and bids us good morrow. I decide, due to less-than-satisfactory experiences with Bagelmeister in the past, to open the bags, so as to ensure the completeness of our order. Upon doing so, i count two (2) sandwiches in the brown paper bag, and one (1) sandwich in the plastic grocery bag. I send a friend inside the establishment to request the missing sandwich. The same young man exits the restaurant, and informs me matter-of-factly, that the missing burrito is in the bottom of the bag. The following conversation ensues: Me, the gorgeous, tanned, blonde, intelligent customer: no, it’s not. I checked. Four-Eyes: yes, it is. I promise. Me (see above): look in this bag. There are two sandwiches. Him: can i see that bag? He proceeds to take the bag from my hands and look inside. Him: okay, can i see the other bag? He proceeds to take the plastic grocery bag from my hands. He then disappears into the establishment. He comes back out, and says, to the disbelief of myself and of everyone within a five-mile radius: see? I told you. It was in the bottom of the bag this entire time. Note: there are now three (3) sandwiches in the brown paper bag. Me: are you kidding me? There were only two sandwiches Him: no there weren’t. It was there the whole time at the bottom of the bag, like i said. Me: no, it wasn’t Him: i swear on my LIFE!!!!!! Me: literally why are you lying? Like actually why? Like what’s the point? We both know it was not in there bro Him: i swear to you, you just missed it. It was in the bag the whole time Me: you’re straight up lying to my face right now Him: throwing his hands up in mock disbelief fine WHATEVER!!!! I write this review to ask ONE QUESTION. The same question that has been on all of our minds. I ask you, Four-Eyes, WHY???? WHY LIE?????? WHAT WAS THE REASON???????? LITERALLY WHY WOULD HE LIE????? WE BOTH KNEW HE WAS LYING. WHY NOT APOLOGIZE AND SAY IT WAS HIS FAULT. IF IT WAS ABOUT PRIDE, WHY NOT JUST SAY NOTHING AT ALL, HAND ME MY FOOD, AND SAY “HAVE A NICE DAY”. WHY????????...

Not how it used to be. Island Bagels WAS my go-to place for breakfast items, but recently it seems that they've had a change in management as they've changed their menu.

I'm hoping for this to be growing pains but their current menu is extremely limited, with their breakfast bagels for example only being the simplistic bacon egg and cheese or sausage egg and cheese etc. To follow with this they do not sell fries/tatertots anymore, only offering bagged chips and fruit cups. Everything else remains the same, great venue and friendly people, but this menu is a tremendous blow personally.

The quality and variety of the bagels still remains, I had the bagel of the day (garlic asiago) and it was great. The sandwich aspect however was severely lacking. I had a Bacon Egg and Cheese for 7 dollars, which only featured 2 pieces of small bacon . Felt like they were cutting corners on the quality as opposed to their older menu. While the bagel is great, for the price for that poor sandwich I'd rather just go to Mcdonalds or drive a little further to seaside bagels.

I know this is a long tangent, but I truly enjoyed Island Bagels and this seems to be them shooting themselves in the foot. The way they cut down the menu to be as barebones as possible just does not make it worthwhile at all in my opinion. As they still ask for same price on their items while not offering as various sides or cream cheese.

I'd be willing to go again to try and hopefully see them reach their former glory, but if this menu sticks with the quality I received, I will not...