Corey's NYC Bagel Deli — Restaurant in Chicago

It's Marathon Morning, and our daughter is running in her first Chicago Marathon. We mapped out our strategy to see her in a number of places, but on a Sunday morning in downtown Chicago breakfast options are somewhat limited, and with the influx of runners and spectators, we assumed anyplace we tried would be swamped.

Corey's NYC Bagel Deli was on the way to one of our planned stops so we decided to see how the line was....and were surprised that the place wasn't packed. Sure, there was a line, but it wasn't bad at all.

To say they have a lot of bagel and cream cheese options would be a massive understatement. The first thing I look for in any bagel shop is a jalapeño bagel, but sadly they don't have one. They do, however, have jalapeño cream cheese, so Jim is pretty happy with that. I'd never have a pretzel bagel before, so I thought that I'd give that a shot with the jalapeño cream cheese.

Corey's also has a variety of breakfast sandwiches and a make-your-own-sandwich option as well. There's fresh brewed coffee available, and aside from that there are a number of bottled drinks available in multiple drink coolers.

For as busy as they were I was surprised how fast our orders came out (about 15 minutes). I'm not going to lie, there was A LOT of carryout business going on, but the foot traffic inside wasn't terrible.

The staff was hustling this morning. Whether it was taking orders, making food, or delivering food, the staff was on-the-go and worked like a well-oiled machine.

So here it is, Sunday morning -- Marathon Morning -- and my wife and I are standing eating Corey's bagels in Downtown Chicago. I was 100% impressed with the jalapeño cream cheese. Not only at the amount on the bagel (there was a LOT, but that's ok because I love cream cheese), but at the taste. There were chunks of jalapeño and cilantro. I don't know that I've ever had cilantro in jalapeño cream cheese before, but this was a most excellent touch.

An interesting thing happens when you stand in the middle of the street eating a bagel when the city is packed with over 100,000 extra people. Passers by notice you. At least 3 people stopped to ask if there was a bagel shop nearby. "Yes, it's called Corey's and it's two blocks down and around the corner. Just hang a left at the light and you can't miss it".

I hope Corey's appreciates the business we sent...

Planning ahead multiple weeks, we had set a catering order for delivery at 06:30 for an interview day with potential candidates at our company. After confirming the order multiple times (the date was even initially wrong, which was fixed the week before), and specifically confirming that 06:30 was not too early for them to make the delivery, we proceeded. Ray specifically acknowledging that this time of the morning would not be an issue.

The short story is that it took two phone calls the morning of the event, at 06:31 (to find out driver had left 5 minutes prior) and 06:55 (to find out they didn’t know where driver was, ultimately having to track down driver myself to get the bagels). At this point the period of time for the candidates to eat (06:30-07:00) was over. The bagels went to waste, as did the $150+ they cost.

I responded to Ray appropriately expressing frustration but acknowledging that stuff always comes up and we understand that. However, for a relatively large cost we asked that they work to remedy the situation. Ray’s response below:

“Hello. I am sorry to hear about the negative experience you had today. We strive for perfection but recognize that it not always attainable. Unfortunately we had a domino effect of issues that stemmed from early this morning that caused our delay. My team did not realize that our driver was still having issues after leaving the store since he did not contact the team at the catering location nor did he contact you for assistance. We always like to retain business but understand that it might not happen in our case due to your frustration.”

I did follow this up with clarification that he was in fact content with simply losing customers and leaving it at that after making these kinds of mistakes with his business. He acknowledged this was what he meant.

I would hope this was one off but the quick takeaway is there are a handful of other bagel places in Chicago worth your business other than this place. Some are listed below.

Gotham, Chicago bagel authority, the bagel shop,...

I went to this place because it was the closest bagel place to the hotel. Imagine my surprise when I realized that this was the bagel place from The Profit! How cool. However, I was disappointed in my experience. I got a sausage, cheddar and egg breakfast sandwich on everything. It was tasty, but the cheese was not melted. How can you serve cold cheese on a breakfast sandwich? They also have a sign before you go in saying something about how important it is to treat people well or make them feel welcome or something along those lines, but my experience was anything but that. There was no one at the register when I walked in, and though there were several people working, no one acknowledged me for at least a minute. That's a long time in customer service minutes. I wasn't sure where to place my order, and the cashier was not very friendly when he finally decided to take my order. I felt like I was inconveniencing him when I took a second to decide what kind of bagel I wanted. The bagels were not anywhere near the register, so it was hard to see the options! I will be back, but only because my husband loves the Profit and wants to see it for himself! I won't be getting a breakfast...