Brooklyn Bridge Bagel Works — Restaurant in Chico

This used to be my favorite bagel place in town, but unfortunately I can't say I have a favorite at all anymore. They dumbed-down the menu (and by that I don't mean they put less things on the menu to focus on better ingredients and better menu items) No, they reduced the menu size AND ingredients on the bagels while increasing prices. They ruined one of the best pastrami sandwiches in Chico by basically just making it pastrami with mustard, mayo, and coleslaw(for some reason). All this not even to mention how they're redecorating to desperately mimic the success of Stoble. Guys. You HAD your own character, your own unique vibe and place in downtown Chico, and you threw it away and exchanged it for this minimal, white walled college bedroom aesthetic. Don't get me wrong, that aesthetic isn't generally a bad one, but you aren't unique anymore. People like Stoble because it's huge and a good place to work, and dispassionately mimicking style might bring some more attention, but won't increase your value. You HAD higher value than them, at least to a lot of locals. You were a legendary little hole in the wall that I'd take people to and surprise them with, and now you're not. And it sucks.

Side note: This is in no way to undermine the workers there, because I think they're all amazing service-workers, and they meet above-standard...

I'm not happy to write this review, but it has to be done.

The 2 minutes before I ordered my bagel were probably the best I had here...A friendly greeting when I walked in at 6:30 am and a jovial experience with my cashier. What came after seems like absolutely no fault of theirs, I want to be clear.

But that's where the good seemed to end. I see I'm not the only one who's noticed the changes here (other reviews made similar points to mine below), and not for the better.

Interior decor used to have unique charm (the bridge model with all the little cars was amazing!)...now it has, as another reviewer perfectly summarized, "a minimalist Instagram aesthetic" with a stark neon sign above a bench. The same old beat-up tables that looked at home in to the rough-and-ready Brooklyn style before look a lot dingier in the tungsten glow, and there's not much else left for the eyes to rest on.

Foodwise, I can keep it short: high price and low quality. I paid $9 for a watery egg patty on a bland bagel. I couldn't even finish my first bite without pining for hot sauce, pepper, heck even just salt.

Brooklyn is a long, long way away from here--this feels like a...

I never have left a review before because I generally don't ever feel the need to. I ordered 3 bagels, all with cream cheese and salmon, for me, my partner, and our roomate. Me and my partner ate together and we ate quickly as we both had work. We didn't notice anything wrong, other than the bagel was super salty. A few hours later me and my partner had the worst food poisoning and stomach pain, we both had to come home early from work. It was literally the worst stomach pain I've ever had in my life. We honestly didn't even realize it was the bagels we had in the morning, until our roomate comes home later that day and says that he threw away the bagel because the salmon was a dark brown on the inside and he thought there was mold on it. I was shocked and modified that it was from the bagels that we ate in the morning. I feel really disgusted that I ate from that place. I thought the bagels were harmless. This place doesn't use fresh food, and you are way better off just buying the ingredients and making it yourself. Don't eat here and if you do make sure to check your food. This place should be shut down, if it continues serving people bad...