Einstein Bros. Bagels — Restaurant in Denver

Two old guys at separate small tables, with their steaming cups of coffee and their bagels, talking easily, chatting about politics and sports. This is what a bagel place (or a coffee shop) is supposed to be like. Comfortable, comforting.

The problem is that none of the three people who are behind the counter were there last week. They seem nice enough, but they are all new at this, and it shows. Here’s an applicable headline: “Employee turnover runs as high as 130% to 150%, according to industry measures.” That’s annually.

I’m at Einstein Bros. Bagels, which is often included in surveys and articles about the Denver fast-casual phenomenon. I’m not sure it quite fits - I visited bagel places in the late ’70’s that were essentially the same. But Einstein’s started in the mid-Nineties and fits many of the other signifiers. From the attractive and humorous signage (most featuring Melvyn and Elmo, those fictitious Einstein brothers, and supposed founders) to the delightful varieties of bagels, to the frankly delicious breakfast sandwiches… Einstein’s offers a bagel’s perspective on fast-casual service.

Einstein’s has a complex history. From what I can tell, their VERY FIRST shop actually opened in Salt Lake City, the second one in Denver. The company headquarters is in Golden, and Denver was the site of the first big push of franchises, so maybe that’s why it is categorized with Chipotle, Noodles, and the other Denver fast-casual operations.

I love the Santa Fe breakfast sandwich - egg, turkey sausage, spicy Monterey Jack cheese, with Jalapeño Salsa shmear (the best ingredient) on an Asiago bagel, or a Green Chile or Jalapeño bagel if you are feeling adventurous. The Chorizo Sunrise offer better sausage - chorizo, of course - but also adds guacamole, which makes the whole combo just a little too much for me to manage. It has gotten all over my fingers and shirt enough times that I never order it anymore.

The menu is good, then. Apparently, it’s mostly resistant to individual errors by new workers… or by workers who are bored and disinterested. But is this what we want when we visit a restaurant? Do the two old guys and their idle conversation make up for the uneasiness at the counter… and behind the scenes?

There is a sort of Ponzi scheme underlying fast food (and fast-casual food, too), and it could be starting to fray at the edges. All the chef-inspired recipes and authentically sourced food may not be enough to keep this...

Okay-- so this Einstein's is right by our house. We normally order delivery through DoorDash. We order from there every single weekend. This time we ordered for pick up through Door Dash in order to save some money. Well, they got our order wrong. That's no big deal and not the reason for this review. We have been to this Einstein's before in person and are used to their stoned employees and lackadaisical service, so the incorrect order was whatever.

However, when I took back our incorrect order -- which had been replaced with all plain bagels -- the cashier first acted like I was crazy. I had to repeat that you could see on the receipt that plain bagels were not what we ordered. Then the GM came out, his name is BRIAN HESS and VERY RUDELY told me that "as I had been informed" their policy was to replace any bagels they were out of with plain bagels. He said he had new ones of what we ordered and would replace them if I could wait. I said that this would be just fine and said thanks.

So, I had a seat and did some Duo Lingo while patiently waiting for our bagels. BRIAN HESS personally came out with a bag and stood about five feet away so that I had to walk over to him to get the bag. As I tried to take the bag he held onto it tight and wouldn't release it. He said -- loudly, in front of the entire restaurant and the staff - "Next time you are not allowed to be rude to staff". I was seriously taken aback. I had not been rude to staff. Further, being shamed in front of an entire store and essentially belittled is very unprofessional. How did this person become GM? I used to work in the hospitality industry for years. This is completely unacceptable behavior, especially from a GM. None of this was polite or customer centered. His tone was antagonistic the entire time.

To be clear -- I ordered the bagels through DoorDash. I had no idea that their "policy" was to replace bagels they were out of with plain ones. He certainly did not to be this rude. Again, how in the world did this guy get...

EDIT: It's been a few weeks since I reached out via the provided link, and no one has contacted me. Apparently, they are no more serious when they promise someone will contact you than they are when they say "We want to make sure we only serve tasty, well-prepared food." I don't believe anything this company says anymore and personally wouldn't go near their food. ORIGINAL REVIEW: On July 29, we ordered three "dozen buckets" (a baker's dozen bagels plus 2 tubs of cream cheese) for pickup the next morning because we were hosting a large group for brunch. The bagels were undercooked to the point where they were doughy inside and virtually inedible. Worse, three of the tubs of cream cheese tasted "off" and gave us gastrointestinal distress. It turns out their "use by" date had expired on July 4, nearly a month before they were sold to us. This was disappointing and embarrassing for us, as we take pride in serving quality food and treating our guests well, and instead they ended up feeling sick and disgusted.

When I went in to the store to process the refund, I looked and saw cream cheese tubs still on the shelf for sale with use-by dates of July 4 and even as early as June 22, which is 41 days past the pull date. (This could be even worse than it sounds, given the store's history of being cited for failing to properly refrigerate cream cheese.)

In processing the refund, the manager was polite, efficient, and utterly unapologetic. She defensively said nothing like this had happened in her 10 years of experience, but I later found out the store had been cited by health authorities as recently as April. I think I'll have to find someplace else to trust with my guests'...