Einstein Bros. Bagels — Restaurant in Ellicott City

This Einstein Bros. Bagels location has gone completely down hill. It is horrible. Sunday after church stopping at Einstein Bros. Bagels has been my routine for the family for over 25 years here and in Illinois.

The one in Ellicott City used to be a bustling busy well trafficked store where young and elderly friends would gather, eat, drink and socialize. The community table was fun. I'd read the newspaper and meet new people on every visit.

Now this place is a dystopian, sad lifeless place where patrons seem unwelcomed. They've slowly and consistently removed the option to eat in, to the point they weren't satisfied with just putting "No Sitting' signs on every table. They've removed every table and chair that wasn't bolted to the floor.

The service is as sad as the interior looks. I ordered a Strawberry Banana Smoothy Mix. How's that possible? Ordered a breakfast sandwhich on a Honey Whole Wheat bagel. I'm looking at one in the bin. I ask the cashier to "please grab that last one" . She keeps hitting the cash register. I ask again, please grab that Honey Whole Wheat, she acknowledges my request but keeps tapping the keys on the monitor. Then when she finally decides to act it's gone, then tells me we close in less than an hour so we are not making more. I look at my watch and they have about 1:20 before closing, translation, "we don't care, we started closing long ago".

I wait 2 min., my order comes up. I ask a guy at the register near the door if he was a manager? He never looks at me, says "no" and walks out the door. I obviously asked for a reason. He offered no alternative nor did he offer to find a manager.

I leave and look up the store and called. I hit three times to speak to an employee before determining I was in an infinite loop of no service.

I'm done with this place. So many other options. No reason to remain loyal to a store that has given up on service and seemingly is slowly putting itself out of...

Just went there a few days ago and was appalled a the terrible service, overtly rude behavior by two employees and the dirty condition of the place. It was a comedy of errors. First, my husband and I tried to order hot sandwiches, their grill was broken. We switched to simple toasted bagels (a big let down for lunch!). There was a line at the cashier and no one was working it. I asked one of the 4 other people behind the counter if one of them could start checking people out. I got a very dirty look and slow response, but someone (who was doing NOTHING but chatting with other employees) came over. Got our bagels and mine was so minimally toasted that it wasn't even warm to the touch. Went back to the counter, after being ignored for several minutes I said "Excuse me" and again got a very dirty look from the most rude employee. She looked at me, turned back to counter and ignored me. I waited about 3 minutes and she deigned to turn around. I showed her the bagel and she insisted it was toasted. I asked her to do it again, and brown it. While getting a dirty look again from this woman, I dropped the bagel on the counter and went back to my seat to wait for them to call my name. SEVERAL minutes, no one calls, I go back up and she said she hadn't made me a new one since the other one was toasted!! The other rude woman came over and toasted the bagel for me. In yet another passive agressive behavior, she then buttered my bagel so excessively that it was as thick as the sandwiches - well over 1/2" of butter on it! Yes, this is not Mortons, but for goodness sakes, the employes don't have to be so rude and belligerent. And, all of the tables were dirty. I'm taking my business to the Bagel Bin, won't enter this...

What is happening with this place? Today I was in and all windows were dark and without ads. I thought EB is closed for Good and out of business. It was open. No customers. Typically there is a dozen of retired people inside (see explanation further why elder people visit this place). Got a sandwich and hot drink. Shelves with bagels were 90% empty. Place with milk was all empty with exception of highly allergic hazelnut milk jar. Sandwiches are healthier here than in other chains (good white turkey, and novalux sandwiches with rather good quality salmon). That is it. Extras are overpriced. I wish this place add other healthy food and advertise it. For example organic, preferably USDA certified turkey without hormones, grassfed without pesticite, fed without by-products. Second example- all breadery and bakery- why not to start ad and sell all bagelsmade on organic, bleach free flour, without palm oil or any animal fat ( best grapeseed oil, and only some sweets on organic regular butter? Everywhere in US, blood vessels buildups, cholesterol and heart failures are number one death, cancer (and mainly due to contamination from bad food) is another, and majority of US eatery still have food made from commercial products causing all of the above. Tell me places in wealthy Ellicott City, where it is not dangerous to eat? Ok, maybe WH, root market or David's cafes. Almost everywhere elsething are highly commercial and dangerous. Off course, healthy product are more expensive, so they must come with hefty ad/poster to make them sellable, but all windows of EB are empty (have a lot of space). I wrote this here bcs fell this place has some hope to shift to a healthier food....