Keystone Bagels — Restaurant in Falls Township

2022 Update:

I am ordering from Keystone Bagels a couple times a week. Very good bagels and service. The online ordering is my preferred method to get my food as soon as I arrive. The staff is always friendly and I enjoy coming here. No complaints.

2021 Update:

Keystone Bagels has an expanded eating area complete with viewing window to see bagels going made. Food quality is still really good. We order almost every weekend. Bagel sandwiches are the favorite but bagels and cream cheese or bagels with lox are also enjoyed. I think they should venture into smoothies with the increased space and to offer something unique.

UPDATED:

Took the owners advice and asked for peppers and onions to be added to the loaded homefries. Sadly the peppers and onions were raw and tasted as if they were added after the potatoes were cooked and not during the cooking process. Also potatoes were bland again. They are real red potatoes which I appreciate but they need a healthy dose of salt and pepper. I am just going to stop ordering the homefries. The bagel sandwich was fantastic again with eggs, cheese and scrapple on jalepeno cheddar bagel.

Original Review:

Since moving to the area a few years ago I was still going to my previous bagel shop which is now a 30 minute drive round trip. Keystone Bagels is only a few minutes from my home so it only made sense for me to try it. So far I have had their bagels twice and I am ready to talk about my experience.

First off they have a great online ordering system. It is very simple to use and pretty much covers everything you would need on there. I love the online ordering system. The only downside is you have to pay in person or over the phone not through the online ordering system but not a negative in my opinion as it is secure since you are not sharing your banking info online.

Now the food. I am a diehard bagel guy. I love my bagels with a tough exterior and a soft interior and I will have to say these bagels are not that. They are definitely similar in texture all the way through. I personally do not think the bagels are traditional bagels in my opinion but they are definitely a hit with the wife and kids as they prefer softer bagels. I just need that chew to them. That aside the selection of bagels is excellent and the sandwiches they make with the bagels are really good as well.

Prices are comparable with my old bagel shop. Now another critique is with the cream cheese. While it has decent flavor I just think it is too gummy or thick. It doesn't spread smoothly as I prefer like my other bagel shop makes and I am unsure if it has to do with the xanthan gum they use in it or I have just been getting older batches but both times the cream cheese was thick and tough to spread even after letting sit out for a few minutes. The flavor is spot on but just the texture is thicker than I prefer.

I did order a side of loaded homefries which come with bacon and cheddar cheese but I mistakenly thought they came with onions and peppers as you can order those as well however the loaded do not come with onions and peppers. I would say if they had added onions and peppers to the loaded homefries I might have like them more. They needed seasoning. I got a hit of salt from the bacon but the potatoes needed seasoning. You can ask for seasoning in the ordering process which I will do next time as these were bland which was a shame as they looked great.

The staff is very friendly and the place looks very clean and organized. I have never had to wait for my food on a weekend and everyone in the house enjoys the food. I definitely will stick to the bagel sandwiches as the bagels by themselves or with cream cheese are not as good as my old bagel shop.

I would recommend this place as they really make the process easy and the food is quite good and the prices are completely fair. My family will continue to order from here on...

Ordered a toasted lux bagel with the chive cream cheese and a side of home fries. The bagel came out after 20 minutes cold stale and with the wrong cream cheese. When asked to remake the bagel came out cold stale but with the right cream cheese this time. Home fries were greasy and Luke warm.

This place was recommended to us and unfortunately it not live to the name.

Location is nice with a renovated interior, coffee was old the lights were blinking on the thermoses.

Prices are reasonable.

Edit: to the response of the owner- Thank you for responding to my review, I appreciate your commitment to your customers. Fortunately I understand the principals of Thermodynamics and appreciate your input on the bagel changing to frozen cold from the cream cheese. However I'd like to inform you that my bagel was cold from not toasting it, (in both orders).

As for the coffee being old- the blinking light is a standard that indicates when the coffee expires every 30 minutes, although a recommendation that we can agree on. I've sat in the cafe for at least 45 minutes and no one attended to change the thermos.

I'm sorry you were not satisfied with my review and I'd like to give this spot a second chance sometime in the future, thanks again for putting customers first.

Second reply to the owner:

Thank you for serving this country and I appreciate you trying your best at serving the customers, my review isn't personal towards to you as an owner- but it is a personal experience which reflects my feedback. It is not my intention to hurt anyone's reputation, however, the first time you replied to my feedback you've not acknowledged the issues and rather ignored them. I think I was pretty clear mentioning that the bagel was supposed to be toasted, and when asking to be remade, again, it was not toasted. The recent reviews of this place are reflecting a receding quality of service which is Parallel with my experience. I would love to give this a go sometime soon again, all of my feedback is constructive and in no way meant to hurt you, I am sorry if you felt that way. Again I would love nothing more than you changing my mind thanks for such a...

I stumbled on Keystone today, looking for a local business that had fresh bagels. A quick glance at their menu and reviews, and I was sold.

Unfortunately, my experience failed to live up to my modest expectations. The front-end service was quick and friendly, however the delivery and product are severely lacking.

My rating is for a french toast bagel, toasted, with plain cream cheese. The first thing I noticed, was despite there only being 2 other customers in store, it took almost 30 minutes to get my full order. Which consisted of the aforementioned bagel, and another with sausage/egg/cheese. For an off-peak time on a weekday, at what appears to be a well-staffed establishment, this is unacceptable.

When I got to eating, my bagel was cold, didn't appear to have been toasted and was packaged with Kraft's Philadelphia cream cheese. I honestly was equal parts confounded and also disgusted. Why a restaurant that bakes fresh bagels, and has an entire refrigerator of fresh homemade cream cheese would send customers packaged cream cheese is absurd. And to top it all, the cream cheese containers were disgustingly covered in grease.

Now, onto the bagel itself. Normally I'm Team Cinnamon Raisin, but 'french toast' really piqued my interest, but the bagel itself lacked any sort of discernible flavor. Seemingly, no cinnamon, or vanilla, or the expected sweetness or richness. It was incredibly bland, except for a light dusting of powdered sugar. I wanted to like it SO MUCH. The recipe definitely needs tweaking, because I've eaten plain bagels with more flavor.

I don't know if perhaps the business was having an off day, but overall, I was pretty underwhelmed and...