Big Apple Bagels — Restaurant in Gaines Charter Township

Update: 8/22/23 I came back today after being gone 1 year... see message below. Today's visit, the bagel/cream cheese and small coffee came to $6.35...way too much for just basically a snack. The bagel was better than a year ago, still not as good as the Plainfield location... but an improvement. However, the reason I'm only giving 2 stars was for the customer service I received with the person taking the order and my payment. I don't know if this young lady was having a terrible day but she was extremely not friendly, I walked in in the store and she saw me, no acknowledgement that I was in the store, no hello no smile no nothing. I I felt like an intrusion. As I ordered my food I felt like animosity towards me. This kind of attitude towards customers is not good for business. Again she might have been having a bad day, but reading other comments this doesn't seem to be a one time incident. Now the young lady working in the back who brought the bagel was friendly, and that I appreciate. Perhaps she needs to be up front more often. However because of today's visit, I will not be returning. I only want to spend my money in establishments, that I feel welcomed.

I have been going to this establishment (Kentwood location) for over 3 years. I took some time off over the winter and came back this Spring. During the time I was away, management changed hands. Since the new management, I have visited 3 times and I have to say your quality of bagels are subpar and grocery Lender bagels are far better than yours. What happened??? Your bagels are dry, tasteless and lacks texture and substance. I came in today and a bought a few of them....and couldn't finish eating one, it was bland and dry. I had to throw away the remaining bagels. The other locations have much better bagels. Go back to the old recipes and quality. Your staff are nice and attentive, but I will not be returning for a while...perhaps sometime later when you improve...

Redemption story

Original post:

The person taking our order was very rude. It was our first time coming to this establishment and our last until something is done about this employee. Whether this person quits or gets fired, we won’t return until she’s gone.

As a fair reviewer, the good bagels were offset by the poor service. I have worked in the service industry and would never have treated anyone like this. I am so embarrassed that my immigrated wife has gotten such a bad taste in her mouth due to this worker. Sorry, honey. Not everyone is this unprofessional.

I hope this review can impact one person to go elsewhere for food. Vote with your dollar. Don’t support bad service.

Edit: After submitting an official complaint about our visit to this location, Big Apple Bagels has neglected to respond. The fact that their poor service in store is matched with their poor service at their corporate office speaks volumes to the standards Big Apple Bagels aspires to reach.

Redemption story:

We have since returned to this location today. The owner recognized my wife and I despite our initial review being nearly 6 months old and expressed a heartfelt apology. They proceeded to offer us a hefty discount on our order. Our feelings regarding this location have been positively altered and I can now recommend this location to Google review viewers. Please give them a shot. They seem to have taken our review seriously and have changed their policy about...

(review updated) Okay so they actively fixed their problem, which makes me happy enough to keep coming to this location. First of all, I did not see the mean worker anymore. Not sure if she left for good or just wasn't there when I was. If I see her again I'd just walk away. Leaving this fact aside, I don't normally expect any company to actively do something to fix their problem these days. But they tried their best. They apologized several times about the happening before. Plus, they gave us a discount, which played a huge role here honestly. We finally felt like the hurtful memory here was healed. I was so sad that I had to give up their good bagels because of one worker. Now I'm back here! I can buy these good bagels again!!!! My husband always gets guacamole, very fresh and good. My recommendation is southern sandwich or something. Their garlic parm, honey oat, cheese bagels are all good too. We're more than happy to try the other bagels here.

(previous review) Bagels tasted fine. But the worker at the counter acted like she wanted to quit. Unkind and very short with us even though we tried to be so nice. We decided not to come back here again even though we liked these bagels. Please refrain from visiting this shop. It's not fair to be treated so poorly despite kindness. There are better alternatives for...