Beans & Bagels — Restaurant in Jefferson Township

OK. the coffee is good, staff are mostly friendly (though some of them are geeks who don't even make eye contact) however the problems cannot be simply brushed aside...

PRICES ARE HIGH... For this neighborhood and this location (Leland at Rockwell)... Their prices seem higher than $tabucks. The espresso is $3 and so is the small Americano. The bagel with cream cheese is 4 dollars. Well, unless you specifically ask for the 50 mg cream cheese bagel, which is 2.50. For me, they automatically sold me the $4 "surprise" of 100 mg cream cheese bagel. I don't like being cheated and I felt like I was. Breakfast bagels are upwards of $6 up to $7.50... Is anybody even buying these?

THE SPACE IS AWKWARD. If you want to sit, you have to leave the shop from one door and get inside another door to the next door space, all while holding your cup and whatever else you just purchased. They've been there for how many years now? And have not invested any money in re-configuring this space to make it spacious or more convenient. And it's not like they don't have the money, with so many customers and being next to the train stop, and their other two locations. I hope the owner reads this and takes note.

THE RESTROOM - you have to walk through the kitchen to get to the restroom, which is shared between staff and customers. Now, let's all hope that any grime left by customers doesn't reach to staff's hands.

The WiFi is good thing. but it is not password protected (i.e. not encrypted), so any emails or text you send is "visible" i.e. susceptible to being intercepted. If you login to your bank or email, the password is vulnerable to hacking. As would any password, or credit/financial or otherwise sensitive information, that you send or receive can be intercepted, As a result, I could not connect to my work's network, and couldn't get any work done.

Their WEBSITE doesn't work so you cannot even send them a question, or a compliment or in my case, criticism. In the three browsers I tried, their page does't open, and instead, you get: "This page requires AC_RunActiveContent.js" (IE, Chrome, and Mozilla)

SERVICE: When I asked for a glass of water and was already moved to the seating space, i.e. the second front door, I was told by one kitchen staff that I had to go back to the other side (other front door) and ask for water there. This meant having to either wait in line again or go in front of the line. I see no reason why the staff couldn't give me the water, because I was standing next to the bar/kitchen area, he didn't even have to come...

I've often described Beans & Bagels as the coffee shop equivalent of stubbing your toe- not an egregious, life threatening injury, but one nonetheless painful. Something you forget just how unpleasant it is until it happens again. That is Beans & Bagels in a nutshell: unpleasant, but not in a way that sticks until you are lured back in by its genuinely excellent food, and you are forced to interface with the experience of actually having to go there.

Like I said before, the food is genuinely excellent. The chai is wonderful, it's bagels are decently priced and delicious, and it has a nice variety of delicious pastries. It's main problem is that Beans & Bagels is not interested in being a community space.

Prior to opening up earlier this year, it was mostly a pickup window. That was not a problem- in fact, I admired their commitment to maintaining covid precautions. The issue was that in that process how unpleasant they made it to go there. The little outdoor seating they had was often dirty. They had no recycling or trash bins. They refused to modify orders, even something as small as asking for a little less cream cheese on a bagel. Beans & Bagels made it incredibly clear that they were there to give you food, and then you leave.

I was excited to see that they opened up, and that mentality has unfortunately carried over. Seating is mostly in long, cafeteria style table. They don't offer wifi, and were irritated when I asked if they did. I was looking forward to a new coffee shop to enjoy some good food and get some work done- but like I said, Beans & Bagels is not interested in being a community space. The best way to experience Beans & Bagels is simply to get your...

Awesome pastries and coffee. Several problems, though. super busy AND super slow—a bad combination. You will never “drop by” for a coffee here. online ordering might as well not exist—super limited menu, no customization allowed, and super slow (35 min for 2 bagels w cream cheese). they really make every effort to control the transaction rather than letting the customer lead. This is frustrating to me. Customization is difficult/expensive, there is no phone number to call and ask questions, prices are high, and customers wait as long as the store chooses. I once saw a guy order a cold brew with no ice, and the employee said “sure, but i can only fill it up about 3/4 since there’s no ice.” I couldn’t believe it! Maybe those 12¢ worth of coffee will make or break the business, but more likely that customer won’t come back, and the witnesses are still telling the the tale!

This is a good local coffee shop with average bagels and good pastries. However, based on my last experience on a Saturday morning during covid, I will be ordering online at Starbucks (they have figured out how to do online ordering), or finding less busy places that are just as good...