Einstein Bros. Bagels — Restaurant in Lakewood

Amayra or Mayra the shift lead likes to wipe her runny nose on her UNGLOVED WRISTS AND HANDS IN FRONT OF CUSTOMERS WHILE HANDLING AND MAKING THEIR DRINKS AND FOOD. Then when asked to remake the contaminated drink gets an attitude. 1 employee had gloves on. Another was also making drinks and had had his fingers on the dispenser of whip cream and as it dispensed the whip cream touched his bare fingers. Another grabbing out the display case no gloves. Granted there’s a SINK RIGHT UP FRONT! The other shift lead Josh had to come from the back in which I saw him making the bagels and he didn’t have gloves on nor wash his hands before or after handling the cash register to do the refund bc amayra couldn’t handle it. What the hell is wrong that these employees aren’t wearing gloves while handling food?!!! I’m not trying to be a Karen in anyway but NO GLOVES WHILE HANDLING FOOD there are so many illnesses going around did we not learn from covid? DO BETTER!! I’m thoroughly disappointed and disgusted!!! I understand it gets busy but there were quite a few orders messed up that were being fixed for 1 reason or another ours originally being an online pick up in which I watched amayra staple a different label with a different order on what she later had to open up with her dirty runny nose hand to try to determine if it was ours. Then ripped off that label and gave to us again contaminated and when we asked for things to be remade bc by the time it was figured out what our order was our food was cold on top of being contaminated she got an attitude. I’m going to report this to the health inspector with the city of Lakewood. This is beyond...

I really enjoyed the design and atmosphere of this establishment. Being that it was my first time here, gentlemen behind the counter offered some great suggestions. While the food was served sloppy, it really did taste great. There were a few concerns. First, as I was waiting for about 5 minutes for someone to acknowledge me (as I was trying to get a re-fill on hot water for my tea). During this time, a young woman came out from the back and refilled here own coffee (didn’t acknowledge me or ask if I needed anything) and walked back to the kitchen. Then there was a woman at the pickup window who didn’t acknowledge me either. While she was making the coffee for the customer at the pickup window I saw her licking the syrup from her fingers, never washed her hands and handed the coffee off the the person at the pick-up window. While the woman at the cash register was the only woman to acknowledge me, I had watched her physically pick a piece of food out of her teeth, look at it, and put the piece of food back in her mouth. Neither woman washed their hands after having their fingers in their mouth. It grossed me out. Another aspect that kind of bothered me, (and this was before the finger licking and teeth picking) was that the employees were talking about their personal lives in a very unprofessional manner in which all the patrons in the immediate area near the cash register could hear. That didn’t bother me much, really it was seeing both employees with their fingers in their mouth without washing their hands and I was only standing their for five minutes, kind of gross to think about their unsanitary habits...

I really want to love this place. I work in walking distance and in theory it would be a great place to grab breakfast and lunch. But oh the wait. 32 minutes to get a bagel bucket. How does it take over half an hour to put 13 bagels in a box? I've been there multiple times and every time has taken about half an hour and the selection of available bagels is always pathetic. More than half of the favors are completely sold out and with how slow the service is by the time they actually get around to making your order they have often sold out of what they had available when you ordered 20+ minutes ago. The full Einstein's menu is not available. The waiting line layout inside is arranged such that you can't even see what bagels they have available until you're at the register. The associates are very nice, but seem to lack any sense of urgency. It's been my experience that they spend more time apologizing for slow service than trying to step up their pace. I appreciate their kind attitudes, but I also appreciate not spending my entire lunch waiting in line for one sandwich. I hope that with more experience this place will turn around.

Edit: I've tried this location several more times and it's just getting worse. It's to the point that I received a $50 gift card from my job that I won't even use unless I come across another location. My last "breakfast sandwich" was literally dripping in sauce with little else inside of it. Only the tiniest round of egg and none of the veggies or cheese that was supposed to come on it, but hey I guess at least they got the right bagel...