Western Bagel — Restaurant in Los Angeles

I never mind paying an absurd amount for one bagel IF the bagel is:

a) fair in its portions b) tastes good c) well presented

Unfortunately at this location (at least) they seem to have forgotten that if you're going to change $19 for ONE BAGEL then it better be a darn good one.

Ordered the 'complete sandwich' (as they call it) - cream cheese, tomato, onion, and lox.

For some odd reason, this location has taken o adding in 4 (FOUR!) pieces of lettuce - CLEARLY in a cheap attempt to make the bagel 'sandwich' look somewhat filling.

Minus the lettuce, you're presented with a PITIFUL brief smear of cream cheese, the tiniest bit of lox (it was less than a forkful!), a few random pieces of red onion, and ONE tomato.

I had the insane notion if I asked for a little extra lox that I was happy to pay for, this would help matters. FOR 10 $ MORE they will throw in another forkful of lox.

Worst of all: it tasted like kindergarten paste. The cream cheese was so bland and the capers so not 'capering' that the whole thing was fairly flavorless.

To compare, a 'the works' bagel down the street at HANKS is (wait for it...) $15!!! AND you get more tomato, more lox, and a whole BUNCH of cream cheese. It's literally 5 blocks down from this location.

So DO NOT pass 'Go'! Do NOT collect $200 - skip this bit of fraud and head to HANK's (or Art's Deli, 9 blocks away!) for not only a heck of a better deal - but a far superior (edible) bagel and lox.

Thank you, Shame on you,...

UPDATE: I'm taking a star off. I went to this location one more time because I was in the area. Yet again the service was terrible. In fact, it was even worse than previous, because this time they couldn't even get my order right. I just can't. This location doesn't deserve the stars they have.

Original review:

The staff at this location is terrible. I don't go very often, 2-3 times a year, so I know they're not remembering and targeting me, but out of the last 5 visits, I've had poor service 4 times. Twice they've closed the door in my face before closing time, once a full ten minutes before. One time the guy actually pushed the door shut as I was opening it and grinned at me while he did. The other two times, they skipped over me in line and moved to the person behind me.

I now avoid this location and go to one further away that doesn't have such awful staff.

Two stars because the bagels are still delicious. But this location has the worst staff and it's been an ongoing problem for years now. This location...

The everything cheese with Lox spread (the best in LA IMHO) is divine...and probably 550 calories. Buy a dozen and they throw in a 13th. Very fresh. The one on Sepulveda is where they make them. There is a very, very long line so please do not be one of those people that stand in line for 20 minutes only to have not looked at the options. The one Ventura Blvd at Coldwater is very popular. Parking is free. Check the date on the cream cheese as you want one with an expiration date at least two weeks out. Fresh is best!

Update - the lox spread has changed for the worse. Now it’s blended whereas before it was regular cream cheese with tons of salmon slices. Not cool.

Update - lox spread is back to having chunks of lox!...