Steve's Bagels — Restaurant in Manchester

I discovered Steve's Bagels while getting my windshield replaced next door. The bagels are some of the best I've had! I ordered an egg sandwich, "the spud" on an onion bagel, the egg over easy and my wife had the same on a roll. We went there on a return visit to be told now eggs are only served well done or scrambled. My egg was well done and my wife's scrambled looked like yolk and white were poorly scrambled on the griddle. Both sandwiches weren't as memorable as the first visit! I thought maybe it was easier for the kitchen to handle since I know there's no ServSafe rule preventing serving eggs over easy. I was told by an employee it's because one customer complained about their egg being runny and the owner, who's "Italian" made this blanket rule. Well I'm sure more customers would want eggs cooked to their liking which should dictate how you do things versus one person's opinion. Otherwise it would be a five star review! Commenting on your response Steve, we were in Sun., 5/28 at noon, it wasn't busy at all. The time before, roughly a week a half ago we got our eggs done over easy, and it was busy! To your point about the FDA, please show me that rule. Restaurants and diners in this state serve eggs over easy, medium, etc.. I also teach and proctor ServSafe, the national standard on food safety and there is no such rule about serving eggs only well done. The FDA rule you're referring to is for UNPASTEURIZED eggs which you shouldn't be serving. Reputable purveyors sell pasteurized eggs like you find in grocery stores. The eggs you should be using as required by the USDA are pasteurized and here's the actual rule! All egg products are pasteurized as required by United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). This means that they have been rapidly heated and held at a minimum required temperature for a specified time to destroy bacteria. Which means you can serve eggs anyway the customer likes them if YOU CHOOSE TO! And it should be a consistent rule every time a customer orders from the menu. The disappointment is getting eggs over easy one day and being told a couple weeks later you can't order them that way anymore. Is that a good business practice? You should at least have one employee that is ServSafe/ANSI certified as required by the state of Ct who should be aware of rules regarding eggs, especially pooled eggs. I can provide you with the latest ServSafe book which spells it out if you'd like. I have brunch often at Avon Old Farms and look forward to the eggs benedict with a runny yolk which is in full compliance of ServSafe! Any type of an emulsification such as Caesar dressing prepared in restaurants in done with uncooked pasteurized eggs! I also want to point out Allegro Cafe in Htfd which I used to frequent years ago when I lived closer would do eggs anyway the customer ordered, two people on the griddle, and a line...

I’m a carpenter, often looking for a quick lunch that tastes great and has fresh ingredients. Tuesday and Wednesday I got that exact thing from Steves. Tuesday we went in, and they only had one person working. She seemed like she was in a bad mood, probably stressed working alone, but she was professional and helped us with a very pleasant attitude. (Shorter, thin woman with light colored hair). Our bagels came out very fast, less than 5 minutes. They tasted great and were made with care. We were happy with the quick lunch and a can of coke. Wednesday we took a lunch break a little late, 1:00pm, excited for a similar experience at Steves. What we got, was a good bagel but we had to live a real life scene from Orange is the New Black. Four women were working. We were greeted with “our grill is turned off and we can’t make you anything hot” instead of a hello like the day before. The pod boss, a larger woman with tattoos was very friendly and spoke professionally. She took our order and said “give me a few minutes”. What happened the next 45 minutes was absolutely insane. Our order, 2 cold bagel sandwiches. Without giving every detail, I will share the best. All four women were either cleaning haphazardly and furiously in an attempt to leave their shift as quick as possible (the griddle was turned off the clean early we later overheard). They counted tips and handed out money from the drawer (without washing hands they returned to work). One of the four was in charge of making our bagels. After about 20 minutes I walked around to the side and watched her struggle to complete the order, it was as if she never worked in food service ever before. It left me feeling sorry for her, maybe she was mentally challenged. In reality, she just lacked focus and follow through. The floors were being hastily swept all around us, blowing dust and crumbs all over and in our faces. The woman in change came back from the bathroom, dug in the back of her sweat pants with her hand and then proceeded to pick up the phone and order herself a large pizza and a chocolate milk. 45 minutes later, we had our food. We saw a gentleman entering on our way out and talked him into going somewhere else if he at all valued his lunch break. Steves has a mountain to climb to fix this mess. My advice, tripple the salary of the woman that helped us the first day, make her your general manager and let her hire more people like her and pay them as much money as possible...

Been going to Steve's in Manchester since they opened and usually pretty good although the sandwich is made completely different every time. Stopped in 3 or 4 times in the last month or so and the sandwiches were barely edible today was the last time I will visit this establishment for now at least . The one small piece of bacon in the sandwich was burnt and crumbled and spread around the sandwich . The eggs that were supposed to be scrambled were just to regular cooked eggs that they cut up after cooking to appear scrambled because the cook didn't read the order completely first .The so called cheese equaled about a half a slice thrown on one side . And to top it all off the bagel that was supposed to be toasted was not toasted at all and was actually cold because again the lady that was cooking didn't read the order completely first maybe because she was to busy talking . And the last few times it was basically the same just not quite as bad .Now on the other hand I have been to Steve's bagels in vernon at least 4 times in the last month and the sandwiches that I ordered that happen to be the same every time were cooked to perfection and were made exactly the same each time they were so good that now my grandson asks to go there weekly . I like Manchester because I live there and it's 2 minutes away but I guess I'll just drive the extra distance to assure that the food is good as well as the wait time had been about half compared to the Manchester store sorry not trying to throw anyone under the bus but when you spend that much money on one sandwich it should at least be made right and no I would never go in and tell them make another sandwich because we have all seen the movies and the last thing I want on my sandwich is "SOME ADDED PERSONAL INGREDIENTS" sorry for the long rant but was already having a rough day and was way behind hope things improve so i can eventually go back to my favorite breakfast spot...