Royal Bagel Bakery & Deli — Restaurant in Maryland

WARNING!!!! MUST READ!!!!

I RESENT THE FACT THAT I EVEN HAVE TO GIVE THIS PLACE A STAR!!!!

THE OWNER OF THIS BAKERY IS A COMPLETELY CRAZY WOMAN AND A TERRIBLE TRAINER FOR THE EMPLOYEES!!!!! I AM A REASONABLE AND HIGHLY EDUCATED INDIVIDUAL WHO IS A BUSINESS OWNER AND WHO HAS MANAGED RESTAURANTS, AS WELL. I HAD BEEN TREATED TERRIBLY BY THIS OWNER! I'M TALKING ABOUT SERIOUS OFFENSES VERBALLY FROM THIS WOMAN AND I DID NOTHING WRONG OR SPEAK OUT OF PLACE WITH HER! SHE JUST SPIT IT OUT NASTINESS AND VULGARITY AT ME IN FRONT OF HER EMPLOYEES AND CUSTOMERS! THIS WOMAN IS NOT FIT TO NOT ONLY OWN A BUSINESS BUT TO EVEN WALKABOUT IN PUBLIC! SHE NEEDS TO BE PLACED IN AN INSTITUTION! UNLESS SHE PUBLICLY APOLOGIZES ON YELP AND ON GOOGLE FOR HER TERRIBLE BEHAVIOR AND CRAZINESS, I WILL NEVER STEP FOOT IN THIS BAKERY EVER AGAIN! SHE IS COMPLETELY NUTS! DON'T EVER GO TO THIS BAKERY! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE IN FOR IF YOU HAVE ANY ISSUES WITH THE SERVICE AND/OR THE FOOD! IF YOU THINK THAT I'M OVERDOING IT, I HAVE PROOF OF THE WORDS I'M SHARING BECAUSE I RECORDED 2/3 OF HER BEHAVIOR BECAUSE IT WAS SO CRAZY NO ONE WOULD EVER BELIEVE ME EXCEPT FOR THE STAFF AND A COUPLE OF CUSTOMERS WHO WITNESSED IT.

HERE'S THE STORY. EVERY TIME I ORDERED A BAGEL TOASTED WITH SCRAMBLED EGG AND CHEESE, THE CHEESE WOULD EITHER BE RAW AND NOT MELTED OR IT WOULD BE SO MELTED THAT YOU WOULDN'T EVEN KNOW THAT IT WAS ON THE SANDWICH. MY WIFE IS A WITNESS OF THIS FOR MOST OF THE TIMES THAT THIS HAPPENED. SHE HAD THE SAME PROBLEM. IT DOESN'T TAKE A SCIENTIST OR SOME GREAT CHEF TO BE ABLE TO SIMPLY MICROWAVE THE CHEESE FOR 15 SECONDS! THAT'S HOW BADLY TRAINED THESE EMPLOYEES ARE. I WOULD TALK SLOWLY AND EXPLAIN WHAT I WOULD WANT BECAUSE IT WAS NEVER DONE RIGHT MAYBE TWICE OUT OF 20 TIMES DID IT EVER COME OUT RIGHT. THIS MAY SEEM PETTY BUT WHAT CAME NEXT WAS ABSOLUTELY NUTS!

I ORDERED THE SAME THING OVER THE PHONE LAST WEEK AND EXPLAINED TO THE YOUNG LADY WHO TOOK THE ORDER HOW I WANTED THE CHEESE TO BE LIKE JUST AS I HAVE TRIED TO EXPLAIN ALL THE REST OF THE TIMES. THEN SHE PUT THE ORDER IN AND WHEN I CAME TO PICK IT UP THE CHEESE WAS SO MELTED YOU COULDN'T EVEN SEE WHERE IT WAS. I EVEN ASKED FOR EXTRA CHEESE AND TO CHARGE ME FOR IT BUT IT WAS SO MELTED YOU COULDN'T EVEN TELL THAT EVEN ONE SLICE HAD BEEN ON THE SANDWICH. I POLITELY EXPLAINED THE PROBLEM TO THE YOUNG LADY AND SHE TOOK IT TO THE BACK AND THEN THE OWNER STORMED IN TO THE COUNTER AND ACTED DISTURBED BUT I THOUGHT SHE WAS UPSET WITH HER EMPLOYEE WHO MADE THE SANDWICH. WELL, SHE PUT HER HANDS ALL OVER IT AND HAD TO REMAKE THE WHOLE THING WHEN SHE DIDN'T EVEN HAVE TO. SHE WAS SO FLUSTERED AND UPSET THAT SHE TOUCHED THE SANDWICH WITH HER HANDS AND I INSISTED THAT SHE REDO IT. THEN, FIVE MINUTES LATER SHE CAME OUT WITH THE SANDWICH AND THE OWNER TORE OPEN THE ALUMINUM FOIL AND WAX PAPER AND SEPARATED THE TWO HALVES OF THE BAGEL AND YELLED, "HERE, HERE YOU GO. HERE IS YOUR DAMN EGG AND CHEESE. MAYBE YOU SHOULD NEVER COME BACK HERE AGAIN BECAUSE OBVIOUSLY YOU DON'T GET IT DONE RIGHT! I BURNED MY HANDS DOING THIS AND YOU TREATED MY EMPLOYEES BADLY BY TALKING DOWN TO THEM AND I WILL NOT PUT UP WITH IT SO MAYBE YOU SHOULD JUST GET OUT OF MY STORE AND NEVER COME BACK!" SHE STARTED YELLING AND SCREAMING AT ME AS IF SHE WAS POSSESSED WITH A DEMON. I WAS COMPLETELY CALM UNTIL SHE STARTED CUSSING AT ME AND ACCUSING ME OF ELEVATING THE CONVERSATION AND MAKING HER ANGRY WHEN I DID NOTHING.

to be continued...i ran out of characters / 2nd part will be read on Jennifer...

I’ve been going to Royal for years—since I was a kid—and I’ve always been a consistent customer. I was there when the ownership changed, and sometimes I even go every day during the school year for weeks at a time. I’ve thought about writing this review for a while, but I don’t like to make snap judgments.

That said, there’s one worker (purple hair) who is consistently hostile toward me. I know that’s just my perception, but it’s how I feel, and I always try to be kind to everyone there, so it’s hard to understand why.

Today really stood out. I bought about $25 worth of stuff (2 bagels, 1 donut, a bag of Doritos, 2 waters, a Gatorade—and I tipped). When she asked if I wanted a plastic bag, I said no because I try not to use plastic and asked for a paper bag instead. In the past, other workers have let me use a paper bag, no problem. She refused and told me they “can’t do that.”

I asked again, thinking maybe I misheard, since I had a lot of items and wasn’t asking for anything unreasonable. She gave me a tiny paper bag that would barely hold 2 bagels. I then asked for the larger bag, and she said, “those are for bagels” and that she’d have to charge me for it. That felt ridiculous since I had already bought 2 bagels (plus everything else). To me, it seemed like she just didn’t want to give me the bag.

I asked another worker, explaining I had purchased bagels and just wanted a larger paper bag instead of plastic. She came back over, cut me off, and again insisted I’d have to pay for it. At that point, it honestly felt like she was going out of her way to make things difficult over something so small.

I did end up talking to the manager, who was lovely and very apologetic, but the whole experience was unnecessarily uncomfortable. I even said out loud, “Why are you being so weird about this?” because I couldn’t wrap my head around why this was such an issue.

What makes me sad is that I’ve always supported Royal because it’s a small, family-owned business, and it’s been a favorite of mine since I was a kid. But when a small business starts treating you like a big corporation—nickel-and-diming over a paper bag—it really feels like they’ve lost the plot. I’ll probably go back eventually, but not anytime soon. In the meantime, if anyone has recommendations for bagel spots like Royal, please...

Being from the northeast, I've always considered Royal one of the few places in the DC area to carry legitimate bagels and donuts. It had been a few months, but I stopped in this morning to pick up some bagels/donuts for a meeting at work. I was quite surprised and disappointed to see that the donuts appeared to have shrunk to half their size from the last time I was there. The old fashioned glazed donuts looked like something you could get at Dunkin Donuts, as opposed to the awesomely textured donuts I got during my last visit.

I know the original owners sold the business a couple years ago, and nothing seemed to change at first. However, they're definitely doing something different with the donuts now. The donuts are smaller, and half the donuts for sale looked to be "Krispy Kreme" style as opposed to the nice cake donuts they have carried in the past.

I don't know if the current bakery owners are ever going to read this, but here's some advice: Don't mess with a good thing. The original owners carved out a niche providing fantastic bagels and donuts that were phenomenally better than anything you could get at a chain bakery. While the bagels are still very good, the donuts aren't all that different from what you can get at Dunkin. If you're going to carry the same thing as other chains, you're going to start losing business. When I was there this morning, I could tell that things were slower. Past mornings there has been a line out the door, but just a couple people were in there today. Meanwhile, they're still charging the same price for a lesser product.

I'm really hoping they go back to making the donuts how they used to. If not, I don't see how they can differentiate themselves from Dunkin; or Krispy Kreme. It's just very disappointing...I'm sure the original owners would be upset to see what...