Ess-a-Bagel — Restaurant in New York

I used to live in the city for nearly a decade, so when I came back for a visit I made sure to go to Ess-a-Bagel, as I missed these awesome bagels.

First of all, the bagels are great. That was no surprise.

Problem was with service. Perhaps I’ve been away from New York for too long, and it doesn’t matter to me if people seem terse, as long as the work is done right. But it wasn’t so this morning. I was getting five different bagel sandwiches, and the guy taking the order just nodded along, no attempt to write it down or just work with me to make them one at a time; I’m standing there anyway as he makes them.

The result: mixed up two bagel sandwiches (albeit they were the same sandwiches but mixed up with bagel went with which simple customization), and also forgot one of them completely (by the way, it was the pizza bagel, and I don’t really recommend it).

Then he hands over all these bagels to me individually wrapped up. He knows I have 4+ bagels, but not even an offer of “would you like those in a bag.” You know, common courtesy.

Then I carry these 5 bagels to the cashier and she promptly misses one of the bagels (I had to remind her to charge me for it), and while there is a stack of bags next to her she makes no attempt to bag them. So I start bagging the bagels myself in front of her, with no other customers in front of her, and there is ZERO effort to provide any assistance. On top of that, as I dare to spend a minute to bag up these bagels myself, she calls the next person to pay for his bagel. Either no awareness of what’s going on in front of her or no regard. You know, common courtesy and basic customer service.

Your bagels are great, but there are lots of bagel places in the city. Maybe it’s like this everywhere on account of the New York-ness of it all? I don’t recall it being like this several years ago though when I last lived here. And when I went to a street cart last night I can tell you the guy actually was friendly (which I didn’t need but is nice nonetheless) and he bagged my family-sized order (which...

Slowest service, the guy turns away before you are finished with your order, bagels are standard for NYC but they overcharge you like crazy and the pricing system doesn't make any sense. They charge me $1 for pickles when my topping was onion not pickles. My base price for only the bagel + 1 slice of Lox was already $14.25 not including tax. The cream cheese i got was flavored so they tacked on $1.50 which i thought was fair. My total for an everything bagel with flavored cream cheese + a slice of onion + a slice of lox came out to $18.24. I knew it was gonna be expensive but the $14.25 charge for nova lox sandwich is outrageous and down right incorrect. I try to add the things in uber eats to see if it really comes out to that much but basically a bagel with a slice of lox should not be considered a lox sandwich because on their menu, a lox sandwich has all the fixings included in that price but they charge me for the onion and cream cheese on top of that so basically i was charged double for the stuff that goes on the bagel. The bagel itself does not cost more than $2.65 so you mean to tell me that the 1 slice of lox is an upcharge of $11.60? I'm a New Yorker that has ordered this type of bagel from just about every single bagel shop in Midtown and I can tell you that this is not normal. I won't be going back. I get the tourists like this place for some reason but save yourself and order from an app to pick up so you know exactly what you are paying. Or just don't order the lox. Get it from walgreens or something nearby and slap 6oz of it it on top for half the upcharge. A lot of reviews here say they were disappointed with the eggs being microwaved instead of cooked. Its true. I didn't order it but I...

Solid, classic bagel shop located right in the middle between Penn Station and Midtown, making it a convenient morning stop in my trip from the train to the office. The bagels are quite dense and chewy, and they have the classic glossy crust that gives the bagel a slight snap when you bite into it. They definitely load their bagels up with all the fixings, whether you're getting just a plain bagel and cream cheese or one of their sandwiches. I was feeling a bit extra hungry that morning, so I opted for an egg sandwich with a scrambled egg, salmon, avocado, and cream cheese. It came together beautifully, but I did think that it lacked a little bit of flavor other than salt. The tofu vegetable cream cheese and avocado gave the sandwich a lot of creamy richness, but I thought the egg was a smidge overcooked. They had taken a pre-prepared egg slab and blitzed it in the microwave alongside the nova, so the salmon ended up a smidge overcooked and dry as well. I'll be sure to give them another shot and try out one of their classic bagel sandwiches -- sans egg -- but I wasn't hugely impressed by Ess-a given its popularity, the long wait time, and the high price tag.

You also probably won't be able to eat inside the shop, as there are only a couple of small tables available. It's quite crowded, as should probably be expected of any shop in the heart of NYC, but you can take advantage of all the time spent waiting in line to decide on what you...