Kossar's Bagels & Bialys — Restaurant in New York

UPDATE to my review: I decided to go back a week after the visit described below and ordered a lox sandwich. The two countermen from my prior visit were not there; instead the regular guys I am used to were behind the counter. They filled my order and when it came time to pay, the young cashier, who was witness to my distress last time I was there, apologized to me and offered me my sandwich free of charge. It was a very gracious and thoughtful gesture on her part. Bottom line: I have been patronizing Kossar’s for many years and they have the best bagels, bialys and lox to be found anywhere. My upsetting experience notwithstanding, they are a great place to go to for authentic LES cuisine. —————————————————

I am a long time resident of the Lower East Side and have been coming to Kossar’s pretty much all my life. The food is wonderful; you name it: bagels, bialys, lox, all consistently delicious. And the staff has been terrific, cordial and pleasant. That is, until today.

My wife and I stopped in for breakfast and I ordered two bagels, one with scallion cream cheese and lox and the other with vegetable cream cheese and lox. We got our order, and left with our bag of bagels and coffee and embarked on the 10 minute walk home. When we got home and I sat down to enjoy my bagel with cream cheese and lox, I discovered to my chagrin that the guy who filled my order has given me cream cheese but no lox. My wife’s sandwich was similarly sans lox. We both have busy schedules and simply didn’t have time to make the trek back to Kossar’s to exchange the sandwiches. So we both ate our bagels with cream cheese. Btw, I did find my receipt and it was clearly marked: “Nova lox: $19.50”. So we clearly had paid for lox but didn’t get any.

I went back to Kossar’s about an hour later on my way to the subway and explained to the young lady behind the counter. She has always been very pleasant and was pleasant this time as well. While she was looking up my order, however, one of the two guys filling orders (not the one who had taken my order) asked me, dismissively and in a very belligerent tone, “So why didn’t you come back and return it right away?”. He then proceeded to make other comments and we argued back and forth. Then the guy who actually filled my order started chining in and continued the argument. I was heated myself and argued back, stunned that they simply didn’t offer an “I’m sorry”; that’s all they had to say and I would have been fine. Meanwhile the lady at the cash register couldn’t find my order (in my haste I had forgotten to come back with my receipt). I got so fed up that I said the hell with it and just left without receiving a refund.

The irony is that I am moving away from the area and so wouldn't be coming to Kossar’s much anymore anyway, but now I’m absolutely never going back. Again, it’s very sad to cut ties with a lace that I have loved coming to all of my life. But the totally disgusting lack of any respect is something I...

I placed an order yesterday (Christmas Day) via seamless. I was so happy they were opened, and looking forward to having the family try this place out. However, when the food finally arrived it was not complete. I ordered three bacon, egg, and cheese platters with different bagels. The platters included home fries. None of my orders had home fries instead they all had three slices of tomato’s. I called in as soon as I opened my order. The gentleman that answered the phone stated they had called me to inform me they were out of home fries. I took a look at my phone log and they had not reached out to me at all. Therefore, they had just lied to me, which is even more disappointing. I informed them I shouldn’t have to pay full price for a platters, which weren’t complete. I also informed them I was missing a platter since it did not arrive with the correct bagel. I ordered a platter with an everything bagel. I received a platter with a plain bagel. The gentleman apologized and asked “What would I like and he would send it?”. I told him my correct platter, and a challah bread loaf for the inconvenience. He states it was not an issue, and he would be sending it out now. However, it never arrived, and worst he never called to inform me he would not be sending the order. Additionally, on seamless my total was $96. 76 with an applied $5.00 promo. Although, the paper receipt the total was 100.67. They did not honor the applied $5.00 promo on seamless for spending more than $60.00 dollars. Yes, the actual taste of the meals we did receive was great; however, would of been nicer to have received my complete orders. I did report the issue to seamless, and at least they will refund me since this...

Won’t be coming back here again. Been coming here on and off for a little over 2 years. I come in for breakfast while i walk my dog (8 year old golden retriever). The staff has always been super friendly, good conversation and even given my dog bagels many times! Yesterday i walk in to an empty shop with my golden at 11 am to grab some take out breakfast, and the worker coldly tells me i can’t have dogs in the shop. I told her I’m just ordering to go, like i have been for the past 2 years. She says “sorry, no dogs in the shop”. I again, confused, ask how am i supposed to order? She looks outside and proceeds to tell me to leave my dog unattended outside the shop… HOLD ON- leave a golden retriever on the main intersection alone on a high traffic sidewalk? What??? I asked what had changed, since it was never an issue to order with my dog there. She didn’t have an answer, and would not take my order so i left. No apology, no “sorry the policy has changed”, no customer service whatsoever. I can understand no dogs dining inside, but a great majority of people grab their breakfast while walking their dogs in the morning. It kills an entire customer base. Funny enough my dog is a trained medical alert service dog, but based on her attitude alone, I internally decided it wasn’t worth it and noted to not come back there again. Plenty of places to get a mediocre bagel in the lower east side. It’s not hard for me to drop this spot. Aside from that, one of the workers harassed me for my phone number multiple times in the earlier years of coming here, but i never spoke on that...