Murray's Bagels — Restaurant in New York

Murray's Bagels used to be good. Sadly that can no longer be said. Time before last I placed an order for a bagel with tofu cream cheese (I am lactose intolerant), and discovered after I got home that it was made with regular cream cheese. I tried calling (no response), and emailing (response came days later), and eventually threw it out because I cannot eat dairy. When I finally heard back on email, I was told I could not be refunded because I placed the order online, but they would have the store manager get in touch with me. That never happened. That cooled me on Murray's for a couple months, but today I tried going back, to give what used to be my favorite bagel shop another chance. However the place was absolute chaos - orders completely backed up, people not following the mask signs, and packed into the tiny space like sardines in a tin can. Thank God I'm vaccinated, but I still felt uncomfortable in there health-wise. It seems like the restaurant cannot handle busy times, as me, like many others who were waiting for online orders, had to wait well beyond an hour to get orders we had placed from our homes before we ever arrived. Not to mention many in-store purchasers had their orders lost in the shuffle and were waiting inexplicably long to get bagels. I'm really disappointed in Murray's. They clearly do not care about customer service or keep tracking of customer orders. It's a damn shame cause it used to be one of the best bagel shops in the city. Management needs to figure out a better flow for inside the restaurant, it's not the 90s anymore, there can't just be a tiny lane and pickup window for in-store purchasers when most people place their order online these days. It should not be a COVID free for all with people jockeying for position to get their online order they placed well ahead of time, only having to end up waiting much longer after they arrive. There needs to be a dedicated area for online orders so there is not this competition for getting your food. And for the employees who frankly ignored us and didn't seem to care about customers' needs, there needs to be better customer...

Murray’s Bagels is a particularly popular ‘hotspot’ for many local residents in and around this part of Chelsea on the Westside of Manhattan. Notably very well situated inside a deli styled turn-of-the-century store front and interior with a painted antique white tin ceiling. An original architectural element retained in the layout of its interior design. The comfort level was not overwhelming and though there were side tables featured for pairing two people per se, at one, there were only six available places to choose from. Most were occupied singly while there. Spaces were limited due to seating used for customers waiting on orders to go during their busiest rush times. But on a Sunday like today, the atmosphere turnover is quite ginger. A relaxed mood and sensibility aside the clamorous momentum behind the counter filling the orders as quickly as assembled. Now, to be perfectly honest, The Traditional classic smoked lox, with cream cheese on a bagel with everything on it, on an Everything Bagel— was pretty decent. What was tough to get past was the toughness of the bagel itself. Like chomping European hard-bread made in America. In all fairness having tasted many many bagels this was tougher, chewy, and really harder to bite through. Seriously my preference would be its competitor further up the street closer to W. 23rd. Though, that was its only drawback! Nothing else. The lox, absolutely fresh. Tomatoes, capers, red onions, and cream cheese, perfect! Nothing more than satisfying! But the bagel was the only downfall. I’m not opposed to the whole place for it’s popularity but, as finicky as a kid can get to be, it’s hard not to decide on finding another place that doesn’t have that hardness tacked to the taste, and especially bagels. They can be extra soft, and really fluffy and tasty too. So, otherwise, a truly beautiful place no matter what the opinion is, (it is indeed very Scandinavian) totally in the ambiance and aesthetic culinary tradition. But “Don’t mind me” … it’s just a matter of preferences like anything else here in...

While the bagels are good, it's not worth the wait and chaos that you have to suffer through for 1 - 2 hours to get your bagels on a weekend.

I ordered bagels for pick up through their website twice, in the beginning of October and this morning. Both times I showed up at the communicated pick up window. Both times I have had to wait for about 1 hour to get my bagels, and this is only after I pushed my way to the front of the pick up line to ask for the staff to go look for my order (thank you to the 2 kind staff members who wrote down a list of names to look for orders in the back). If you don't let the staff know you are there, good luck ever getting your bagels. The woman standing in front of me today ordered a single bagel sandwich at 10AM. She walked away with her order at 11:30AM.

If you cannot handle the volume of orders from people ordering at your shop, ordering online, and ordering through third-party delivery websites such as Grubhub and Seamless, you shouldn't be taking those orders. Limit it to in-store orders or Murray's website orders only. The two staff manning the pick up counter (for all orders) who were calling out names were clearly overwhelmed and their service reflected that - you can never ask them a question because they'll flat out ignore you and they scream at people to move away. Move away to where? The store is tiny and there are a mob of pick up drivers and customers standing wherever there is space - there is nowhere else to go.

Murray's needs to get their act together and figure out a more streamlined system of accepting orders, assembling the orders, and handing them out. I'm done supporting...