Tal Bagels — Restaurant in New York

I’m not sure where the 4-star review from others is coming from because this was a terrible place. To start, I asked for English Breakfast Tea and was given a “no-name,” mysterious teabag that looked a lot like herbal tea to me. (I’m not an herbal tea fan.) “Whatever,” I was too tired to question the “make and manufacturer” of my tea. I began to prepare my cup of tea standing at the self-service counter. The owner watched me as I added milk to my hot water for tea. He asked, “Why are you pouring the milk before you put the tea bag in.” I was dumbfounded and annoyed that I was explaining my tea preparation to a stranger.

Meanwhile, I had also ordered a cinnamon raisin bagel with cream cheese. While waiting for my bagel, I inquired about the code for the restroom. I used the facilities, and I unfortunately learned too late that there was no toilet paper or hand soap available. The owner was unconcerned when confronted with the absence of these basic bathroom necessities. (So much for cleanliness!)

The lovely women who work behind the counter handed me my bagel. It was toasted when I had not asked for it to be toasted. (Could this bagel have been stale and therefore required toasting? I’ll never know for sure, but this is a common practice when serving day-old bread.) I sat down at a table with my toasted “stale bagel” and gazed up at the shelves where tea was stored. I saw many boxes of tea labeled “Early Grey”. I never saw tea bags being retrieved from these boxes, but more importantly, I NEVER saw a box labeled “English Breakfast Tea,” which was the tea I ordered.

I questioned the young ladies about the absence of “English Breakfast Tea” from the display. They shrugged and replied that they do not have “English Breakfast Tea.” Astounded, I questioned, “then what am I drinking?” No one could give me an answer. My hot water remained hot water with milk and sugar. There was no tea color or flavor of any kind.

I confronted the man who had been so concerned about the sequence of my tea preparation. I learned that he was the owner. I told him that he had lied about the tea. He remained flippant and obnoxious as he had previously presented himself. I called him a “liar” and quickly cleared my table and exited the store. I will never return to the Tal Bagels store. I recommend that you also seek another establishment for fresh bagels and clearly marked tea. You may also prefer an establishment with a clean bathroom stocked with toilet paper and hand soap. Some of life’s...

Bagels are good but the service leaves so much to be desired. I entered on 10/14 about 15 minutes prior to closing. I understand this is later than preferred but my order was very simple and either way shouldn't mean you throw customer service out the window. The staff of two was talking among themselves when we entered (one by the register and one by the bagels) and they looked at us when I said hello then went back to talking amongst themselves without acknowledging us at all. The one by the cash register was also eating some food while on the clock which is disgusting if they were to handle bagels! I approached the counter and said hello again, and asked for my order, 2 sesame bagels and 1 whole wheat bagel (no fillings, so literally just putting the bagels in the bag). The cashier glanced to the one by the bagels and she got to work, only asking a confirmation of my order before passing the bag to the one on the cashier. The cashier rang us up while continuing to talk to her coworker, not acknowledging us once. We said thank you and the cashier ignored us, so throughout the entire interaction we were only truly acknowledged once. I've frequented multiple Tal's Bagels locations throughout the years and this was my first time visiting this one. I've never experienced service this poor at any other location and I'm not sure if it's just these 2 workers that are like that, but I won't be returning to this...

For the past 3 Sundays after Mass Ive gotten Pastrami sandwiches from the Tal Bagel shop. The first time I got a Pastrami sandwich from them it was good. But the next Sunday after Mass when I got another Pastrami Sandwich I noticed that my sandwich didn’t have as much pastrami as the first time. This morning after Mass I got a Pastrami sandwich that was made with the butt end of the Pastrami. I watched the worker take a big block of fresh Pastrami off the slicer and then instead took the end part of the Pastrami that was nothing but DRY FAT and made my sandwich. I notice that each time I’ve gotten a sandwich from TAL BAGEL it’s made by a different worker. This morning, in addition to the Pastrami sandwich being horrible, I had to ask the server to change is gloves when I noticed that he was playing with someone on his glove. The act itself was disgusting. He claimed he he had changed his gloves but I didn’t see that he did. When I got home with my sandwich and saw how my sandwich looked, I returned to TAL BAGEL with the sandwich and demanded my money back. I also took a picture of the worker who made my Pastrami sandwich. I won’t be going back to this...