Zucker's Bagels & Smoked Fish — Restaurant in New York

I have a love hate relationship here. My wife doesn’t eat smoked fish, so whenever she is out of town, Zuckers is what I look forward to. I’m a huge fan of the max zucker, the Alton brown and the smoked whitefish bagel. I’ve had the breakfast ones too, but I’d rather do the fish.

In the store, I’d say it’s proper NYC Bagel service. Know what you’re ordering, don’t dawdle and you’ll be fine and move along nicely. Act like a mindless tourist, be treated like one.

However, their delivery is rough. It is rarely if ever on time, and usually two times longer than they tell you it’ll be. Need to call? Good luck. You’re not getting through. I would say I rarely get specifically what I ordered, it the minor tweaks don’t usually bother me.

Love the place. But delivery takes it down a star.

Second Update: As I was just snarfing down an everything smoked salmon creamed cheese and capers. While I will say their delivery has gotten better because it’s just grub hub or one of those dudes, so tracking the prey is nice

But there must be some dude in Zucker’s that I don’t know if I want to hug or be afraid of. Bosses, food cost through the roof. Caper lovers, camp out. Normally I’m like ok. I paid $0.75 for 9 capers that I actually had in my fridge that could’ve added - but some bide near weekends And MONDAYS - this dude is like you want capers? I’ll give you today’s allotment of capers. But that still makes me sorry when I get 9 and I should’ve asked for extra capers. Mega. MEGA dice roll in the caper...

This place isn't bad but not worth the hassle and price. I came here to try the Rueben. They didn't ask whether I wanted corned beef, pastrami, or turkey. The guy just disappeared in the back and made what he felt like making I guess. The sandwich comes with a side of coleslaw and a pickle but I was told after waiting for my pastrami Rueben (I wanted a corned beef Rueben) that they were out. I questioned whether they were out of pickles because that seemed a bit absurd for a deli and he replied "Yea, we have pickles...you want one?" The pastrami was sliced tissue paper thin. It wasn't a bad sandwich at all but definitely wasn't worth $13 or the ten minute wait while he had a long melodramatic conversation with another staff member.

The service was friendly but random and completely apathetic even though there was no crowd and it was nonpeak hours. There was no order to the line and the staff didn't ask who was next so people would walk in and get served immediately while others who had been waiting for a while just stood there. Overall, the staff spent a lot of time talking amongst themselves and really didn't seem to care about our presence. Like I said, there were only 2-3 customers max the whole time I was there. If they are this nonchalant about the things customers can see, I don't want to imagine how they attend to the unseen but important health and safety tasks. In my experience, service like this is usually a reflection of an apathetic owner, not the potential of the people...

Yikes.

The bagels are halfway decent. I’ll give them that. But there are plenty of other places in the area to get a quality New York bagel.

The main bone I have to pick with this place is the service, which is atrocious. The staff is either one of two things: Dismissive and rude, or unable to understand your order. Sometimes (often) both. There doesn’t appear to be a system in place for taking orders, it’s just whoever wants to be ready for a customer. And no matter how many times you can repeat your order, they’ll STILL somehow get it wrong... and it’ll STILL take forever. No communication on the part of the order taker OR the cashier to ensure the orders are correct... I’m pretty sure my cashier didn’t say a word to me when he handed me a bag that had the wrong order in it. Be sure to double check what they gave you is correct- if you have the time to wait another fifteen minutes for your food. The sense of entitlement in this place is ABSURD. It is totally UNDESERVED and I have no idea how the neighborhood continues to stand for it and its terrible service.

I truly don’t understand why this place has lines out the door for overpriced, average bagels and terrible service.

This is another place only in it for your...