Schmear Bagel Parlor — Restaurant in Philadelphia

Wow! This review is for a bagel sandwich I had twice now (I can’t comment on anything else). I grew-up eating bagels, Lox (not Nova) cream cheese, with onion/tomato & capers. And, almost always from a real Jewish deli/sit down eatery called Hymie’s in Ardmore PA. A true authentic Jewish Deli. My son brought home a Fitzwater bagel sandwich - Lox and cream cheese onion tomato capers on an everything bagel sandwich - OMG, Yes, it was excellent. Easily 3, 3.5oz of lox + cream cheese on both halves. Wow! Everything was fresh and tastes great. It’s enough food to open the sandwich up to create 2 Packed open face sandwiches. Totally 2 thumbs-up for the sandwich. And, it’s worth every bit of the $10. price (Lox is very expensive, sold by the ounce), ($12.95 at Hymie’s). That being said, I would not buy a dozen bagels to have at home. They get 5 stars for the excellent sandwich- the bagel alone is satisfactory as bagels go. It’s better than a grocery store but not better then other bagel stores that focus on selling bagels by the dozen. Original Bagel-Rt. 3, Broomall Pa. New York Bagel-CityLine Ave & Haverford rd. My son is in the City a lot and brought home the sandwich as a surprise the first time. I requested it the 2nd time and told him he doesn’t need to check with me he can bring that sandwich home anytime...

It's pretty clear to me that this staff is wildly undertrained. Everyone locally has figured out that it isn't worth their time to actually stand in the store and deal with the frustration of how slow it is/how wrong they get their orders. People then order Uber Eats/DoorDash which the staff always prioritizes thus compounding the problem.

Other notes:

1. They recently got a new ordering system that it was clear no one was actually trained on. We order peanut butter on our bagels and they have to ring it up as "PBJ, Strawberry Jelly, No Jelly" every time rather than just have a button that says peanut butter.

2. Today it took twenty minutes to get two bagels just toasted and with a spread on them. Please note there was only one person in the store in front of me when I walked in.

3. They got rid of their nitro cold brew yet still have signs advertising it on the exterior of their restaurant.

4. They have some kind of dog treat dispenser that has never had anything in it when I've been in there.

5. Upon telling my coworker I was writing this review, they nodded and commented that things had changed and gone wildly downhill.

6. The coffee here is only decent.

Just go to one of the many other good bagel/coffee places in this area and spare yourself the constant disappointment. No bagel...

I would say this place is kind of “eh.”

The “Rainbow Brite”: Rainbow bagel with confetti cream cheese, was the savior for the order.

The “Veggie Sammy” had veggies cut so thick I took one bite and they flew off my sandwich. The veggies used were good together but I had to put it onto a plate, chop up the veggies more, and eat it like a chunky dip. Overall the taste was good.

The scallion cream cheese on a toasted bagel was very bad. The scallions were shredded and so stringy that it felt as if you were eating steamed asparagus at best. My fiancé never complains, but even she couldn’t eat it. She is a bagel baker and has lots of experience making bagels, so we’ve had lots of bagels in our household and this was one of the most subpar average bagels we’ve had.

Overall, I’ve had worse, but I’ve had a LOT better, too.

Disclaimer: I ordered on Uber Eats, so in the future I’m willing to go in store and maybe I’ll have a different experience if it isn’t delivery, but I highly doubt the delivery process had any part in...