Einstein Bros. Bagels — Restaurant in Plant City

Service was lovely, the space is cute.

Offers iced tea, iced coffee, and cold brew - but has NO LIQUID SWEETENER. If you aren't sweetening the coffee or tea while it's hot (which would be impossible with cold brew) I can mix those little grains all I want I'm still gonna have a pile of sugar at the bottom of my cup and now I have crunchy coffee.

Stop opening chains in places where you refuse to adjust to the climate. Everyone in Colorado may be happy drinking hot coffee every day of the year - but I want an iced drink so I don't die of heatstroke and if I want to sweeten it, I need a simply syrup or something.

For a place that specializes in bagels - the food should be GREAT not just okay. And it was okay. It was fine. But I paid like $8 for a "fine" bagel. There was allegedly a sauce on the item I ordered. I could see discoloration on the bagel - I could not taste this sauce. And it otherwise is a fairly dry food which the sauce could have helped. The avocado was not fresh. It had no flavor.

I had the option to add a "twice baked hashbrown" to my order. I had no idea what this was. This was the first time I've ever been to this chain. But I know what a hashbrown is, so I thought, "Okay, so it's a hashbrown...and they...bake it twice?" No. It's a pile of cheese flavored mush with an uncrispy, outer crust. I'm not sure how they make hashbrowns in Colorado, but in Florida - hashbrowns should be crispy. If you put hash brown in the name, there should be a crunch. So - PS it's mashed potatoes. (I realized after the fact that this was a play on the "twice baked potato" but it wasn't until I saw the wrinkly brown puck filled with mashed potato that I realized why it's called twice-baked hashbrown.) It was not good.

The coffee was watery, and bland. Maybe it was the style I ordered. But it's not like I'm going to try a bunch of different varieties to find out. It was expensive for a poor product.

I don't mean for this to sound so harsh, but I've been hunting for somewhere to get quick, small breakfast items now that Panera is owned by private equity...only to come home and google that Einstein Brothers Bagels is also owned by the same corporation which owns Panera. Which is weird b/c PE made Panera give up spinach, and EBB has spinach. Whatever. I guess I'll stick with my local options over a chain. Again. I don't mind at all, but like all small town privately-owned mom & pop businesses they often have odd hours and I thought I could fill that space with a chain and I can't. I'll have to go without when I can't walk in to a local chain.

Please, understand, this review is not against the workers, who I am sure are dedicated and do a good job. They provided excellent service, the bagel was put together nicely (not sloppy and falling apart, it had a nice clean cut, etc). I don't think the workers or management have any control over flavorless avocado, okay bagels, bland coffee, and liquid sweetener. I know that's a corporate/franchise/chain issue and I don't assume that the whole system is going to be changed for me, for the few times a year I venture outside of my mom & pop shops.

This is literally the longest review I've ever left. I didn't mean for it to go this long. I wish Einstein Brother Bagels the best...there are definitely people in Plant City that may appreciate their particular style of bagelry and coffee more than I do.

Epilogue: In ticking the various boxes, I notice it asks what I spent "per person." Well, I was paying alone, but for 2 people - so I paid $28, yes, twenty-eight doll hairs for 2 bagel sandwiches, w/ a mashed potato puck side, a bland coffee, and a lemonade. I don't like the way they break that down, as if spending $14 per person for a bagel and drink is somehow reasonable or going to offer the public some idea of what you will spend.

$8-10 bagel sandwiches. Every single piece of the sandwich gets charged individually. And the auto-selection is for 2 eggs when you order online. If you drop to 1 egg it reduces the...

We were thoroughly impressed by this new location in Plant City! The selection of bagel flavors was large and we were excited to see unique "elevated" flavors offered. The service was rapid and we really got the impression that our business mattered to the employees. I enjoyed the Texas Brisket egg sandwich; the brisket was smoky and tender, and the jalapeño cheddar bagel was a little bit spicy and the perfect complement to the brisket. My fiancé enjoyed the Nova Lox bagel; he said it was the best one he's eaten outside of New York City! The cold brew coffee tasted fresh and smooth. We ate inside the restaurant and we were greeted by the manager, who ensured we were pleased with our orders and shared with us about how the bagels are baked fresh in the store every day. There were so many delicious sandwich offerings, it was hard to choose just one! We look forward to returning and giving our patronage to this...

I was super happy with this location opening and the cashiers/employees are nice and friendly until today. Around 8:50ish am on 05/30 my daughter who is MINOR went in for me to get our pickup order when one of the cashiers started being passive aggressive with her. The employee (Megan) said she looked familiar and ask if she was her exes niece and “if she knew what he did to her” loud enough for people to hear. Me and my daughter have nothing to do with whatever happened 4 years ago and don’t care. We wanted bagels for breakfast not drama.

Update: The general manager reached out to me to apologize for what happened and to let me know it wouldn’t happen again. It’s nice to know it won’t be swept under the rug or taken lightly. Thank you Alicia, we...