Bruegger's Bagels — Restaurant in Raleigh

DISCLAIMER: I like to be very thorough in my reviews of restaurants so that people can make informed decisions about the food they eat. I realize this makes my review very lengthy. If it's not your "cup of tea" to read a very long review..... Then I suggest you look somewhere else for reviews for this establishment.

I have been going to this particular Bruegger's since I was in middle school, and I have been a patron of the restaurant in general since I was 4 or 5 years old. Let me start off by saying that my entire family has always loved Bruegger's, and we got to the point of going to this particular branch so often that the lovely and caring staff knew my family and our orders. We always had great conversations with the people working there, who seemed to really love their jobs and genuinely cared about the guests they were serving. Service was organized, efficient, and pleasant. As a child I always loved being able to go to Bruegger's for these reasons. The atmosphere was fantastic.

I am utterly disappointed to have gone to Bruegger's in the past week after having lived out of town for three years now, and I have found that the few times I have been able to go over the past few years I have noticed a very sharp declination in quality of staffing, organization, efficiency, and most horrifying, cleanliness. Having been a server in a restaurant myself, I understand that having new staff and training can be extremely difficult. Especially during high volume times.

The experience I had today was unacceptable. I ordered a plain bagel with cream cheese (2 identical plain bagels with cream cheese, actually). As my bagel was being made, another person making an order for the person next to me leaned over my bagel to grab ingredients for her sandwich to be made. This ensured that the entirety of her armpit was exposed to my bagel. She did this twice during the process of making my bagel. I know it was my responsibility to say something right then and there about it, but I didn't. And I take full responsibility for that. I ended up coming home and throwing both bagels away (again, my fault, not theirs).

This experience was the last straw for me. I love Bruegger's. It gives me that feeling of nostalgia for my childhood. But until the lack of training and cleanliness issues stop, I will no longer be visiting this location of Bruegger's. Which really disappoints me. Hopefully the standards will be brought up to an acceptable level. It really hurts me to say that one of my favorite places to eat for such a long time has to be put on the black...

Our visit was not what I would call enjoyable. Dirty floors, dirty bathrooms, tables not cleaned off. Creamer was empty, when I noticed this I asked if it could be refilled. It wasn't washed out first, im guessing or replaced by a clean carafe. There was noticeable crusted on leftover creamer on the pour spout. Trash bin was completely full, and we stacked our trash on top. When the creamer was filled again, I went to use it and it was slightly chunked up. I inquired with the cashier and her response was that it must be from the hot coffee making it look that way. There was a dead bug ( looked like a small cricket ) near the cream and sugar area. I asked if they could wipe it away , or if I could have a rag to do it myself. Our table was not clean and there were 3 other dirty tables in the area we were trying to sit. Could I have picked a different area to sit, sure but with two small children a booth is just easier so options were limited in that respect. Staff working registers were on their phones most of our visit (which was about 45mins) and while we sat they didn't clean off the same 3 tables that were dirty when we arrived. It's too bad because it wasn't all that busy. About 8-10 customers during our visit . I have pictures to share as well. If these cleanliness areas improve, the store can really shine. The location is convenient to many...

I usually like Bruegger's Bagels in Wakefield. I pass other bagel places on my way to Bruegger's just to get their bagels because I think they are better. Early Sunday morning is when I like to go because it is less crowded, the bagels are still warm and, well...it's Sunday morning. Over the last months I've been disappointed several times because they are out of the most popular bagel...everything bagels. The last two times in a row unfortunately. The person in line ahead of me also had the same complaint "Two days in a row No Everything Bagel's" I let the staff know that I was disappointed and they were polite enough and apologized explaining that "The everything bagels go so fast" but I still had no Sunday morning bagels. I thought to myself...If a bagel shop owner knows that a certain flavor bagel sells much faster than the others why wouldn't they make enough of that particular flavor to meet the constant demand? Sure, there were other bagel flavors available but lots of us like everything bagels and that's why they are sometimes out of them. If this was an isolated experience I would not have taken the time to post this review. In fact this is the first Google review I've ever written. I just thought if nobody says anything the manager may not know to do...