Chicago Bagel & Deli — Restaurant in San Antonio

Let me start by saying the things I love about this place: friendly people, great food, very accommodating for special requests, and good Lord do the make an amazing bagel lox sandwich! Before I write about why I didn't give 5 stars, I want to say that I have worked in food service for more than a decade and have an excellent sense of the business side of a restaurant from having worked almost any position you can think of in a full service establishment. With that having been said, it is in my opinion that a very poor business decision was made on a recent visit. It was my understanding (mistakenly so) that the store closed at 3 PM on Sunday like every other day of the week; it so turns out that the store closes at 2 PM. We walked in about 5 minutes to close (at this point we were still under the assumption, despite hours being posted on the door, that the store closed at 3) and started looking over the menu. While we were looking over the menu, one of the staff members, without saying a word to us, shuffled over to the other side of the store and turned off the lights on us followed by another staff member behind the counter saying to us that the store was closing in two minutes and inquired as to whether our order would be quick. We politely said no and left. Point by point: 1) If you're not willing to serve full menu up until the posted time of close, then that should be posted. I fully understand that late hits can be frustrating, but posted hours are posted hours. It was our mistake thinking that the time of close was 3, but you shouldn't refuse full service during posted hours. 2) This isn't a bar; turning off the lights on patrons and guests in an attempt to rush people out isn't just bad business, it's rude. Bars do this because there are laws in place that say only certain people (that being staff members) are allowed inside after a certain time; doing this in a restaurant is the customer service equivalent of a police officer saying, "Move along!" 3) Not taking every opportunity to make a sale during posted hours is one of the ways in which a business fails to grow. Maybe this business philosophy is why there is only one Chicago Bagel. I will continue to shop here and enjoy the delicious food and friendly people, but I felt it necessary to share this experience. Aside from this experience, every other time I've been there I was treated warmly and respectfully. I wish this business the best of luck in all of...

Coming to this location for 13 + years and the quality went down (3 lox sandwiches had huge chucks of onions, like they’ve used a hatchet to cut them, the fish slices had indescribable black inclusions (right in the middle of the fish, so it wasn’t the fish scales), tomatoes were all pale with lots of inedible pieces). Raisins in the sweet cream cheese started having unpleasant particles and grind in teeth (like dirty raisins or sand). With a high volume of visitors, personnel is no longer attentive or pleasant, they are short with guests, and not paying attention to the special requests. They don’t have an area to sit down and eat (no high chairs by the window), no access to napkins (they literally put 1 see-through piece of tiny napkin per 1 bagel). They use very cheap paper product (including coffee cups), they are unpleasant to see and unsafe to use (the lids are not staying attached to the cup). And they should stop selling those unappetizing biscuits, they can spoil any appetite by their look. Overall, I’m sad to see that after more than a decade, this sweet little place is no longer a family owned friendly business, personnel is stuffed in the back kitchen like sardines, they all looked exhausted and thus they are unfriendly and not pleasant with the customers. I also don’t enjoy when their mod is rude with the team members (in front of guests or not, be a professional and treat...

Hurry and come on by! This place is soo good! Staff is inviting and patient with first timers, they’ll explain menu options. In a hurry? No worries they don’t have you waiting long like other places. You can tell they use great ingredients everything smells and looks great! They even have options for vegetarians like my husband. They have coffee hot chocolate bottled and can drinks. We got French toast, veggie & everything bagel sandwiches, hash browns, and the giant cinnamon roll! Will say the everything bagel was missing a bit of onion, garlic and salt flakes but nonetheless still very tasty! Both French toast and cinnamon roll were fluffy and delicious! Stars club sandwich is filling and hot! We will definitely be coming back and try more things on the menu. This place has the quality quantities and a great price! I was pleasantly surprised the traffic it had customers were in and out, you know it’s good! They are closed Monday and Tuesday and are...