Bagel Express — Restaurant in Town of Brookhaven

On a recommendation from my chiropractor, I stopped into Bagel Express in East Setauket in the CVS shopping center, for breakfast. The ambiance of the place was "OLD SCHOOL" COMMUNITY DELI. The kind of place that reaks of "HOME TOWN PRIDE" by supporting the local college & high school sports teams, as team photos & banners along with some warm & fuzzy decor adorn the walls. The kind of place you would go to with a friend or your sweetheart to get Breakfast or lunch. OR so I thought.

I ordered my new favorite go-to breakfast sandwich, egg & cheese w/pastrami & kraut topped off w/Russian dressing on double toasted rye. After ordering my meal, I had to ask for a coffee cup instead of having one handed to me like most cordial places do when coffee's included with Breakfast sandwich. I guess they don't want just anybody walking up and "stealing" a cup of coffee. So they had their 3 sizes of cups stacked right next to the cash register.

After getting my coffee, I walked up to the counter to pay before my sandwich was even ready. I noticed a wooden rack strategically placed smack dab in the middle of the checkout counter blocking the actual register but had plenty of room on each side, their front counter is long. The rack was full of local Home-made baked crumb cake squares pre-wrapped. They had plain & raspberry filled that was topped with an interestingly, lightly dabbed & drizzled sugar glazing. I was having some small banter w/the rotund, bald, elder gentleman who seemed to be the owner of the deli. I asked about his choice of crumb cakes. He proceeded to tell me his quiant tale of how that specific crumb cake came to be in his store. Raspberry was his favorite. I was curious to see if the raspberry was as good as he professed. I had grabbed a piece from the shelf & put it on the counter next to my coffee proceeding to unwrap the cellophane and take a small piece to taste... And it truly was... Moist, sweet and delicious! Wrapping the rest of it back up, I figured I'd save that for dessert after my main meal. I asked the owner to ring me out. Meanwhile my sandwich was finished being made. Of course they ONLY take cash, so I breakout my money clip & proceed to pull a $20 bill out thinking I would leave the rest for a tip. I was expecting $17+t× To my surprise, the bill came to $34.15. I was charged NYC price of nearly $20.00 for a meager thin slice of pastrami, 2 eggs and pepperjackcheese sandwich. I asked sour kraut and Russian dressing also to be put on double toasted rye bread. The exact same sandwich I ordered from another deli 2 days prior & paid 9.99! Which means I was charged $5.00 extra for my coffee and which should have been included. When I got my sandwich I sat down at a table to enjoy my extremely overpriced sandwich. After unwrapping the waxpaper, I didn't see any Russian dressing. So a take the top slice of toast off to inspect the dressing & I noticed the 1 pathetically thin slice of pastrami folded in half sitting atop the eggs & cheese and barely any sour kraut & practically NO dressing. So I walk back to the gentleman and asked for extra Russian dressing. He got snarky with me commenting that I was trouble. "your extra needy!" He put me on the defensive & I said, "I expected a littke more dressing than I got on my sandwich!" He then tried to defend his pricing by asking me if I know what a pound of beef cost these days... he shouted over his shoulder to 1 of the short order cooks for a side of Russian dressing & I watched the young man squirt it out into a small plastic container & the owner gave it to me with a plastic knife. I sat there looking at this poor excuse for a sandwich, spread some extra Russian dressing on it and tried to enjoy it. But I was frankly so irritated by the owner's irrational behavior that it forced me to sit in my car to start writing this review. DONT WAIST YOUR TIME OR MONEY at this place. & go to the bagel store down the road. I'd honestly give this place a NEGATIVE 5 star review if they allowed for such. 1 STAR IS BEING...

I normally don't leave bad reviews, but my experience today at this bagel shop was honestly so frustrating that I feel compelled to share.

First off, I noticed the younger workers were being yelled at in front of customers by the older staff. It’s obvious they weren’t trained properly, but they certainly don’t deserve to be treated that way. Seeing them get scolded like that was uncomfortable and unprofessional. They need support, not public humiliation.

Next, my order was completely messed up. I asked for a scooped bagel, but when I received it, the bagel was only half scooped. How do you mess that up? It seems like a pretty simple request, but clearly, attention to detail was lacking.

Then, when it came time to get my food, there was a major communication issue. The workers were loudly calling out the number “81,” but my number was “08.” Naturally, I didn’t get up because it wasn’t my number being called. When they finally realized the mix-up, it became really awkward. How am I supposed to know that “08” somehow means “81”? It was confusing and uncomfortable.

Lastly, I had an interaction with the owner that left me completely stunned. At one point, he had a pile of papers and asked me to take them to his desk. I’m a paying customer, not an employee, and there were clearly staff members around who could’ve helped. This was not only unprofessional but just plain weird.

I won’t be coming back. Poor service, lack of training, and uncomfortable experiences all around. Treat your employees with respect and your customers may...

I had intentionally stayed away from this place because the bagels are terrible and everything is overpriced... yesterday i found myself there out of necessity ,because we needed to have a bite to eat and were early for a nearby appointment , and against my better judgment i went in and ordered an egg sandwich for my husband and a couple of quarter pound salads and a split roll for my self... the money hungry owner was standing guard over his register as usual... i get the feeling he does not trust ANYONE ELSE to count his gold... and when he added up the bill , 14.75 i was shocked. I had the audacity ( i could tell by the look on his face) to ask why it was so much, and he itemized "everything " for me... 5.75$ for an egg sandwich! and he charged me 1.75 for the "slice of pickle" i asked for thinking it would come with my salads... , the rest of the outlandish price was for a quarter pound of tuna and egg salad... and oh, yes, my sliced roll, which when his employee said, a sliced roll... the owner apparently did not believe this and said, "nothing on it??".... like again, he did not trust his employee and thought that he was trying to sneak something by him... guess what??? next time i find myself outside this place... i...