Bruegger's Bagels — Restaurant in Town of Clifton Park

This was my first trip to a Brueggers, and I made sure to read previous reviews, so I knew that this place's service may or may not be the best. What motivated me to go here was a coupon I received in my email for three free bagels on 06 February. I figured that free food would override the possibility of bad service.

I arrived at about 650AM, so the store hadn't been open for an hour yet. The point of me mentioning this is that the store should have still had a decent stock of everything. However, I discovered that there weren't many of each bagel on the shelves, which seemed counter-intuitive for a store that knew there was a massive free bagel promotion happening one day only. I waited in line behind a middle-aged man who got a dozen bagels, and he was practically rushed through his ordering process by the short elderly woman taking his order. She didn't seem keen on saying please or thank you, and neither was the chubby brunette cashier. When it was my turn to order the elderly woman expressed the same curt tone and abruptly asked, "What do you want?" as if I was inconveniencing her. I chose the onion, garlic, and everything flavors. Luckily, the bagels tasted fairly good, and they were toasted decently, so at least the product here passes the test. When I got to the cashier she was equally as curt and asked, "Anything else?" without even looking me in the eye. When I said no she maintained her aversion of eye contact and rudely said, "K, you're all set.".

Pros: The bagels are decent. I'm not Jewish and therefore not a self-declared bagel aficionado, but the product was fresh, warm, and not stale. Good enough for me.

Cons: The service here sucks. The personnel are rude and clearly hold high disdain for their jobs.

By the way, since I feared the customer service might be lacking, I took advantage of New York's one-party-consent law with respect to voice recordings and carried my digital voice recorder in my jacket pocket, so the whole experience is on tape. I hope the manager reads this and decides to be a little more proactive with his/her...

The culinary delights offered here are nothing short of remarkable, a testament to the skill and passion that goes into their creation. However, it seems that the operational efficiency does not match the high standards set by the food quality. Despite a team of seven dedicated staff members attending to the front of the house, complemented by the culinary expert working tirelessly in the back, the service flow appears to be bottlenecked at the cashier's station.

The pace at which the line advances is noticeably sluggish, leading to a ripple effect where the food preparation team often finds themselves in a holding pattern, awaiting the next order to be processed. This slow progression is often exacerbated by customers who seem unprepared for the transaction, despite the clear menu and pricing displayed, which inevitably delays the service for everyone. The cashier herself did not seem to be at fault for the speed of the service.

It raises the question: Why isn't additional support allocated to the cashier during peak times when the queue extends out the door? The impact of this inefficiency is tangible, with at least five potential patrons opting to leave rather than endure the wait. It's a scenario that underscores the need for a more streamlined approach to service—a harmonious blend of delightful gastronomy and swift,...

Re: Clifton Park There were 3 people working. There was a line of many customers. Part of the problem was one gentleman who came in and needed 6 special sandwiches (all different) plus a variety of other things. Another problem Is setup behind the counter that no worker can pass another one without the other one stepping aside. Another issue was, despite being busy, 2 of the workers were bagging items like the cookies and not asking waiting customers what they wanted. I kid you not, one worker could not open the bag, then set it aside to do something else (or maybe she had to move because she was in someone's way). The last issue was the time needed to cash out customers. When my order was finally done, the worker was still cashing out the gentleman with the big order, plus they forgot to give him 3 bagels. 5 customer orders were done and she was still cashing out the 1st one. My 15 year old said to me that she will never ask me to bring her there again. Sorry for sounding so harsh but service was very...