Schmear Bagel & Cafe — Restaurant in Town of North Hempstead

I was so excited to find a local spot to make my own salad. I went in for the first time about a month ago. I was welcomed graciously and offered to try their tuna for my salad - it was delicious. The order and checkout process was seamless. Everything was wonderful until I took a bite of my salad. One bite, 2 bites, 3 bites. Something tasted very off and I couldn't place my finger on it. The ingredients all looked fresh - what was the problem. I inquired further and realized they used store-bought balsamic vinaigrette to dress my salad. It was DISGUSTING. A perfectly good salad, destroyed by the final touch, the dressing. I was at a loss. I couldn't understand why somewhere with such great service and ingredients (and pricing!) wouldnt just offer olive oil and vinegar if for whatever reason they were in a unable to make their own dressing. Such a shame. So be aware. Their dressing is gross. Had to toss my almost perfect salad...

I was told that this was the best place in Port, well first of all the girl at the register was less than enthusiastic about taking orders, didn’t know the products or how much they cost. She asked someone is a container of orange juice is a small or large. So with that great start, it can only go up from there right? Ordered a bialy with butter and a turkey hero. Received : a stale bagel and some sort of long bread that they used as a hero based on length. Two slices of turkey that when put together wouldn’t even be considered lunch meat. Tomato slice that resembled the thickness of a deck of cards , suffice it to say….miserable...

Foods ok. The bagel place that was here before this one used to make the bagels to original way by boiling the bagels and I wish they didn’t take that away. Bagels are ok but you can tell the difference instantly. Also wish they would allow substitutions. I got two sandwiches there and because of food allergies couldn’t get one of the side salads they have as options that they make you pay for it but wouldn’t allow a trade for something like those tiny bags of chips which is definitely still cheaper than the salads they make. Will probably not return for a sandwich again now that one stop is open again but in a rush it’s...