Einstein Bros. Bagels — Restaurant in Urbana

I wish I could give 0 stars but I can't TLDR: If you have allergies or a dietary restriction do NOT come.

I ordered a bacon tomato egg sandwich because it was one of the only sandwiches without cheese. I have a very severe dairy allergy and I have to carry an Epi-pen.

When I ordered I let the worker know of my allergy and to clarify asked if there was any butter, cheese or cream cheese, to which she responded "no it's dairy free". Once I got my order I noticed a creamy white and red sauce, feeling concerned I decided to just make a quick double check online and see if they had an allergy menu. On the online allergy menu I noticed it said the sandwich and tomato spread sauce both contained milk.

So I went back to the front and asked again if it had dairy and what kind of sauce was on my sandwich? She assured me it was dairy free but when I asked about the sauce she said it was indeed tomato spread. Then she made a snipped comment "do you even know what dairy is?". This shocked me, as if I haven't been dealing with a life long dairy allergy. Of course I want to exercise some caution when it comes to my health and I did not expect this kind of demeaning remark to come out of the worker.

Nevertheless I was still worried and she said she could ask her manager, so I asked if she could check the allergy menu as well. Once the manager came out and checked, it turns out the sandwich they served me did have dairy in it. Not once did I get an apology for the snide remark or their mistake. I even heard the same worker making jokes like "oh what if the avocados have dairy".

I will never be coming back and I recommend anyone with allergies or dietary restrictions to avoid this...

Pros: -they have some really hardworking and courteous employees who try very hard and hustle and are friendly -you can order ahead through the app and skip the line and just go to counter and pick up your food -good rewards program through app (see my free chocolate chip muffin in photo) -thankfully they are still open, some other Einstein locations around Champaign area have closed -there’s often free reading materials here like daily illini newspapers and other local news

Cons: -they used to have fountain drinks but took those away which is disappointing -sometimes they’ve made my food wrong (put pepperoni on pizza bagel etc if I ordered cheese pizza bagel or forgot to put side items in bag etc) -Einstein’s is pretty expensive for what you get. For example if you order an egg and cheese sandwich you get barely any egg and barely any cheese and...

Pretty decent bagle shop, they did tell me they were out of what I ordered but then gave me sort of what I originally ordered after I changed my order to oblige their lack of product, but they then gave me sort if what I originally ordered but still completely wrong which wasn't my original or secondary order, so I think they actually got my order wrong twice in the same order. I actually ADDED a star for that because it's pretty impressive. At least there guy at the counter recognized the absurdity of the situation...