Beach Bagels & Subs — Restaurant in Wilmington

The bagels are delicious but the service is what ultimately resulted in a 1 Star. I ordered online and the wait time was 40 minutes. This was fine and other friends and I went to look at some shops in the meantime. We came back exactly 40 minutes later and expected our orders to be in the pick up bin. They were not. People were stuck waiting outside and inside for pick up orders but besides that the shop was relatively empty. The kitchen staff assembling the bagels in the shop were bickering back and forth - obviously stressed out about how behind they were and also blaming their manager or possibly the owner who was at the front taking names for pick up orders. He told my friends and I it would be another 20 minutes for our bagels. (Now an hour wait). After waiting in the heat for 20 minutes, I walked back in and nothing was ready yet. A bunch of pick up orders were on the table but he refused to read off any names and lots of customers were asking where their orders were. He was extremely scattered and kept asking for our names, leaving, and then coming back and saying my friends order was coming. Finally I took matters into my own hands and took our orders off the table where they had probably sat for awhile. Who knows how long it would’ve been if I hadn’t spotted them. The owner or manager told a customer who asked how the pick up process worked that “he would handle it once he had a minute to read off names”. In all of the time that I waited there he never read off any names, which would have made the process so much easier. The receipt had the employee name who took the order and the customer name and I think he was honestly confused about that because he ended up giving my friend the wrong order. He was more concerned with stapling the receipt onto the order and then going back into the kitchen area to talk with his stressed employees. My friends and I also ordered drinks with the bagels and didn’t even receive them. At that point we were fed up with waiting and just left without our coffees. It was an awful experience and no one even apologized for the fact that we had to wait 1 hour and 20 minutes for 4 simple bagels. I would never go to this...

I placed an order inside with the brunette girl who took my order but didn't inform me of how long it was going to take. Beach bagels is known to either be quick or not so quick at all. If it will take 2 hours to make my order, that's fine, just tell me what's up. I could have asked but didn't. Considering the high variances in their ETAs, you would hope they would give you an estimate. It was busy but dying down and I stepped outside to wait. This, however, was not the eff up. I went back inside to wait for my order in the area where only people who ordered in-person wait for their orders. I was not in line so I was not placing an order nor was I in the pickup area for online orders. I was very obviously waiting for an order I had already placed in-person. I continued to wait as I noticed 4 people who arrived after me receive their orders and leave. Now here's the eff up, the brunette girl who took my order was mulling about behind the counter as I was in clear view in her line of sight. I was very clearly trying to make eye contact with her or get her to acknowledge me but she purposefully ignored any attempt. If the person who took your order, sees someone obviously waiting for something, and can easily recognize you as that someone whom she took an order from, you would assume your order just isn't ready yet because homegirl took my order, sees me, but hasn't given me anything yet. Nope. After the 4 behind me left, I went up to the register, to a different girl, she asked me for my name, and of course my order was sitting back there nice and piping lukewarm. Even if she didn't recognize my stunning good looks, you would hope someone working in a restaurant would ask someone who just walked in and just stands there if he or she needs help with anything. Maybe this girl had a crush on me and was too nervous to speak up and tell me to stop waiting there like a fool while my food was sitting right there, or maybe I didn't powder my nose right and she was too repulsed by the way I look. Great food though!...

Observations after 5 visits:

1.) I ordered a Blueberry bagel with butter and jelly..same thing I order everytime - after unwrapping it to eat, I discovered it had poppyseeds, onions, & bits of garlic on it. Why I dont' know...clean off the prep counter maybe? This has happened 4 out of 5 times.

2.) They only serve UNSWEET tea. Its probably not going to deter anyone from returning..but its also rare to see around here. It would be nice to cater to a southern staple by serving sweet tea. This is a no brainer. If you don't know how to make it, there are plenty of people around to teach you. :)

3.) Service is good..but not terribly friendly...unless you get one of the younger college girls working there. Otherwise, don't expect too many smiles or "customer is always right" attitude. This may be normal up north...but not down south.

4.) Prepares bagels with gloves; takes cash from customer with gloves still on; goes back to making bagels using the same gloves. This isn't a deal breaker for me, but I've seen some other customers in there notice this and talk about it.

5.) Time spent waiting: For some reason if there's more than two people in line, the employees get flustered/confused with each other and the tickets that are going up. Expect to wait if you order anything and there is more than one person in front of you.....especially if you order something that needs to be grilled.

Overall the revamp of this bagel shop is still the same with a different name in my opinion...at least to date. I think if they smiled some, made some sweet tea, and had a little more organization, they would be ok. The bagels are good...if they come how you ordered them. Like Philip said below, "If the food was great it might be worth the wait, however its just average." But things can...