Uncommon Grounds

Love, love, love!!! Bagels are best around and coffee drinks speak for themselves. The staff is friendly and attentive. The setting is warm and relaxing.

I’m giving UG 4 stars because I keep coming back, though it’s not for the food or the coffee. It’s the location and the atmosphere. My 2 «besties» from playgroup years are living around the capital district and this is a great central location to meet, with something healthy for everyone at a reasonable price. Though the wait time for food can be long depending on time of day, there is no pressure to move from your table once it’s claimed. People read, work, interview or, like us, have deep philosophical or religious discussions or just catch up on life. Pleasant staff add to the experience.
Tonight I had the BLT salad, which was huge but missing some IDK ingredient. More bacon? Lose the eggs? Tomatoes with flavor? Something was missing, & can be added to improve this dish.
I also love the business card board in the back hall. Not enough businesses provide this service anymore. Thanks, Uncommon Grounds!

D D D disgusting. They have microwaved eggs. They have microwaved Bacon (im not even sure that is legal). You bagel was too hard as well…
If you are craving a good bagel or even a bagel sandwhich, dont waste your valuable money or time here. also way too expensive; Bagel, 2 eggs, «bacon», OJ, chips = $ 11/.67.

The few times I’ve eaten here I was disappointed. It’s not tidy, the employees seem to do the bare minimum and the bagels are just not good. They don’t taste fresh or flavorful. I felt like it was a waste of carbs each time.
Also, this place doesn’t seem to have a good variety of extras. No turkey sausage
or hot sauces of any kind, which don’t seem like odd ingredients for bagel sandwiches.
I used to live in Saratoga, and love the Uncommon Grounds there! The only thing like the Saratoga location is the name and the art on the walls.
I won’t be going back to the Albany location again.

I still love this place. The service is usually good and accurate, but every so often or so one of the employees totally screws up my order, which irritates me. But, it doesn’t happen that often and the food is good enough that I overlook it. Still love the smoked salmon on a bagel and have since discovered their chicken salad. It is to. die. for.

I’m kind of sad to give this place 2-​stars, but I had to.
This was the scenario: I went to visit a friend who attends the University of Albany. The vibe I was getting from her was that a reliable off campus meal could be found at Uncommon Grounds (cute name for a coffee /​bagel shop), and only Uncommon Grounds. We were helped relatively quickly. I chose a bacon, provolone cheese, and egg on a salt bagel (kind of poor bagel pairing on my part) and my friend chose a bacon, Swiss chess, on a sesame bagel. We watched the gentleman helping us start the order, and then he said it would be done in another minute or two and we could go to the cashier to pay.
We pay. We wait 5 minutes. We keep looking for our orders but it wasn’t coming. We wait another minute and finally my friend goes to see what is happening. Apparently our orders were burnt the first time. Then, the second time he put the wrong cheese on the wrong bagel, and the third time he was so nervous to mess it up again he went super slowly.
The sandwiches were like any other bagel sandwiches I’ve had in the past, and if this is the alternative to campus dining for UA students, I feel very sorry for them. I think I will suggest for us to eat in the cafeteria next time to save ourselves time and walking distance.

It’s OK. Let’s remember that the establishment is in Smallbany, and therefore represents provincial (look it up) and narrow thought patterns and attitudes.
The pricing has consistently gone up, but the same cannot be said for the quality. The owner is one of those who thinks that he can continually raise prices, without offering anything in return. But that only holds for monopolists. There are viable alternatives down the street.
For example, no almond milk is available. Not everyone wants milk in their coffee. The place doesn’t innovate much, or at all.
The labor force is cheap labor, and you get what you pay for cheapster management. I assume they are paid the minimum wage? Management needs to train its cheap labor, which has the highest turnover rate that I have ever seen in the capital district.
Customers: If you like dealing with incredibly immature staff, go for it.
First lesson staff: be professional. Even though you are in your twenties, you can’t afford to show how you feel about everyone based on superficials and your own ignorance.
Second lesson management: train them better.
Third lesson management: pay a little more cheapster owner — -along with an emphasis on constantly improving quality and service — - and you will have a much better establishment.

I like the bagels. They are fresh and have great flavor. They have a huge selection of bagels, toppings teas, desserts and coffee. I do not like the slow service. The unfriendly service that I’ve had several times (not all of the staff of course) and the blah interior of the place. They have so much potential but keep to the bare minimum.
My most recent experience consisted of getting my bagel made just as I liked it. They forgot to scoop my husband’s bagel after he asked which he was annoyed by. When we got to the register their credit card reader was not working. This slowed everything down. Nobody told the front staff to let the customers know that they could not use credit cards and must pay with cash so once a customer was finished waiting in line and was ready to buy their bagel they were hit with the bad news. The register staff then took the already made bagels from the customer’s that could not pay cash which was foolish, I think. A good establishment would not punish the customer for their slip up. The food is going to go to waste anyway so why not just give it to them? So we wanted to try a cookie since they looked amazing and our mouths were watering as we waited looking at them (because of the mess we waited a while in line). They did not have descriptions but it was clear there were many ingredients so we asked if they could provide a description of a few. We understood they were busy but that was not our fault and we come into town twice a year so we wanted to get what we came for. The person who helped us made it clear that we were causing her stress. The whole experience came off as uncomfortable and unprofessional.
The cookie was pretty freakin’ good and I’m glad we got it. Thankfully I live in Baltimore where there are no good bagels so I will still be back when I come into town.

I love me some UCG.
Their bagels and coffees are always fresh and delicious.
From what I understand, lunch hour here is insane, and packed with people. I try not to go when it’s crazy busy. I’ll either go mid-​afternoon or around dinner time, usually for their delicious trail mix salad.

Like a busy chipotle, this place on weekend mornings has the great «S» curved line; its sometimes crazy! I recommend calling in to pickup, this way you cut the long line, it’s the one place in the capital district to get NYC like bagels, no other bagel shops comes close!

Each time I come here, I tend to expect a different result. It’s like I completely forget the dissatisfaction I experienced the last time I was there. Yes, they have big bagels — but bigger isn’t always better. In my opinion, they lack flavor (even the more flavored options — everything and sundried tomato). Most recently, I got a bacon, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich and my boyfriend got the chicken chipotle special. Both left much to be desired. The egg on my sandwich was pre-​wrapped and had no flavor. My bf couldn’t even finish the chipotle chicken because the taste was so off. I honestly don’t understand how this place is always crowded. Maybe we’ve been ordering the wrong things. Maybe I’ll stick to the coffee and pastries next time.

Breakfast all day here. I had a bacon, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich on a garlic bagel. The bagel was awesome. Thick, doughy and really flavorful. Sandwich is made with eggs prepared beforehand and heated up. A small stove top where you prepare eggs made to order would take this sandwich to the next level.
We stayed and did some reading there for about two hours. There are lots of tables, good lighting and the place gets a nice smell when the roaster is going. What’s missing is the couch seating area you find in other coffee shops.

Ehh, can be hit or miss. I enjoy this place for their everything bagels, which are huge, and generously seasoned. Their breakfast sandwiches leave something to be desired. The egg they use is way too big for the bagel, and its one of those premade ones, not a fresh egg unfortunately. I am not a fan of the coffee I’ve tried. Their iced varieties are not very good. I was hoping to have a flavored coffee, but all that meant was adding a sugary syrup to their regular blend. Awful. Service can be shotty as well, workers come off pretentious and rude at times. Layout is not optimal for a quick in and out experience when you’re pressed for time.

Mocha Latte here is really good. Very mocha!

Had I ordered only tea, this would be a 3 star review. There’s a good selection of loose leaf teas, which you can get in a cup, a tea pot, or in a big French press for under 3 bucks. The same amount of tea at Teavana would run close to 15 dollars, so for this I give a big thumbs up.
However, the bagel I had gets a big thumbs down. I went with sausage, egg, and cheese on a sun-​dried tomato bagel. The bagel itself had absolutely no flavor. If I didn’t know what I was eating I would have guessed the bagel was plain. The sausage and egg were pre-​cooked and served barely warm. I was expecting a café like this to make their breakfast sandwiches to order, so this was disappointing.
The variety and price of tea was good enough that I’d stop in again for a cup, but I’ve likely had my first, and last bagel here.

It’s not an NYC bagel but it is the best in Albany. My fave is a pumpernickel with salmon cream cheese. It’s not pink. It’s not flavored. It’s cream cheese with salmon. That’s critical.
Salads are good, and so very filling I can never finish one.
They sell TC Paris macaroons too, so that always makes me happy!
But most importantly, everyone is really friendly. Over the past year, the baristas have taken time to learn my name and order. It’s my go to!

The coffee is continuing to improve. The bagels are what they are. But let’s focus on the positives for a moment.
Uncommon Grounds has dramatically improved its coffee roasting operation since my last review. They are finding better beans, and roasting them more gently. This approach creates a coffee that’s more about the flavor from the growing region and less about the roasting process.
That’s fantastic.
And the clerks behind the counter are given a bit of knowledge about the beans, although when asked hard questions the fellow who was helping me had to consult a crib sheet. That said, I’d much rather him check the facts than fabricate an answer that might not be fully accurate.
For the record, I was looking for a coffee with some bright acidity. That’s what the wife was looking for in her morning cup. In the end, he pointed me to the Guatemalan, which did the trick.
The bagels are large and doughy. I really wish they brought hot bagels out all day long. But I’ve been told that’s not how they operate. And I like sleeping too much to wake up early just for a hot bagel.
I should also note that at one point over the past few years, someone took on a massive deep cleaning project. The ceiling had been absolutely filthy, and now is is clean. Well done, UG. You may have thought nobody noticed, but it looks amazing.

Bagels here are almost on par with the ones in the new york city. I found it funny when reading other reviews when they talked about the service at this bagel spot. The people working here do have this weird stuck up attitude but I don’t mind it cause the bagels are delicious and i never experienced any problems during any of my visits there.
One of my favorite things here is their cream cheese. The cream cheese, though they pack it on, is light enough to not make you feel like you are going to have a heart attack after each bite. Recommended bagels include pumpernickel bagel with garlic cream cheese, some basic stuff like an everything bagel and veggie cream cheese.
But BEWARE of their watered down coffee.

I love bagels. Really I love most breads products, but bagels truly hold a special place in my heart. When I come to Uncommon Grounds, it’s usually after I’ve run a whole bunch of miles and am craving an Everything Bagel with peanut butter (don’t judge) and a good, hot coffee. And they never disappoint. Delicious, fresh bagels, with the right amount of spread and a whole bunch of great varieties to choose from. It gets really busy on the weekend mornings, since it’s so close to the SUNY campus, but it’s worth the wait!

This place was hopping with people and active for a Tuesday, which always makes for a productive environment.
You order at the counter at the entrance and assembly line-​style the employees assemble your bagel or breakfast sandwich. They have a ton of flavors but sesame is always my go-​to. At Uncommon, their bagels are dense and doughy. I like a well toasted bagel so I should have requested it well done or had them run in through the toaster twice. I had them cream cheese it. Their cream cheese actually has a buttery flavor to it. Due to the density you have to rip through it for a good bite. Paired with an americano, my belly was satisfied through to lunch.
Wifi worked wonderously and we nabbed one of the last tables before the place filled up. If you like the coffeehouse grind to get work done, it’s a great environment for that.