Elaine’s Bagels

I have not been to Elaine s in awhile but needed bagels for a mtg and they were my first thought as they were always delicious and usually a different variety choice. Unfortunately they ended up being a little disappointing. Several were rather hard and dry requiring to be thrown out. Only good if you could microwave or toast them. This was at 730a so I don’t know if they were a bit old already or how they are now? Maybe they need to be kept in something that covers them a bit so they don’t sit there drying out. Hope it was an off day.

I would love to give 5 stars but we’ve had some less than amazing bagels from time to time. That being said, we continue to come back. Today’s bagels were wonderful!
We had 2 everything bagels, sliced in half, bought some cream cheese to do ourselves at home. Also grabbed a cherry fritter. The cherry fritter was OK once was enough for me. The bagels were excellent and delicious.
we will continue to go back

My husband is from New Jersey and was in search of a good east coast style bagel. For some reason he got it in his head that this place had those kind of bagels. He picked up some bagels on a Sunday morning and some chive cream cheese. The result was not good. These bagels were terrible, and the cream cheese had a strange taste. Our son loves cream cheese and bagels, and he took one taste of the cream cheese and made a yuck face. The cream cheese went uneaten. I love to support local businesses, but will be supporting other local bagel places in the area in the future.

Elaine is nothing fancy, but it near the house.
Unfortunately it changed a great deal over the years. Gone are the great special bagels they used to have on a weekly basis (sun dried tomato was great) and the staff isn’t nearly as friendly and don’t seem to care much.
That all said, their coffee is decent, their breakfast sandwiches are pretty good and the must treat the Berkley school district pretty well because they get a weekly order. Elaine isn’t somewhere I would drive to, but if I’m driving by, it’s ok.

Bomb bagels, great cream cheese!!!, Lox, mini cini’s! First timer. This will b my usual bagel spot! Ty for freshness!

Used to be a favorite if mine but the quality has dropped significantly. Coffee was cold selection was lacking and service was adequate

My experience here was below average. The few times I’ve been in no one is even there to take my order just an empty counter. The employees were rude and our order was messed up when we asked for them to change if they acted like they were offended and when we got our food back there was a hair in it.

Could be the worst bagel I’ve ever had. I’d rather have a frozen bagel from the grocery store. The food is wrapped packages which means really what do they even make there anymore? Used to be such a nice place.

Average bagel shop. I would not go out of my way to go here. The are often slow on service. They do have a variety of bagels and cream cheese available. The inside of the place is very dull and very minimal seating.

The positives: The bagels are good. Not great, but good. The coffee is ok.
The place is depressing, quiet, no music and no noise if there are no customers. The display cases obstructs the view which bothers me as I can’t see my bagel throughout the process. Cleanliness could be better. I also think the packaged muffins and cookies could be replaced with some local or fresh stuff.
Overall: ok. Maybe slightly below par.

I am updating after coming here many more times. The service has improved, the bagels are still awesome, and the cream cheese is still overpriced.

I’m very sad to see how far this place has fallen. When Elaine’s was owned by the Shifmans it was the best in the area and competed easily with some of the best New York bagels I’ve had. When they sold the business it tanked big time. The service is awful, the coffee is wretched and the bagels have become ordinary. And man, the place is disgusting, it never used to be this way. Steve and Andy kept the place clean and the service great. Warrens East side bagels is far better and will get my business from now on. It was a good run, Elaine’s and I’m sad to pass you by.

Great bagels. These are true bagels. I’m no New Yorker, but the son of one. Lox bagel comes loaded and with quality salmon.
Service is whatever, who cares — its a bagel shop that’s never busy. They can have the thickest accent and grumpiest attitude. Yes their muffins are probably from Costco, their cookies off a factory line. This is a bagel shop with great bagels the rest means nothing and won’t obstruct your experience.

I am torn between 2 and 3 stars. They get 3 stars for the bagels and cream cheese, but the coffee was not good and that is dragging down their rating. I stopped in the other day and got a salt bagel with veggie cream cheese. The veggie cream cheese has actual chunks of veggies in it and was yummy with the salty bagel.
They have several coffee pots with different flavors and the coffee is self serve. They had a milk machine thing that had french vanilla creamer and half & half. The half & half didn’t have a spout attached and so I assumed they were out, though I wasn’t sure. But I figured with flavored coffee, I could skip the cream. I chose vanilla hazelnut, but it did not taste like vanilla or hazelnut, pretty much like regular coffee. Maybe I’m being too hard on them, I compare my vanilla hazelnut to Einstein’s, which is delicious. But even the flavored Keurig K-​cups tasted better than this. I think all I really tasted was the plastic from the coffee cup lid, or maybe their coffee just tastes like plastic. Either way, next time I’m skipping the coffee. Though when I get my weekly bagel in the a.m., I need coffee to go with it and there’s a pretty good chance I’m not making two stops in the morning, so I’m going to go to a place with good coffee and bagels, so unfortunately I probably won’t frequent this place too much.

If you have a bit of a sweet tooth and enjoy elephant ear’s at carnivals, try the cinnamon sugar bagel with honey walnut cream cheese. Never had a bagel like this before. It was excellent! Service was fair. Have to spend at least $ 5 to use credit card otherwise bring cash. There is no seating available. Not very busy at 8 am but not somewhere I would go if pressed for time. Only one person was helping customers with the bagels and ringing them up. I would go back to try more of their offerings but was not blown away.

Stopped in two bagels toasted with cream cheese, and while taking our order the counterperson see a regular coming in and starts getting his order together, in the process screwing up our order. Plus over $ 8 for 2 bagels, a pop and a milk is a bit much.

Seriously, Elaine’s? What happened?
I used to go here as a little kid, getting dropped off by my mom for bagels and hot cocoa before school as my sister and I toddeled our way down the street, fat and happy from our breakfast.
Over the last several years I’ve noticed the place get dirtier and dirtier and today they were selling Daisy Brand baked goods. For those of you that don’t know, that’s the half-​baked crap they sell in gas stations.
My server not only asked for my order three times and the subsequently screwed it up, she yelled at me for not catching her mistake sooner.
And if you feel that it’s anything less than a felony to charge 1 $ for cream cheese, please gimme a little more than a dollop, sweetheart.
Definitely NEVER going back.

These are hands-​down my favorite bagels in the world. Even when living in New York City I could not find a bagel that could hold a candle to Elaine’s. They are huge and perfectly crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside like a bagel should be. They are also super cheap. A lox & bagel sandwich costs like 5 bucks and is loaded with salmon, cream cheese, capers, and veggies. Maybe this is just me, but I’m also glad that they have a soda fountain that has Cherry Coke so you can mix the Cherry and Diet together. This drink combination and salt bagels fueled my high school years. I am seeing a lot of complaints about the staff on here, but the one young lady who has waited on me every time has been extremely pleasant and friendly.
Here’s why I am not giving 5 stars: The bagels used to come in a huge array of flavors, but the last time I was there I didn’t see some of my old favorites (spinach, cinnamon-​sugar…) The interior of the store is also looking a little bit rough, verging on depressing. I opted to eat in my car, it was so sad in there. But I think with just a little bit of cleaning and painting the décor could reflect the awesomeness of the bagels.

I came here often in high school, and have visited a few times since, and have been really turned off by the quality of service and product. There are several better bagel joints in the area, even the franchises like Brueggers and Einstein’s are better than this once hot local establishment.

This place used to be great, but not anymore! After stopping in this Sunday I was shocked at how far downhill Elaine’s has gone. The workers were flat out rude, the orders were wrong, and whatever they’re trying to pass off as «veggie» cream cheese is inedible.
Save yourself some frustration and go to New York Bagel instead.