Cranford’s Best Bagels and Deli

Unless you speak Spanish or Russian, expect to have your order be wrong.
Three out of three times I’ve had food from here my order has been wrong. The first time I ordered a sandwich and half of a dozen bagels. When my food was done, I paid and then noticed the bag was too heavy. I told the girl she gave me a full dozen bagels instead of six. She looked at me like I had three heads and mumbled «I run card, sorry.» It was quite obvious that her training consisted of «Swipe the card, hit this button. Smile.» and there was no way she could handle anything beyond that. Whatever, I like the bagels and I wasn’t getting a refund anyway.
Hoping for the best, we went two more times and both times ordered two sandwiches. No special requests or substitutions. Sandwiches that any self respecting New Jersey bagel place makes hundreds of a day. They were the completely wrong sandwiches each time. I’m not even sure what the meat was in one of them. It smelled and tasted like hot dogs. I can only assume it was some sort of low calorie turkey based meat alternative.
I understand you might not have the pick of the litter for a lunch shift at a small bagel shop but someone with a basic grasp of English isn’t that hard to find.
It’s a shame because they’re very friendly despite the language barrier and the bagels are good but I’m not going to throw money away on sandwiches I didn’t order.

Great fresh bagels. They also have a large assortment of coffees and drinks. The have a lot of people working so a log line moves fast. So happy to have a go to bagel place so close to my apartment.

Nice local Cranford spot with a good sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich! The line can get confusing when they are busy, but I always try to support the local businesses.

Always a pleasant experience when I come by, fantastic bagels and service!
Must recommend the French toast bagels and I often don’t find a good lox bagel but this place certainly does it.

Great fresh bagels! Plenty of flavors, crispy outside, moist and chewy inside. The Bagel flats are a good alternative too! Best vegetable cream cheese around no peppers and they drain it so it’s not watery. The tuna and egg salad are always fresh too. Try the Taylor ham, egg and cheese on any bagel.

The bagels are great, but the counter help majority of the time are rude, or have to ask for your order a second time because they weren’t paying attention the first time.

Their french toast bagels are amazing when you go in and they’re fresh from the oven. We love their bagels and their cream cheese options is also great. We’ve also had their breakfast sandwiches and enjoyed that as well. Looks like the cooks are very hard working. The younger girls they hire up front are hit or miss for customer service ability, but overall their lack of experience doesn’t take away from the goods being sold.

Just left there and I feel compelled to share my story on Unilocal because I received such terrible service from the young high school kids that work the counter. I use to be a regular here for breakfast sandwiches. I was excited to bring my brother and his girlfriend here from out of town to try the bagel sandwiches but we all left so disappointed…
My order was very simple, two bagel sandwiches — one with turkey bacon and egg whites and one with regular eggs and regular bacon. Our orders took forever as usual because it’s always so busy there. I open my sandwich and noticed it had the regular bacon instead of turkey bacon, and l told the young girl who took my order and she said, «I saw them put it in there.» I brought back the sandwich to show her and her response was, «Oh they must have switched the breads.» I went back to my table and started taking apart the sandwiches to correct the error then I thought to myself… why am I doing this? They should have offered to correct the error instead of accusing that I was mistaken. I brought the deconstructed sandwiches back and asked them to make me another while I nibble on this because I was hungry and annoyed with the wait. The one young man kept saying give me back the sandwiches and I replied with, «It’s okay, we will just eat the sandwiches as is because we were hungry and don’t feel like waiting.» I was unsatisfied but the cherry on top was what happened once we walked out… one of the young male employees who worked there chased us out and asked us if we paid for the waters! How insulting, we will not be returning again! Save your time and money for a breakfast place that is willing to hire and train their employees on costumer service!

Got a bacon egg and cheese. Very disappointed. Only one egg and the bacon was in pieces, little pieces and fell apart everywhere. For a 5 dollar sandwich … Very disappointing. Will not return for another breakfast sandwich. Bagels seen normal and the girl behind counter was sweet. That is the only reason they are getting 2 stars.

Not only is this downtown Cranford’s «best bagel» shop, but it’s also the only bagel shop, which is why I started coming here for the occasional bagel craving. Bagels are fresh and soft, and they make a pretty good breakfast sandwich, as well. Lines can be long but they move quickly and service is good.

Came here for a lunch sandwich, and it was delicious. The prices are very fair, but the front counter has about 6 teenagers working it, so it can be very unorganized, and the service can be very slow. Granted it was lunch hour, but it took me about 15 minutes just to get a basic sandwich.

Disorganized, chaotic and dingy. While the bagels did taste good when they finally arrived to the table, they got the order wrong. Not the worst… not the best.

Have not been in here in a while so i was happy to for back for breakfast. Their bagels are pretty good as well as breakfast sandwiches. Unfortunately, what has not changed about them is the employees. The kids are nice and do the best they can but it is a bagel shop being run by high school students. There are about 7 kids in the front running the shop without supervision by a manager or owner. A place like this really needs the presence of an owner or manager. I am hesitant to come back to be honest.

I honestly don’t understand how the reviews are so negative. We have been buying bagels here regularly for years, and it’s a perfectly solid bagel joint.
The French Toast bagel is amazing. Great sandwiches too.

My first time I went to this place, it was the morning rush and the line went out the door. It was a bit of a mess and honestly I had eaten already so I left. That said, I couldn’t help but think if the place attracted that enormous of a crowd, there had to be *something* special about it.
Today I went back towards the end of the afternoon. When you enter the place seems deceptively small. There’s a deli meat counter on the left, cashiers in front, bagels off to the side in a display case and rows of coffee choices on the right. However, walk in a little more and you’ll find a lot of assorted seating (enough for at least 20 people) in a section on the right side. There were also a couple seats outside, so there’s plenty of places to sit to enjoy your carb-​o-​licious food.
Looking over the bagel selection I was happy to see quite a variety! Cheese bagels, multi-​grain bagels sat among more typical selections like cinnamon raisin bagels. The one that caught my eye? The French Toast bagel! I ordered it toasted with cream cheese.
The «toast» basically just brought the bagel up to the temperature it probably was when it was first made, but no more. There were no burnt edges and amazingly it wasn’t crisp from the toasting, but it was satisfyingly warm. The cream cheese had melted a bit into it, but it wound up helping the flavor penetrate the bagel. The French Toast bagel lived up to its name. There was powdered sugar on top, a wonderfully soft and chewy texture and some (what appeared to be) syrup worked into the bottom half. It was basically a dessert! I was very impressed.
I plan on coming back to try some of their other bagels, but my first experience was very positive!

The only saving grace for this place is the bagels actually taste pretty good.
Other then that, I seriously think this place could use a TON of simple fixes. First, a pick-​up line and a pay/​order line. Instead, the whole place is chaotic with no order and the employees are flustered and have no idea what is going on.
Second, the employes are all HS students who cannot handle crowds or stress, and have major attitude problems.
Thirdly, get the orders correct. I ordered a few bagels for the train when going into the city one day, and I open my wrapped bagel on the train and it’s just a plain bagel cut in half with nothing on it. (I ordered a toasted everything with CC)
This place has potential, which is why I continue to return (that AND it’s the closest bagel place when I’m feeling lazy in the mornings.)They need to organize themselves, get some employees who aren’t just as hungover&confused as the costumers and just minimize the simple mistakes and they’d have themselves a decent joint.

Been coming here for years and enjoyed the consistently good bagels, but I’ve begun having nagging concerns about cleanliness and food handling/​prep. I came here Sunday (2÷22÷15) for a bagel and noticed that bialy and bagel trays were on counter top display with no covers– the bialys at just the right height to absorb a passing cough, exhale, or sneeze wafting on by.
I have also observed the owner on multiple occasions go from food preparation to cash register, and back to food handling– all with the same pair of gloves. This is highly unsanitary! The whole place needs a cleaning in general. For these reasons, I no longer feel comfortable eating here.
One extra star because their bagels are actually okay.

I’m not a huge bagel fan. I Actually really dislike bagels. It sounds strange since I eat here every Sunday. Husband loves bagels and compromising on Sunday breakfast is easier and cheaper than marriage counseling.
The bagels are decent, but call ahead as it gets packed. I do wish there was a pick up line for those who call ahead as I get nasty stares when I pick up my food and cut the line. Also please do yourself a favor and check your order before you leave, they have forgotten my order of bacon three times and never bothered apologizing for making me go back… at least throw me a bone or an extra piece of bacon for the inconvenience.
Will I come here again. yes as long as the husband likes it I am destined to eat bagels every Sunday.

This place needs a SERIOUS cleaning. It looks and feels dirty. Ceiling tiles need replacing, floors need scrubbing, cold display cases need a detox, bathroom needs a complete overhaul and glancing toward the back (where they make the hot sandwiches) I don’t even want to know what’s going on back there. Two stars because the bagels are okay if you keep your eyes closed.

«C-​Best» (as my high school students call it) is a solid place in Cranford downtown to pick up a breakfast bite, or a lunch wrap. They have some solid offerings, and their morning breakfast wraps are consistently made well. My only complaint is they ALWAYS (ALWAYS) forget ketchup. It’s nothing major at first, but when a place consistently forgets to put something on your order that you’d like to enjoy, it becomes a sticking point…
The lunch wraps are also delicious and priced well. Service is a bit slow if you hit them up in the morning, but you won’t wait longer than 10 minutes for a decent-​sized line of people ahead of you. The wraps are always hot, cooked well, and priced beautifully.
Two lines — «Cash» and «Credit/​Debit» which is nice to see. Places that don’t decipher and tell you as you’re paying can become an annoyance.