Einstein Brothers Bagel

Stopped in for an iced coffee today and ahead of me in line was an elderly couple, they ordered got their food and sat down. The lady came back up to the counter and said her sandwich was ice cold he said that’s what you ordered from the menu, oh the woman said, but the counter person said if I take the veggies back off your sandwich gladly heat it up for you and put veggies back on. Great customer service from the counter help this afternoon. WOW, great spot to have lunch one of the gals I remember behind the counter was Kelsie and the other was David. Will be back again. Laurie G

Amazing coffee and delicious bagels. A nice change of pace when one sees Starbucks on every corner. Staff is friendly and attentive. One of my favorite coffee places.

Their bagels have a lot more flavor than any you would get at Panera. While I love Panera, I find the food at Einstein Bros. to be more fresh and filling. They’re tasty turkey sandwich is super yummy! Its an asiago cheese bagel with turkey, sprouts, cucumber, tomatoes, and a chive onion schmear. I prefer it without tomato, but definitely a favorite of mine.

OK, so I have a problem. A BAGEL problem. Having lived on the East Coast for most of my life, I took bagels for granted. There was a small bagel place around the corner from my apartment making amazing fresh bagels each day and I ate them all the time. Then I moved to Illinois. I kept seeing bagels on menus and the round, previously frozen, bagel-​like objects were making my heart sad. I didn’t realize how important bagels were until they were gone. It’s literally all I ever talk about. The crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside, fresh made bagels of Philly and NYC were dancing around in my dreams.
So on Saturday morning I dragged the husband to Einstein Bros Bagel. It’s a chain, which automatically makes me skeptical– but I’ve had decent bagels here in the past. At first bite, I declared– FINALLY, real bagels! It’s not near my house but for me it’s worth the trip. After 3 months without a good bagel, this place seriously hit the spot.
You can keep your cinnamon buns, your scones, your muffins. I’m a bagel girl, through and through. This location is Philly girl approved.

The coffee is great.
Was visiting family in Peoria, and needed to find a café to sit in the morning and afternoon with wifi to get work done. I’m usually pretty snobby about my coffee, and can’t sit at a café for too long if I have to drink less than par coffee, but I was really impressed with this coffee. Even got a bag of coffee and brewed it at my cousin’s house too while I was there, and it turned out very good as well (this is from a person who roasts his own beans fresh at home back in NJ).
Too bad we don’t have Einstein in NJ.

Bagels are fantastic, the schmear is scrumtrulesent, and the service is perfect. I have had their breakfast, an their lunch and this place has it going on.

I am seriously in love with the Everything bagel thin. It is covered with a million seeds and spices and makes every sandwich they serve delicious. They always have coupons in the circulars that are mailed to everyone and I get at least a coupon a week from their email club. No spam, just coupons!
Also, their employees are strangely thrilled to be at work. They are so happy and cheerful, it’s kind of like the Twilight Zone compared to most fast food joints in Peoria.
If this place wasn’t so out of my way, I would stop here every day for a smile and a healthy sandwich!

I will preface this by saying that this review is several months overdue, from a couple of months after they opened in Peoria. Having never been to an Einstein I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, but I like bagels.
On our first visit we had a problem with them having no iced tea made.
We also noticed a big poster in the entryway for a contest they had going, with game pieces on the drink cups. When we did get some tea, there were no game pieces on the cups.
We came back a couple of weeks later, since they gave us gift card due to their being no tea. Same poster in the entryway. I ordered a turkey swiss bagel, which was a pre-​suggested menu item. They subbed pepper jack cheese without asking me, so when I took a bite it was a big surprise, since I had expected swiss. Also, I was on my way to the airport for a morning flight, yes, it was morning, and the coffee thermos in the dining area was empty.
My husband decided to go ask them about the pepper jack and the contest with the cups and they said they had run out of cups but that corporate had not given them permission to remove the contest sign, so it was still displayed. BUT, they said they had ONE cup left they could give us, which they did, as an extra (not with our drink in it). On my way to the airport I logged the cup entry on the web site to see if we had won, and the site said the entry had already been used, so I feel like the employees took it upon themselves to see if it was a winner before giving it away.
Not a good start to this chain in my book.