Einstein Bros Bagels

I frequent this location out of convenience, and because I like the food. However, the last few times I have been here the service staff have been openly complaining about one another. Today when I visited, the employees were so consumed up in their work drama that they gave me the completely wrong order. I realize that mistakes happen, but the service is such a turn off. As a person that has been in the industry for a long time, it’s tacky to talk bad about coworkers in front of your clientele. I won’t be returning.

Went here for lunch and got the Napa Valley chicken sandwich. Service was ok but the workers were very loud and unprofessional while we were eating which made for an comfortable dining experience. Also the description of the sandwich sounded great but it was sloppily executed and tasted terrible. I have always had a wonderful experience at the Richmond Heights location so I will just avoid the Webster Groves store going forward.

Einstein’s is one of those chains that could be much more popular, and yet isn’t. There’s a location very close to me, and I enjoy going there every once in a while, but I rarely hear of people going there regularly.
The bagel and shmear is their signature item, so I would recommend you try that (any bagel you want, any shmear you want, for a fair price). I always get the asiago bagel with onion and chive shmear. It may sound like a weird combination but I promise, it’s tasty.
The espresso drinks are pretty good, very sweet though, and a little pricey. I can recommend the white mocha — it’s my go-​to when I get a drink.
Their sandwiches are touch-​n-​go. I have had a few of their breakfast sandwiches and the eggs always seem baked and fake. I just saw a bavarian pretzel bun sandwich on the menu this morning though, so next time I go, maybe I’ll try that.

Constantly understaffed. Sometimes you can wait in line for up to 30 minutes. Not because there are so many people, mind you, but there are just not enough people working. We haven’t been in for a while and we’re immediately reminded why: 5 minutes to take our order because the order taker was hauling out fresh bagels, they were still out of most types of bagel, and more than 10 minutes where no one was on the register. This was with 4 people waiting to pay. Management here really needs to stop being cheap: they’re losing sales by trying to save on labor costs.

I usually think of Einstein Bros as a good, clean, healthy alternative to fast food. This location however is lacking in every single way. The whole restaurant was filthy, especially behind the counter at the food prep area. The staff was completely inattentive, not greeting us or acknowledging our presence at the counter. Overall we were really surprised how blighted and gross this store was, especially in such a nice neighborhood. Needless to say we won’t be back!

Great blueberry bagels! The system is very odd. You order in one place, then move down to a second register where you have to repeat your order and pay? I just don’t get it. Why do I have to place my order twice? It also took forever to get my order. Some of the staff is nice others seem completely clueless. Very high priced. Great bagels and cream cheese though! Love the atmosphere as well. Just wish it was more efficient.

My good friend and Unilocaler-​extraordinaire John H. once told me he never gives 1 star unless the people are purposely giving him bad service. So… they get 2 stars instead of one. They weren’t mean, just indifferent.
Drove by here at lunch and thought, «Wow — I love good bagels and want something quick» so I parked and went in. Lots of people standing around obviously waiting for to-​go orders… uh oh…
2 employees in the store and it was lunch time (maybe they only staff heavy for breakfast? No matter — keep up this level of service and you won’t have to worry about a lunch crowd for much longer!). One lady was unenthusiastically taking orders and the other was down at the end of the counter taking money. That is all she did and for the most part just stood there. After the 6 people in front of me placed their orders, the employee spun around (without saying «I’ll be with you in a minute) and started assembling bagels. At this point I knew it was going to be a long wait just to place an order let alone receiving it so I promptly left. Quality of the bagels? I’ll never know.

I’ve read a lot of the reviews about this place, but I have to defend the crew. Rhonda greets me with courteous and exceptional customer service each time I go there. I am always pleased with their service.

Long wait. Poor service. I love Einsteins as a brand but this location typically gives bad service.

Location: 3.8÷5
Bacon and Cheddar Egg Bagel Sandwich: 2.8÷5 (hot and bland, tasted microwaved if that’s a thing)
Layout Inside: ⁴⁄₅ (lots of variety of seating
Menu: 3.5÷5 (menu choices are ok for a bagel place, new options popping up)
Drinks: Drink area is ok and well-​maintained
Customer Service: ³⁄₅ (they do their jobs)

They should only get one star, but I’ll give them two for friendliness.
–first of all there were only two people working and 14 customers waiting to order or waiting for their food. Absolutely unbelievable. The woman that took our order, Erin, was completely clueless. She seemed like she had never seen a computer before, much less the one that she was working at. I could have jumped the counter and rang our order more quickly.
–the general manager was nice and friendly — but after taking five minutes to place our order we finally paid at 10:58am. It is now 11:15am and we STILL do not have our food. What the heck is going on in this place?!
–corporate needs to step in and replace management immediately

Good stuff, poor management., I witnessed the manager lose her cool a few times while waiting 5 minutes for my café mocha… she was visibly rude to her employees.

Very strange visit. Not sure if all employees are new at this location, but I consistently got confused looks when ordering and picking up our food. It took almost 25 minutes to order, pay and receive our lunch. With a menu as simple as this, you would think things would go more smoothly… nope. I’ll find someplace else to take the kids for lunch next time.

I’m running a marathon in three days, so I’ve been carbo-​loading all week to prepare. Okay — who am I kidding? I carbo-​load EVERYDAY. But this week, I just so happen to have a valid excuse to do so. So there.
Anyway, I pass by Einstein Bagels everyday on my way to work, and since I had a little extra time, I decided to swing by before work.
The place is deceptively huge! I wasn’t expecting to see all of the wide open space and tables! Wow. I wonder if they have free wifi? I did see a few people on laptops, which made me jealous of the ‘work from home’ crowd. Bitches.
Back on topic. Einstein’s has a HUGE variety of bagels; so huge that I started to feel overwhelmed. Everything sounded so GOOD! I finally settled with a pretzel bagel. But what to top it with? Einstein has about a dozen different types of spreads. Again — I was overwhelmed.
«What do most people top their pretzel bagels with?» I asked the friendly cashier.
She told me that most people either get honey almond cream cheese or have it simply toasted with butter.
I decided to keep it simple and go with toasted with butter. Good choice, Steph! The bagel was soft, chewy, and so delicious.
Looks like I’ll be carbo-loading…errr…visiting Einstein’s a lot more in the future. I’m a fan.

You know how they say, «never go to bed angry»? Well, I think you should never Unilocal while angry, but I’m making an exception in my busy day to rant.
Walked in here, the first bagel I ordered was a Dutch Apple, not toasted. Second bagel was a cheese bagel with jalapeño cream cheese. I ordered it not toasted because I wanted to bring it home, and I figured that I would get a little tub to spread it on like at most bagel places. There were also two other bagels with the respective cream cheeses.
First they gave them all to me on platters when I asked for them to-​go. They then packed them up, and I asked if they had cream cheese on them. They said they did and I was stumped — because I thought I was getting a separate little tub (isn’t that what you get at most places?!) I started getting angry and asked about the little tub and they looked at me like I was fucking crazy and I was like «umm so I have untoasted bagels with cream cheese?» They didn’t make any kind of effort to appease me, just stated that was how they came. Not to mention they were little teenage brats and just stared at me like I was some kind of nutcase.
I stormed out, brought them home to find out that all the bagels had cream cheese, including the dutch apple with the jalapeño. WTF?!
Next time, I’m bringing my business to good old reliable Bread Co. Not only do they l.i.s.t.e.n to what you’re ordering, but you can get your untoasted bagel and your cream cheese without it being put on for you, and then not get stared at like you’re a fucking moron.
Kthx. Oh and 4 bagels were like $ 15…wtf?

Einstein Bros. could give Panera/​Bread Co. a run for their money if they got their act together. Let’s start with the ordering system. Einstein makes you order at one register and then pay at another. So I order, then walk down to the other register and stand there waiting for someone to finish making an order so I can pay for mine. Meanwhile the person who took my order is still over at the other register just standing there when she could be processing my payment and giving me my drink cup. The whole thing is annoying and inefficient.
Onto the staff: they are sweet women, but they act like they’re working at a school bake sale. Step it up, ladies. On my most recent visit they screwed up the order of a group of 6 people who had called in ahead of time, and one guy never got his food. His coworkers were finishing their meals and he still hadn’t gotten his food yet. I felt bad for him especially after overhearing that it was his birthday. He got his money back and went to eat at McDonald’s.
Other downers: Plenty of table space and chairs buy very few outlets and no wi-​fi. Overpriced.

I could easily blame my having to move the buttons on my high school uniform skirt on the number of Einstein’s Bagels I consumed during my four years at Nerinx Hall. The real kicker is the same people work here that worked there 8 years ago when I graduated. I guess that says something about the company… must not be too horrible to work for, and they certainly know the menu… even if they don’t remember me from my braces and pre-​hair product days.
Every morning (and still to this day) this place is packed with Nerinx girls and Webster University (and some high school) kids. In fact, this place is usually pretty full… even at 10 am on a Wednesday at times. I have never understood how or why that is.
I enjoy Einstein’s. They make a decent bagel and had I never moved to the East Coast and made friends with a bunch of New Yorkers, I would probably be saying it’s the best bagel I’ve had. For St. Louis, though, it’s pretty darn delicious. They have a wide selection of spreads, they never over cheese your bagel like so many places do, and they actually toast the bagel… not just slightly brown it. Even their light cream cheese isn’t bad… that is always something I appreciate.
The bagel sandwiches are pretty good too, but it’s been years since I partook in them, so my memory may be painting a rosier picture than I should. Also, the coffee is far far better than anything one could experience from Starbuck’s in my humble opinion. I do wish they had iced coffee though… probably my biggest complaint.