3107 N Broadway
Chicago, IL 60686
Quick Review- The Bagel is a pretty decent chain but this location isn't worth visiting- and it's not because of the food.
Long Review- I decided to go the Lakeview location of The Bagel, after all The Bagel is a decent local chain to get some deli style fare. We walked in and sat down in a booth. The waiter came promptly to our table with some bread after we mulled over the menu and decided what to get. The bread was good, not great and there was a variety of different breads to choose from.
I finally decided to get the Lox on a bagel. Lox is one of my favorite types of sandwiches to get in a deli. I ordered the Nova Lox and our server looked at me for a second and said "Are you sure? The Nova is very salty..." I looked at the menu again and noticed the Atlantic Lox was twice the price. I stuck by my decision, regrettably. I ordered Dr. Brown's soda to go with it, I can't pass up the chance to get it when I see it. It's a hard soda to find in the Midwest.
The food arrived and I took a bite of my Lox, it was nothing I couldn't handle right? The waiter warned me it would be salty and he was not kidding or trying to upsell me. It was the same taste as dumping a tablespoon of salt in your mouth.
I immediately took a drink of my Dr. Brown's. Why would they have something this salty on the menu? I was going to have to finish the sandwich because I paid for it and I was hungry. Things went downhill from there. A few minutes later the manager goes up to our server as he is behind the diner counter and reprimands him for something. It was bad enough that she was loudly barking out orders to the servers behind the counter and that I was eating the saltiest thing in my life but now she was getting angry with him- in front of customers.
She went on for a couple of minutes with him and people started to turn in their seats to see what was going on. She followed him into the kitchen like a nagging mother.
"Good, take it behind closed doors and try to keep it professional." I thought as I tried to eat as much of my salty lox as I could. It isn't professional to get after workers in front of customers.
She re-appeared still on his back and visibly upset. A couple more minutes of getting after him for something went on. I thought she was going to fire him on the spot and we'd be left without a server. A couple that had just sat down got up and left. They probably know all about this manager and her temper tantrums.
Finally after many, long tense moments she finished reprimanding him and sat a table at the back of restaurant and sulked and stewed in her anger. I don't know what was worse the salty lox sandwich I was eating or having the restaurants dirty laundry aired out in-front of me.
Our waiter came back to our table when we were done eating. He surprisingly didn't seem to phased by her and appeared to shrug the occurrence off.
Is this something that happens often?
I ordered plain Cheesecake to get the salt taste out of my mouth. While waiting for my dessert to arrive the owner showed up and sat with the manager in the back of the restaurant. The cheesecake was good, it had a lemony taste to it. It wasn't that bad but it wasn't that great either.
I went to go to the bathroom in the back of the restaurant. I passed the owner and the manager, the owner gave me a death glare as if I was interrupting their private conference, even though they were standing right near the bathroom doors.
I paid the check after that and we got the heck out of there. I won't be coming back to this location until they get new management. I don't appreciate unprofessional temper tantrums from the manager or death glares from the owner.
If you do go to any of The Bagel restaurants don't get the Nova Lox, go with the Atlantic.
1.5 out of 5 stars
No comments:
Post a Comment