Bagel Bazaar Viii

Last week we bought four bagels from them. The clerk picks them out for you, so you don’t know what you’ve got until you open the bag, which we did when we got home. All four bagels were stale, but the two pumpernickel bagels were beyond stale. They were rock hard and nothing would soften them enough to eat. I sent a pretty nice email to the Bagel Bazaar about it and received back nothing, no apology, no acknowledgement. We live within ½ mile, but won’t be going back.

I have never had a bad meal from here! The bagels are always fresh and comparable in flavor and price to the area. Definitely not the BEST bagel I’ve had but they’re not bad. I’ve had other food here as well and most of it is pretty good and reasonably priced. Yes I get that everyone behind the counter speaks Spanish but I feel like this frustrates people to begin with. If you just give them the order slowly and clearly your order will be correct. I speak some Spanish and literally watch them write down the order so this usually yields an accurate order. I get that not everyone can deal with that but yelling at them or speedily rattling off your order are not things that will help!
The thing that bothers me the most about this place are the gangs of elderly people who get there at the crack of dawn, push all the tables together and sit there all effing day! I mean it’s nice that people sit there together and gossip but this is beyond obnoxious! Besides using every table in the place they stare down anyone that walks in which I find extremely discomforting. It’s just madness that this goes on, can’t they meet at their local clubhouse or something?!
All in all, the food is good, the service is decent and the customers are rude.

I’ve come to the Bagel Bazaar on Applegarth Road many times now since moving to Monroe Township, and this morning’s breakfast run was the straw that finally broke the camel’s back.
The one star on this review is solely because the food is okay — full disclosure though, it’s been many months since I tried one of their bagels because the last time I did, it fell far far far below other bagels I have had in NJ (Terrace Bagels in Freehold) and NYC (literally any bagel place in the city, compared to Bagel Bazaar). I usually just go for a breakfast sandwich on a kaiser roll.
However, this morning was just a terrible mix of horrendous service and very sub-​par food. First, they «lost» my order for over 15 minutes. «Lost» because I can’t figure out if they forgot about my order or if the guy at the register didn’t realize it was sitting right next to him for 15 minutes. I tried to get anyone’s attention to ask, but I was very nicely ignored by them all. Eventually someone behind the register realized I had been standing there while at least 10 other customers paid for and received their orders.
Luckily, this time my order was actually right (I’ve had them mess up my order before, like adding cheese when I clearly asked for no cheese, adding random condiments that were not asked for, etc.) But they seemed to have run out of tin foil behind the counter, because both breakfast sandwiches that I brought home were only partially wrapped, to the point that when I went to pull out the first sandwich, it fell out of the wrapping and fell apart in the bag. But after reassembling the pork roll and egg, I did enjoy my breakfast (again, this is why the one star).
This will officially be my last trip to the Applegarth Bagel Bazaar. I’d rather drive 30 minutes into Freehold or Princeton to get a nice weekend breakfast or just learn how to make everything myself, because that would be infinitely better than coming back here.

The quality of the food is very good. The employees are long standing and very efficient and good at their job. The owner is obnoxious so if you can avoid him, you will be happy to eat and order from this establishment.

I went in for breakfast this morning amid my errands. I was gonna get a bagel I should’ve but alas I didnt. I ordered egss, bacon, homefries n toast. Eggs over easy were hard and hardly any yolk to dip toast in, they were brown n greasy. I ordered a platter which I thought homefries came with it but they didn’t. They weren’t my small potatoes of yummy they were more like chips. So now I know stick with Bagels or go to my fave place.

Growing up in Central Jersey I have pretty high standards when it comes to bagels.
About 18 years ago it seems to me that the idea of the small? dense bagel started to fade – replaced by these increasingly massive airy concoctions.
As long as you’ve adjusted to these types of bagels, which are generally the main bagels we see in stores these days, this place is perfectly fine. It measures up well to bagels i Hightstown and Cranberry.
I definitely hear what the other reviewer is saying about the credit card charge; hopefully they move over to Square sometime soon – but you have to cut small businesses some slack.
They also serve egg white sandwiches which is a plus.

They serve great bagels that’s closest to what best NYC bagels has to offer. That’s all you need to know.
So why 2 stars? Because they require $ 10 minimum for payments via credit card or you pay 25c more. I found this out today when I bought less than $ 6 worth of bagels… as I was paying the cashier pointed to this little sign when I handed over my debit card. I fumbled in embarrassment as I grasp for singles and coins in my pockets and then she said «…or you can just pay 25 cents more.» I sighed in disgust and said to go ahead and charge more because I didn’t want to hold up the line.
Look, we’re at the age there are more transactions made using digital payments and stores who abide by this silly policies that inconvenience the customers even in the smallest degree is just, well, annoying. If BB changes their policy on this… I’ll revise this and give them 5 stars, but until then…2 stars.

Damm good bagels but I think Eli’s in Matawan are about as good.
The also have deli stuff and a lot of different coffees that are not as good as Starbucks, but certainly are the equal of Wawa!
I don’t like their scallion cream cheese as much as some places but thats a very small nit to pick.
Go, it’s good!

Excellent bagels. Needs work on service and hygiene. Although I have to admit there are less mistakes on orders lately. I think these are the best bagels near me. Well I mean I KNOW they are the best close to me. They’ve got a deli kind of grill here, and cold cuts, and some prepared salads, lots of coffees and drinks, muffins… One annoying thing, and it’s not unique to this bagel place alas, is they run out of the best bagels too early. WHY bagel stores don’t get the hint and make more egg-​everything bagels as compared to sesame seed is beyond my comprehension. They have a lotto machine too, for those who need a morning ritual including that.
Editing my review to complain. This bagel store has now taken to only putting the bagel seasoning on one side. They used to coat the bagels nicely, and now half the bagel is utterly boring. I think I’m going to go on a bagel store rating spree. I will return with the rating criteria.