Einstein Bros Bagels

Stopped in for lunch. They have a confusing setup for ordering and payment. You order at one register then you have to walk to the other register, confirm your order then pay. Why can’t they just do that at 1 register like everyone else? A woman I was in line with expressed the same confusion and the workers just stand there not guiding anyone.
I ordered a sandwich and a side of potato salad. I waited for my order among the loud rock music they have going. I thought they called my name but wasn’t sure (loud music) so I asked what was in the bag so I don’t take someone else’s food. There were like 3 people behind the counter and they joked that none of them knew what it was. After that awkward moment I was told it’s mine and I took it and left. I was totally put off by the whole atmosphere and attitudes of the workers. Oh yeah, and they didn’t give me my side order. But I didn’t want to go back– maybe EVER.

Pros: Fast service. Express location that will get you in and out quickly. Convenient location downtown.
Cons: Very tight space in the ‘lobby’. The lobby is about 3 – 4 feet wide and a tight squeeze if you have more than a person or two inside. Again, an express location — basically a bagel counter. Being such a small location, I’ve wondered where the bagels are baked. After several visits, I saw them opening sealed cardboard boxes and emptying bagels from them. I’ve always wondered why the bagels never taste ‘fresh out the oven’.

This location has great tasting bagels with very poor service. I have only bought bagels, so my comments are limited to them.
The amount of cream cheese put on the bagels varies from very little to so much that I could coat another bagel with it. I like lots of cream cheese, so to be able to cake enough on that I have to scrape half of it off just to be edible is almost absurd. Yet my most recent bagel had so little that parts of it were bare.
In addition to cream cheese issues, the staff themselves seems to be far more interested in their own social circle. Dealing with customers is a bother for them. They’d rather chat, or sing along with the music that is playing than to be friendly with the customer.

I had a pretty bad experience here today. It was just after 12:00 noon, and I ordered the Chicken Artichoke bagel sandwich and was charged the $ 7.49 for this which is pretty steep. I also said I would take the fruit which comes with it. The person taking my order told me that they are out of the spinach bagel and offered a six cheese bagel instead. I said ok.
After waiting about 5−10min, one of the «cooks» asked the person taking orders what is going on the chicken artichoke sandwich because they are out of chicken. They then turned to me and said «do you want turkey or something else on your sandwich, because we’re out of chicken.» Mind you this is 12:15 in the afternoon in the middle of the most busiest lunch our and you are out of two essential ingredients for one of your lunch menu options? I told him no I don’t want anything else; however, after realizing they already charged my card, I didn’t want to go through any more hassle and said I would take turkey. They apologized several times but mainly just threw the other employee under the bus, saying «she doesn’t know what she is doing» — very unprofessional in the presence of a customer.
Never once did I get offered a discount or a refund and what I received which was a cold non-​toasted bagel with cold turkey, a piece of cheese, and lettuce. There was not even artichoke on it! I was charged $ 7.49 for that.
They also handed me the bag without any fruit in it, and I had to ask for the fruit which came with it.
I will never be coming back here.

This Einstein Brothers Bagel is just alright. It has a great location at the heart of downtown. Ordering is not all that fun, since they only have the counter and the kitchen indoors. The tables being outside puts them at a disadvantage during the often cold and rainy climate this city often experiences.
I went here to release my inner critic. A garlic bagel and cream cheese is $ 2.75. The lunch was ready quickly. It tasted good, not the best, but good. I supplemented the beverage at lower cost using the adjacent 7-​Eleven. Einstein entails a better than the average bagel, and for that I commend them. Downtown has way more options, but this is fine for a run from the office.
Don’t be ashamed if your trails wind you up here.

At work this afternoon, two new co-​workers kept describing the good sorts of selections available at Einstein’s Bagels. I got hungry and decided to find the downtown location at 4^th and Taylor after work. I looked the nearest location up using my iPhone. In the last few minutes before the store closed for the day, I walked in and after some discussion with the clerk, ordered five bagels. The clerk sliced these and tied them up in a plastic freezer bag. By the time I walked to the train, I chanced to examine my bagels. The clerk told me he had given me bagels, but I found four biallies and one oblong roll. None of the items given me qualified as bagels. I suppose the clerk saw my dog guide and decided that giving the wrong items to a totally blind customer would be easy. The five star rating is for the stinker of the year award. If there isn’t one, there needs to be because that is the stinkiest cheat job I have experienced in quite a while. I guess there must be other bagel shops in Portland. I plan to patronize them.

Absolutely awful service this morning. Gave me wrong spread for my bagel and then acted all offended when asked to correct it. Staff was rude and cutting corners (just giving pre-​made to go cups of spread instead of actually putting on the bagel as normal).

I stopped by here when I saw the cookies and pastries through the windows. I have yet to try their bagels, but I’d go back for more sweets!

³⁄₅ times they’ve managed to mess up a simple order. Like the location, but that’s it. Done.

Came here for the first time because I found a coupon online for a free bagel and shmear with just a drink purchase. Got my favorite, cinnamon raisin, with a plain shmear (it complements well with the already flavorful raisins and cinnamon in the bagel) and a small coffee all for $ 1.89 (thank goodness for coupons).
I can’t say that the bagel was the best, but it did the trick at 8 am. The employees were friendly and service for the morning rush was exceptional.
I really dislike how small the joint is. I’m glad the service was speedy because I was almost feeling claustrophobic. I would not wanna be in there if the building were to burn down.
Overall, this establishment is worth visiting for the sake of being well-​fed thanks to their coupons.

We love this place; the salmon bagels are fantastic and the service is really fast.

I stopped by here after leaving for work without eating breakfast. It is a really small place meant just for picking something up. There was nobody in front me so I thought I would get my food pretty quick. Yeah, nope. A line of people after me all made their orders and received their food before me and then I had to wait some more, I just ordered an bagel with egg and bacon. The food was just oaky but paired with the terrible service makes this place a 2 star.

I stand by my original review, but with some updates. Number one… Nobody is forcing you to work here. Please don’t ask me what I want to order by saying «you?!» number two. If you are going to charge 6.99 for a sandwich with a fruit cup, please give me more than 5 pieces of fruit. (not kidding, see photo)
Does this company ever hire anybody who isn’t a jerk?

Have been in this location 2 times and both times the staff seems very uninterested to be there. When asked what they would suggest the one guy helping just shrugged his shoulders. Not great customer service or experience I rather wait in line at Starbucks than come back to this place

We were «blessed» at work to have been bequeathed several giant variety boxes of Einstein carb-​grenades lobbed into our bunker this week. They weren’t lacking in variety, that’s for sure. All manner of crumpets, muffins, and verbotten paischtriezenundstrudelhausen. Unfortunatley, not a one of them wound up being any good…
Thought after my first bite (a gingerbread muffin, as I recall): «Even if these weren’t stale, they aren’t anything special.»
Thought after quickly shunning first item and hopefully trying out something else (some kind of bearclaw-​like pastry/​wpecans): «Also stale. Also so just NOT worth the guilt.»
Then I found out these boxes were actually «fresh», having just been delivered to us.
Ooops.
Not surprisingly, these boxes remained almost full and unenthusiastiastically picked-​at, even by the end of that 12 hour work shift. It’s a scream to me how picky so many people are, even about free food. I’ve never been much of a sweet tooth, but even so— it wasn’t tough — AT ALL– to just say no to this caja de caca.
Yo Einstein, this should be a no-​brainer: stick to what you do and know best– patent clerking and rocking killer moustaches…

So I’ve been to several Einstein Bagles before but this one was different. Now Portland is a weird city… so after my Wipeout like obstacle course of jumping over homeless people in the middle of the street, I worked up a bit up an appetite. I stopped at the 7 Eleven to get a Big Gulp full of Mountain Dew and I needed something spectacular to go with it. I glanced across the street and what did I see… EINSTEIN BAGELS.
You know Einstein got the bagels… there were over 50 different kinds… I saw one that stood out to me… and since I am scared to try the Wendy’s Pretzel Burger… I got me an Einstein Pretzel Bagel with strawberry cream cheese.
CLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW­WWWWWWWWWWWWWWDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD HAVE MERCY! It was delicious… I think it touched all 7589 of my taste buds and did a twerk down my esophagus.
Now I feel strange for typing that…
But they had good service… and I suggested all my friends in Portland to go to this place and get that bagel.
Also…a bagel is a bagel… and Einstein does bagels… and I have an advanced pallet from the South… so that means my opinion is best.

This location in particular… would not recommend. There’s plenty of Einstein Bagles as they all replaced Noah’s but yeah… I miss the Kettlemans that used to be in this location.
1. No indoor seating. The location is small. I get it. However, if I remember correctly, previously there were at least some bar stools? The set up is awful and disorganized. When I asked for a glass of water the gal noted there were some plastic cups and a pitcher in the corner. I searched around the room for a bit and literally had to crawl over multiple kitchen mats that were semi-​rolled up to get to the water. Talk about a hazard.
2. Outdoor seating… for the minimal Portland summer months. There’s 2 tables and 3 chairs total when I was there.
3. They seem to run out of a lot of flavors here both bagels and sandwhich items.
4. Toasted plain bagel with some schmear… although good (I do love me some reduced fat veggie schmear) at about $ 2.60 I’m better off buying bulk.
5. Staff is friendly. No real qualms there.
Just sad this place is not very inviting in comparison to all other locations.

I would like to preface this review exclusively based on the SW 4^th and Taylor location.
I have visited Einsteins on numerous occasions. Have had them cater events for our company, and still have not experienced satisfaction. Do they only hire hipsters with pathetic shitty attitudes?
EVERY time, and I do mean EVERY TIME, I have ordered something from them, I have my order incorrect. I am not the type of person to send something back if most of what I ordered is there, but today was the day the straw broke the camels back.
I went in and ordered a Turkey BAT (bacon avocado tomato), add egg, spinach, swiss, plain cream cheese on a toasted everything bagel. Not difficult, right?
So, I am watching the guy make my sandwich, and realize that there is no cream cheese on it. I asked him about it, and he looks at the order, sighs and then throws out the sandwich to start over again. Finally get my sandwich after the second time making it, and I inspect it and realize there is NO bacon on it. Really? It’s a Turkey BAT!!! Go back inside and tell them no bacon. They put the bacon on, now fixing it a 3^rd time. Get back to my office and bite into a tasty breakfast, and it hits me again… NO avocado. I am furious at this point. How difficult is it to get an order correct???
Go back to the store and tell them there is no avocado. They inform me that they don’t have avocado. To my reply — why wasn’t I told this when I ordered the sandwich? Oh, my bad.
Come on!!! This is absolutely ridiculous! They are going to charge me full price for the sandwich, plus my extras and then fuck it up 4 times!
I am so done with them. I have tried to give them the benefit of the doubt because I do enjoy their sandwiches, but this is the last time they will see me. I will also not be using their catering services anymore.
I miss Kettleman’s so bad! They had super cool people and never screwed up a simple or even difficult order.

I swear you can no longer get a good bagel in Portland anymore.
This horrible chain bought out Noah’s and Kettleman’s and what used to be good, NY style bagels are now sad imitations.
Others have said it and i’ll repeat it, this place is chintzy. There is hardly any cream cheese on the bagels, and what is there is just fluff. There’s no substance, even when you order the boiled bagels.
They are trying to get people in the door with this «free coffee with every purchase» promotion and coupons for $ 2 off a sandwich.
You want to know what to do to get people in the door? Start making a good bagel.
For my money, i’m going to start making my own bagels. At least then i’ll only have myself to blame if they turn out poorly.

This Einstein Bro’s location has already managed to strike out in the short time it’s been open.
On my first visit, they were out of plain cream cheese at 9:30am. Really? You’re a bagel shop. Get it together.
Second visit was for lunch, and they were out of both turkey and chicken. That’s annoying.
My third visit they toasted my bagel after I ordered «not toasted». Frustrating, as I am not a fan of warm cream cheese.
I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt, and was hoping they were just working out the kinks. However, I’m afraid that this morning was my final visit.
I waited awhile when I approached the register before being acknowledged. I ordered slowly, «I’ll have a boiled everything bagel. Not toasted. With plain cream cheese.» The girl gave me my total, and I had to correct her that I ordered the BOILED Everything Bagel, which is ten cents more than their regular «bagels» (you have to pay more if you want it done right). The girl at the register then had to stop the bagel preparer from cutting the wrong one because she rang in the regular everything bagel by mistake.
Some time goes by, I am presented with my order in a bag, and I walk to the office to start my day.
When I opened the bag to find the scarce amount of cream cheese on my bagel I was more than bummed. I can’t believe they have the nerve to charge $ 2.55 for what was given to me. (Photo to be uploaded)
So, that was the final nail in the coffin, Einstein. You won’t be getting any more of my money.
I miss you already Kettleman’s.