Ok so I have lived in OC for 5 years now, and have lived in NYC, Chicago, Wash DC, and Boston, and have spent time it about every major city in this country as well as several more abroad, and have even worked for a restaurant guidebook. So this review comes with quite a bit of experience of what is a good place to eat. So with that, here are my observations as to what can improve your experience here.
First off, the service here is polite and friendly, and the people in the back doing the cooking seem to do their job quickly, professionally and competently. However, fast, quick, on-the-ball, attentive customer service, is not in the vocabulary. Half of the staff are young teenage girls, who really don't seem to actually know what their job responsibilities are and are even less interested in learning what they are, this maybe due to the other half of the staff, the centennial ladies who seem if possible to be even less on the ball...
Now I have been in this place at the height of summer and in the dead of winter, packed line out the door, and totally empty and it DOES NOT MATTER!!! The pace and/or urgency the staff apply to customer service is more annoying than a Bahamas bartenders' 'yeah mon' I'll eventually never get to your order approach to service. Just look up Tim Conway as a shop clerk, circa "The Carol Burnett Show" of the '70s on YouTube and you might start to get the idea. Now these teens/ladies are all sweet, and are quick to share a story about the history of OC or from their personal life, but getting your order in, or worse yet, getting it from where the cooks deliver them for pick up, putting it in a bag, and giving it to you so you can pay, well... is just painless, don't bother pointing it out, telling them you are already late for work, they will only move slower because you distracted them.
Paying, ugh... BRING C-A-S-H !!! EXACT CHANGE, EVEN BETTER !!!
They have the oldest, slowest, CC machine in the world, each swipe makes a 20 second tel call, no self swipe, and no one who actually knows how to use it, so if they make an error and they will, the entire staff will gather round to discuss how this is so much worse than last hour, and after fixing it, they then will all engage in trying to swap out the receipt paper (which runs out everytime I'm in there?) before ringing up my order, even though I said I did not need a receipt... I have no explanation, really I don't... Now the local retirees of Ocean Pines love this place and pack it from opening to about 10:30 AM Yyear round, I guess it moves at their pace...
The few pearls of wisdom, conveyed to me the last time i was there by their sweetest/oldest/slowest employee, who BTW always works the register during their busiest times, 1. ORDER BY PHONE, 2. BRING CASH, 3. CUT THE LINE OUT THE DOOR AND GO DIRECTLY TO THE PICK UP COUNTER. 4. FIRMLY ANNOUNCE YOU ORDERED BY PHONE, & ARE HERE FOR A PICKUP & YOU HAVE CASH. 5. SHE WILL STOP WHATEVER SHE IS DOING IGNORING EVERYONE IN LINE & WHILE ORDERING SOMEONE TO GET YOUR ORDER SHE WILL RING YOU UP BEFORE THEY GET BACK WITH THE FOOD.
You can be in and out in under 30 SECONDS I kid you not, otherwise, it is a very painful 20 minutes (empty) to an hour (crowded) I SH*T YOU NOT!!!
OK with the most important tips about this place covered...
The food: The have several coolers right inside the door, stocked with a standard selection of sodas, teas, and juices, and behind the coolers and the counter (even though it is self serve) is a soda fountain. The also at the other end of counter have coffees, which seem just to be basic and fair. Next they have a very good selection of fresh deli meats (Boars Head, even if it takes them 20 minutes to cut 1/4 lb of baloney), fresh cookies, pastries, muffins, and bagels (10-12 different choices daily) these are not NY bagels but the are better than anything else I have found so far in the area, they also offer a selection of seasonal cream cheeses. The menu up on the wall has a fair selection of breakfast/lunch sandwiches and so far the quality and presentation has been fine, everything is freshly made, no microwave quickies here, and I have never had what i would call a bad or unenjoyable sandwich, the ingredients look fresh and all pass the smell test, but it is just eggs, cheese, bacon, and deli meats, not much to screw up, but they do do a good job with their food preparation overall.
Just get there early, they bake just enough items to meet the morning rush, get here after 11AM and pickings are pretty thin, noon and there is just one cinnamon raisin bagel left, and if no one comes in for 30 minutes they will close up for the day, It use to be they were open until 2PM, but most days I think it is closer to 12:30 - 1:00PM.
The prices are pretty high, bagel sandwich and a drink nearly $10 bucks, baker's dozen of bagels $22... read more