I was still a little hungry after eating breakfast at home so I decided to get an "Early Riser" breakfast bagel since Benny's Bagels is in the food court of my office building. This was my first time to get anything there.
The older man working was wearing his mask around his chin, but I decided to take a chance on his sub-par mask hygiene since the "Early Riser" was only $3.69. Here's what happened...
He was wearing gloves when I came in. He was sitting on a chair not doing any food-prep work, so who knows how long he had actually been wearing them. He proceeded to crack two eggs with those gloves and then use his gloved hands to make the bagel. This included scooping cheese and bell peppers, cutting tomatoes, and toasting the bagel. I'm not trained in food handling, but I think you should probably put on a new pair of gloves before making food, and you should definitely switch gloves between cracking eggs and touching food that won't be cooked.
He kept calling it a "Late Riser" since it was after 11 AM when I ordered it. I told him that I'd been up for a while and that this was my second breakfast. He either didn't hear or didn't care because he kept saying "Late Riser" and laughing.
I asked for no onions and he kept telling me that they're the best part. I told him I didn't care for uncooked onions but he still wouldn't let it go. Dude! I don't want onions! I know this is a petty complaint on my part, but it paints a picture of his attitude.
Another customer came in an asked if he had gyros ready. He said it'd be 20 hours -- as a joke, I'm assuming -- but that guy left without ordering anything. The man working didn't seem to care.
He cooked the eggs in a plastic container in the microwave. In general I'm not a fan of cooking things in plastic -- especially a flimsy to-go container that probably isn't made to be microwave safe -- but I know that one time won't kill me. After the microwave had been running for 2-3 minutes and still had around 2 1/2 minutes to go I asked if they were ready. He snapped at me that "The eggs are cooking!" Okay. Yes, they're cooking. And that thin plastic is probably cooking into them.
He hadn't put ham on the "Early Riser" when he started wrapping it up, so I asked about. He said that ham is extra. And not in a "Oh, I'm sorry, but ham is actually extra" kind of way; he said it in more of a "HAM IS EXTRA, MORON!" tone. When I pointed out that the menu right above his head lists ham as an ingredient he started telling me about costs, inflation, and the menu being 25 years old. I told him that I didn't want to pay for ham, so he finished bagging the sandwich.
When he rang it up at the register the total was $5.00. I pointed out that the menu said it was $3.69, so I was expecting it to cost around $4.00 after tax. He said that $5.00 isn't much more but I pointed out that it was 25% higher than it should've been based on the price he advertises. He then returned to his lecture about about inflation and started it with, "Young man, you try to buy ingredients!" I pointed out that I understand inflation but I don't understand why he wouldn't change the menu to reflect that ham is extra and the price is about $1.00 higher now. He said again that the menu is 25 years old. I asked if everything was written in chalk that could be erased and changed, to which he replied "Yes, but I don't want to mess with it!"
I paid for the sandwich while he was finishing his inflation rant and calling me "young man" another time or two, but I pointed out that I wouldn't be back. He kept mumbling as I was walking out which was the last straw. Honestly if he had just apologized for the menu being wrong I wouldn't be here writing this negative review. Even a simple "Sorry the menu is wrong, but that's the way it is now." would've been enough. But trying to make me feel like I'm the one that doesn't understand rising business costs? I'm a business owner myself, but I keep my price list updated and try to avoid negative surprises for my clients.
Oh...the "Early Riser" was bland but not the worst thing I've ever eaten. It tasted like a store-bought bagel with a microwaved omelet inside.
2 out of 5 stars for the food, but the customer service, hygiene, and misleading menu lead to this "young man" giving this establishment 1 star. read more
