Went into this Western Bagel for the first time because I needed to be in the area, and found it to…read morebe an exact replica of all their locations, but for being a tad smaller than usual. Not a problem, they had everything available, including their full selection of bagels and pastries (though no fountain drinks, unless the machine was hiding somewhere I didn't see). Also, like many of the other locations, they employ a staff of people who are both uniformly friendly, and also uniformly confused. Let me explain.
As I have experienced many times before at a number of their locations, staff members appear to listen quite intently to your order and then promptly get it wrong. The shop in Studio City is the only one I've been to where they have order pads and write down what you want. As for the rest of the locations (especially in Woodland Hills), I can't tell you the amount of food I have seen brought back and thrown out to be remade over the years.
The same happened today with my very simple order: Egg A La Bagel. I asked for it to be made with Ham and American Cheese, and for them to put a little butter on the toasted Everything Bagel (otherwise it can be too dry). The server acknowledged my order, then made me a sandwich with cheddar cheese and no butter.
He was apologetic, threw out the sandwich and made me another, this time getting the cheese correct, but still not adding any butter, rendering the sandwich, indeed, dry as a bone (because the eggs and ham are microwaved, and no fat is used in the cooking). I didn't want to bother him again, so I ate the sandwich as it was, and it was disappointing... the dry bagel was also a bit bland, with the texture being a bit gluey, which isn't usual for WB, but that's how it was today.
To be fair, and to be real, this is just a bagel sandwich, not the end of the world -- but having grown up in a retail family, it has always irked me that the owners of Western Bagel are losing money because so much food is thrown away, and losing customers because they get frustrated. On the other hand, to an extent it's also on the owners themselves for not providing better training and oversight. I actually sent a comment to their website once about the same thing, but never received a reply.
Western Bagel was the only game in town for so long that I think they assume they'll go on no matter what. But with some really good bagel makers now setting up shop across the region, they do need to up their game in terms of product and service if they're not going to fade out of the retail store business. To be honest, with so many other options now available, I rarely go into a Western Bagel shop anymore, and this is the perfect example of why my loyalty has waned over the years. Like I said: not the end of the world, there are many bigger problems we all face... but I would like to see a bit of a Western revival for old times sake.