breakfast at Beans and Bagels on Johnston St
I often chose not to publish a review if my experience is poor but occasionally I find it worthwhile to do so to see what other people think. On a recent Sunday I had breakfast at Beans and Bagels with a friend. It was only my second visit there in several years, as my first experience had been underwhelming due to the terrible coffee I was served. I wanted to try them again mainly because I love bagels. Unfortunately the coffee was again mediocre. I don’t think it’s their blends as much as it is their equipment or staff. It wasn’t hot enough and was watery and not very tasty.
The food was average too. While I was satisfied with my salmon benedict (below) my friend was definitely not happy with her Shirley Temple (bagel with scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, above). It was supposed to come with soft mild chives but instead came with large chunks of spring onion that overpowered the salmon, the coffee and everything else.
If you want to sell coffee, your in-house experience must be good, as it is at Jasper’s and Atomica. If I have a poor coffee experience, like I had at Beans and Bagels, I’m not going to want to buy their coffee to take home.
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November 23rd, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Agreed – I have never been impressed with their bagels or their coffee. Such a shame!
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November 23rd, 2009 at 6:54 pm
I’m going to put in a good word for Beans and Bagels – I go there for breakfast nearly every morning and here is why: for a place that is often very busy, I find the service almost always good and fast. I generally have their “coffee of the week” so that I try the different blends and I find them usually good, as are the bagels (granted I haven’t tried the Shirley Temple because I’m vegetarian).
Of course, even the best places can produce indifferent food or coffee at times. I encourage you to give them another go – their prices are very reasonable and the experience is usually much better that ones you’ve had.
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November 23rd, 2009 at 7:36 pm
Thanks Nicole – my food was fine, but my friend’s was not and we agreed the coffee was not so good. It’s hard to make myself go back to somewhere that has disappointed me, but I may start by buying some of their coffee for home so I can measure it against what I usually buy from Jasper’s, and get some bagels to take away too!
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November 24th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
When I was there, the Hollandaise tasted like it came from a jar. Yours looks the same.
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November 25th, 2009 at 7:49 am
The worst thing about this place is not the bagels but the service – on a recent saturday with three seated patrons and three take-away customers it took 34 mins to make a toasted sesame with cream cheese. It is less stressful to drive to Glicks!
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November 25th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
It was not great hollandaise, but the salmon was fresh at least! I think I’ll stick to takeaway bagels in future.
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November 26th, 2009 at 11:08 am
The bagels themselves are fantastic (oddly, especially the multigrain ones) and the usual guy at the counter is super friendly. I agree that on the few times I’ve eaten in, service has been patchy in terms of speed, and the coffee is disappointing. The best bet is to get takeaway coffee elsewhere and buy the bagels to take home and fill yourself. Worth the added time!
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November 26th, 2009 at 11:40 am
Two of my colleagues love this place. I do not. I used to. I think the service is fine, if not a little glib, and they seem to have a high turn-over of staff. I do feel as if the bagels have changed, perhaps the flour brand or something has been changed, or perhaps they now use day-old bagels. When I moved to Melbourne seven years ago, the quality of the bagels themselves was quite nice. I keep returning hoping that I visited on an off day, but I constantly receive tough, stale-tasting bagels. I do wonder how one could not get right a bagel with nought but cream cheese.
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