Chesapeake Bagel Bakery

I found hair in my food and the workers were checking each others hair to see who’s it was and then my other bagel got messed up and when I let the staff know they remade and messed it up again.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 2

Service: 2

Slow service waiting over 20 minutes for a couple of bagels. Bagels were ordered to be untoasted with cream cheese. When I checked my order, all bagels were toasted, and when I brought to the managers attention, he shrugged his shoulders and said "well the bagels are just hot." The cream cheese was literally melting off the bagel. Also saw them using the microwave for eggs on breakfast sandwiches. Will not be back.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

Their frosted blueberry bagel knots are unmatched (definitely a treat). Their bagels have a good chew and soft interior. We get the sausage egg and cheese bagel egg sandwich often. They have pink heart bagels for valentines day and we take the kids here every year for them.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

Normally a great place to get bagels, visited on 2 Feb 25, hardly any bagels, cappuccino machine broken, cooler broken, and tea dispenser broken. Staff couldn’t say when bagels would be ready.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

They have a great chocolate chip bagel and people behind the counter are nice.

Easily the best bagels in Northern Virginia. I love how you can usually get warm, fresh-out-of-the-oven bagels. I have been going here for over 20 years and the food and service has consistently been excellent. They have a great variety of flavors for both bagels and cream cheese. I highly recommend it!

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 5

Service: 5

These are hands down the best bagels in the area. Unfortunately, no matter what time you arrive, they are running out of bagels. 8 am, 9:30 am, 11:30 am, or 2 pm, they are always out. They are so afraid of having extra bagels at the end of the day, they purposely keep the stocks too low. The end result is they NEVER have what you want. Also, despite having a full crew, the line moves too slow. I'm not sure anyone there knows what they are doing. Maybe a separate line for buying something as opposed to prepared meals and complicated drinks. Please do better, you bagels are great. Signed, your neighbor.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 3

It took forever to get my food after I ordered only to find out it was sitting behind the counter completed getting cold never being called… after I brought my coffee and sandwich back to my seat I quickly realized my hot and iced lattes were just milk and syrup and no coffee was in them at all. After going back to the counter to replace one of my “coffees” with a pour over I noticed the espresso machine was broken and out of order…. Why was I allowed to order a latte if there was no espresso… not to mention the attitude the staff gave me while trying to get a real coffee… terrible service and even worse coffee. 1/5

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 1

Service: 1

Took a half hour for me to get a sandwich on a Monday morning and the quality was worse than what I would have gotten at the McDonald’s 200 feet away. Save your time.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

It’s great to SUPPORT SMALL BUSINESSES and to enjoy the feeling of a local coffee shop. Sebastian at the register was kind and friendly. Great service and food. The floors and furniture needs a bit of a deep cleaning.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 5

Service: 5

This place is a contradiction. The food is still good, but the restaurant is a dumpster fire. It is dirty and it is broken down.

1.- all the tables are broken and wobbly. I found one (1) on which I could set my coffee cup and not risk it being spilled by wobbly tops and uneven legs.
2.- the walls are desgustingly dirty. They have not seen a drop of paint in 20 years, maybe more. Every mark that was put on the walls during this time, is still there.
3.- the paintings were attached to the walls with glue (ok, i don't care how they attach them) and the glue was allowed to run down the wall and leave 3 foot long stains that have been there at least 10 years. Nobody cleaned them off and nobody painted over the stains.
4.- the trash container cover has been broken for the past decade. The trash bin fills and overflows because nobody empties it, so everytime you want to get a napkin from the napkin dispenser, you have to step over garbage that is lying on the floor.
5.- the ceramic tiles are broken in several places. the owners removed the tile chips and left the gaping holes behind.
6.- the urinal in the men's room has been covered with a garbage bag for the last 5 years.
7.- the toilet in the men's room is made up of non-matching parts and flushes unreliably.
8.- the men's room is smelly and the floors are dirty. They never clean it, except maybe at night, so all day you have to dodge urine stains on the floor and a filthy sink.
9.- there are fruit flies in the store, especially near the coffee machines; and this is winter (November 25, 2024), when there are no insects flying around anywhere.
10.- equipment is broken everywhere. It has been 2 years now since I could not get an espresso because the machine has been busted and they did not bother to repair it.
11.- the conveyor toasters are broken. you can never get anything toasted. the bagels that are run through the toasters get slighly warm, but there is no toasting action at all.

Now, most of the staff is young and hard working. They are very pleasant to deal with and they genuinely work hard. You should tip them when you have the chance. They surely earn it.

However, the owners are just some sad sourpusses. The Mrs. is perpetually unhappy and I have never seen her smile at a customer, or say a good word to anyone.

Her husband though is completely lacking customer service skills. At one of my previous visits, he gave me the wrong order. I brought it back to him and he glowered murderously at me, as if it was my fault that he screwed up the order, then the angrily threw the sandwich in the trash can and set off to make the correct order. He was so angry doing it, that the sandwich was a sorry looking result.

The hired restaurant staff can run circles around him with regard to careful crafting and presentation of the food.

Conclusion:
1.- the food is still OK to have
2.- the place is broken down and filthy
3.- the owners are dreadful with customers and probably with their staff, too.
4.- the George Mason students (I assume they are students) working there are the brightest spot on this canvas.
5.- if I see the owners in the store, I will go eat elsewhere, and you should, too.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 4

Service: 3

Chesapeake Bagel is a gem. The managers, Sebastian and Daniel are kind with excellent customer service. I appreciate the hard work of the staff and the delicious bagels. No seed oils, high quality ingredients, and amazing pumpkin rolls. Local neighborhood gem with the only authentic New York style bagels around. God bless and Trump 4ever 💋

Food: 5

Service: 5

I order my bagel, medium, toasted medium, and I get it and it’s white and it’s doughy how hard is it and that guy Sebastian at the register he just shrugged his shoulders like he didn’t give a shit. Does this look like it’s medium toasted to you? I’d say two out of three times they don’t get it right how hard is it?

Food: 1

The bagels are quite good, but this is perhaps the most inefficient bagel operation I’ve ever witnessed. The staff are very friendly, but I suspect they are not sufficiently supported by management. Selling bagels is turning flour into money, limited only by by the number of customers you can serve in one morning.

Maybe visit a bagel shop in NYC if you want to see how to speed things up.

You can send my consultant check in the mail.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 4

Recommended dishes: Bacon Egg Cheese Bagel Sandwich

I normally wouldn’t contradict others’ experiences, but I feel the need to defend my favorite local spot. I was in this morning for some bagels for Christmas morning, and it was absolutely packed in there. Despite that, the crew is as cheery as usual and working hard to boot. I see some others reviewing poorly due to the wait time, but, honestly, what do you expect? It’s a local small mom and pop bakery with an overload of customers to serve. They always do a great job, and if they don’t get it right the first time, they make every effort to make it right the second.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Bacon Egg Cheese Bagel Sandwich, Bagels