Einstein Brothers Bagels

I love this place. Best bagels are chocolate chip, Asiago cheese, and the Dutch apple bagel. Einsteins doesn’t need a lot of words. It’s just a great place for a bagel! And this one is in a great location in downtown Naperville!

I’m giving it two stars because before my latest experience it has been a really enjoyable place to be. Good service, nice workers, and clean. Although, I went in the morning, there has been no line but my bagels took forever. Plus the man who had taken my order and I paid walked outside and decided to smoke. Gross! Probably never going back due to this experience and would not reccomend this bagel restaurant.

My family visits Einstein Bagels fairly often. It’s usually crowded, but that’s to be expected. Take it as an indication that it’s worth visiting.
The prices are fairly reasonable, even more so when you take advantage of their email specials. And the bagels are really good! We’ve tried their breakfast sandwiches and cookies as well. The coffee is good. The hot chocolate isn’t to my taste, but the kids give it a thumbs up.
The staff is also really friendly! They remember us from week to week (ok, we’re a memorable group), and they’re helpful and always willing to accommodate our order preferences.
This is a comfortable place to visit with good bagels. That’s pretty much what I expect at a bagel shop! My only complaint is that the water in the restrooms is always, always freezing, which makes cleaning up sticky little kids a challenge. If that’s the only downside, you can bet this place is pretty good.

Wow. What the hell is going on in this place? Confused ordering process, staff that was out of it and/​or rude, bizarre seating arrangements… this place is a mess!
It’s been a long time since I was last here, mostly because if you get here after like 7 am there were never any plain bagels, and since that was the choice for my usual companions it just led to frustration.
At least this time when I got here a bit after 9 on a week day there were plenty of plain… but not a lot of anything else. I don’t know about you, but this seems early to me to be wiped out of stock, considering the fact that they are open til 5 pm? I have to assume at some point they will restock, but who knows when that is, or what they will be refilling. Sigh.
I tried to navigate my order with the first clerk, who was practically inaudible in the loud place. I asked a question about a couple of the cream cheeses (garlic herb vs. garlic veggie), but it quickly became obvious that this would be a big production so I just ordered the plain. Then you’re shipped down to the other end to pay, which was rushed though there was no one else waiting (and sorry, but it’s cold out and I have my gloves, not to mention a drink plus an extra to-​go bag teetering on this tiny basket, so excuse me). Also, if you have to ask for something else later it’s treated like a major inconvenience.
The seating is really weird, which I think can be attributed to patrons pulling tables around into groups to suit their needs and not putting them back. Assorted groups were gathered for whatever purpose, I don’t know or care, all of them darting suspicious glances at me as I walked over to find a table (wtf? Maybe because I’m not a senior citizen, which seemed the general age of everyone parked in the dining area).
As it was, I ended up sitting at a small table near a crowd suited for God’s waiting room who were bitching about how their church driveway gets blocked when the ambulances go by for the hospital or some damn thing. (Hey, WWJD, douchebags.) Irritating enough dining experience, not to mention the fact that the floor was a mess.
Overall, the only draw here is the bagels and cream cheese. Don’t expect good service or ambiance at all. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that I won’t be back soon.

I love Einstein Bros. in general — but this location annoys me.
First: Their lines get epic. There is usually one person — feels like someone new every time — working the register and it takes eight times as long to order a bagel.
Second: If I’m going to pay upwards of $ 8 for a bagel and lox… maybe don’t skimp on every. freaking. ingredient. If I can see the bagel through the cream cheese, it’s not enough. Nor are three capers. Thanks for the ginormous onion slice but… not fooling anyone on the rest. Did I mention the lox? No? Probably because it was gone in two bites. Maybe take a quick look at the menu boards to see what these are supposed to look like.
Three: They never empty the trash here. You KNOW they get full. I have never — not once — gone to throw something away here when I haven’t had to stuff it in an already full receptacle. And you know what? That’s gross. So sorry, but I’m not doing that anymore.
Only three real complaints, but they’re big. If my kid didn’t love this place for some reason (and I didn’t have a weakness for potato bagels) I’d skip this location.

Took 7 minutes to get the egg and cheese sandwich after waiting 12 minutes in line. Customer service is bad and the staff seems undertrained.

Nice staff decent bagels with tasty cream cheese selections. But the place is dirty unorganized chaotic and lacking management. The girl who was at the computer placing order on the keyboard had gloves on and turned and did the food prep .she was very proud of herself but she fail to realize that she was was cross contaminating everything only keeping her hands clean… 15 minutes for to toasted bagels with cream cheese. But I guess we were lucky because the lady in front of me, her order was never even made… That is usually why we go to the organized Panera

Been here before and their food is mediocre.
Terrible customer service. They close at 4 pm on Saturdays, which is fine. I arrived at 3:40pm and the young lady who worked on one particular Saturday said they were closed and didn’t allow me to enter the store. Didn’t realize the time, until I checked my watch 20 minutes later.
Unbelievable. I will never return to this restaurant. I’ll take my business elsewhere.

I will go back because this is a local business and the food is decent, but please… clean your floors, your windows, your tables! Overall look is dirty, but has so much potential. Took my kids here for lunch and I couldn’t help but notice all the crap on the floors. Had trouble finding a clean table. Even the windows were mucked up. Gross, folks. You’re a restaurant!

I love Einsteins, but this location is one of the worst I have been to, especially on the weekends. I can deal with crowds, but the service is so slow. At this pace must as well go to Egg Harbor Café down the street and get a real breakfast or lunch.

I’m not really a breakfast person myself, but this has to be one of my favorite places for those occasions when I do have breakfast.
Their bagels with strawberry cream cheese are awesome! The location is great and its a nice little place to sit down at for a quick meal.

OK, so I get it, all the Mom’s under 40 love this place and all the Men over 70 love this place, got it. Nothing like the smell of a stinky diaper with your bagel. Any way this place is the best in the summer when you can get it and go outside or walk around town. It is a busy place with a lot of to go business, and the tables seem to be taken up by the same people all the time and when they sit down, count on them being there a while they drain the coffee pots. Got to say too, the wooden floor or something like it is always dirty, can we get a mop please. Anyway, probably would not have written this but today everyone must have been really mad about having to work, no smiles, no thank you’s, just step down to the end and pay. It’s Christmas isn’t it, at least if you are nasty 51 weeks of the year couldn’t you be nice one week. After all I am on vacation and want to feel good about not working on Monday and having a nice breakfast. Help me out, feel good about your job, no matter how much you hate it. Sure I’ll go back, for the food, not the atmosphere or smell. Hey they have those aerosol cans now that are automatic and can send maybe the smell of flowers out in the restaurant, maybe they have a bagel smell you can use.

Nice location, friendly staff but I really don’t like the bagels. If you ever had a decent NY bagel and that is your barometer for a good bagel, I would definitely skip this place.

I’m a regular here as I love bagels and the atmosphere here at Einsten’s. This really is the heart of downtown Naperville many mornings. Each morning (Saturday morning seems the best), there’s a big table on the Jackson Ave. side of the restaurant that serves as a gathering place for a group of more elderly men to sit for a cup of coffee and talk. It’s not uncommon to see police officers, and notable city residents in there most mornings. It’s truly a wonderful atmosphere to go along with great food.
In addition to great bagels for breakfast I’ve a few times tried their sandwiches for lunch, and been very satisfied. (I was a fan of the pizza bagel). Much like breakfast, everything is very reasonably priced.
I recommend joining their e-​club on their website, as they send good deals out every now and then via email.

My boyfriend and I were craving a bagel and schmear this morning, so I suggested an outing to Einstein’s Bagels.
We both ordered the lox sandwich, because, hello, salmon on a bagel is freaking delicious. God bless the Jews. And our sandwiches delivered on taste, although the tomato slices were pretty anemic looking. I can forgive that, since it IS late November. The six cheese bagel is like eating heaven.
BUT. When we ordered our sandwiches, the cashier listed off a bunch of sides and asked us which one we wanted. We were confused, because we didn’t realize our sandwiches came with sides, but hastily picked two and got ready to pay. Oops, the joke’s on us — the sides were def not included. We were totally tricked! Please, Einstein cashiers, if you’re reading this, don’t be a douche and try to trick people into buying something extra that they don’t even want. Our two sandwiches, sides, and fountain drinks somehow added up to $ 20, which isn’t exactly terrible, but it’s the principle of the thing.
Also, the sticker on my boyfriend’s side of coleslaw said that it was made last Tuesday. Today is Saturday. Not to be a snob, but REALLY, Einstein’s?

One of my favorite places to stop for lunch or a snack with the kids. Good selection of bagels and the new pizza bagel was really good. Downside is the price… it’s a bit high for what you get but it’s worth it.
Everytime I’ve been in there, it’s moderately busy. Customer service is good and they get to your order pretty quickly.
Skip the cookies for desert. They look fantastic but are actually dry and tasteless. My daughter took a bite of the mudslide cookie and refused to eat the rest… if you can imagine that!

The bagels are defintely east coast delicious, but they are a bit pricey on sandwiches and soup — and soup is small portion sized.

Good place to get a cheap meal, hot or cold. Once I was almost dead from exhaustion and morning sickness and they were an oasis of vegetable chicken noodle soup. Realizing most people aren’t in the family way, including me these days, I still recommend it. Bagels, sandwiches, drinks out of the case, coffee, tea, soup, cookies, all the basics really. The dining room is a find your own table arrangement, or get carry-​out. They sell the meeting kits, e.g., box of bagels & cream cheeses, and box of coffee. Very convenient!