I have to thank Georgie for his recent review, otherwise I might not have known this place existed. I was talking with my buddy Tim a few weeks ago about low carb diets, so what does that make me immediately crave? BREAD. After I read Georgie's review I realized I can't think of the last time I've had a good bagel.
After two visits to Back East I can say they are definitely good to great, but not better than The Bagel Man. Back East's bagels are light and chewy and the breakfast sandwiches are pretty good. I love a good cinnamon sugar bagel and thank God I discovered this joint so I never have to step foot in an Einstein Bros. again. The first cinnamon sugar bagel I had at Back East was absolutely perfect and was almost like eating a cinnamon roll without the icing. I love that they put the cinn/sug all over the bagel, not just on top.
I ordered another one this morning and it was a bit smaller and harder on one side. I'm sure it's difficult to make them all the same all the time, but the one today just wasn't as light and tasty as the one I had the other day.
This morning I got the breakfast sandwich with the green chile cheddar bagel and that is a delicious bagel as well! I've never tried one before, but I really enjoyed that and I heard a lot of people ordering it while I was in the shop.
To accompany my breakfast I ordered a blended mocha and they do give you your choice of milk and with or without whipped cream. For $3.99 it's a large drink, but I thought the flavor was kind of weak and for a blended drink there were quite a few pieces of ice still in it. That drink was just a 2.5/5 for me. They do have a lot of choices for coffee drinks so I'm sure I can find something I like better the next time.
Overall I'm definitely a fan and would come back. I'd much rather patronize a place like this than the chains. They have great deals on large purchases and a wide variety of lunch sandwiches as well.