What A Bagel is a somewhat grungy joint that resembles something like a cafeteria. They make their own bagels and baked goods -pastries, danishes, holiday treats, challah bread, cookies etc. They have a small grocery section that includes juices, dips, wraps, soups etc. In addition, they have a brunch bar where you can be served things such as sandwiches, cheese blintzes, pancakes, omelettes, coffee and much more. They have a variety of things to choose from, the portions are good and the prices are reasonable. However, the food is not fresh and the quality is rather poor.
The bagels and pastries are placed out in the open on trays or in bins and it's really unsanitary. I've seen many people cough or sneeze into the goods or even use their hands to pick out the bagels from the bins instead of using the tongs. Also, the bagels are not always fresh, and sometimes sweet in a weird way as if something was mixed into the flour by accident. Pastries have been stale plenty of times and the challah bread almost always tastes grassy because it was going mouldy- gross! Only around Jewish holidays does the challah bread taste decent.
It just gets worse. The dining area is almost always messy and surrounded with loud people. Crumbs, stickiness and wetness is found all over the tables and floors. The staff behind the counter are friendly and efficient most of the time. However, I've noticed that whenever the manager or supervisor is not present, the cleaning staff decides to slack off. The guy who makes the bagels during the week in the afternoon is the one who cleans the place and doesn't really care about taking care of the place. When asked to clean the dining area, he had attitude and reluctantly went to the dining area and used a dry dirty cloth to wipe down the tables.
Overall, What A Bagel provides a variety of baked goods and food with nice portions and reasonable prices, but their lack of quality and freshness in their ingredients and unsanitary surroundings does not leave me satisfied as a customer.