Chuq Y.
Yelp
I was quite excited to try the new bagel place. We went over the weekend and were pretty disappointed. The decor is really nice, the service was ok, but the food was not so good.
When we walked in the line was probably 10 people deep, and we stood patiently near the bagel machine and the water filtration/mineralization system. Pretty cool stuff. A few college kids called their friends ahead of us to join them, no biggie. They then proceeded to order individually, which took more registers. Annoying, but again, not a big deal to me. I'm sure I've done the same to others when I was in college. It was also homecoming at UMD, so most of the seats were taken as well. I'm resigned to this fact since we've lived in the area long enough to know that places get crazy busy even without a home game. Fortunately, the bar near the windows had some seats open, and people ate quickly, so the seats turn over quickly.
My order was the Brooklyn. It was decent. The bagel was ok, and lox was good, onions were fine, the tomatoes were a little mushy and the poppy bagel was acceptable. I ate in nonetheless. My coffee was blah. It tasted weird and like it was watered down. They use Chesapeake Bay Roasting Company coffee, which I know is good, so I'm not sure where they went wrong.
My wife ordered the Eggstremely Meaty Breakfast, which was Eggstreme alright, but not so much meaty. There were a few pieces of sausage mixed in with the egg, and the bagel was as soft as Wonder bread, but not in a good way. Bagels should be slightly chewy. This one was not. I think Wonder bread crust is chewier than the bagel she had.
Additionally, there was a woman cleaning the beverage bar (where the coffee and other drinks are) and her cart was partially blocking the already narrow path in front of the coffee. She didn't excuse herself when she cut me off or even acknowledge that she was in anyone's way. She was also cleaning the entire time that we were there.
There is a giant fireplace in the middle of the seating area (mostly couches) with two tvs tuned to CNN. Bagels N Grinds has potential, but the execution is just not there. Food or otherwise. I'll stick to the Bagel Place down the street. And when the college kids are gone. Because I can.