Einstein Bros. Bagels

There is a reason this store, specifically gets five stars. Bear with me. I'll get there.

I'm a fan of bagels and cream cheese and when I can have both at my immediate disposal then I put down the "what are you waiting for" and pick up the "I'm on my way".

It's difficult for some chains to give a homey feel when you walk in but this place does it. The crazy part is that it wasn't even necessarily from what someone said to me. Nope. It was the decor. The pictures on the wall and the breakfast music playing. What is breakfast music? No clue, but it was slightly upbeat with a subtle jazz tone and something contemporary.

So after I was greeted, I checked out the menu. There's options and then there's options. I kept it simple. Plain bagel. With cream cheese. Strawberry cream cheese.

Toasted? Yes please.

The gentleman was extremely patient and kept the pleasantries to what was necessary. He wasn't overly enthusiastic and happy-go-starbucks or Build-A-Bear joyful. No, I'd say this kid had training because he did everything right. at this point they're at about 3 stars for me.

FIVE STAR SPOILER ALERT: I received my bagel, which was in a small bag and warm to the touch. It was the initial makings of the perfect bagel experience. I thanked the associate and sat down somewhere in the middle of the restaurant. I took a deep breath (yea it was this dramatic) and slid the bagel onto a napkin. I could see some cream cheese hanging off the sides, which is a beautiful thing to me because I am strawberry cream cheese's number two fan probably behind the bagels. I took the halves apart and oh. my. God. I watched all of this cream cheese fight about which side to come apart on only to a beautifully evenly proportionate truce. It was magic. It was art. From start to finish, I enjoyed the toasted, yet soft strawberry morsel that was this bagel and I could not believe how every bite had just the right amount of extra cream cheese that I love. Every. Flipping. Bite. I looked up and an Einstein Bros winked at me from the wall. Ridiculous. He knew.

I shook hands with my creator and walked out knowing I would be back the next day.

Great cream cheese shmear selection on some delicious bagels!

Had an asiago bagel with plain cream cheese on my first visit. Asked for extra (my boyfriend and I are cream cheese mongers) and they delivered. Honestly, the plain CC wasn't as good as Panera's, but it wasn't far behind. Welllll... and they also didn't charge 2-3x the price of the bagel for the cheese, either! The bagel was nice and flavorful. A lot of cheese, but not too much. And it had a nice quality taste-- not cheap cheese.

At a later visit, I had a mushroom, spinach, and cheese sandwich on a salted bagel. I love salted bagels, but man, this one had enough salt I could've dusted it off and sold the extras at a spice market, holy cow. They were very generous with the mushrooms, spinach, and cheese. Completely felt like I got my money's worth.

Their coffee was decent, too. I had a cup of one of the flavored varieties.

The only negative was that I left smelling of burnt bagels.

I wish that there was a location that was closer to home.

Some mornings, I just need to have something substantial for breakfast. I don't normally drive past too many places with enticing options (McDonald's anyone?), but sometimes I take a slight detour and hit Einstein Brothers. Their bagels are good, but what keeps me coming back is the Lox Bagel - it's always a welcome improvement to my morning, even if I am dead tired or hung over (yes, smoked salmon is a weird hangover food, but I love it). It's not easy to find lox at many places that are convenient to me in the morning, so I appreciate Einstein offering it. And the staff never has any problem customizing it to meet my various wishes (low fat cream cheese, no capers or onions, add cucumbers).

I stopped by last Friday for lunch. It was a really dreary day, so I was craving a nice hot sandwich on filling bread or a cup of soup. Apparently everyone else in Fishers had the same idea -- the line for Panera was nearly out the door! I didn't have the patience, so I went down a few doors to Einstein to try lunch for the first time. I might have ordered the wrong thing -- the Italian Chicken Panini, but it just wasn't good at all. The chicken had an odd flavor and texture, and I ended up not eating most of it. For the price, it was not worth it. From now on, I will stick to the lox!