Bodacious Bagel Inc - Ashland

I 've been a regular at this cafe, enjoying their food and service for the last 2.5 years. I usually order a Lox bagel during my morning visits. On a recent visit, with only two other customers in line behind me, the staff refused to take my order in a rude way, telling that they could only prepare breakfast bagels due to being busy. It would have been more appropriate for the staff to offer a polite explanation or suggest an alternative solution, such as an estimated wait time for my usual order. Good customer service is about managing expectations and maintaining courtesy even during busy times. Good manners cost nothing. Bad manners can cost you your reputation.

Best bagel around! It is not the fanciest of places, but the bagels are top notch.

This is a hard review for me to write as I’ve been coming to this place for over 20 years. Over those 20 years, the ownership and priorities have shifted. I also live out of state now, so when I come home, I notice changes more abruptly as I don’t slowly get used to things changing, if that makes sense.Look, if your options are a supermarket or Dunkin Donuts bagel, these are miles better. However, by east coast bagel standards, they’ve gotten worse.I’ll use the bialy as a case study. Bialys are supposed to be thin but puffy treats with caramelized onions, garlic, and poppy seeds. And they used to be from here! But now they are so big and puffy, they feel like unboiled bagel dough. And on top of that (no pun intended), they have clearly dried granulated onion/garlic mixed with poppy seeds. Gone is the beautiful caramelized mixture. And the bialy is as thick as a bagel. Did the person who re-designed these lose sight of what made a bialy a bialy? Just try to run a cafe instead with carbs? Super sad.Not sure what else to say besides I hope this place keeps an eye to being a bright spot in the area as opposed to a race to the bottom of commodification of breakfast and cost. I know it’s hard these days with inflation, but people can get puffy carbs across the street at Shaw’s, or honey dew, or Dunkin. Why should they come here instead? Think about it, owners, and don’t forget.

First and foremost the bagels: they really weren't very good. I'm not sure how anyone can claim they have great bagels here. Staff seemed annoyed to have us. What really drove us out though was the smell. Something was off and we couldn't handle it at all. Will not be coming back.

I used to love this place, it’s going down. A lot of their items are not dated and getting old. Got sick from an old Asiago bagel they fed me. At one point I would have recommended this establishment; now I highly recommend you pass it up.