This place is great. Very surprised to see the negative reviews. Coffee always great. Service always good & fast. Drive through if you're in a rush. And great bagels and scmear. What more can you ask for! read more

I don't know what is wrong with the company or this place but I called to put in a catering order for the judges this past election 3/18/14. I even went through the website and someone from the company contacted me. They told me that they would email me my order and when I went to pick up my order, guess what?!?!? That's right! NO ORDER to be found! And they were morons too! When I called the same number of the woman who set me up with my catering order when they finally opened up, she said, "Oh madam, Palatine no longer does catering orders because of poor management. Someone should have called you and told you your order was cancelled". So, what did we get in return....that's right, nothing. Not even a sorry! I won't EVER return to this crappy store or this company ever again!!!! read more

Say good-bye to this place! Ordered Nova Lox as we always do, very little salmon & capers! Need to find a new breakfast place!

Bad food worse service theae people couldn't get sn order correct with all the help in the world. Bagel dog off tssting and bagel soggy. Asked for tomato they forgot. And pricey read more

I'm a home health nurse, so I'm always driving around and eating on the run. Trying to find fresher/healthier drive-thru options can be challenging. Drove by this place today, and ordered a tuna salad sandwich on a toasted pretzel bagel. Had my choice of chips, potato salad, or fruit, which was awesome. Pulled up to the window, and it was already ready. Cost me about the same as a fast food value meal, WAY better quality, and delicious! Was super fresh, and very yummy. Will stop here any time I'm in the area. read more

Sadly living in the Midwest, this is the closest thing to a decent bagel that is similar to a NY style bagel. The service is always relatively quick and I love the fact that they have a drive through. Every time I have gone they always have a good assortment of bagels and have always gotten my order right. Overall the food selection is decent and staff is friendly. read more

My husband and I frequent this store only on weekends and only when we have no rush to go anywhere else afterwards. This is because we have experienced many delays with our orders over the past several years and we figured it'd be good to expect the worst but hope for the best. The food is good for the most part...they have however, messed up our orders so we now make sure to check our drive-thru orders before driving off. We can't seem to figure out why the mismanagement of staff but it's apparent they're struggling and lacking good processes. read more

I thought they had improved with new management, I went there and although much more polite than in past service today was as horrible as it was before. I will however give them one more chance and I'll just chalk it up to a bad day which is no excuse but it does happen. read more

Definitely the worst Einsteins I've ever been to and probably one of the worst franchises I've ever seen. My son loves their asiago bagels. But even for him it's not worth it every time I've been here they screwed up the order. I've ordered two plain bagels and they still put cream cheese on them I can't be any more clear to as Iago bagels plain nothing on him and yet they still come with cream cheese. They've missed of drink orders it takes forever to get through the drive-through and even if you go inside the service is just us poor. They don't listen. I've been to a couple otherEinstein's and they've been better this one never again read more

While I'm a fan of the bagels here, especially the cheddar jalapeño, they are always out of stock! It's so disappointing. I have no idea why they don't make more. I go often and I would say 60-70% of the time they are out. I guess it's time to find another bagel shop. read more

While I enjoy their food, the customer service is horrific and non existent. They are very rude both in store and in the drive thru. Ask for extra anything and you will be charged an extra amount. They are very stingy with the toppings on your food. I get that you want to control costs but it is ridiculous. I will only order bagels and tubs of cream cheese from now if at all. read more

Literally waited 30 minutes for two bagel sandwiches when they still weren't ready we left and asked for our money back. Went next door to Denny's and got our food in 15 minutes. Apparently the drive through is priority over eat in customers. read more

Cheap on the cream cheeses And cheap on the salmon smh for all the money I pay I'm over this location read more

Worst service known to man!!! Waited 20 minutes for a bucket of coffee! Girl goes: I thought you left even though I was sitting right in front of her! Totally incompetent working here. Don't go unless you have a half hour to kill. I know this is my last visit. read more

Drive thru is not a concept they are aware of here. Expect for your experience to be at least 15 minutes if there is one person ahead of you. I had two people in front of me this morning, I pulled up to the speaker, I was told to hang on a second and after 4 minutes and multiple hellos on my end, no one ever responded. I left. Get some customer and drive thru experience from Starbucks. They know how to get people through and keep them happy. Food is good tho - have to give them that. read more

This location is a disaster - food is fine but service is awful. They have no organizational structure, so basically each employee runs around alternating at the register, making coffee, etc. They're either perpetually understaffed or need to bring in someone that has experience in fast food and can help train the employees. read more

Run far away from this place. Customer service is horrible. This morning I decided to stop inside the restaurant to get a quick bagel. The staff could not keep up with the drive- through and the line inside the store was quickly growing. Once I finally ordered, my order was forgotten about. I waited over 20 minutes for 1 bagel until a staff member asked if I needed assistance. When I did get my bagel I asked if it was heated as ordered and the staff member said yes. It was barely luke warm. I will never go back to another Einstein Brothers Bagels!! read more

Food is good, but be prepared to wait and ALWAYS double check your order before you pay and after get it. Accuracy rate is hovering around 35%. Management and employees need to lay of the chronic during rush hour. read more

Wish I could give 0 stars! I drove 25 minutes to this location for a quick breakfast and coffee. I arrive and their systems are down. I know that it's not their fault, however, maybe they can acknowledge customers and still provide at least a bagel for cash paying customers. They could keep the change. I don't care. So then I had to drive another 25 minutes and sit in traffic. I'll never go back to ANY Einstein Bagel locations. Waste of my time. read more

Not very pleased that o went to the Einstein's by my house at 7:00am and they were already out of plain bagels and Asiago bagels. How do you run out of two of the most popular bagels after being open for about an hour. This is not the first time and the lady ringing up could care less. That's just bad customer service and I will end up going somewhere else from now on. Sorry Einsteins!! read more

I'm giving this a 2 simply because they're friendly. I had to wait 30 minutes for 3 not even so great bagels. read more

Best location I've been to! This team really does go the extra mile for their customers and the manger was great too!

Went there the other day w/ the kids. They were out of almost every kind of bagel!! A girl in the front took our 13 bagel order and told us to return in an hour. Okay.. no problem.. well then we decided to order sandwiches and drinks. That is what took 25 minutes!! The lady at the register was soooo slow and the lady making the sandwiches got confused!! But.. I gave them 2 stars cause the lady who took our first order gave me one of the sandwiches and one of the drinks for free, for waiting!! I'm still gonna go back but they need change ASAP!!!!!!! read more

Waited 25 minutes for the completely wrong order. How hard is it to make a plain bagel with plain shmere? Clearly rocket science. When I asked the kid at the register (curly headed baby faced kid) how long my order would be, he replied "soon". We waited an additional 10 minutes after this. Everyone looked busy, but nothing was being accomplished. Piss poor excuse for a staff/restaurant. I feel bad for the poor person that owns this place. Will not be returning read more

Nice fresh bagels and a tub of schmear. Drive thru was pretty quick and staff was very friendly.

Love the coffee and the bagels are about the best around. Service can be sketchy. Employees are nice enough but way too often they get even the simplest of orders wrong. What really lowered the rating is one particular employee, who, while being pleasant enough and reasonable accurate, has a skin condition with sores and scabs all over his face and arms. One time I saw him sitting outside on a break picking at the scabs. Another time he handed me a coffee cup by grabbing it at the rim, where your lips go! Please, management, get him plastic gloves to wear, and give your employees some basic food handling lessons! read more

They don't even deserve one star. My husband and I have visited this location a few times for breakfast and they are ALWAYS out of bagels. I am not exaggerating almost every time we have gone they are out of my favorite the Asiago bagel... Umm last I checked they were a bagel place right? This morning they were out of Asiago bagels like usual so we asked for plain and the extremely UNclassy(to put it nicely) employee working the drive through window said they were out of that too and shut the window on us before we could pick another! I'd like to know what they sell since they are a bagel place and have NO bagels EVER! This restaurant needs serious help. read more

Worst Einstein's ever! First off, they are HORRIBLY slow. Every time I've been there I've waited forever. They don't ask if you want your bagel toasted so I've forgotten to ask in the past and ended up with a cold bagel which doesn't make me happy. And I think the manager tries to save costs by putting 1/8 of a teaspoon of cream cheese on the bagels. At other locations I have to scrape some cream cheese off but not at this one...I'm left with dry, bare spots. This location stinks. read more

Einstein as a company is delicious, but this particular location is regularly unable to keep up with the Saturday/Sunday morning rush. Long waits and/or wrong orders on those days, which is a shame. read more

I stood in line for about 10 minutes and then left. There were several staff members that appeared to be working frantically, but they couldn't handle the volume, which was only three people in line plus about three cars in the drive through. Too bad - I'm really hungry. read more

Horrible customer service. We were sent to the wrong area by an employee and were caught in "no-mans" land. Over 6 people behind the counter with only 2 helping customers. No apology just apathy on the part of the girl who sent us to the wrong area only to start helping people behind us. Will NEVER come back to this location. Would have given a no star rating if possible. read more

We love Einstein bagels! Had the thin bagel on breakfast sandwich today. Love that they just trim a regular bagel! So much more flavorful and moist. We were surprised by the few lower ratings, but this place still rocks! All was great this morn! read more

I love the Einstein's in downtown Barrington but I stopped in at Palatines and couldn't believe how dirty the place was- I am guessing they can get away with this bc most customers are drive-thru. It was disgusting how much food and just garbage was on the ground especially behind the counter and their prep area. You go to fill your soft drink and can't miss it, since its an open floor plan. Carpet looked like it hadn't been vacuumed it at least a week or more. Tables/chairs/booths were dirty and sticky. Nothing was in place at the coffee station or anywhere for that case. No care is put into maintaining standards lacking manager. What worries me is if it's that dirty to the naked eye as a regular dine in costumer ... I can't imagine the codes that are being broken in the back to cut corners when and where you don't see- most likely not good food and kitchen hygiene practices. I good deep cleaning is desperately needed. Would take all day that's how bad it is. Workers were friendly and my sandwich actually came out good- i am guessing they are very understaffed. Both workers were very busy. No time to clean. read more

In general, my boyfriend and I really enjoy Einsteins. This location is by far the slowest drive-through service we have ever experienced. There are a few times before work where we contemplate leaving the line because we are going to be late. For example, we ordered a Santa Fe turkey sausage sandwich and parfait which is premade. We were in line for 15 minutes. It should be noted that there were only two cars ahead of us. It doesn't seem as if this location is equipped to hand even a little bit of an increase in customers. read more

Service is very sketchy. Employee with scabs while making a hot beverage. Numerous flies by the counter and in the food. Will not go there anymore read more

Food is great. Service is terrible. I'm constantly confused every time I order as they apparently never understand what I'm saying. The first thing someone says over the loud speaker is always the same thing: "Hold on please." No hello, no sorry about the inconvenience. Then after the struggle of ordering a simple half dozen of bagels with cream cheese I have to be prepared to wait for at least 5 minutes, sometimes 10. Some serious improvements in customer satisfaction need to be at this location. read more

Best bagels ever! Their smoothies are great too. Every morning I go before work I always have great service!

I dont think they deserve even one star! I called early on Christmas eve to order bagels for a party I was going to that night. First I asked what time they were open till knowing places closed early on Christmas eve, she told me they were open till 2:00. I gave her my order, my name and said I would be in around 1:00. i got there at 12:45 only to find the door locked and a young guy sweeping inside telling me we are closed. I told him I had ordered bagels and was told they were open till two. He let me in took my name ,looked and said nope no orders are left, at that time a lady appeared from the back when she heard the commotion and i told her my name and that i had ordered bagels and she said i remember ,i took your order but they must have given it to someone else by mistake! Did they also lock the door by mistake and close an hour and 15 minutes earlier then they were supposed to close. She said i can give what we have left for free....... blueberry bagels, which go great with the lox i was bringing. I was so angry, she kept saying I'm trying to help you (by giving me the blueberry bagels) and was getting upset with me. I left upset and called the Einsteins in Barrington and explained that they had given my order away and they offered to make me some, thank goodness for them. When i got there 20 minutes later we started talking and she was quite surprised because her store and palatines are run by the same people and they had called to see if they could close early and was told customers were told they were open till 2and they had to stay open till 2. Well i will never give any of my business to Palatine, beware they don't care what they tell their customers, they will leave you hanging. BTW while i was in Palatine store four other customers also pulled up and tried to get in the store and also did not look very happy. Be wary of this store! read more

I am shocked to see this isn't rated a 5 star place, it really should be. Everything is affordable and delicious here. The customer service is so amazing and personal, it really makes you want to come back! My boyfriend and I are regulars here because we always know we are getting great service, quickly, and their food is always so delicious and freshly made. When you come here, you feel like you personally know their staff because they remember you and smile and greet you so warmly! They even have doggy bagels that my dog goes nuts for! Honestly so thrilled when I come here. I highly recommend coming to to Einsteins if you want great breakfast/lunch at a good price and you could use a smile that day from their lovely staff. There is also a great variety in their menu items. My family has been regulars here for my whole life and now I've for my boyfriends family hooked too!! Waayyyyyy better than Panera, and very clean!!!! read more