The Raven is becoming a fan. Just the right amount of food for just the right amount of money, and service is adequate. (ie not very good.)
You often have to wait for a table. Sounds like a good business to be in. Do they franchise?
Are you interested in their franchise, well you might think twice bout it, you are right about the price, not very expensive but the service is down to earth poor! Staff are snobbish and the quality of food is deteriorating, been there quite often before coz of convinience but after the incident of giving us cheese sticks that taste like refrigerator and falling in line for an hour just to be overtaken by someone who i think is a friend of their wait staff, then that’s it, never going back there again! :raspberry:
Those sounds like complaints that would be related to the management. Therefore if Raven were to open a franchise then s/he would be able to control those problems within her own store.
I’ll never go back:
“Please pay when ordering because most foreigners run away without paying for their food.” :fume:
I used to go to the one on Yitong St. a lot but haven’t been for ages. I had one of those cravings for salt-crusted bagels with cream cheese, smoked salmon and capers and cream cheese with roast beef and onions and had 'em so often I sickened myself of them. Never noticed the staff being “snobbish” though, or locking the doors till I paid, come to that.
Good value for a breakfast anytime of the day. As for service, couldn’t care less as long as they bring me a coffee within a couple minutes of being seated.
Is this one still open? The one near Yitong Park, kind of near Nanjing?
The level of service at the original branch on Yitong St (the one near the park just south of Nanjing, right?) was always fine for me - but then again, it’s a self-service design
My experiences at the branches on Jen-ai/AnHe and the one near 101 ranged from not good to simply bad. I remember looking forward to the opening of the JenAi/AnHe location because it is near my language school and my home. That it was going to be a 24 hour operation was a real bonus - since its on the way home from the 24 hour Eslite. So I tolerated the poor service, bad attitude and gradually worsening value in the beginning.
Soon enough I didn’t bother. When friends suggested meeting there, I’d offer an alternate meeting place (there used to be a Subway/Subber behind the Fubon Bank building next door). But sometimes, when you are meeting someone late and you know they know where the bagel place is, you buck up and give it another try. Consistently bad for me.
Oddly enough, when I visited the original location after the JenAi one opened, the service seemed as proficient as ever. So I gave the 101 location a chance when it opened and a buddy who lives near there suggested we go there. Sadly, I was left unimpressed.
C’est la vie. I tried to like it
Maybe for some of us, service doesn’t mean anything as long as we can satisfy ourselves when we are already hungry, but i believe otherwise, everyone is a paying customer whether locals of foreigners but if someone experience what we had the last time, eventhough they are serving the best food at reasonable price, i bet you will forget your appetite coz your stomach will be full of anger instead of hunger! :raspberry:
I was just commenting on my many experiences there over several years and many many staff changes. I don’t like bad service at all. I haven’t ever had bad service at NY Bagel.
But it seems that service levels are different at the different branches, so that could explain it – I’ve only ever been to the NY Bagel store on Yitong St., where I’ve always found the service to be just fine.
One tends not to notice these things when one is in the process of performing a runner, dui bu dui?
You know something is wrong when you order a cheeseburger and when you get it, it has no cheese in it… 
This has happened one too many times at the Ren-ai store. The one near 101 is much better in terms of service and food quality.
I’ve only been to NY Bagel one time, and while the bagel was a’ight, the soup was deplorable, watery, flavorless, Taiwanese-tasting soup. What a sham! The city of New York should sue for defamation of character.
Cheese burger withour cheese! holy cow! that’s the most stupid thing a restaurant can commit if i may impose my opinion. Its just like peanut butter without the peanuts! :help: But you have to wait to try their famous cheese sticks who I think have been inside their freezer for decades! and guess what, they are still serving it, and it says in the menu that its a new dish! 
like an appetizer sampler wherein they put all those stale things together and make money out of it by disguising it as a new dish!
Dunno… I went to a Chippy in Manchester once and the woman behind the counter scowled at me when I asked for chips
“We don’t sell chips here love… only pies” :loco:
The NY Bagel on Yitong Street, overlooking Yitong Park, is still open. This is the original branch, if memory serves.
I went there today for lunch, and it was packed. I sat at the counter that looked out over the park.
Most people seemed to be ordering the breakfast special. I went with the cheeseburger. It was OK, if a bit on the smallish side. I “upgraded” to the “set meal,” so I also got fries (which were good) and a drink.
Next time, I think I’ll try the breakfast special.
Service was fine (as someone mentioned, it’s pretty much self-service–just place your order at the counter).
I’ve never been to the Renai branch, and only to the Xinyi Road branch once, but I like the character of the Yitong NY Bagel. It’s cozy (OK, maybe a bit cramped with all the tables), but the big windows with the view of the park are nice. I also like the area aroung Yitong gongyuan–IT Park gallery, some small coffee shops, the French bookshop, and some leafy little alleys to wander around.
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So what you’re saying, basically, is that the place isn’t kosher.
I went to NY Bagels at RenAi for the first time yesterday, and I thought my experience went fairly well. It was crowded, but we managed to snatch the last seats available.
Service-wise, the waiters seemed to zip by and away very quickly because it was so busy. In that sense, they don’t earn any “friendliness” points but it’s not like they were rude in any way either. They took our order in a timely fashion and was also fairly fast in bringing us our drinks and then the food, so I don’t have any complaints there. They also brought us whatever we asked for pretty quickly- like ice, ashtray, etc. That’s good enough service for me.
I ordered the salmon and cream cheese with sesame bagel, which I found to be pretty tasty. Not like the bagels in N.Y. but it’s the best I’ve had in Taiwan. My only complaint is that all their salads seem to have corn in them. When we asked if they could exclude the corn, we were told that we’d have to do without tomatoes as well because they premix the corn and tomatoes- which means this leaves just lettuce and tuna for NT$160. We ended up not ordering the salad.
Hmm, I thought that diners were supposed to go to the counter to place their orders. That’s how I’ve always done it. Walk in, go to the counter, order what I want, pay, sit down, and then the server brings out the food to where I’m sitting.
But, then again, I haven’t been there that often as of late, so maybe the waiters are now taking orders of customers after they’ve been seated.
But I still think it might be quicker (and easier) just to order your food at the counter yourself.
When I was there, I didn’t see anyone ordering from the counter at all. It seems everyone (at least those who could get a seat) were seated, presented menus, had their orders taken and served by a waiter. We paid from our table as well.
But you know… they advertise that they don’t charge for service from some hours during the day till 6pm or so (can’t remember the exact time slot). Maybe it’s during those hours when they don’t charge for service that you have to place orders yourself at the counter? Just taking a wild guess here though…