Einstein Bros. Bagels

Larry Jahnke : Easy to find but the parking was atrocious although I got to park in front of the door. Service was quick. I ordered the Reuben with turkey pastrami on a pumpernickel bagel with the potato salad side. It also came with a good crisp pickle that seemed to be the best part of the ensemble. The potato salad was okay. The turkey was light in color with what appeared to be "pepper specks" (?). It pretty much just tasted like smoked turkey. I couldn't taste the dressing and found the sauerkraut to have only a light taste (other evaluators said they couldn't taste the kraut at all). What's up with mustard???? Never found that on a Reuben before. The other problem with eating anything on a bagel other that cream cheese or the such... the chance that someone else is going to wind up wearing the contents of your sandwich. I've found bagel sandwiches excellent devices for initiating a food fight right after the contents go flying into someone else's face. In all, the sandwich didn't really taste bad; it just didn't taste anything remotely like a Reuben. At least they had raspberry tea. (2003-08-05)

Jim Kidd : Although advertised as a Reuben, it's no Reuben. It has mustard on it and this tends to mask the dressing and kraut. It's an okay sandwich, but if you're looking for a traditional Reuben, go elsewhere (Reggie's for example). Great pickle, good coffee, unusual turkey sandwich. (2003-08-05)

Carl Klutzke : The first thing you notice about this particular Einstein Bros is that parking is severely limited (there was even a "Do not park on the grass" sign). We ended up having to leave the parking lot and pull around to park in the liquor store behind it. The restaurant itself is fine: nice people behind the counter, clean, well-lit. It certainly wasn't crowded, but then, how could it be, considering the parking lot? The sandwich itself was made from quality ingredients: the Swiss cheese even had holes in it. The pumpernickel bagel tasted fine, the turkey was tasty, and the 1000 island dressing and sauerkraut probably were fine too but I couldn't tell because of the mustard. Mustard? Listen, I know it's a turkey reuben on a pumpernickel bagel, but MUSTARD? There was a list of ingredients for the sandwich on the menu board, but it sure didn't say anything about mustard. Mind, I'm sure it was top quality mustard (I wouldn't know, I'm not a big mustard fan), but it totally overwhelmed the sandwich. It wasn't horrible, but I couldn't say I enjoyed it, and I certainly don't want another. I don't know if the mustard was an assembly error, but if it was, it was repeated for all six of us, which seems rather strange. Maybe they didn't feel right about making a turkey sandwich without mustard, which I can actually sort of understand, but this wasn't a turkey sandwich. Or was it? The meat looked just like plain turkey, with some black stuff around the edges like it had been rolled in peppercorns. I tried a bit of it by itself and it tasted like plain turkey. Where was the turkey pastrami? I've had turkey pastrami out of a lunchmeat pack from a grocery store and it tasted like pastrami. This was just turkey, regardless of what the menu said: good turkey, mind you, but with just turkey flavor. Again, maybe this was an assembly error, or maybe they really thought this was something that could be called turkey pastrami. I just don't know. Regardless, the potato salad on the side was good, and the whole pickle was very good. So, in a nutshell: bad parking, good ingredients, and a messed-up recipe. The experience won't keep me from going to Einstein Bros again (though I'd probably avoid this one due the parking issue), but I'd want some things straightened out before I ordered another Reuben. (2003-08-05)

Chris Rowland : First, I hate mustard, and it was on the sandwich even though it wasn't listed on their menu board. It just overpowered everything but the pumpernickel bagel I had chosen to put the sandwich on. The turkey didn't have much of a pastrami flavor, but it was good turkey. The swiss cheese had holes in it, which was a novelty, but there should have been more kraut and thousand island. If I had eaten this sandwich without knowing what it was, I never would have guessed a Reuben--probably turkey & swiss. (2003-08-05)

Brian Skiles : Well, I won't be having that Reuben again. The only flavor on most bites was mustard, which has no place on a Reuben. The flavors of the turkey and the pumpernickel bagel were good, but they were almost completely overpowered by the mustard. I never got to taste the thousand island or sauerkraut, even though they were on the sandwich. So, considering the fact that I was not able to taste _any_ traditional Reuben ingredients, I give the sandwich a low grade on taste. The pickle was good, though. It gets full marks. The sandwich was quite a disappointment, so I can't recommend it to anyone looking for a good Reuben. Maybe someone looking for a good mustard and turkey sandwich would be better off trying this sandwich. (2003-08-05)