Review of lunch bagel place Royal Bagels and Muffins, Amsterdam

The plan today was to go to Peruvian restaurant Mashua. On their website they say they are open for lunch and they also have a lunch menu on it. But when my friend and me approached Mashua, the place looked suspiciously dark. And when we got closer, we saw that it was dark, nobody was inside and the door was firmly closed with a gate in front of it. No sign, not anything explaining why they were closed. So I would like to ask the people of Mashua to please update their website or put up a sign when they are closed!

Anyway there we were on the Prinsengracht at the Leidsestraat having to find a place for lunch. Many places to choose from of course, but my friend was tired so he wanted something close. Well on the other side of the Leidsestraat there is located in a basement Royal Bagels and Muffins or De Haringbar as we like to call it We call it De Haringbar, because the first time we were at the Royal Bagels and Muffins the guy working there spoke like the people who work in a herring cart on the market. Actually before this place was Royal Bagels and Muffins, it was the first location of Gary’s Muffins. Gary’s, for a while, was the best bagel place in town, but has long since gone bankrupt by bad management and almost all locations have been sold. In this case to the Royal Bagels and Muffins people.

Actually the only thing that changed is the name. When we went inside I noticed everything was almost still the same as in the Gary’s days. The menu was still the same too. Even the prices, which makes it cheaper than Bagels & Beans But it being a few years since the Gary days, it also makes the menu a bit dated.

When we sat down at a table, we had plenty of choice cause the place was empty, I put down my arms on the table and was quite disgusted that my arms stuck to the table. Big minus point for cleanliness! I decided to take a bagel with brie cheese and ham and a pear juice. My friend only took a coffee. The bagel choice was rather limited. I wanted whole wheat, but it not being available I had to settle for an everything bagel.

So I ordered this with the women behind the counter. I guess she was one of the owners, because she wasn’t so young anymore. She brought the coffee and juice immediately. My pear juice was rather watery, so I was a bit disappointment by that, but it was not fresh so we can blame the supplier for it. A little later my bagel came. The brie cheese on my bagel was hardly melted and the ham was not really warm. Another disappointment.

I guess this place still draws some tourists, because this place was featured quite a lot in guides when it was Gary’s Muffins. As we finished our things the place was filling up with some foreigners. But we decided to go to the Selexyz and have coffee and a dessert there in the Bagels & Beans.

Royal Bagels and Muffins is stuck in a timewarp and scored minus points for the sticky table and the lukewarm bagel. But if you want a cheap bagel, this is your place.