Montague Street Bagels Gets a “C”

By on June 27, 2011 5:39 pm in Food, Health

Montague Street Bagels got a “C” grade from the City’s Department of Health, meaning it has 28 or more sanitary violations. According to the DOH:

The grade (or grade pending) card must be posted on a front window, door or outside wall where it is easily seen by people passing by. The card must be within 5 feet of the entrance and from 4 to 6 feet off the ground or floor.

Can you find the grade card in the photo above? Hint: it might come to your attention if you were sitting at the outdoor table and happened to drop your napkin.

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  • PierrepontSkin

    I stopped going there a while ago. The bagels aren’t as good with the new owners and last time I checked, they got rid of all the old sandwich menus. Aside from that, it just never seemed as clean or efficient as it used to be.

  • Alice

    this place sucks! everytime i go there they either screw up my order or i have to wait 20 minutes. surely there must be a better bagel place in BH?!

  • CS

    The grill is never on and there are tons of fruit flies. Not surprised.

  • PierrepontSkin

    Someone should go and tell them that it’s a violation to have the grade where it is.

  • Eddyenergizer

    I posted a comment about the C rating on last weeks open thread… Anyway, it is a filthy place, they had an inspection of 50 points back in January… Pierrepont is right the rating sign is too low and obstructed by the table. Time to call 311.

  • David on Middagh

    According to Slate, health inspectors don’t like bagel shops who use wooden mixing bowls for better flavor. (I don’t know the specifics of the Montague shop’s grade.)

    http://www.slate.com/id/2297583/

  • Daffy Duck

    A crazy duck wouldn’t even eat there.

  • Eddyenergizer

    David here are the specifics of the 1/13/11 inspection:

    Sanitary Violations
    1) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F.
    2) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation.
    3) Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan.
    4) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.
    5) Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies.
    6) Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.
    7) Facility not vermin proof. Harborage or conditions conducive to attracting vermin to the premises and/or allowing vermin to exist.
    8) Toilet facility not maintained and provided with toilet paper, waste receptacle and self-closing door.
    9) Plumbing not properly installed or maintained; anti-siphonage or backflow prevention device not provided where required; equipment or floor not properly drained; sewage disposal system in disrepair or not functioning properly.
    10) Proper sanitization not provided for utensil ware washing operation.

    Administrative Violations
    1) “Choking first aid” poster not posted. “Alcohol and pregnancy” warning sign not posted. Resuscitation equipment: exhaled air resuscitation masks (adult & pediatric), latex gloves, sign not posted. Inspection report sign not posted.

    Note, items 1-6 are in red type denoting serious violations.

  • David on Middagh

    Thanks, EE.

    “4) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.”

    Well, that’s just because the Health Department won’t let them have a cat, isn’t it?

  • Jorale-man

    “Filth flies” – yuck. I hate to pile on – maybe they were inspected on a particularly bad day – but that never sounds good.

  • A Neighbor

    Sad to see this place go downhill. The woman who was running it the other day was seen screaming at the guy who was working the oven.

  • Peter

    THIS PLACE IS GROSS

  • x

    there is that Montreal Bagel place at the corner of atlantic and Clinton, across from the Key Food.

    Looks pretty decent.

  • Eddyenergizer

    X Sorry to say, while that bagel place (B&B Empire) is most likely much more sanitary, their bagels are dry, mealy and void of flavor.

  • John

    Sounds like a stinky, little dive. My opinion is irrelevant. I’m just never going to go there now. You people should have done the right thing and gotten an A rating. Jeez, 90% of bars, restaurants & deli’s seem to have an “A” posted in their windows. Sounds like you’d need to smear s— on the walls & have waltzing rats to not get one.

  • north heights res

    This bums me out so much. I loved that place: liked the people working there, the vibe was neighborhoody and friendly, and the bagels were terrific.

    I just don’t get why the new owners felt the need to re-create something that was obviously working.

    I was a totally loyal customer who didn’t get bagels anywhere else, and now I never go. Such a bummer.

  • Nancy

    Amin also has a C and Buon Gusto hides its rating after getting violations for faling to put its rating up for months. I miss the old Hot Bagels….

  • Jaques

    The entire layout of this place is terrible.

  • M on Willow

    Place is definitely a danger — check out the salad bar in the back which doesn’t get cleaned out over the weekend.

  • Big Dave

    Why O why does the “renovated” place seem so dark and dingy and ugly? It feels like they lowered the ceiling, though I don’t think they did. [Perhaps it is just dimmer to hide violations…] The guys who used to work there were friendly and neighborly — it was always nice to go there. Now, well, I went in last weekend for bagels and just did not like the vibe. The bagels were pretty good, but the place surely has changed. But then, Lassen & Hennigs has changed over the years — when did they stop carving fresh Nova on weekends? SIGH…

  • Arch Stanton

    Throughly nauseating.

  • Marnia

    The last time I went there, a few months ago, I ordered a couple of blueberry bagels and a couple of whole grain. The blueberry variety came studded with these odd, dry little neon purple nuggets. They were neither dried nor frozen, reconstituted fruit. There was nothing fruit-like about them – more like sinister, man-made, I don’t know whats. The smell that wafted through both the paper and plastic carry-out bags was an intense, foul, non-food like odor. I ended up dumping all of the bagels, because the acrid, chemical smell had permeated the other, less sinister ones. The smell still lingered the next day.

    I wish I were exaggerating, even a little.

    NEVER going back again.

  • askinbk

    vineapple brings in fresh bagels from la bagel delight each morning, if you like la bagel’s bagels, and dont want to walk down Court street, its an option.

  • Topham Beauclerk

    The city was foolish to have chosen what appears to be a pale yellow for the letter c. Had the city picked a stronger color, restaurants would have had a harder time of it concealing it from view.

  • GHB

    Marnia, if you order a blueberry bagel (!?!?), you deserve what you get! ;-)

  • A

    It’s such a shame that this store has gone downhill so drastically over the last couple of years. The vibe after the renovation felt cheaper and tackier than the pre-renovated store had been and since the new owners, I didn’t feel like I got fresh hot bagels nearly as often as I used to.

  • http://yankees.com DerekJetahr

    Lassen sells decent bagels and so does Garden of Eden. Cranberry’s not bad and even Gristede’s is cleaner than that dump of a bagel store. Minka says the only thing NOT harboring vermin is the lottery machine….

  • Van

    DerekJetahr, I never even thought of going to Lassen and Hennings for a bagel! Yay, alternative found.

  • willow with a schmear

    I too was really disappointed by the B&B on Atlantic and Henry, too, having had good Montreal bagels in Canada. I had a good experience at Mile End on Hoyt which is a Montreal -style bagelry, But to go there, il faut que vous schleppez un kilometre

    (better than consorting with filthflies, however)

  • Marnia

    @GHB, I had a feeling while typing earlier that I would eventually need to defend my choice.

    What can I say? I’m a transplanted New Englander. If not an everything (not toasted) with a shmear, then a (real) blueberry with maple walnut spread. Mmmmmmmm. Blueberries. Summer.

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