As I’ve mentioned one or two or a trillion times, I had a lovely beach interlude at the Jersey Shore last week. Not gonna lie, the reentry to “reality” has been a bit of an emotional crash landing — much like the physical ass-whooping I got from the ocean herself each and every time I attempted a graceful exit, only to be slapped down on the sand over and over again until the lifeguard sidled up to hoist me back to standing. It really was a wonderful trip! Anyway, I was in Asbury Park, where the boardwalk is fun, the restaurants are fab, and the Bruce worship is real. But if I’d traveled a little further south, I could’ve popped into Seaside Park, a shore town now living in infamy thanks to a controversial bagel shop. How controversial could a bagel joint called Bella’s really be? Well, earlier this month TikToker Valentina posted photographic evidence of two bagels purchased from Bella’s in which there is a shocking lack of cream cheese spreadage. The situation devolved from there.
“Bella’s Bagels in Jersey Shore, what is this?” she says as she holds a bagel with a thick block of cream cheese centered between the two halves, which appears to not have been spread. “Did you just cut Philadelphia cream cheese and put the freaking block?”
“And I know it’s not a mistake, because what is this?” she says, showing off a second bagel with cream cheese, even worse than the first. There’s so much cream cheese plopped on one side of the bagel that there is a visible cavernous space on the other side.
“This is not OK, guys, you have to spread your cream cheese,” she says.
In response, Valentina received over 12,000 mostly supportive comments.
…Bella’s Bagels, which also has a TikTok account, posted an indirect response video but later deleted it after receiving backlash. And because the internet is forever, it was reposted by another TikToker.
“This is how we actually make bagels with cream cheese,” an employee says in the now-deleted video.
She shows the process: cutting the bagel, toasting it and, finally, spreading the cream cheese.
…And if it wasn’t clear that the video was directed at Valentina, the closing line really seals the deal.
“And just to be clear, it’s at the Jersey Shore, not in the Jersey Shore,” the employee says, referencing the opening line of Valentina’s TikTok.
The video didn’t go over well, with many calling it “rude” and “passive aggressive.”
“Well hers didn’t look like this soooo,” noted one TikTok user.
Now, Bella’s Bagels’ TikTok account is being inundated with negative comments, many of them photos of the offending bagel, and its Yelp page has been frozen due to review bombing.
Valentina posted an update on Aug. 11 asking people to stop tagging the bagel spot.
She also said some of the employees reached out through their personal TikTok accounts, offering to remedy the situation, which she “appreciated” but “left it alone” until she saw the now-deleted video from Bella’s Bagels.
“Now I see that the company is actually posting a video, and they’re throwing shade at the end, which is so unnecessary,” she says in the video. “Like, if you are trying to fix bad PR, you should probably respond to me and not like, make a snide comment — that’s just my two cents.”
I don’t know, sounds to me like Valentina can schmear it out but can’t take getting schmeared back! She called out Bella’s Bagels for a double case of improper cream cheese spreading; I don’t think it’s “snide” or “passive aggressive” for Bella’s Bagels to respond in kind with their own vernacular correction. Valentina opened the door — very publicly! — and to me it seemed like Bella’s was just volleying back. But then again, I am a word nerd, and Valentina saying “Bella’s Bagels IN Jersey Shore” hit me like nails on a chalkboard. And I’m from San Francisco! (Though an honorary Jersey Girl through family lineage.) That’s just my two cents.
As for the crime at issue, the spreading of the cream cheese or lack thereof. I have watched both TikToks, the initial complaint and the rebuttal, and have rendered judgment as follows: the schmear spreading policy as laid out in the restaurant’s video is more than satisfactory, it’s exemplary (soft schmear spread to the outer rim). It’s also totally not the bagel(s) Valentina received! Someone definitely fell down on Valentina’s order. But is it worth Bella’s getting toasted by hordes of internet people who’ve never been there? That seems like an overly-charred response.
Wow, that’s ridiculous. I know sandwiches and bagels with massive fillings are a US thing but not like this. The fact that she had two that were both bad shows and issue and the company could have handled it much better.
That said, people need to stop harassing other people/businesses. Legitimate criticism is one things but jumping on something because other people are is awful.
All I’ll say is that the correctly-schmeared bagels shown above have multiple holes within the body of the bagel.
To me that indicates improperly baked bagels. The inner bread should not have holes, it’s not an English muffin!
Something is definitely wrong in the state of Bella’s …
Is it possible that Valentina manufactured Bagelgate so that she could go viral? (asking because my son’s new GF has done it).
To schmear or not to schmear that’s the question. I prefer they schmear to the edges. Someone was having an off day and just plopped instead of schmearing.
Her order was made by a lazy employee. Had this been in England, it could have been made by Lazy Katie during a surprise appearance.
I also want to add that during camping this weekend, I put a warm marshmallow over a Reese chocolate cup, and it was AMAZING. Had to put that out there.
We switched to Reeses awhile back, so delicious!
A fellow camp foodie!!!
Good lord…I grew up in NJ and at times, horrors, I got a couple blocks of unspread cream cheese or butter on my bagel. And I managed to resolve it without posting, discussing, or thinking anyone would actually care.
Also, IIRC, it was because the bagel store was slammed and they wanted to get people served and/or the cream cheese had just come out of the fridge and wasn’t soft enough to spread yet. Either way, I survived and life went on.
Yeah, when I’ve gotten unevenly spread cream cheese or peanut butter or tuna on any kind of sandwich, I … use a knife or a spoon or whatever to even it out and go on with my day. NBD.
So, original poster made content, got attention over something trivial vs just dealing, the bagel place could have reacted better, but it’s the Jersey Shore and attitude is part of the package, no? I’d score that 1-1 and call it a day.
The review bombers who blew this up should find something else to do – help a neighbor, go to a grocery store and round up loose carts, post cute animal videos, go outside and touch grass.
Same. I would have just shrugged and spread it. Especially if this is Seaside Heights, on a weekend, in the summer. Those places are SLAMMED, and the employees are usually doing their best to keep up and not have a huge, unhappy line, it’s not laziness.
My office is in a similar area nearby at the shore, and every restaurant and shop is crazy busy, and there are been instances of customers being incredibly rude because they had to wait like everyone else, and it’s usually high school or college kids working at these places. Especially after covid, we had one place just full on close for a day because some people were being awful and the poor kids working there were stressing out.
Does she not own a knife?
@DAVEW
Thank you for expressing my thoughts (so I don’t have to).
I’m with the opinion that too much is not good, I’d actually prefer something like a third if the amount…but hey at least they’re not stingy.
As an owner of that place I’d have I fit because that is just some lazy employee being really wasteful, and the cheese is the most expensive part of the sandwich.
As a born and raised Jersey girl – in the NYC area and still living there – this is not ridiculous. Bagels are a hot topic. Everyone is looking for the best – not just the bagel itself – but also how a ‘breakfast sandwich’ is prepped and presented.
I lived in St. Louis for a bit. My first bagel order went like this: “everything toasted with scallion cream cheese” they said “what’s scallion cream cheese?” I said, “you’re joking, right?” Then got something else and after reviving my order, I just said, “this is a roll with a hole in the middle. This is not a bagel.”
I know I will be iudged for this, but this I’m ok with that!
I’ve lived in Maine, CA, Texas, Georgia and now New England. You can get decent bagels other places but nothing compares to a NY/NJ bagel. And they are also usually cheap. No $9 for a bagel and schmear (Einstein’s and any bagel chain).
I judge how decent the bagel place is if:
1: They actually use a grill to make the eggs and whatever the preferred meat is. Bonus if they grill vs toast the bagel. Microwaving the egg/bacon is just ugh.
2: If you ask for salt and pepper (ketchup if you like too) they do it as part of the prep, not just point to the little packets by the door.
Exactly. Bagels are right up there with pizza in the lower NY / northern NJ food pyramid. We have our set bagel orders, and debate who has the best bagels in town. There’s a proper way to toast a bagel, and and a proper way to shmear the cream cheese. Only the lazy don’t spread the cream cheese.
Everyone knows that the best bagels are in Montreal anyway 😉
Fairmount Bagel for life!!
I prefer St-Viateur but they are both great!
As a former Jersey Girl (born and raised, but moved to CA as an adult and still look forward to Jersey bagels and pizza every summer when we visit family), I can say that while we absolutely do take our bagels and pizza seriously, there are too many things that make this absurd:
1) Seaside Heights is too far south to have great Jersey bagels anyway – but you can definitely get some great pizza down the shore, so focus your carbs on pizza when down the shore!;
2) The truly proper way to schmear cream cheese is to get a container of cream cheese on the side, tear the bagel into pieces, pull the pieces apart and then spread the cream cheese yourself – slicing it with a knife lessens the integrity of the bagel – if you haven’t tried it side by side this way, I promise it makes a difference and I will die on this hill!;
2A) I’ll allow that if you’re ordering to go in a shop and not taking the bagels home, having them slice and schmear is fine, but then you know you’re not getting the best experience and so complaining about it on Tik Tok is still absurd.
Also, @L, OMG yes why does the rest of the country not understand scallion cream cheese or (fresh) veggie cream cheese?!
Finally, pro-tip for any other former Jersey SoCal residents: there is a bagel shop outside San Diego called “Jersey Bagels” – they get their bagels flown in from Jersey and it is the closest to a real Jersey bagel you can get in CA. I stopped there for the first time on the way home from a conference in SD and mentioned I was from NJ. The owner came out to meet me, asked me where I was from, and when I told him where, he immediately said, “Oh, so you go to —” and named the [best] bagel shop in my town growing up! It’s legit, go there!
[Hoping they are still open, I haven’t been back to SD since before the pandemic]
I’m going to refute you a tiny bit here – my bagel cred is that I am born and raised in North Jersey, and then lived in Brooklyn for over 2o years.
My dad lives in Tom’s River now, so I have a lot of experience with the bagels in the area. Seaside is not too far south for good bagels. Bella’s does not have the best bagels, but Terrigani’s, which is just on the mainland side of the bay really has excellent bagels.
Ok, so I have actually been to Bella’s! I know this place. As NJ bagels go, they are definitely mediocre. But!!! This is a super tiny little shop, that is beyond crazy busy in the summer (line out the door busy). It looks like an employee rushed a bit, and that is not ideal. But, the solution is not to call out a small local business publicly for the crime of sloppy cream cheese spreading. Do you not own a butter knife? I have definitely had bagels with equally bad schmearing all over NYC.
Another case of “How to Achieve Fame By Being an A-Hole.” If she wanted to make a suggestion to management, she could have done it right then and there. But no, she has to post to the world that she’s the one who knows how to spread cream cheese – let’s give her a medal.
Honestly the biggest problem is that that is way too much cream cheese.
Seriously, it looks awful! Spread or unspread.
Going by the photos & story alone (i.e., not watching the dueling TikToks), I have two thoughts: 1) that is way too much cream cheese! Do they use a block of Philly per bagel?! Spread to the edge, not spread to the edge, either way that is wayyyyy too much!!!; 2) I totally would have been the person to say at the end, btw it’s on the Jersey Shore not in the Jersey Shore, so I’m siding with the company there.
Also, c’mon, have a little perspective people! These are likely teenagers or college students working their summer jobs on the shore, working their butts off as fast as they can & no doubt from time to time somebody’s not being too careful about things. Cream cheese isn’t so easily spreadable straight from the fridge–as I’m sure this is–so ease up a little.