The bacon, egg, and cheese–one of man’s most remarkable inventions.  You have the steam engine, the wheel, the computer–and the bacon, egg, and cheese.  As bagel fanatics (the bread of the sandwich) and breakfast food connoisseurs, we decided to answer the century-old question: What is the best bacon, egg, and cheese bagel sandwich for Scituate students to enjoy before school? 

We created criteria for voting:

1. Service: Is it fast? Are they polite? How do they accommodate their customers?
2. Taste: Too salty? Too bland? Under seasoned? Over seasoned? 
3. Quality:  Is your bagel fresh? Is the egg precooked? Are all the components placed evenly on the bagel? Is the bacon crunchy? 
4. Shape: What’s the egg-to-bagel ratio? Is the bagel a good size? Does the bacon cover the egg and cheese? 
5. Temperature: Is your bacon, egg, and cheese hot? Has the bagel been toasted?
6. Cost: Is this bagel worth your money? Is the quality worth your bank account?

To begin our investigation, we started with the holy grail of New England: Dunkin. America runs on it–New England lives off it, so we assumed Dunkin would be the control group. Dunkin isn’t good, but it isn’t bad, either–it’s reliable: You know what you’re going to get when you go to Dunkin. Preparing the sandwich is designed to be a simple, repeatable process that can be mimicked across the country. It isn’t perfect, but it’s not bad. 

The service at the Driftway Dunkin was excellent: It was fast, and all the workers were extremely polite. One bacon, egg, and cheese is $3.59. The smell was good, and the bagel was fresh and toasted to a golden brown–crunchy outside and fluffy inside. The bagel was surprisingly lovely–it had good flavor and a decent amount of “everything” bagel seasoning on top. However, the bagel was the highlight of the Dunkin sandwich. The egg-to-bagel ratio was not excellent. The bagel was significantly more significant than the egg, which had a sponge-like consistency. Unfortunately, the bacon lacked flavor and crunchiness and did not cover the egg and cheese. No customizations could be made for this type of cheese, and no seasoning was added to the egg. Overall, the egg was disappointing but expected. The cheese was decent, and the bacon could have been more crispy. This led to an overall score of 5/10–not good, but not bad–just mediocre. A fantastic start to our breakfast sandwich inquiry. 

Our next location was Gunther Tooties, located on Country Way. The service was excellent: the staff was very kind and polite. They have 22 bagel options, including fun flavors like pumpkin, spinoccoli, and blueberry. The bagel itself came out lukewarm, but it was still a decent quality. In our opinion, the New York-style bagel isn’t great–it’s chewy and rubbery but has a decent flavor. The bacon, egg, and cheese were a good quality and very customizable. The best part about Gunther’s Tooties was the service and the swiftness. It’s the perfect location for you if you’re in a pinch and need to get fast food before school. The sandwich cost $6.41; consequently, Gunther Tooties received an overall score of 6/10. 

Our third location was the Lucky Finn Cafe on Front Street. One of the best atmospheres, the cafe’s service was lovely. We interviewed two workers about their thoughts on the bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich. Ironically, both were vegetarians but spoke very highly of the food, explaining that the famous bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich was a trendy menu item. 

One of the most notable attributes at Lucky Finn was how hot the bagels were. Our two bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches were steaming hot, with melted cheese, toasted bagels, and warm egg and bacon. This made an enormous difference in the quality of the sandwich. The bagel was fluffy and fresh, the eggs were warm and seasoned, and there was an excellent egg-to-bagel ratio. The bacon was the perfect balance between crispy and flavorful. Unfortunately, the one disappointment was the price, $5.95.  Subsequently, we gave this location an overall score of 8/10.

Next on our list was Scituate Harbor’s Coffee Corner, a fan favorite among students. The service at Coffee Corner was terrific, very polite and accommodating–comparable to Lucky Finn. The bagel was fresh, with the perfect ratio of “everything” bagel seasoning. The egg was warm, the cheese was perfectly melted, and the bacon was very flavorful. With a reasonably priced sandwich at $5.90, we determined that Coffee Corner is promising and reliable, and we would go to this location again. Our overall experience at the Coffee Corner was great, giving it a total rating of 9/10.

Starling Bakery was absolutely the worst location on our list. To put this in perspective, after examining every inch of  Scituate for the best breakfast sandwich, we had no expectations–especially since neither of us had ever gone to the Starling Bakery. To our surprise, it was the worst–by far. Our order took over 25 minutes to prepare, and while we waiting, three customers came in and walked away after they didn’t receive service. 

Not even 10 minutes into our waiting time, the fire alarm was being tested, which was excruciating. This torment went on for several minutes. In fact, two other customers waiting for their food were visibly distraught and annoyed. If we hadn’t paid $6 dollars and change for our sandwiches–making Starling’s sandwich the most expensive–we would have walked out.  

After 25 minutes, our sandwiches were ready. Unfortunately, they were the smallest out our locations. The bagels, which were chewy and rubbery, had a suffocating amount of “everything” bagel seasoning on top. The sandwiches were so unbearably salty that you could feel the moisture being sucked out of your mouth when you took a bite.  The egg had the consistency of a dry sponge. The bacon resembled beef jerky–awkwardly thick and chewy. Not great. Not even good. Quite terrible. None of us finished our sandwiches, leaving us feeling unsatisfied and disappointed; therefore, Starling Bakery received an overall score of 1/10. 

To conclude our breakfast sandwich quest, we voted. Based on our criteria of service, taste, quality, shape, temperature, and cost…drum roll, please…Coffee Corner is the best option for students. Although Coffee Corner’s breakfast sandwich isn’t the cheapest, the speediest, or the best quality, it earned the highest average. With its excellent customer service and quality food, Coffee Corner earned the distinction as the best place for students to grab breakfast before school.