Ideal Bagel

Me-​mo-​mama-​mia this place is a-​tasty treat. I love the bagels here and I love the staff. The special creamy cheesers are always ON POINT. They actually hate when I come in because I end up singing Alanis Morissette’s «Thank You» from start to finish with the local Jewish acappella troupe Shabop-​Shabop Shalom right at the counter because the food so good. These bagels are so fine I’ve started calling them Beygels. Thanks have a good one.
I’m the noshelorette
these bagels are my suitors
every one gets a rose
bagers can’t be choosers

Second time here– remembered how good it was last time! Ordered House Fish on everything bagel– one with lox & herb creamcheese & one with smoked trout & sundried tomato creamcheese… didn’t want to have to choose between them. Yum!

Holy shit, I’m happy. Just had the house fish — lox on an everything bagel with plain cream cheese and it was delicious! The bagel itself was perfectly toasted and chewy and full of flavor. The lox was what lox should be and the perfect amount of capers were nestled on top. I will be back here the next time I come to Athens. Dear God.

The bagel with lox was a 3.5 star item, competently done with a decent size portion of lox. The coffee was bland and unappealing. It’s a bit out of the way but if it was closer I’d probably come more.

Easy breakfast place. We ordered breakfast to go and had to wait about 10 minutes, bu they were delicious. I had the everything bagel with lox. Bagels are fresh. Got there early enough to not wait in line, but I know there are lines.

Good bagels are offset by the hipster service… taking pride in slow poor service ruins the experience

BEST coffee in town — hands down. Bagels are delicious and made fresh daily. Lox and smoked salmon are cured in house, and with house pickled onions and capers it makes an tasty breakfast. The Tupelo (pnut butter, banana and bacon) is one of my favs. I get it in sesame bagel. Owner and staff are great and service is fast. Love this home away from home!

My first time there and it’s The best Bagel shop! I’ll have my breakfast there everyday now. The bagels taste great and their service is FAST.

Get ready for some average bagels accompanied by SLOW S L O W S L O W service. The average time it takes for someone to place an order is 4 – 5 minutes, which is far too long for a breakfast place in which many people are dropping in on their way to work or class.
The line is constantly long due to the inefficient and repetitive way in which they take your order and make you pay– you’ll see if you bother to wait in line long enough. They use a customer-​facing card-​swipe pad, like many places do, however there are about 5 different steps to go through on the little screen, which for a customer who’s unfamiliar with the system, can really slow things down. I had to have her help me twice because it was so hard to figure out what I was supposed to be doing on that little screen and which button to press. And all the other customers who ordered after me had the same issue, I noticed. Why are all Athens bagel places so slow and nonchalant about their service? Don’t they get that bagel places like those in NYC take about 30 seconds to take your order, and speed is of the essence?
There is NO sense of urgency in the register workers or the cooks alike at this place, and it shows in the length of the lines. And then you have to wait approximately 10 minutes (often more) to revive your order. Not at all what bagel places should be like, in my opinion. Maybe I’d be better off getting breakfast from the Bulldawg Café on campus, where at least they’re super speedy even during peak hours.

This place is the Best !! This is out second time
We are repeat customers, only issue is parking best to walk here from UGA awesome for lunch or breakfest

Bagels are fresh and tasty. Not too big. Not too small. Just right. Pimento cheese was great, the pastrami juicy, and the fried egg was fresh and made to order. Worth the Saturday morning line!

Open faced breakfast sandwiches. Only thing missing was the smell of freshly baked bread.

Great spot for a bagel and coffee! Bagels are dense so if you love bread, you’ll love this place. Very friendly service and has tables to sit outside as well as inside.

Easily the best bagel shop in Athens, and arguably one of the best in Georgia. The Cadillac is my favorite bagel sandwich I’ve ever had– try it with a little bit of Sriracha and you’ll fall in love.

Stopped in last week for a quick bite, was in a rush and ordered the garlic bagel with smoked fish cream cheese spread (a few minutes before a meeting, eek!) and it was awesome, a little salty but I’d order it again. Need to stop in for a sandwich next time.

Great non-​chain breakfast spot just steps from the expansive UGA campus. Oh and the food is awesome to boot. I had The Dotty, an onion bagel with fried eggs, cheddar, and Canadian bacon. Really fresh and well done basic sandwich. Prices are great too. Breakfast for three for $ 20.

Best bagel shop in Athens. Open 7 days a week. Highly recommend the smoked trout or the Lox. And skip the everything and go straight to the PUMPERNICKEL EVERYTHING bagel. You with thank me when you are done.
Also if you are needing a dessert afterwards can I suggest a cinnamon raisin with the espresso cream cheese… yum.

Great food… great service! Highly recommend The Tupelo… peanut butter, banana & bacon on a toasted salt bagel. Prices are right on point, too!

Went to ideal for the very first time because I had a buy one get one free coupon. I had the Reuben sandwich and the Sausalito turkey sandwich. Both were fantastic with very generous amounts of ingredients and great taste. Can’t wait to go back again and try other sandwich offerings.

Great first experience.
They were very patient with us, as my wife and I were unfamiliar with their menu. Our order-​taker enthusiastically explained the most popular choices of smear, also letting us know that we could try any kind we liked. We appreciated this, especially since they were moderately busy.
The espresso smear was fantastic. Not too sweet with just enough coffee flavor.
Wife had the bananas foster on a cinnamon raisin, which could have been a dessert.
Will definitely return!