Blue Sky Bagels

When my husband and I are looking for a fast and easy (and delicious) breakfast or lunch, Blue Sky is our spot. We have NEVER had a bad experience and the quality and service is top notch. They often have seasonal cream cheeses which is a nice way to switch it up!
Food: I love how they have TONS of different bagels, toppings (cream cheese, meats, veggies, nut butters, etc), soups, salads, parfaits, and even treats! They make sure to serve up anything for a picky eater. My husband’s favorite is the bacon, egg and cheese sandwich on a Parmesan bagel. I love the cinnamon & sugar bagel with honey walnut cream cheese. YUM. Their soups are also very good!
Drinks: They have self-​serve soda fountain but also make coffee & espresso drinks. I love that!
Atmosphere: It smells SO GOOD in there! It’s your typical bagel shop with a lunch-​line style for ordering and simple tables to sit at. Sometimes the tables and floors are a little dirty, but they’re so busy that they just don’t have a chance to clean them off between each customer. I prefer the atmosphere at the Boise and Fairview locations over the Chinden one.
Service: Very friendly and helpful. Always quick to answer questions or offer suggestions.
Happy Hour Offerings: n/​a
Healthy Hack: Looking for something lighter? Try a broth-​based soup or one of their salads.
Tips: Go often? Ask for a lunch punch card! Make sure to check out their special of the day and seasonal cream cheese offerings!

Now that this location is a Blue Sky, the bagels are smaller. This is our weekly tradition after our family run, so we continue to enjoy bagels here. The staff is friendly, but seems to change more frequently than before. Definitely busier than it used to be.

The bagels were dry and hard. The coffee was out but they had a back up ready. Service was good.
But the 2 stars is really to the bagel since it is a bagel place. Really would have been a 1 since we threw the bagel away and didn’t finish it.

I come here every Sunday rain or shine. You have to try the cinnamon sugar bagels. When I come I run here from my house. I always beat my dad.
By:
Quinn

Attack on my tastes buds and not my pocket! YUM!

Better than Sunshine Bagels, for sure, but that’s not saying much. There seems to be something about this space that just makes for mediocre restaurants – every deli/​sandwich shop/​bakery that’s taken residence here has been meh.
Now that it’s a Blue Sky I had high hopes for better quality, but it’s not as good as the other two Blue Sky locations. The bagels were okay, but seemed a little more dense and less chewy than I am used to.
I ordered a mixed bagels and cream cheese. They offer a good variety with all sorts of savory like asiago, parmesan, onion, sunflower, poppy seed, sesame seed, garlic, and everything. For sweet they had chocolate chip, blueberry, cranberry orange, cinnamon raisin, and cinnamon sugar as well as plain old plain. I really love the parmesan and cinnamon sugar the best. I notice the sweet bagels tend to be tougher than the savory ones, perhaps because of the increased sugar in the dough? I don’t know, but I don’t tend to buy them as a result. The bagels I got were good, and I could tell they’d been baked that morning, but perhaps because they sell fewer than the other stores, I could tell they had been sitting out all day and didn’t rotate as quickly as might keep them fresh and snappy.
The building itself isn’t very nice. I sat in a side room with cords out on the floor, torn carpet, and dinged paint on the walls. It felt very much like a work in progress, and not somewhere i wanted to be. Chairs and tables were flimsy, wobbly, and not very comfortable. There were dirty tables that were never bussed, crumbs on the floor, and leftover food debris accumulated on chairs and a counter that staff never attempted to clean. In fact, the staff never made rounds around the dining room, despite the fact it was pretty filthy. The restaurant wasn’t busy, so they were in the back talking rather than attending to details. I’ve worked in food service so I don’t expect perfection, but there was no attempt here.
I had coffee, of which they brew Dawson Taylor. I was disappointed that it was lukewarm (at 2:00 pm) and probably what they had brewed when they opened. They also didn’t have fresh half and half out, and I got an eye roll when I asked for more when I got a refill. I hate feeling like I’m inconveniencing staff, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to get a second cup of coffee and want it with cream.
I’m so sad that this isn’t up to the other Blue Sky standards. I hope it improves, rather than dragging down the Blue Sky name. It would be so nice to have tasty bagels in a fresh, clean space with a warm staff on this little corner of Chinden. I have my fingers crossed.

Outlet No. 3 for BS. This used to be Sunshine Bagels until last September (2014). In my previous review of Sunshine, I said they sucked and were way down from BS. Well, it proved to be right, since they didn’t move as the old Unilocal Site says, they went belly-​up.
Went there today to see if they were the same as the Meridian at Fairview store. The answer is Yes. Same great bagels, same Dawson Taylor coffee, same cordial help. We were glad to see the number of customers was good on a Saturday morning.
The cream cheese smears are many, but are applied too heavily for my likes. Ask for the smear on the side and apply to your own taste and thickness. They also make sandwiches from the bagels.
This a good place for a quick breakfast or lunch and bagels are stout and large enough to share for 2 light eaters; same for sandwiches.
They also have my favorite bargain, the bags of day old bagels for $ 2.00 a bag. If I am going to freeze bagels for home use, this is a perfect option.
Access is good as they have a lot for the strip mall. Handicap parking is close by and the floor is all one level.
Seating is spacious and tables with standard chairs. They seem to wipe their tables more frequently than the Fairview store, good for them.
If you have trouble locating them, look for Guido’s Pizza.