Tal Bagels

Awesome bagels but holy _​_​_​, this place gets busy. Honestly, they are a bit inefficient behind the counter of this moderately expensive joint, but I can’t argue with fresh bagels and sloppy butter stains on my shirt.

Too bad cause it’s the closest bagel place, but they fail to deliver on many levels. My online order with delivery estimate of 45 minutes (high for bagels two blocks away — it was raining, but 8am on a Sunday) failed to arrive. Called to check on it and was told it was on its way. Called again and was told they had just received the order. Cancelled and hiked over to David’s. Too many good options in the neighborhood to bother here.

We’ve been going to Ess A Bagel since it opened many years ago. We decided to try Tal Bagels. We will not go back. The bagels and salads are not quite as good. The biggest problem is the cost. It is ridiculous how much they charge for cream cheeses and white fish salad. I’ll wait for Ess A Bagel to reopen. I will not return to Tal Bagels.

I rate this bagel joint «F.E.» for F**KING EXPENSIVE!!!
I ordered an everything, scooped, toasted, with swiss cheese, tomato, & onion & with the small coffee it came to $ 8.25!!! Are you F’n kidding me?! I wanted to pay for a bagel & coffee not a meal!
And it don’t matter how much you charge me — what makes them think i want a ¼ pound of swiss cheese, unmelted no less, on my bagel — which is just about what they put. If I wanted a cheese sandwich I would’ve asked — but this ain’t the Great Depression — NOBODY WANTS A CHEESE SANDWICH — at least one that isn’t grilled GENIUSES!
At most 2 – 3 slices of swiss — with all the cheese I couldve used an AXE to get through it — cause my teeth barely did the job.
Funny thing was I was behind this chick in line who was buying Hanukah donuts. She had 6 in a box and asked how much they were each — $ 2.75!!! for one stinkin donut! She said no thank you and walked out. In this one instance — thank God I’m a Goy!
I should’ve took her exit as a hint to look at their prices. My bad. Too bad Ess-​A bagel wasn’t still in this space. Oh well, you’ve been forewarned — unless your desperate for a bagel — ROLL ON ! Hey Oh! Take my wife please — to a cheaper bagel joint!

They are never friendly when you go in to anyone really. They also seem to not listen at all. My partner and I have gone in a combined 5 days (separately) and they’ve gotten our orders wrong three of those times. It’s almost as if they hear whatever they want. I definitely won’t be going back no matter how close it is to my apartment.

I come here to get my bagels. My usual is a whole wheat bagel toasted with vegetable cream cheese.
I’ve had my fair share of these morning goodies from all around the city and found that Tal Bagels has one of the better spreads I’ve had in a while. What makes their veggie cream cheese one of my favorites is the airy creaminess of the cheese that mixes well with the crunch of their vegetables. I also got iced coffee with my bagel which came in a cute plastic cup.
I came with my boyfriend who always gets an everything bagel and regular cream cheese. He asked to toast it, but the guy kinda advised him not to because the bagel was apparently warm already (maybe it was just freshly made or sitting in the morning sun for a while or he just didn’t want to toast his bagel). It happened before, but the bagel wasn’t warm that time. I mean I guess if you really don’t want to toast the bagel …
He also bought their orange juice because the machine looked cool and he wanted to see how well it could juice. As I quote him «I feel as if I just had 5 oranges!» I had a sip myself and I must say, it was good — nothing extraordinary. The juice was sweet, without added sugar; it wasn’t all liquid either, there were really small bits of pulp — microscopic. The juice came in a really neat plastic bottle with a cap.
Not the full five stars cause service is a bit off putting sometimes.

I guess that I can’t hold a grudge against Tal bagels for replacing the beloved Ess a Bagel. I have had a hard time going there because of it, though. Finally, my bagel jones overrode my loyalty and I tried this place for lunch.
It’s probably because it’s so new, but this is the cleanest bagel shop that I have ever eaten in. It’s small and must get really crowded. I was suprised that the coffee was self serve, but it’s nice to be able to make a cup to my specifications.
Let’s get to the main event– the bagels. They are OK. IMHO, they are too light. The crust is thin and the center is light. The tuna salad was OK.
Tal is OK, but doesn’t hold a candle to Ess a Bagel.

So glad these guys are in my neighborhood! Compared to the other options (Pick-​a-​Bagel /​Gramercy Bagels /​Tompkins Square Bagels (good but further away and the wait is INSANE)) this place is perfect.
It gets crowded on the weekends as most places do, but the line goes quickly and the people behind the counter are super nice. The most recent time I was there I didn’t even need to get a bagel toasted because they were fresh out of the oven. Plus, they use the perfect amount of cream cheese which I really appreciate because some of the other places just use globs in a way that is disgusting.

Who is giving this place bad reviews? You guys are NUTS
the owners and staff are the nicest Ive been to EVER. I am seriious.
Ive visited the others Davids, etc. in the area.
The bagels are pure quality and I could taste the freshness.
The morning specials CANNOT BE BEAT.
$ 4 for a coffee and bagel with 2 eggs? tell me where you can get that.

Crowded. The bagel sandwiches were decent, but $ 16 for two bagels, two coffees (a la deli coffee or cart guy coffee) and two rugelach? Eau contraire.
This is why Ess-​a couldn’t stay here. These folks are obviously getting gouged for rent, so they’re gouging us. There are also a million people working behind the counter and none of them seems to really know what’s going on.
Meh.
My prediction is the crowds will diminish once Ess-​a opens their new digs across the street. As it should be.

It happened. I had a bad bagel in New York. Here I was, running around believing that all bagels in New York were equally delicious. Oh how I was wrong.
I got an everything bagel and cream cheese. NYC standard right? No. Oh no. The bagel was overly salty to the point where I didn’t even want to finish my breakfast.
The service? Okay, it’s eight am. Please give me one moment to debate what kind of cream cheese I want. Oh there’s a credit card minimum? Give me a quick second to decide what kind of drink to get. The rude rushing and eye rolling was really offsetting for my day.
I just wouldn’t do it. There are other places in New York that you might have to trek to but they are way more worth it.

This place will never live up to Ess-​a– Bagel. The bagels just don’t measure up. I used to be annoyed at first when Ess-​a– didn’t toast but now I appreciate it and can’t imagine going back to toasting because all toasting does is help mask the sub-​par bagel craftsmanship. I’m devastated there is no more Ess-​a– Bagel. :(

tal’s by Stuy town! Was so bummed when I moved from the UES and there was no tal’s near by. Best bagel in New York.

Great place, good vibe and delicious bagels. Hope you will start doing deliveries soon.

It’s not a bad bagel. In fact, it’s actually pretty decent. But it certainly isn’t great. Has the crisp on the outside but lacks the chewiness that you come to expect from a top tier NYC bagel. Plain and simply, the prices are egregious and it will never live up to it’s predecessor in Ess-​a-​Bagel. Will continue to go to David’s when I need my bagel fix.

New place with new startup issues, except that their UES location is definitely better organized. Right now seems like they are a bit tight inside and worse of all, they ran out of everything bagels before 10am on a Sunday!
Lox on a bagel is $ 11!!!
As for taste, the cream cheese is this odd form of being whipped, the salt bagels have half a salt mine of salt on top, and the toasted part… Well, it fees half toasted.
Back to David’s Bagels it is.

Was exited that a new bagel spot came into the area. The long was long but moved very quickly, these guys were efficient.
We ordered three bagels. Plain with cream cheese, plain with lox, cream cheese, tomato and onion and whole wheat everything with olive cream cheese.
The bagel was light with a nice crust. The cream cheese was tangy and fresh. I personally like when the everything bagels have salt and these do.
Welcome to the neighborhood.