Empire Deli & Bagel

Fantastic little deli and bagel joint! Tried the onion bagel with cream cheese and lox and it was spot on! Yum! We went on a Sunday morning, and there were still a good bit of options, but get here early to get the best choice on bagel flavors!

Restaurant floors and tables were much cleaner this visit. Ordered a toasted bagel w cream cheese. Still low on coffee because they use small carafes. Bathroom door looks like one at a gas station. Slow cashier and communication problems with orders. 12 minutes to pick up and pay for a CALL IN order. Still keep giving them the opportunity to improve but not worthy of 3 stars yet. Small improvement.

Quick service and reasonable prices. Lots of bagel combinations to choose from. I had an everything bagel w/​veggie cream cheese, a bear claw, and coffee for $ 6. Seems they do a steady business. I’d go back.

I’ve been purchasing bagels from the Leland location for a long time. The bagels are great, however, some of the bagels have been smaller (jalapeño). I started noticing this about 3 – 4 months ago. They used to be big and fluffy, now the holes in them are much larger and the seem undercooked. I know these bagels come from the Ogden location, that is why I’m posting this on your location. New Baker? Not an excuse. Get with it and make quality bagels again.

All i care about in life are bagels.
I like Empires.
Simple!

Pretty good. Its no Bagel Dock in Calabash, but it suffices for Wilmington. The guy’s a dickhead though. Very rude like he’s channeling his Native Jersey CS in… the south? Slow down bro before you give urself a heart attack. The lox was pretty good. The egg sandwich was eh. The everything, jalapeño and honey wheat bagels are OK. The best part was the homemade veggie cream cheese.

Amazing place! Delicious bagels, great food, well priced, top notch service.
I ordered a bacon-​egg-​and-​cheese on a roll. A roll, no5 a bagel. It brought me back to mornings going to school on the Upper East side of Manhattan. Except that I didn’t have to worry about the cleanliness of Empire as I often did in New York City restaurants.
I also purchased a few honey wheat bagels. I didn’t have these growing up but I’m glad they are a thing now. And Empire makes them well.
It should also be mentioned that this place has true New York roots. «How could you tell?», you may ask. Well, any place with numerous Mets memorabilia is either owned by a New Yorker or a nut who like disappointment. Or maybe both… I kid, I kid.
This place also provided quality service. They have made me into a regular patron.

Hands down the best bagels I’ve ever had! I always opt for the everything toasted with cream cheese. The bagels are always perfectly toasted and against all laws of physics the cream cheese stays cold. I ate here every single morning in college and since moving away my husband and I have been on a constant quest to find bagels as good as Empire’s. Even the famed Ess-​A-​Bagel in NYC didn’t live up to my Empire expectations. We’ve even joked about starting an Empire Bagel & Deli franchise in the Triangle area because it’s a bagel desert (hint, hint)! We always visit Empire when we’re back in town and mourn the delicious breakfasts of days gone by.

Amazing bagels and endless combinations. My family loves Empire and we go there for any special occasions. Not only are their bagels great but the sandwiches and pastries are delicious. A must eat in Wilmington!

This place is awesome. Grew up outside of New York and had the best bagels in the world. empire has the same quality bagel and service that I remember getting as a kid. I am a purest so it’s always a plain bagel with butter and cream cheese. It’s always fresh made and excellent. The service is incredible. It’s great to get a bakers dozen now and then. They also have a full deli. Just like being back at home.

After hearing my friends talk about this place all the time and showing up at school every morning with a breakfast bagel sandwich, I decided to try it myself. I went on a Saturday morning with my huge family before going to the beach. There are only like 5 tables, but there was barely anyone in there, so we took up two of them. We got lucky though, because as soon as we sat down, a bunch of people started piling in and lining up. I had the sausage, egg and cheese on a garlic bagel. It was really delicious, but the bagel had too much garlic on it. Other than that, it was very satisfying and I would definitely go back again.

Best bagels in town. Only complaint would be if you don’t get there early enough on weekends they run out of certain types.

This is a solid place to get bagels… and other things like sandwiches. The bagels were very tasty, there was a good variety of flavors, and there were flavored cream cheeses. Service was fast and friendly. The place was busy on a Thursday morning with locals, and that is always a good sign. The place is well worth a visit.

Extremely disappointed. Just drove 30 minutes to try Empire, after hearing good reviews, only to be told that they had closed the grill down at 2pm for cleaning — 30 minutes before closing time. We looked up the store hours before making the trek over. Had we known this, we wouldn’t have wasted our time.
Being that it was 2:02, it seems that anyone with good customer service would have allowed us to place our order of two simple bagels with egg and cheese.
Will not be back anytime soon.
Warning to others: 2:30 close time is really 2:00.

It’s exactly what it looks like– half deli, half bagels. I had the bacon egg & cheese. Enjoyed it thoroughly. Everything bagel was really good, it even had salt on it, which I love. Overall, I am only giving it 4 because they didn’t have iced coffee. It’s almost 80 in September, I need iced coffee! Either way, I would recommend it.

Went here to try something different other than Ken’s. these bagels are nothing to hoot about at all. I actually think the ones you get at the grocery store taste better than theirs. I’m surprised of the good reviews. The girl at the register was rude too because I didn’t know what I wanted right away and she was in a hurry. I won’t be back.

Being from NY I feel I can say that I know bagels and empire bagel doesn’t stack up. While the bagels are pretty good, they are not like back home. Now, considering there are only 2 or 3 bagels joints in Wilmington, Empire is the best. Kens Bagels are a solid notch below. Oh, I got BEC on a roll on time and bit into a freshly microwaved stale roll. So, pretty good bagels considering the options in town.

I’m not gonna go on and on w/​a review. Plain and simple if you want a great bagel then go there, and you will not be disappointed. If you’re disappointed then its you, and not the bagel.

Run by real NY guys. The bagels are the best you can find in Wilmington and super cheap. There is something deliciously special about the cream cheese at this place that I can’t quite put my finger on. They put out great breakfast sandwiches (even made me an scrambled egg white for no charge) and use all boar’s head meats. The only draw back was they didn’t take credit cards for the longest time, but that has changed (welcome to the 21^st century). A must stop before the beach/​boat!

Take it from a 50 year Long Islander…
On a trip to Wilmington, I visited Empire Deli & Bagel 4 days in a row this past August.
The 1^st day I went, the place was hoppin’ with regulars, and I placed an order for a 2 egg w/​bacon on an egg bagel and a little butter. It came up faster than it took me to pour a fresh cup of self serve coffee.
The staff there really have their act together !!
The sandwich was done perfect, the bagel looked and tasted EXACTLY like I was in New York… maybe even better !!
How do they do this ??
I found out later it’s all in the ‘house’ recipe, and the ‘boiing’ of the bagels. !!!
Lunch was a Menu Special called an ‘SK Complete’.
Roast Beef /​Onions /​Au Jus on a hero. Just SUPER delicious.
Other days I sampled the flavored cream cheeses on various bagels.
My favorites, the cinnamon raisin, the egg, and the asiago cheese.
Fresh sliced Boars Head cold cuts were tasty and piled high. Up until this trip I never really had ‘lunch sandwiches’ on a bagel. I’m hooked now, as I had a couple of Ham /​Swiss /​Bagel combos.
It adds a nice burst of flavor and texture.
Ok…you get the point… this place is neat /​clean /​fast /​and the food (especially the actual bagels) are near perfection !!
I’ll be back next time when I visit North Carolina !!!
Steve Beach — Wantagh NY