Solid bagels. The dense, chewy kind. Pros: Just the right size Cons: No seating? And I have to go all the way to Park Slope? read more

I'm not a New Yorker, so take this review for what it's worth. These baegels are great. They are soft and chewy. They really pile on the lox and the cream cheese. These are some of the best lox I've had in years. read more

My favorite kind of shop. Just a counter and some guys- in and out and you got yourself a tasty bagel. The bagels are fantastic. The outsides have just enough resistance on the bite and the overall chew is perfect. I make sure to eat one (sometimes two) whenever I'm in the neighborhood. Definitely not a nice looking place but if it works it works and I'll keep coming back. read more

These bagels are legit and old fashioned, like what I grew up with. They're dense, chewy and crispy, not puffy and enormous like the current NY bagel trend. I don't care about toppings or whatever, I just get those elsewhere. read more

I ordered an everything bagel toasted with butter. I got a garlic bagel not toasted with cream cheese . Lol. I hate when places get my order wrong and was initially upset, but was coming home from a night shift and wasn't going to go back. It was honestly an excellent bagel. Will go back regardless! read more

Everything is on point here. Great, fresh bagels, and succulent, quality lox, generously apportioned in their $6.99 bagel and lox sandwich (of which I just finished eating two). Fresh and good coffee, available both hot and iced, and quick, no-nonsense service, all at reasonable prices. Zero pretention and all quality. This is everything a NY-born and raised bagel fresser like myself looks for in a bagel joint! read more

Maybe New Jersey has better bagels??? I'm new to Park Slope and was drawn to the Bagel Hole by the lines out the door on Saturday mornings. While the bagels were find, I really don't expect to ever wait on that line. The bagels are small and the toppings are literally one-sided. That is, if you order an everything bagel and slice it in half, you will have half an everything and half a plain. I think that's a total bummer and would really prefer sandwich options and better cream cheeses in a bagel place. I'm searching for a new bagel place. read more

One of the best bagels in NYC. Bagels have a crisp exterior and a dense chewy interior. The bagels always taste fresh. Everyone working there is always so patient, and kind which makes the experience even better. read more

Super Fresh Bagels! Super affordable, they even sell cream, eggs and juice. I was able to get two bagels with cream cheese, a dozen eggs and cream for under $10. read more

I have always heard that this Bagel Hole is the best. I went there to give it a shot and I was disappointed. The bagel was small and the topping is on one side. It didn't even taste better than other bagels I have eaten somewhere else. The bagel was oily from inside. read more

This place is tiny! Literally a hole in the wall. But the bagels are fantastic. This might be my new favorite bagel. Rated in the top of Time-Out NY bagel list. And the top of my list. This is the type of place that keeps alive the real NYC traditions. read more

I admit it. I live two doors down from the Bagel Hole. Even if I didn't, I would go out of my way to get bagels from here though. They were rated the #1 bagel in NYC by a big foodie blog... and for good reason. Now some tips from a frequent Bagel Hole nosher: * eat them warm (or hot if you have good timing) - they make them continuously, they'll tell you what's warm if you ask, and they usually have something warm or hot in the mornings. Eating a regular Bagel Hole bagel at room temperature is really good. Eating a warm (or hot) bagel with cream cheese is life-changing. I literally start eating my warm bagels as I'm walking out the store. * their lox can be bought by the pound and is the best in the area. (I think they source from Acme Fish). It is far better than anything you get in the refrigerator there (or anywhere else). * get your bagel with bacon, egg and cheese from time to time (American is my preference because it melts well). Wait until you get to the subway to start eating it, as the cheese will have melted a bit. It's also a lot cheaper than most bacon-egg-cheese sandwiches in the city. * buy in bulk, take home, and freeze them. My sister buys two dozen every time she's here and takes them back to Baltimore to stock in her freezer (when they last that long). * even if the line is long, it moves fast, as they at busy times have as many as four people working behind the (very small) case. The fine print to set your expectations going in: * they do not toast. do not get angry (I've seen people walk out in a huff). If you get a warm or hot one, it's infinitely better than toasted. * they do not have crazy cream cheese choices - plain, veggie, scallion, usually lox, and occasionally walnut. And whitefish spread. No tofu. No jalapeno-bacon infused. * size does not matter. they are not huge puff piece "bread-posting-as-bagels". * It's a very small store without any pretense (which translates to old floor and an old refrigerator that is doubling as storage.) read more

This is what a bagel is supposed to be. When I was a kid, a bagel was this small round thing that practically broke your teeth when you tried to bite it but was chewy, dense and moist on the inside. If you stored them right, they would keep for a few days. And, even once they started to dry out a little, you could toast them back to life. Then, sometime in the 1980s, some idiot came up with the idea of steaming bagels, rather than boiling them, before baking them. This transformed bagels from something special into big puffy pieces of round bread, whose only resemblance to bagels was that they (sometimes) had holes in them. No hard crust, no chewy inside, and only good for about fifteen minutes after coming out of the oven before they started to go stale on you. (Perfect example: those crummy H&H bagels that people who are not originally from New York line up to buy to prove that they are real New Yorkers and know real bagels.) These "bagels" aren't fit for human consumption without toasting them and slothering them in cream cheese, lox, whitefish, etc. For years, I had been trying to explain to my Japanese wife what a real bagel was. Since she has only been in New York for ten years, she never got to eat a real, actual bagel. She thought round bread with a hole in the middle was a bagel. I thought that, perhaps, if we went to Boro Park or East Williamsburg, we might be able to find a place that still boiled their bagels, but we never got around to it. Then, low and behold, I overheard someone talking about how the Bagel Hole still made actual bagels. We'd walked by this hole in the wall (no pun intended; I just can't think of any other way to describe it) dozens of times and never entered because, well, how dumb a name is "Bagel Hole"? With a name like that, it couldn't possibly be good, could it? Imagine my surprise when we tried it -- a real, actual bagel of the kind I remembered from childhood. It was small. It had a thick hide protecting a soft inner body of doughy, chewy, moist deliciousness. The bagel tasted great just as it was, without toasting, cream cheese, or anything. How did this place survive without succumbing to the tyranny of bagel-steaming? It's something of a mystery. More importantly, how can we prevent the owners from ever retiring or selling out to someone who will have the "brilliant" idea of making more money by converting this into a "bagel" shop, once again leaving the world without bagels? In short, for those of you who remember what a bagel tastes like, come here, quick. And for those of you who only know "bagels," come and try a bagel for a change. You'll never want to eat another "bagel" again. read more

You get bagel and coffee. No more. No less. Keep it moving. They don't toast. There's no hummus or toffuti. You get bagel and coffee. No more. No less. Keep it moving. No toasting. There is no bagel toasting. You get bagel and coffee. No more. No Less. Keep it moving. read more

Its not often that i eat something terrible. But these bagels are. I try not to bash anyone but when i waste money on food like this it makes me sad. A real hole in the wall. The bagel I got was horrible. Dry, hard and awful. It made it to the corner where i happily threw it in the trash. I don't even think the seagulls would eat this bagel. WIGB? No read more

The place is dirty and had an electrical burning smell in the air when I visited, but I stuck around, thinking the bagels must be good to warrant the small crowd. But when the girl behind the counter took off her glove and kept it in her MOUTH for a full minute so she could use the register for the customer in front of me, then returned the glove to her hand, and returned her hands to slicing my bagels, I had to walk out mid-order. As a rule, I don't eat strangers' spit, especially untoasted, and I can only assume that basic food-handling training is not a high priority at this place, or gloves are in short supply. Not returning any time soon. read more

Oh my god. This is the worst place ever. They don't toast bagels. The bagel I got was stale and the best the guy could come up with is "I don't know what to tell you, man." Instead of making a new one with a fresh bagel he tried to microwave the old one, with cream cheese inside of it. MICROWAVE a bagel??? You've got to be kidding me. So why all the great reviews? I can only guess becuase midwesterners with a lot of money, who are used to eating Lenders frozen bagels back home, move here and think that this place is legit. It is not. This is not what a Brooklyn bagel is supposed to taste like. Oh, on a side note, the place is absolutley filthy inside. #healthdepartment read more

Every time I asked for a dozen whole wheat bagels the "Help" gave me a nasty attitude. The last time I went and asked for a dozen and one half whole wheat bagels they told me I could not buy that many. It seems The Bagel Hole doesn't want to sell bagels. When I left there I realized that the word ass was omitted from their sign. read more

Not too bad and not too amazing - The Bagel Hole is a pretty standard bagel spot. I had the sesame bagel with vegetable cream cheese and it was really good, but I was a bit disappointed with the bagel selection, as they only had about 5-6 choices. If you want something quick and cheap and you're in the neighborhood, this is probably a good bet. I'm sure I'll visit the Hole again. Oh yeah, and they only take cash. read more

New York bagels aren't toasted. I repeat new york bagels aren't toasted... Soooo All the tourists going for yelp elite this yr and visiting bagel hole need to stop complaining about the lack of a toaster in this joint. The bagels are great in their natural form with a schmear of cream cheese - which is what you should order here. Highly recommend an everything w scallion cream cheese. Would have given this place 4 stars because the concept of microwaving egg sandwiches doesnt sit right with me... since that's what I'm usually going for, but they are also HALF the price of other egg sandwiches in the area.. So they get 5[stars]. read more

I don't agree with the Mayor on many things, but I do agree that these bagels are probably the best in NY (despite my best efforts, I haven't tried every NY bagel ... yet). The only drawback is that its cash only, but I probably should stop charging $5 worth of food anyway. I always get mine untoasted and they have never disappointed me. My favorite thing (besides the taste, obviously...) is that the bagels are normal sized. Sometimes, I buy a bagel and it's so freaking huge, especially after they add my cream cheese and lox. The bagels here are still an edible size after the fix-ins :) I take all of my out of town friends here to experience bagels (so long as they're willing to make the trek to Brooklyn) and you should, too. read more

Just placed a pickup order and was given the wrong order. Was the only person in the store, so no rush to not get it right. Nobody picks up the phone, so much for customer service. read more

I don't like bagels. I use bagels as a utensil to eat massive amounts of cream cheese. Then I had a bagel here. Mind blown. I actually wanted less cream cheese on it so I can taste more of the bagel. The outer layer was crispy (without being toasted). Even though these bagels are half the density of your average bagel, the inside was chewy; like you just got a jaw workout chewy. Definitely will come back here anytime I'm in Brooklyn. read more

The best bagels in NY. Word is that these are how bagels in the city used to be, before automated preparation and Lender's-palettes effected the large, puffy rings that are now commonplace. I can't address that, as I didn't live here during the bagel days of yore, and I don't care to address it, because these (and other) bagels should be judged here and now. And the fact is, Bagel Hole is a few steps above just about every other bagel hole (lowercase) around, with or without regard to its historical accuracy. Texture is king when it comes to bagels. The specimens at Bagel Hole have a finely blistered crust which houses a -crunchiness- distinct from that of their competitors. I highlight crunchiness because it isn't quite the right word for the qualities that these possess: a slightly crackling, slightly chewy give, and a fine matrix of delicately crispy gluten. Rather than the monolithic crunch of normal toasted breadstuff, Bagel Hole bagels' crust present a thousand tiny, gossamer crackles. This gives way to an interior that is moist and chewy, with a slight stretchiness and a yeasty flavor. Bagel Hole doesn't toast their bagels for customers; they claim, in fact, to not even own a toaster. This perturbed me initially, and while I still half-think it's only to speed up the morning rush (they aren't the only place to refuse the service), I'm now more or less for it, culinarily. A sliced bagel, toasted, loses some of its chewy interior, and some of its crust complexity, to browning, and with a bagel where these qualities shine, it's a poor trade-off. Some bagels need warmth to have any character at all, but I eat these frequently at 4 in the afternoon, and while they aren't as good as they can be, they retain the bulk of their nuance and flavor, which I think a full-on toasting would ruin. That said, I wish they would offer the reheating of an unsliced bagel, for just a minute, which would warm things up but preserve the texture, and which is what I occasionally do if I bring a dozen home. Beyond the bagels themselves, things are pretty spartan. There are a few different spreads and deli meats, and standard-issue coffee and juice. The sliced lox is very solid, but the lox spread is a rather lazy mixture of chopped salmon and normal cream cheese, not the fully-infused and bold assembly you find in some other places (Bagel Oasis on the LIE). Even the bagels offer little variety; the oddest flavor is, I believe, cinnamon raisin, out of maybe ten choices. I'm frankly not one for flavors beyond the half-dozen classics (sesame, garlic, etc.), but if you are, you might find their selection disappointing. Despite any or all of this, I really have to give the place 5 stars, because the main event, the bagels and their texture, are so unique and so far above anything else. The place itself is small and dingy, and there's no sit-down. The people are friendly enough, but I can't really describe Bagel Hole as overly welcoming. Who cares, though? I don't understand the reviews I see of this place that bemoan, I don't know, the lack of parking out front, or focus on some other stupid aspect, while missing how great the bagels are. On an aside, the people who run Bagel Hole seem totally unaware that they're touted as the best place in town (at least by Chowhound and a few other foodie sites), and there isn't any of the self-awareness that pervades a place like Murray's. It's really pretty weird. read more

Excellent bagels. Best in Brooklyn. Not the puffy/oversized kind of bagel, just simple and delicious. Lose a star because service is often bad and they often leave out a bagel or two that you've paid for. Count your bagels before you leave. read more

Really some of the tastiest bagels in New York. Even the plain with regular cream cheese is delicious. I love the crunchy outside and chewy inside. They don't toast or offer low fat or non-fat cream cheese, but I like the fact that the bagels are the smaller, traditional size - less calories than their twice-the-size counterparts. read more

Love this bagel shop! Most likely my favorite of all time. Those are fresh bagels tho, so they don't get toasted! Come here in the morning, to get them warm. I usually eat one fresh from the shop, and get a dozen to freeze and toast at home over the week. read more

Deelish. People, people, people...bagels aren't suppose to be large. Unless you want to be large, of course. And it doesn't have all sorts of spreads and sandwich menu options bc it's a bagel place. Not a deli. Where they sell crap loads of "italian" cookies and "croissants" and other sorts of generic deli things. Not suppose to be bigger than small fist. Not suppose to be fluffy. Want that go to La Bagel delight and get your bagel-shaped wonder bread. Want atmosphere? Go to Starbucks and listen to Paul McCartney piped in. Meh. Want a real bagel, go to Bagel Hole. read more

I'm truly baffled at how bad and how people think these food quality standards are ok. The place is truly disgusting and just shockingly terrible for NY standards! Tis a hole alright. Nuff said man. read more

I can't believe someone would complain that an authentic bagel shop doesn't make blueberry bagels. Or that the Bagel Hole's bagels are too hard and chewey. I see the end of New York in sight. read more

Good grief, these are good bagels...in fact, the best I've ever had. I dream of their soft, chewy, buttery, yummy goodness!!! Plain bagel with plain cream cheese and coffee from Bagel Hole is my breakfast of choice about 3 days a week! read more

Frankly, I'm surprised at the comments complaining that the Bagel Hole bagels are too small. Perhaps those folks have been corrupted by the massive, soft, not boiled excuses for bagels that - unfortunately - seem to dominate the bagel scene these days. Or - God forbid - Lender's Bagels! A true bagel is not suppose to be big. Bagels are best at about 4-5" across, with a crunchy crust on the outside and a soft, chewy interior. The bagel is merely the vehicle for the toppings - onion, garlic, poppy seeds - but a real bagel from heaven is just plain, fresh from the oven and a joy to consume. Those who prefer a huge soft bagel should simply patronize the typical street coffee cart where the bagels resemble a raised doughnut in texture and a spare tire in size and shape. My parents both grew up in Brooklyn in the 1940-50s. When they come to visit their homeland from far off bagel-less Oregon, they LOVE the Bagel Hole bagels and never cease to comment on how these are just like the "real" bagels they used to get as kids. Carry on, Bagel Hole - we love you! read more

Now people, I'm fully aware that bagel teams are fierce in this town, but IMHO *this* is a proper bagel. These are tiny, dense, chewy, yummy goodness. I had a poppyseed bagel with cream cream cheese. Not toasted! It's a sin to toast a fresh New York bagel; so much so that the people in line in front of us were kicked out for asking! I've been to Ess a Bagel and H&H. Yummy goodness from both, but The Bagel Hole holds it's place #1 in my book. read more

Bagel Hole - The Perfect Bagel - Bagels Near Me - Brooklyn, New York

Best bagels in NY! Their bagels are just perfect- perfectly sized, hearty and delicious. I am really happy they are on the smallish size since I am not looking to eat a humongous piece of bread. They are small, tightly packed and full on flavour. They are fresh and made throughout the day. Yes they don't do toasting, but bagels are made throughout the day and if you are getting a plain, WW or pumpernickel you probably get a warm one or at least one made within the past hour..I never do cream cheese so cant comment on their selection.My only gripe is that I sometimes get charged a different amount for the same order if someone new is working and that can be frustrating(even stopped going there for a couple of years for that reason) All in all great bagels, fast service and pretty cheap! read more

These are the best bagels I've had in Brooklyn. They're chewy, and they're the appropriate size (smaller). The cream cheese is also very good. Try to get there early so you can get them warm. read more

This place is an absolute dump. Worst customer service I've ever encountered as well. They wouldn't slice my bagel. Hope it closes down.

ok i get it, some people like to hate on things because they're popular, and i am usually one of those people (i.e. mediocre roasted brussel sprouts can only get you so far new age american restaurants). but this bagel spot??? was pretty great tbh. i think maybe they lack in consistency, but i got my bagel at like 2 pm right when they were about to close and it was still warm and chewy!!! i got an everything bagel with tofutti and cream cheese and fresh dill and it was like..... perfect lol. and so affordable for new york bagels??? all of that for 3 BUCKS! although they are smaller/ they don't load on the cream cheese, i think it was a perfect size for a breakfast or a snack!!! most of the time when i get a bagel in ny, it puts me out for at least half the day, so i actually really enjoyed the size and top tier quality of this bagel!!! also, they cut the cucumber on the deli slicer which i thought was funny and endearing. i've only gone once, but that one time was very enjoyable and put this place in good standing in my book! read more

Great tasting bagels, quick/helpful service, and affordable prices. This place is a gem and should have much higher rating on Yelp!

Fantastic. Love these bagels. I just wish they were a little bigger...

Their whole wheat bagel is hands down the best in town. Not the big airy wagon wheels you get at the other places in town - these bagels are chewy, dense, and authentic - a NYC classic. Everything bagel is my second fave. Worth the trip to Brooklyn! read more