We tried Old Salt when they first opened about two years ago and their bagels were good but not great. Tried them again TWICE recently and their bagels have ascended to GREAT status. Huzzah! These are authentic bagels. Baked well but not overly baked. Soft yet chewy. A bagel crumb not a bread or roll crumb. Not sourdough, thank you very much. A real hole in the middle!!! We've tried Backyard Bagel, Hey Bagel, Rachel's Bagels, and many others, and these are our favorite bagels in Seattle. We get some bagels to go (plain or sesame), then slice them, toast them, and fill them with our favorite sandwich filling. Delicious! This takeout shop with quick and generally friendly service is only open until 1pm on weekdays and until 2pm on weekends, and usually they are out of many varieties by then. They offer plain, sesame, black sesame, poppyseed, and everything. If you want a particular variety, go earlier. EGG ALLERGY: According to their site, their bagels are brushed with an egg wash before baking. Call to order non-egg-washed bagels a day ahead. read more

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These are our new favorite bagels. I like them for its perfect size. It has a nice outside crunch, without tasting hard. We've had it in the part where we store it in ziplock bags for days. When toasted, they still tasted fresh. I've had the Black Sesame before, but we had the Everything bagel today. Both are equally great. The shop here is small, just a takeout. They sell flavored cream cheese spreads, too. Lady at the counter was nice and friendly. Street parking is available. read more

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Famous bagel and bagel sandwiches in Balllard! Finally got to try all of the bagel flavors from plain with sea salt, everything, sesame seed, poppy seed among others. The bagels are soft but crunchy outside.. I enjoy toasting them and spreading cream cheese and top it with either avocado or smoked salmon. Yummy! You should try the bagels. They are one of the best bagels in Seattle. read more

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Old Salt has been in the neighborhood for a couple of years now and they've got their bagel game dialed in. We've been a number of time and the bagels have been consistently good. Things I like about their bagels. They have a traditional taste, a distinct hole, no corn meal on the bottom side to speak of and are well baked. This review is only for the bagels. I've never tried their sandwiches or smoked meats. The Scandinavian blue store front is a perfect fit for Ballard. The staff gets your orders out without having to wait too long. That said there is sometimes a line out the door. If you're vegan you should know their bagels have an egg wash but you can special order non-egg wash bagels the day before you want them. read more

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We love trying new bagel spots and Old Salt was very tasty. They sell plain, everything, white sesame, black sesame, and poppyseed bagels. We ordered the Kippered Salmon Sandwich on a poppyseed bagel and the Veggie Sandwich on a black sesame bagel. These bagel sandwiches were very flavorful and I liked how the tang from the pickled veggies was well balanced with the cream cheese. I thought the crumb was nice however my fiancé thought the crumb was a little chewy for his liking. The inside space is cozy and thankfully there are some tables outside if you want to eat your bagel nearby. They also have coffee. read more

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Was wanting something for breakfast, and a bagel spot always calls my name. They do smoked fish here with their bagels. I had the kippered salmon sandwich. It was different than the normal lox, but I enjoyed it. It wasn't super heavy on the smokey flavor if you're not into that. I am not, so I enjoyed the flavor profile. They had only had 6 bagel types, but to me that shows that they stick to the basics and do them really well. I was bummed they were out of everything bagels, but that's what I get for going late in the morning/ early afternoon. There is ample seating outside. The bagel had a good consistency. I went with the sesame bc it was either that or plain or poppy seed when I arrived. They made my bagel sandwich quickly, and I appreciate there was a normal amount of cream cheese on the sandwich, not slathered on like some places do. I loved the amount of capers that they did because some places skimp on the capers. The staff was friendly and super welcoming. There was also the option to add an heirloom tomato, which is a fun seasonal twist. read more

Old Salt Fish and Bagels - Kippered Salmon Sandwich - Bagels Near Me - Seattle, Washington

Love Old Salt! Have been to both locations, and the bagel sandwiches are so good! Lox is excellent, and we love the Smoked Black Cod. Good bagels, nice and chewy. You just have to remember they close early and plan ahead. read more

I'm not usually a bagel girl. When I think of bagels, I think dry, crusty, pulls all the moisture out of my mouth, heavy carbo loading - getting ready for my half marathon kind of forced meal. Not here, my mind has been changed. Never have I ever had a nice fluffy, moist bagel, that was perfectly toasted (with 5 options of toasty based on your liking!) I'm blown away by the moist fish. I had the black cod on a black sesame bagel with chili spread. The tobiko on that and sesame seeds added that crunch, and the seasoning and freshness of the fish paired perfectly with the chili spread. It comes with a plain bagel and spread, but I wanted a little more oomph & it delivered! I can now honestly see why there's always a line out the door. My preference was definitely to order ahead of time and grab and go since parking can be a tad difficult in the area. Excited they're opening tuesdays now, and im psyched to try out their other offerings. Especially their seafood spread to take home. read more

Pluses: bagels have nice flavors in both dough and outside, and the smoked black cod is excellent. Minuses: the bagels are too salty, and the kippered salmon is Atlantic (in Seattle?!?!?!) and quite dry. I'd return for the black cod alone, and the bagels might improve with toasting. read more

Love the bagels here! My absolute favorite bagel sandwich is the Kippered Salmon. Served on a poppyseed bagel with cream cheese, salmon, pickled onions, and capers. Amazing every time! The staff here are great and always pleasant. This is one of my regular stops. read more

Lordy these are good bagels! Bagels are the flavor of the month right now, but all of those trying their hand at it are missing the mark. These bagels have just the right chew. I love their spreads, and the herb in particular spoke to me with dill and chervil. I think they are living by the less is more motto in that the offerings are plain and simple bagels, several spreads, and lox. There are no fruit or sweet options. They do serve coffee. It's a walk up joint, and the staff is courteous and gets people in and out fairly quickly. No inside seating. To me, it's average pricing relative to all of the recent bagel mongers, and I will pay it considering how much I like it. read more

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Little neighborhood bagel joint. Seems like a real old school Ballard bagel place with big slabs of fish with capers, if that makes sense. Love that little strip of businesses. read more

Old Salt Fish and Bagels - Bagels Near Me - Seattle, Washington

What's not to love about fresh bagels? Go here and buy all the things. You won't regret it! read more

Old Salt Fish and Bagels - Bagels Near Me - Seattle, Washington

Yum! While in Seattle I tried to have as much seafood as possible, so of course one of those had to be a bagel with fish. I loved the dried salmon on these bagels. It was a bit pricey, but since I was on vacation, prices don't count. The capers in the sauce and the pickled veggies made a nice combination. They had some cute outdoor seating and the staff was friendly and quick. They don't have a huge variety of bagels, but they're good at what they do. It was a very nice experience overall. read more

Old Salt Fish and Bagels - Bagels Near Me - Seattle, Washington

Finally stopped by this past Saturday before a walk with a friend. Friendly and helpful staff. Some stand up wall counter inside but most seating is outside picnic tables or Rupee's covered space. Interior is simple, clean and welcoming. Love the old sailor door handle and portrait. They have an espresso machine so you can order a latte with your bagels. What I really liked was during the cold snap I was at Watson's Counter down the street and one of the owners walked in ordered a bunch of coffee for the staff at Old Salt cause their pipes for and she brought them a bag of bagels. Love seeing small businesses supporting each other. I had the Smoked Cod sandwich and my friend created her own veggie sandwich cause she can't do eggplant. Nice to have another bagel option in the neighborhood. Will probably pick up a couple of the black sesame bagels next time they sound unique. read more

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I was really happy when I saw that old salt was opening a second location in Ballard. They opened yesterday. It's a cute, little location not too far from the market street. They didn't have any seating options. When we got there on Thursday morning around 8 am there were 3 people ahead of us in the line. I got the veggie on everything bagel and my boyfriend got the lox sandwich. The veggie sandwich had crispy eggplant, micro greens and pickled carrot with chili cream cheese. The lox sandwich has generous amount of lox gravlax and salmon roe. My boyfriend said he wasn't a fan of the roe in the first few bites, but then he really liked it. I liked the taste of the bagel but I thought the texture could have been better, it was a little too chewy for my liking. Overall, I'm glad to have old salt in Ballard! read more

Old Salt Fish and Bagels - Veggie sandwich - Bagels Near Me - Seattle, Washington

VEGAN REVIEW ONLY The bagels are not vegan, they use an egg wash on them. It's confusing bc they have a cashew spread that is vegan. read more

Was in Ballard to celebrate Christmas with our daughter. We were walking distance to Old Salt Fish and Bagels. The Bagels were fantastic. Gooey in the middle and after a short toast, a crisp on the outside. Yum...! read more

Good bagel but $16 kippered salmon sandwich had less than a tablespoon of salmon. More pickled onion than salmon. Out the door with two bagel sandwiches and a coffee for $40! Unacceptable with such minuscule portions. Too many great salmon bagels in this town to return here. read more

Old Salt Fish and Bagels - Kippered Salmon Sandwich - Bagels Near Me - Seattle, Washington

I love this place! Such a quick and fun morning outing. Sometimes they lack on the cream cheese which is sad because it's delicious but 10/10 bagels. So simple and so tasty read more

Amazing service, super quick, food was delicious. I got the everything with veggie spread and my friend got the Lox Bagel. Both delicious! Finally a bagel place that lives up to NYC bagel supremacy. read more

Old Salt Fish and Bagels - Bagels Near Me - Seattle, Washington

Kippered salmon bagel, disappointing ratios All the flavors are great, but for some reason they choose to fill it with cream cheese and maybe 1-2 ounces of salmon. For the cost of $16 for the bagel I'd rather go to Racheal's bagels down the street and get a bagel packed full of salmon... read more

Old Salt Fish and Bagels - Kippered salmon bagel - Bagels Near Me - Seattle, Washington

Decent bagel but rather strange proportions as other reviewers have mentioned. I like the plain salt bagels and the cream cheese selection is pretty good too but my problem is that there's 5 tablespoons of cream cheese that they charge something like $2-3 for. It's a lot of cream cheese on a small ish bagel. I mostly scrape mine off and throw it away which seems wasteful. The bagel sandwiches are $16 and barely any fish. I would still come here for the plain bagels but wish they would just offer a shmear of cheese for $0.50 read more

Best bagel in Ballard! The cream cheese is silky smooth with great flavor and no grit at all. The bagels are wonderfully chewy, which I personally love, but if you prefer a softer texture, you might want to pass. The everything bagel is perfectly seasoned, and while it's not very busy on weekdays, it does get packed on weekends. I'd recommend going before 10 a.m. for the freshest bagels. One thing to note: all bagels and sandwiches are automatically cut in half. If you have contamination concerns, I'd suggest asking them not to cut it. Once, I found a small piece of salmon on my bagel, which wasn't great as a picky eater. The staff I've met over the past month have all been super friendly. The coffee is also good, but the bagels are definitely the star of the show! read more

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Excited they opened in Ballard! I mean their first location is in Fremont which is also close to us, but this is even better. The shop is super cute! There aren't any tables, just some small standing counter areas to eat at. We didn't get the bagels since we already had some at the house, but we did want to get some cream cheese. We got the smoked fish cream cheese which we liked a lot! The texture was really light and fluffy, but I wish there was just a bit more of the smoked fish flavor or more chunks of fish in the cream cheese read more

Old Salt Fish and Bagels - customers at the counter - Bagels Near Me - Seattle, Washington

Chewiest bagel ever? Maybe not, but at least in the top 3, and one of the nicest I've had in Seattle. The Everything Bagel has great flavor, and mine was even better with a schmear of cream cheese and smoked fish. No more schlepping downtown to find a good bagel; the one I had today convinced me to return here for a nosh. Crisp chewy bagel, super quick and courteous service, and convenient neighborhood location all ensure I'll be back. Any chance for Kosher dill slice next time? read more

Been going to Old Salt for a few years and while the bagels have always been tasty, recently they have been on point! Super chewy even when frozen and toasted. Nice workers and glad to have them in the neighborhood! read more

I can't believe I haven't left a review of this place yet - make no mistake it had changed our lives. We have been ordering breakfast from this place every Saturday and Sunday for the last year or so. They are INCREDIBLE. The entire team is so wonderful, and oh my goodness the bagels (even in the purest and plainest form) taste like salty clouds of whipped doughy delight. That doesn't sound as good as it should, so I guess you'll just have to go and try for yourself. Please bring out more merch! read more

We stopped here a bit before close and luckily there were still a few bagels left. It's a small, clean space where you just grab and go (there is a bathroom too). Service was fast and there was no line. I got black sesame with cream cheese. I was born and raised in NYC so my bagel standards are sky high! But this bagel met them! So chewy--the way a bagel should be!! And perfectly toasted and sliced (which for some reason a lot of other bagel joints cannot quite get right), with a generous cream cheese to bagel ratio (always key!). I can't wait to come back and try some more varieties! read more

Really depends on who is making and cutting the bagels. The tall guy with the long hair is awful, consistently lazy with how much cream cheese he puts on the bagel and is probably suffering from a strong case of myopia because his ability to cut bagels is also miserable. The other employees are great, just avoid this place when the tall guy with the long hair is there, read more

Old Salt Fish and Bagels - Symmetrical cuts? What's the point. - Bagels Near Me - Seattle, Washington

For a Saturday with a line to the door, they worked fast! The staff were polite and the lox bagel was delicious! Place is small with no seating inside but I believe the outdoor parklet belonged to them. read more

Old Salt Fish and Bagels - Lox Sandwich $16 (feb 2024) - Bagels Near Me - Seattle, Washington

Wow this really is a special bagel. I came here based off of one of Sean Keeley's local bagel reviews on his substack It's a Shanda. I've never even ordered a plain bagel before but the ones here are really beautiful with a really tasty salt on top. Ate it on it own at home and loved it. The soft interior and chewy exterior is a rare find around here. The bagel sandwiches are kinda pricey so I haven't tried those yet but the quality does seem good enough that I think I'll come back for the loc bagel. read more

Old Salt Fish and Bagels - Plain bagel, perfectly salted on top - Bagels Near Me - Seattle, Washington

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The bagels here are legit. If you're from the east coast like I am, you will appreciate good bagels since most of the bagels completely suck out here in the seattle area. My second favorite bagel place now is bagel factory (used to be my favorite - I also highly recommend them). The rest are so far behind, it's not even close - e.g. bagel oasis (crap), Zylberschtein (always burnt and nasty), blazing bagels (massively overpriced), etc - all meh at best. I've only had bagels and cream cheese - no fish on mine so no this review does not take that into account. The store is no frills - get your bagels and get out and enjoy them, how it should be. Pricing is fair for the quality and amount of cream cheese they give you (blazing bagels charge $7 with cream cheese and I'll never eat there again unfortunately) and the folks there are nice. Cream cheese is also good. Service is fast in the few times I have been there. read more

At 10:30am on Thursday, the shop was empty. I got a plain, an everything and a black sesame bagel. Had the black sesame for lunch, untoasted, with homemade salmon spread. After slicing it, noted that the interior was extremely soft and bread like, while the exterior was firm. The exterior was very chewy. It also seemed extra salty to me. The bagel bottom was less salty and I felt it had a better balance of flavor. The next morning, I lightly toasted the bottom half of the everything bagel and ate it with salmon spread. It was pretty darn good. I haven't tried the plain bagel yet. Am hoping the salt content is lower. These bagels are not NY bagels, but are very flavorful and when toasted, are very satisfying. read more

When I moved to Seattle a decade ago from New York, good bagels were scarce. Back then, most places warranted a rating of 2. However, the bagel situation in Seattle has dramatically improved in the last few years, to the point where a number of shops here could hold their own in New York or Montreal. Old Salt is one of them. The bagels are excellent, even if they don't always have the exact right crackle to the exterior and the interior texture can be a bit doughy. The fish and spreads are superb. Ambiance and service are both adequate All said, a great addition to the Seattle bagel scene! read more

Good bagel but nothing too special about them. Very generous portion of cream cheese tho

I've tried the other location in Fremont and it was pretty good. Was so excited for this place to open in Ballard, but I'm kinda disappointed. There was so little salmon on the bagel, and tons of cream cheese :( didn't seem worth it for the price. I hope they improve their proportions! read more

Love Old Salt, especially their veggie sandwich! As a jersey girl I am very picky about my bagels and these don't disappoint.

Accidentally ordered from the wrong location and the guy at Ballard still totally helped me out! Great customer service and the bagels are so good! read more

The taste was really great but disappointed that they couldn't even cut the bagels for us. It's a to-go place only so they have to know not everyone is going home to eat these. For the price they charge, you'd think they'd have a bagel slicer and would do that for their customers. read more