R&A Sourdough is a Roscoe gem. The bagels strike that great balance--crispy on the outside with just the right bite, yet soft, chewy, and satisfyingly doughy inside. The bread itself is full of flavor, NOT just something that's seasoned on the crust and bland underneath. Their sandwiches are thoughtfully built and generously packed, so every bite feels worth it. The service is always warm and friendly, and the takeout window is a bonus since even my dog gets excited for his sourdough treat. Such a great addition to Roscoe! read more

It's about the quality of the bagels service was good staff nice but the bagels were another story. I usually wouldn't do this but I drove an hour and ten minutes from the suburbs on a Sunday morning to be very disappointed. I lived in Los Angeles and Seattle big food cities with large Jewish community so you know you better be selling good products. Western Bagels in LA and Hey Bagel in Seattle are so much better. I believe these were old bagels not fresh product but if they were fresh then someone needs to QC their products better. I spent $40 and drove another hour home to find I could have got bagels from Costco. The inside wasn't soft and airy the outside wasn't crisp, they were hard and heavy, felt stale. Anyway I'm sorry but it was a disappointment. Change the formula or maybe serve fresh bagels. read more

Bratty New Yorker who resents the bagels in Chicago, here! I've lived in the neighborhood for quite a few years but have avoided R&A because there tend to always be lines/people waiting. However, on a sunny Saturday morning I decided to take a walk and place an order on the way. Blueberry bagel bites, dog treats, cinnamon bun, and a biscuit egg cheese sandwich. Not a bit wasted! It was all delicious. The biscuit sandwich was bigger than my hand! I ate it in two sittings. I loved the blueberry bagel bite- crisp on the outside, soft on the inside (a good indication of what I assume their full-size bagels are like). The cinnamon bun with cream cheese frosting was deliciously caramelized. I'd eat it all again, and I recommend ordering ahead because it makes life sooo easy. My food was ready when I arrived. Apollo loved his biscuits. Two thumbs and two paws up for R&A- we'll be back :) read more

R&A Sourdough - The BEC - biscuit egg and cheese with bacon (and jam) - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

This review is only based on ordering delivery! First off, I loved the bagel and cream cheese. How can you go wrong? Bagels have magical healing powers, they can cure things. If you didn't know. But what was an extra surprise and a special fun treat is that they have homemade dog treats which my picky dog actually loved! It was so cute. I loved this concept and was so excited to purchase these! Also, because ya girl loves a dessert... I ordered a brownie which was suuuuper fudgy and delish! Can't wait to order from them again! read more

R&A Sourdough - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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I always look forward to my weekend walks to R&A for a quick bite to eat! I've tried a variety of options off the menu here, including breakfast sandwiches, build-your-own bagels, and the cinnamon roll. I really like the "Big Bird" and occasionally customize it with additional veggies or pickles. It's a great spot to pick up food, with a convenient walk-up window and order ahead option available. I wouldn't recommend counting on being able to grab a table in their outdoor seating area on a busy weekend morning or afternoon. read more

R&A Sourdough - Note - the drink and seating here is from/at Colectivo across the street (a good pairing!) - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Stopped in on a Saturday morning - staff is really nice. It may take a little while to get your order and the daisy dogs take 15-20 minutes. Seems like a lot of people ordered take out which may be the move. We got the heeebster, youngster & daisy dogs. The bagels were delicious - I really liked the youngster, would get that again. Hot honey bacon was nice on it. They also have a little patio area outside and are dog friendly! read more

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Excuse me as I eat the vegan bagel of my dreams. I Doordashed bagels multiple times during my visit. I love the sourdough as it wasn't as heavy as normal yeast bagels. They use Violife cream cheese for vegan sandwiches and it is amazing. There were soy-free options although there does seem to be some cross contamination, so allergy friends take note. I appreciated the team taking the time to answer questions. It is worth a stop for a quick meal! read more

R&A Sourdough - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Love their special Sammie's - the heebster is my favorite but my friends love the youngster and the big bird. They typically don't take orders over the home but were very sweet when we were having trouble placing the order online. Orders can take 10-40 minutes. Seating is only available outside and can be limited. read more

Delicious lox bagel, maybe the best in Chicago, or at least one of them. I got a cold brew with vanilla syrup. The staff is friendly, and the patio is beautiful - a great place to sit, eat, and relax. The flowers outside make it even nicer. I really love this place. read more

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Recently crossed another spot off my Chicago bagel journey, this time it was R&A Sourdough! I noticed they now have a River West location (I believe it's mainly for delivery and catering), which is way more convenient for me than their original Ravenswood shop. So, naturally, I hopped on DoorDash and ordered breakfast. I went with two bagels: The Youngster and a cheddar jalapeño bagel with chive cream cheese. And wow both were incredible. The Youngster is a loaded breakfast sandwich stacked with thick egg, hot honey bacon, and cream cheese. It follows that classic Chicago bagel theme, but it absolutely nailed it. As for the cheddar jalapeño? Perfectly baked, flavorful, and paired so well with the chive cream cheese. No complaints at all. R&A really surprised me in the best way. Between the flavor, convenience, and price, this might just be my new favorite bagel spot in the city. This Jersey local gives R&A a solid stamp of approval! read more

R&A Sourdough - Cheddar Jalapeño bagel with chive cream cheese - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Disclaimer: I'm a New Yorker, so I have a certain bias toward bagels. I was pretty disappointed in this breakfast option. I ordered via DoorDash, which was fine, but the bagels were nothing special. The egg was gross. The only good part was the schmear. The coffee was also terrible. read more

One of the best bagel shops in town. If you love sourdough this is your place to go! R&A bakes their bsgels and loaves fresh each day ! Have decadent flavors like Asiago bagel with poblano cream cheese or get a lox bagel. Totally worth your carb cheat day ! Sit outside and enjoy it! Service is fast and friendly and it's cool to see them do their work to make your breakfast / lunch . read more

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Best bagel and lox sandwich in the city. Period. I ordered it on the everything bagel and it was absolutely amazing. Cute little to go shop with some picnic style outdoor seating for a warm day . It's hard to find a good bagel in this city - this place nailed it! read more

R&A Sourdough - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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What a great local place to have a variety of sourdough breads and bagels. This location is one of a kind and if you're traveling, street parking is plenty or it's easily accessible by the Brown line. There is a good amount of outdoor seating, but that's about it. There isn't anywhere to sit inside, so plan accordingly. They have a walk-up window as well and are very dog friendly (a huge plus)! Service was fairly quick for a weekday and the worker was very friendly. Even signed up for the rewards because it did seem worth it. My friend and I ordered a side of the sweet potato latkes and I will definitely be getting these again and again! When it came to choosing what to order for our main, we wanted a bit of a brunch vibe. I went with the big bird and was impressed with the quality and quantity of each ingredient. The sourdough bread was so fresh and each bite had great flavor. My friend had the Keister sandwich and said she enjoyed it quite a lot, too. I wish there were a few more options for coffee, but that's such a small thing. I'm definitely going to be coming back here to try their sourdough bagels! Glad to have a local shop so close in the area :) read more

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Finally visited and was worth the hype! You can tell they take pride in their products. Bagels are as good if not better than in New York per my NYC friend. The Pastrami....apparently I was eating processed / fake pastrami all my life because I had a life changing experience here!! Only gripe though was the amount of pastrami for the price ($16.95) is just not a good deal. I saw pictures on here and thought I'll have 2 meals out of this but ate the entire sandwich and still hungry. Not sure if the portion size went down or they were out of Pastrami but not worth the value. read more

R&A Sourdough - The Keister sandwich for $16.95....barely any pastrami...but it was the best pastrami I've ever had. - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Found this place through Too Good To Go . Picked up 1/2 dozen bagels and the guy gave me a thing of cream cheese on top of that. It was my lucky day! Since then I've been back multiple times. Def a new go to spot especially when I'm running around and need a quick bite. It's small so not really a sit down place. They have chairs outside. read more

I walked in without knowing exactly if I would find this little tiny business of a commissary or all the bagels are made for this great sourdough business. I know I would meet the owner in there and was able to not just pick up my TooGoodToGo order , but I ended up ordering a simple turkey sandwich with in-house roasted turkey on a simple bagel with some delicious cheese before I left. Bonus was given a couple sweet brownies . A delicious day. read more

R&A Sourdough - See if you can grab the QR code on the window right outside the door or just walk right in if they're open - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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I have been dilly-dallying on ordering from here and my goodness that was stupid. I decided it was a treat yo self kind of day..so I got my favorite combo I try and order to judge all bagel sammiches equally by; Onion Bagel toasted with Chive Shmear and B.E.C. It's comfort food at its finest and I've had good, bad and ugly.. My bagel sammich was SO FREAKING DELICIOUS. The bagel..HOW DARE YOU MAKE SUCH A DELICIOUS AND BEAUTIFULLY TEXTURED BAGEL!? What..how? This bagel was absolute perfection. Do not get me started on that cream cheese. The texture..I've never had such soft and beautifully textured cream cheese. This isn't your store bought thick paste..this is soft and creamy and rich. The egg..egged and the bacon was a nice compliment. If I was Keith Lee'ing it.. I'd give this sammich a 9.1 out of 10. I also ordered some daisy dogs that I will enjoy later..but I'm posting a pic so you can see how adorable it is..I'm sure it's gonna be fantastic. The jist of this post is this..don't sleep on this place like a big dummy (note to self) get your bagel and get it now. read more

R&A Sourdough - Daisy Dogs..one is regular and one is cheddar. I got two because..Research. - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Delicious bagels !!!!!!! R&A is small on the inside, so plan on ordering to-go. If you are there in the summer, they have a few tables outside that you can sit at! The staff were super friendly and our bagels were ready in less than 10 minutes! I ordered a garlic bagel with veggie cream cheese & added cucumber, capers, tomatoes & onions. They had lots of unique bagel & cream cheese flavors it made it hard to choose a combo, but made me excited to go back to try more things from their menu!!!! read more

R&A Sourdough - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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I was looking for a bagel spot in the city, and I stumbled upon this gem that was tucked away on a corner. I was happy to see that all of the bagels were made using sourdough. The consistency of the bagel was a little bit dry, but overall great quality and seasoned well. The cream cheese was fresh and you could see the veggies inside. The only criticism I have about this place would be the staff. They were not very friendly, and needs some work Food wise- the bagel was not dry and airy and had a great texture. The cream cheese was fresh and very reasonably priced as well. Come check them out! read more

R&A Sourdough - Garden Veggie Cream Cheese and Everything Bagel - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

They have the best bagels and their cold brew is really good! The workers are always nice and get you your food asap!

A solid 3.5 but not a 4. Decent breakfast sandwich, I enjoyed, especially the price. If I lived right there, I'd come again, but no where close to a NY bagel. read more

Save your money and get a bagel and cream cheese from Aldi's. The bread didn't even taste fresh. I won't be back here.

So many things I love about R&A! I love their walk up window so I can pop by with my dogs and order. My favorite thing to order is a half dozen jalapeño cheese bagels that I bring home to toast and slather with cream cheese. The texture, flavor... everything about them is perfect. I love all their other bagels too! read more

smelled wonderful but I waited 5 min (was 4th in line) and did not move at all... very slow.. plus the price for loaf of bread was more expensive than my fav Publican bakery on Grand Ave byt what really got me was how slow it was.... read more

Ordered a pastrami reuben and sweet potato latkes online to pick up. Reuben was just ok. Wasn't the delectable experience I've had at other spots. I specified hot and ready to eat for the latkes, but they were barely lukewarm by the time I got them (and I live about 3 minutes away and picked it up as soon as I saw the order was ready). read more

I still haven't found a bagel in Chicago comparable to New York but was still pleasantly surprised with my bagel here. It was on the smaller side but the flavors were all there and the lox tasted fresh. Service was 10/10, so kind and welcoming. It's a tiny place inside but they have outdoor seating. Definitely putting them on my top 5 bagel in Chicago. read more

R&A Sourdough - Bagel, Lox & Schmear - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Over six dollars for a bagel with cream cheese. That's diabolical and just plain greedy.

Bagel with cream cheese was very good! It is small inside, maybe consider ordering ahead. The chocolate chip was yummy. read more

R&A Sourdough - Chocolate chip - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Good spot for bagels! I got the jalapeño cheddar bagel with the chive shmear and it was the best one of the lot. The bagel bread is all sourdough as a name suggests so definitely liked that! My bagel was a bit hard to bite so I struggled with that but the taste was pretty good and hit the spot right. This had a nice patio that we could sit out in as well! read more

Very cute little shop with an interior and exterior ordering counter! Take out was also a breeze - I ordered ahead online and then picked up my order from the shelf when I arrived. There is no space to eat inside, but then have quite a bit of space with benches on the parkway. I ordered the rosemary bagel with strawberry cream cheese. I loved the strawberry cream cheese as it didn't taste over sweet or artificially sugary. However, the bagel wasn't my favorite. I love rosemary bagels elsewhere, but I was surprised to see it was dusted in rosemary instead of baked in. This made it a bit dry, and it got stuck in my teeth. The bagel itself was also quite chewy for my preference. It was actually a bit of a jaw workout for me to eat. However, I know people have strong and varied preferences on bagel consistency, so not inherently bad. Just not my favorite in the area! Service and location was great, regardless. read more

R&A Sourdough - Rosemary bagel with strawberry cream cheese - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Great, fresh bagels. Nice variety. The smell alone of the everything bagel keeps me coming back. Excellent, friendly staff. The smears are so yummy. Poblano is my favorite. Convenient walk up window in a great neighborhood! read more

Cute little place with an outdoor walk up window and a small patio. The garlic and dill schmear was really good (better than the chive IMO) and the little bit of sour dough taste that came through everything else on the sandwich was good, but the rest was average. The egg was a little big and over priced and the sandwich itself was on the smaller side. read more

R&A Sourdough - BYO on Everything with Garlic & Dill schmear, cheddar, bacon, and egg frittata - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Ventured over here for breakfast on Saturday morning. There was already a decent sized line but we decided to wait it out and checked out the menu on our phones. I ended up ordering a cheddar jalapeño bagel with veggie cream cheese and my husband ordered the big bird sandwich on a bagel. We were unsure about how the ordering system worked as some people would enter inside and ordered but most people ordered at the walk up window. Despite that, we waited it out and received our order soon after. We both enjoyed what we ordered and were impressed with the quality of the bagels but these are def bagels to be enjoyed right away while warm. Next time we might try ordering online to save some time. read more

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Nice people, had the 2000s clubs hits blasting. Fun looking menu too. We were just there for a half dozen cold bagels for breakfast at home this week. Waited 30-35 minutes for them after ordering. Bagels were just OK. read more

This place is sourdough bagel heaven. And the sweetest people! The Youngster with the hot honey bacon scratches the perfect bagel sammie itch. read more

Decent food, terribly long wait times. Not unusual to wait 30 min for a bagel sammy on the weekend with a seemingly manageable amount of customers. read more

another new chicago bagel destination was hit this past week - this place uses sourdough so points for uniqueness, I honestly get so many health Fitness TikTokers, being like carbs are good, but only if your sourdough because it like fixes your gut soooo made me feel uh idk - there was a little line and a lot of the bagels were gone when we got there and 11. That's a good sign! and not too shabby for a wait - . I ordered the garlic bagel with garlic and dill cream cheese (I am kissing NO ONE) - per usual sauce girl tendancies, I wish there was more cream cheese. the creamy cheese paired nicely with the sourdough tang!!!! I was surprised - my friend ordered their BEC special which came with hot honey and thick cut bacon so she was happppy - hers was much bigger than mine...can't say I left full....good quality bagel but wasn't a show stopper... look at pic for size reference read more

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Aaack, I've learned my lesson: Someone got first to review just before me (3 hours ago!!) after I added the business! R&A bagels is a great addition to the neighborhood. I've seen them coming in as I was going to run errands. It's only about four blocks away, which makes it super convenient. It's also a nice touch that they have a pickup window right on the Lawrence street side. That's especially handy if you do pickup, I'd assume, but also because the actual space inside the bakery is super tiny (with social distancing measures you can probably only have two to three people inside, and if you had five customers in there it would start to get overcrowded). Their bagels aren't the same as other places. They're smaller, but taller. They not have a hole, so if that's imperative for you in a bagel then you may need to go somewhere else. I find it pretty helpful, myself, since I only eat bagels with cream cheese and it's easier to spread, but it can get a bit tricky in a toaster. Their Asiago bagel was delicious so that's probably going to be my favorite, given what seemed to me to be a glaring omission: the lack of a cinnamon raisin bagel (especially since their "bagel nots" come in cinnamon raisin). Raisin bagels are my favorite but since they don't offer them here, I'll stick with Asiago and plain. I tried their plain cream cheese because they were out of the garlic and dill, which is what I really wanted to try. But perhaps I'll order some bagels for pickup (or delivery, within a five mile radius) and can get the garlic and dill to try then. I wouldn't get the plain again, unless it was an emergency (as in I have bagels at home but no cream cheese, and can't stop at a store to pick it up). It's $8 for an 8 oz container of cream cheese--even plain--which is pretty steep. I will be back. However, they feel a bit expensive (maybe it's just the cream cheese?) so it may not be a regular thing. They also require you to place an order for pickup by 1pm the day before, which is real annoying. But I also want to try their sourdough boules sometime, and it's nice having a bakery focused on bread right here in the neighborhood--maybe I won't have to head to Hewn in Evanston all the time when I'm looking for something like this. Oh! And I bought coffee for my partner and he said the coffee was really good. Review 604 - November 3, 2021 read more

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Chicago, watch out! This is the single best bagel place I've been to in Chicago. If you haven't been yet, RUN! - do not walk! Adam & Rachel have figured out to make sourdough everything & every single thing I've ordered has been amazing. The bakery is adorable, so clean & I love that I can get my bagel fix in a COVID safe way with their pick up window. As far as the bakery goodies, where do I even begin? I went for the bagels but fell in love with the bialys (among other items). I didn't even know what a bialy was and now I am questioning what I've been doing with my life without them. I've been ordered from R&A for a while and they are always coming up with new things but never neglecting to provide us with our basic necessities (ie bagels, lox, homemade cream cheeses). I find myself at R&A for any situation. I loved to grab a treat & sip on the cold brew they serve (on tap!). I pick up bagels when family come to town. I grab the take an bake things for my house. I just love how simple ordering is & how reliable R&A are! I feel great about supporting a local family & I have nothing but amazing things to say about their goodies. read more

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