Spread Bagelry is hoping to be for bagels what we've all seen happen in the last few years to just about every other type of cuisine: a restaurant that takes a simple and familiar cuisine and decidedly dresses up every part of it (like Shake Shack for burgers, but examples abound for other foods, too). Usually when these types of restaurants go in this direction, the prices are much higher than the food's humble beginnings. Spread's prices are higher than I would prefer, and absolutely higher than other basic bagel shops - but that alone wouldn't prevent me from eating there, as long as the bagel was damn tasty. The problem is, it isn't. I've visited Spread several times, but I've just never been that impressed. The best thing I've had has probably been the basic bacon, egg, and cheese on toasted everything. I think their bacon is great, since it's thick but also still really crisp, and the eggs are griddled fresh to order, which is awesome. The sandwich with lox, tomato, and onion is okay but it's missing capers! The roasted chicken sandwich was also just okay (mostly just lacking in any interesting flavor), and the chicken was on the dry side. My big pet peeve here is that the bagels aren't toasted enough! The bagels pass through their toasting machine and come back not nearly crisp enough on the outside for my liking. I even once requested my bagel to be extra toasted - but that request was ignored. And Spread proudly serves La Colombe coffee, a great choice. But man is it brewed weak. Every time I've had their coffee, it's never been strong enough and was just disappointingly watery. Management: Please add more coffee grounds! I'll keep coming back here for the sake of convenience and location, but until Spread Bagelry toasts its bagels longer and brews its coffee stronger, I'll continue to reserve any praise higher than just "Yeah, Spread's okay." read more

Great bagels but long wait most of the time. Usually order bagel with creams cheese and lox!!

As a UPenn graduate student and Brooklyn native, I was overjoyed to find that there was a new bagel place opening up next to my building. I was curious what a 'Montreal-style' bagel was since I have been to Montreal several times, but have heard nothing about their bagels, and the one time I decided to get a bagel in Montreal, it was nothing special. Maybe I just went to the wrong place? Well, there's one way to find out... I was lucky enough to get in before a serious line formed due to the strange and unpredictable cyclical nature of lines...Anyway, I order an Everything Bagel with Cream Cheese - Toasted. The 'everything with a shmear, hot' is a sacred food item where I'm from, and I consider the worth of a bagelry based solely on that one item. If they can't make an Everything bagel well, the place isn't worth your time and hard earned money. Based on the 2 stars I gave this place, I was seriously disappointed. Let's just say that there's a reason no one's ever heard of 'Montreal-style' bagels. The bagel was not crispy on the outside, doughy and chewy on the inside, there was almost no sea salt on the outside of the bagel and I could barely taste the garlic or onion, and why was the bagel even sweet? I had to literally salt my bagel at the table, which in itself is a reason to never come here again. The cream cheese was regular cream cheese, but had a strange aftertaste. If I were to rate this bagel between "Toufayan store bought crap" and "Bagel Boy Everything" (this bagel is a perfect 10, highly recommend if you're ever in Brooklyn), the Spread Everything bagel would be closer to the Toufayan. Now let's talk about the 800 lb gorilla in the room, THE PRICES. I imagine this place makes most of its profit from the people staying at the Sheraton who think they're getting an '"artisinal" experience, because I don't know how any students could possibly afford this. I paid $3.50 for my food item, which goes for no more than $3 at a full service bagel store ON THE UPPER EAST SIDE OF MANHATTAN. In Brooklyn? $2, maybe $2.50 if the place is famous. This is neither. These bagels should be $2 max. The other items on the menu are laughable. $7.50 for a Bacon, Egg and Cheese? $8.50 for an Egg White sandwich with "amish jam"? Just because you give basic food items a premium-sounding name doesn't make them good. If you want to bust out the obscure food ingredients and haute-cuisine pricing, at least make the taste worthwhile. The main reason I gave this place two stars and not one is because I found the staff to be pleasant, and the decor was pretty good, although it looked like it was ripped right out of a Williamsburg interior design catalog, feels like home. As a side note, Spread does not yet have a liquor license, but they boast a selection of 80 craft beers and allow you to pick and choose any 6 beers for $16. Any respectable beer drinker knows that most craft beers are absolute garbage, however out of 80 beers, it may be worthwhile to pick 6 Weihenstephan Hefe Weissbiers (if they have 'em) providing that you can drink them in the store. I may re-review this place once they get their liquor license, if I could exploit them for relatively-cheap German beer and turn the place into a bar that sells mediocre bagels. read more

Bagels are good, and the iced coffee is good but I def do not recommend the cappuccino.

Like mentioned before, convenience and location make this a good spot, but that's about all they're good for. I got an everything bagel with veggie garlic cream cheese. I love lots of cream cheese but I got wayyy too much. Enough cream cheese to ice a 10in cake. The bagel tasted like actual cardboard. It was dry and bitter. I paid around $5 for it...never again. The concept is great, bagels around the clock, that's awesome. The downright outrageous prices (for a fucking bagel? Are you kidding me bro?) and the poor quality quite literally left a bad taste in my mouth. Sorry Spread, I just bagel'd you. read more

I was excited to try this place. I've been a west philly resident for over 20 years and I am eagerly awaiting a decent breakfast/brunch place since the original RX closed more than a few years ago. Plus, the outside porch? That seemed exciting! I arrived and asked the cashier if it was, "seat yourself" or "wait to be seated". After a few seconds, she reluctantly looked at me after shuffling through her tickets and with a tired, irritated look she said, "This isn't a restaurant". Confused, I looked around and I think, noticing my confusion she said, "This isn't a restaurant, you sit where you want". So I sat myself in what I KNOW was a restaurant. I read online that "Spread" was byov (vodka) for bloody mary's, but considered, afer noticing the full bar that the vodka option was for center city only. I again approached the, "it's-not-a-restaurant-cashier" and asked, "Is the bring your own vodka just for the center city location or for this location as well?" She said, "This IS the center city location." I said, "No. This is West Philly. This isn't center city." (I could say that with confidence. After all, it's the neighborhood I have been living in for over 25 years and I was sure I was getting it right) However, she was still adamant that we were not where I thought we were, but then it got even more confusing when she conflated the two and responded, "No. This is University City. This IS the center city location." (I'm not making this up). I then agreed to just go with the part that made sense and said, "Okay. this is the University City location. Is there an option for the bring your own vodka bloody marys?" That's when I looked for the hidden cameras because surely I was going to find out later that this was all a joke and my confusion was entertainment...because SHE said, "Yes. This IS the center city location." At this point, I knew I needed to talk to someone else so I approached the distracted bartender and asked if the vodka with bloody mary's was an option and he said, "No. that is only at our center city location." ("Who's on third?") Okay. But can I order a bloody mary? (At this point I felt like I just needed a straight shot of whiskey but I was determined to at least finish what I started.) It was at this point that he said, "I don't have any bloody mary mix". Okay. I have my answer. This is the center-city-university-city-west-philly location, which isn't a restaurant because I should find my own table with no option of bringing my own vodka and there is not bloody mary "mix" (isn't that guy a bartender who might be able to use fresh tomato juice and hot sauce to make his OWN?) so THERE WILL BE NO BLOODY MARY. Okay. I bloody got it. We ordered sandwiches. It's a bagel place, that is their menu.. but they were out of "everything BAGELS" so my friend got poppy seed. They were out of "garlic BAGELS" so I got whole wheat. My child ordered the roasted chicken BLT but it came without the bacon. (Just so you know, that would be an LT...) When I took the sandwich back to fix my order the cook took a strip of bacon from the griddle, tore it in half and placed it on the already made sandwich. Lovely. The bagles were barely toasted and the sandwiches were cold. The chicken tasted like it was from the "already perdue roasted chicken" that you buy in a bag from supreme. And the cost to my sanity was high as well as the cost of the food. My suggestion: when in university city/west philly (NOT center city) buy bagels from the food co-op, Mariposa and make your own sandwiches. Their bagels are delicious and you don't have to question, if asked, if you are in a restaurant or not.(You actually won't be. It's a co-op) I won't be back to this place. It was not just a bad experience with bad food...it made my head spin. read more

Everything about this place is confusing to me. The business model, beer and bagels??? Who has ever wanted those two things at the same time?? Those moods do not overlap at all. Anyways, they are pretty pretentious and rude to customers, and got a lot of my order wrong (3 bagels). They are crazyyyy expensive for bagels it doesn't make any sense, I've only been twice bc all other times I had no way to rationalize spending sooo much on bagels. To their credit, the bagels here are good, but at what cost??????? Also weird music that did not fit the already weird ambiance. If you're in the area and looking for a good and reasonable bagel, look somewhere else!! read more

When I heard about they have a "Montreal Bagels" I had to check it out if it's legit!! First of all I gave one star because I ordered 1 plain bagel with cream cheese and ordered a Carnegie bagel sandwich. I waited 35 minutes to get that! How hard to make a sandwich ??? I know that they just opened but still. Staff should have a better way at to make it more efficient and make it faster. The prices are outrageously pricey. I have been to Montreal and tried Montreal style bagels. These bagels that they bake isn't even close enough to even call and say that it's Montreal Bagel. Montreal bagels suppose to Be chewy on the inside while there is crunch on the outside. I don't even taste the honey. I didn't even get a hot bagel smh. They don't have to advertise that it's Montreal Bagel if it's not really an original one or even the taste come close to it. Not worth my time to go out of my way to University City. Next time I'll stick to my South street bagels:( read more

Bagels are mediocre and overpriced; they taste more like hard dinner rolls. Lox spread had 3 chunks of lox in it. $6 better spent elsewhere.

The bagels are definitely good, and that is a rare find in Philadelphia. However the prices are a bit high, and the woman at the register tried to nickel and dime me when I told her they gave us lox spread instead of the pieces of lox that we ordered. She started digging through receipts to prove me wrong until a manager told her just to fix it. Afterwards, when she found the receipt, I saw she realized her mistake and didn't bother apologizing for it. In conclusion, if you want a great bagel there aren't many options in Philly. These are Montreal style bagels and they're delicious. Prices are a bit high, which is to be expected, considering the lack of better options. The atmosphere is better in University City, but the service was better in Center City. read more

The La Colombe bar is my favorite. I love that they have the Pure Black on tap and to me, this place is my way of getting La Colombe before studying without having to travel downtown. They also have a pretty cool happy hour with a wide selection of local beers. The bagels are okay, too overpriced for bagels in my opinion. Or maybe I just haven't ordered the right one? It is quite packed on the weekends and when it gets busy, the service is lacking. Learned that the hard way during my first visit there when I waited in line for 20 mins to just order that Pure Black. The cashier lady never called my order, then told me it's self serve. Almost paid $3.75 for a small cup of drip coffee -.-" read more

Never disappointed at this somewhat pricey purveyor of Montreal style bagels. The bar personnel are always happy to hook you up with whatever you need that the counter people couldn't get for you, even if it's non alcoholic. read more

Bagels taste fine, yet their service is abysmal. Very busy and food takes a long time to get made. They need to fix how they call people to get their orders. They just have a server yell out people's names when some people can't hear their names when they are seated at the table. If you want a bagel, go somewhere else read more

It would have been nice to know half a jar of pb is used to make this bagel. I had to scrape off most all of it to actually taste the bagel. Coffee was burnt. read more

Spread Bagelry - Peanut butter and jam spread, excessive amount. - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Bagels are so dense (almost inedible) and super expensive. Not worth it at all. Won't be a returning customer.

I really want to like this place, but they get my order wrong almost everytime. Requests for scooping out the bagel, extra crispy, and the like are completely ignored. Ordered ingredients are always missing especially a slice of tomato. The staff reaction for correcting the problems are mixed, some are helpful, others a bit too much attitude. For $12+ meal from a bagel place, sorry I want it done the way I ordered it. Other than the service issues, the food quality is awesome; best bagel in Philly! Raise the bar on your service to match your great food. read more

Crazy expensive for a bagel that wasn't anything special. So much potential, but such a disappointment. Guys, you can do better than this. read more

Imagine, two dollars for one sorry "Montreal" bagel! You would think they're airlifting them in from Montréal at that price! I'm not saying it was bad ... it was simply different (lighter and less chewy) than what we're accustomed to here in Phila. Thanks also to UPenn for keeping rents in the area at astronomical levels! read more

Had two breakfasts here this week while visiting Wharton. The wood fired bagels were perfectly toasted and I can't figure out peoples' issues with the service. People were pleasant. It's a bagel shoppe and if the orders are simply done correctly and taste good they've done their part. One day I got the full salmon and egg (forgot the name) and the next simply a salmon smear. I plan to get breakfast there before flying out tomorrow AM. Good on you Spread Bagelry!! read more

The bagels themselves are great. (It's not easy to find a good bagel in Philadelphia.) But they cost $2.00 a piece, which is pretty pricey. I haven't even ventured into their sandwiches, because they are prohibitively expensive. My main gripe was with the service. I know they only opened a week ago, but it was utter chaos in that store. The cashier was snippy at her best, and downright bitchy at her worst. And this was about a 30-second interaction. They were disorganized, and there was no flow to the work queue whatsoever. The fact that they screamed the names of the customers as their orders were ready was a little nerve-wracking. The fact that I had to repeat my order for a half-dozen bagels (5 sesame, 1 everything) four times before they got it right was ridiculous. Luckily I don't eat much bread these days, so I'll only need to go in there for a bagel fix once in a blue moon. I really hope they get their act together, because they do have potential as a successful breakfast spot. They could use a customer service seminar, though, IMHO. read more

We came in from out of town and were so excited to see this fun breakfast spot x from our hotel. Staff was stand-off ish and kept making super annoying loud noises, which was fun in the morning. My fiancé got an egg and cheese bagel. I got an egg and lox bagel. Bagels were great! I ended up getting violently ill later that evening though. My gut tells me it had to do with the lox because it was the only thing I'd eaten all day. My fiancé was fine. We actually really liked the bagels! read more

Not bad but would not make a special trip. Bagels are decent. Coffee is good. Avoid special sandwiches

What a wonderful experience! As I was waiting for my classic bagel to be prepared the smell coming out of the wood burning oven already had my taste buds on fire. Once the woman at the cash register handed me my classic bagel that I got with nova lox and cream cheese I raced back to my place to eat it. I would highly recommend this bagel spot. The bagels are made with love and hard work and I hope you enjoy as much as I enjoyed my meal. I was here one other time for their special bbq night and man was that good. It's a great spot to even stop in and grab a beer! read more

The Montreal style bagels here are terrific, very similar to bagels I had in Montreal (they are soaked in honey water before baking). My tuna was also quite good, and not drenched in mayo. The atmosphere was pleasant and the service was fine. read more

I've eaten here several times and not once has the staff been courteous to me or whoever I was with. I've had a variety of rude interactions with them in person or over the phone. The food is over-priced after being slightly above mediocre. I will not be returning. Save your money or go to Schmear It down the street. read more

Finally, a bagel shop that gives you enough cream cheese! As a cream cheese lover, I always struggle to find a place where I don't need to ask for extra. In Philly, these are some of the best bagels you can get. I love their bagels, but be warned that they aren't your typical bagels if you're craving something more similar to a NY bagel. They are Montreal style, and definitely the closest I've gotten to a real Montreal bagel outside of Canada. The only negatives are that the service can be a little slow, and the bagels are quite pricey, a little over $3 for a bagel with cream cheese, and especially if you're getting a bagel sandwich, which can range from $7-12. read more

I was very happy with my experience here! The food was quick to be made and everyone was friendly. There was a line but the food was worth it! I would recommend it. I had the Standard and it was great! read more

Spread Bagelry - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

This is not your average hangover bagel fix. The breakfast bagel sandwiches are much more expensive than anything I expected (the average cost was probably ~9.50), but the quality made me less bitter about this fact. I had the Classic (bacon, egg, and cheese) on an everything bagel, and the bagel was flavorful, the egg portion was substantial, and the bacon was thick-cut and INCREDIBLE. I would go here to treat myself on a Sunday, but for just a regular workday breakfast fixing, I would go to a food truck for a much cheaper (and greasier) breakfast sandwich. read more

Spread Bagelry - The Classic: bacon, egg, and cheese on an everything bagel - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Dissapointed. The first time I went, the bagel tasted stale. I decided to give it another chance. I modified my order, and repeated it twice. The person taking my order was very rude and then she got my order wrong. Not worth the $10. I will not be going back. Cosi squagels are better. read more

Spread Bagelry - I asked twice for no eggs! - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Pastrami bagel tastes like absolute trash. It is truly inedible. The everything bagel is completely uninspired and doesn't even have salt, garlic, onion, or any flavor aside from sesame and poppy. Fresh squeeze orange juice tastes like from concentrate minute made. We spent nearly $30 on 2 bagels and an orange juice that is pure garbage. Absolutely despicable and they should be ashamed of themselves. read more

I was really craving bagel and eggs so stopped by here on a Sunday afternoon and it hit the spot. I got one of the salmon egg bagel sandwich and I thought it was pretty excellent especially with some capers on the side. Also all bagels are toasted even if you forget to ask for it which I appreciated. Only downside is maybe the price which a lot of people mentioned but overall in my opinion spread is a solid bagel shop! Want to check out their center city location now read more

It's a shame because their bagels are pretty good. Their service is the main problem, as I had to stand for 15 minutes in a line that was 8 people long. When I eventually reached the cashier he moved incredibly slowly, reminding me of a sloth. I had to repeat my order three times and when I eventually got it, it was the wrong bagel with the wrong spread and seasoning. Never coming back read more

The food was great, but the staff wasn't the friendliest. I got a pick up order, and they did not call me to let me know that one of the bagels that I ordered was unavailable, so I only found out when I got there, and they made me a different one. The bagels themselves were very good and the best I had in Philly. The turkey bacon and egg sandwich, as well as the Nova classic sandwich, were both very good. This is somewhere I would return for another good bagel. read more

This was an order via DoorDash. A big disappointment, I ordered the Standard and they completely messed up my order. You choose the type of bagel you want it on - I had requested a sesame - they put it on my least favorite type of bagel, an everything whole wheat. If you they were out of sesame bagels, they should have picked up the phone and asked me what kind of bagel I wanted. Plus they put this weird spread (chutney like) on the sandwich, it did not really add anything (plus it was not shown in the online photo). It made the sandwich incredibly messy and hard to eat. Plus the bacon was barely cooked. I was really hungry but could not bring myself to eat this after a few bites. To top it off DoorDash was only going to refund me $2.33 (no idea how they came up with that figure) even though the Standard is $8.50. I ended up calling DoorDash customer service to complain and they ended up giving me a $10 credit. I am kicking myself for not ordering from the far superior Bart's Bagels. read more

Don't know why this place has such a low rating the bagels and toppings are fresh and it's all delicious. Definitely a must if you are in the area. read more

Update... I went back to Spread Bagelry to give them another chance. This time I went for the classic "everything" bagel with cream cheese ($3.50) and this time it was very very good. Both the bagel and the cream cheese were really fantastic. Still on the pricey side but at least I felt like I received a very high quality product. It looked great and it tasted great too. read more

This is the best bagel in Philly without question. Quality is consistent, though bagels with cream cheese are pricey.I've had a good experience with the staff at the University City location recently, always friendly and smiling when they take your order. My only negative feedback is despite already short hours, they like to start closing early (I've observed this on multiple occasions). Still this is one of my favorite places to stop by for lunch these days. read more

Fluffy bagels, so many choices for toppings. Clean bathrooms, good music. And for later, Roy Pitz on tap! read more

A very friendly cashier who is also limited to eating dairy free like me so he helped me figure out options. Turns out all bagels are dairy free. I had the frittata bagel minus the cheese. Really yummy. read more

Spread Bagelry - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

This place is hit or miss. I came here this morning and I realized when I got to work and pulled out my sandwich that I was given someone else's sandwich. The one that I got was much more expensive than the toasted bagel and cream cheese that I ordered so thanks, Spread. I feel sorry for the person who got stuck with my sandwich. read more