BAGEL REVIEW in New York: Bagel Pub

Am I in a bagel shop or an ice cream shop? That is the question that came up recently at Bagel Pub.

It smells and feels like bagels and at the end of the day, I’ll be walking out with a breakfast or lunch sandwich and not a cone. But the colorful display of cream cheeses made me question what time of day it was.

I visited the Greenwich Village location of Bagel Pub, which now is rivaling Pick-A-Bagel as the most ubiquitous local bagel shop. In addition to their selection of ridiculous cream cheese flavors, Bagel Pub also became known for sabotaging their old bagels at the end of the day to prevent do-gooders set on feeding the hungry from pulling them out of the trash.

While I won’t comment too much on that strange decision, I will make comments about the cream cheese selection. Clearly set to appeal to the Tik Tok-set and nearby college kids, I get a headache from just looking at and thinking about a “Cookie Monster” cream cheese. Is nothing sacred anymore?

I would be willing to try their Cucumber Dill or Za’atar, but the ones resembling ice cream are just too much for me.

I could certainly look past the cream cheese display (and I did) and focus on the bagel quality. Everything about this location felt legit (it reminded me of Ess-a-Bagel on Third Avenue) and I could see the equipment in the back (behind the sign promising the bagels were baked on premises).

My usual request for the hottest bagel possible got me an egg everything bagel, which was my first time ordering that combination. I asked for plain cream cheese and I sensed a judgement from the cashier who looked at me like I was making a big mistake. Ok, so I changed it to scallion – just to live a bit on the wild side. I was not putting anything pink or blue on my bagel!

Once I unwrapped the bagel, I could tell that this was not hot. In fact, it was downright cold. Needless to say I was disappointed and confused, but I did still find a soft, chewy bagel in my hands.

However, I found the bagel itself quite sweet almost sugary. And I didn’t even get one of the wacky cream cheese flavors.

I also found the promised everything seasoning very lacking. I got maybe a hint of salt, but the other typical notes were absent. There was a random oat or two, which was strange, but they did advertise “everything.”

There was clearly potential here and possibly under different circumstances (a hotter bagel), things could have been really great. But an overly sweet bite without much seasoning as part of a cold bagel didn’t do it for me.

Perhaps I would have been better off ordering their Mint Chip ice cream. Wait a minute…

Does Bagel Pub have the best bagels in NY? They definitely have the most creative and diverse cream cheese options, but the bagel itself was a letdown despite all of the signs pointing to a great experience. 6.5 out of 10.