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79th St (1)
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The best bagels I've ever had. I never thought bagels could be so delicious. I'm not a huge bagel fan -- I used to view bagels as emergency sustenance during college -- but I'll eat H & H bagels hot, warm, at room temperature, or even cold. These bagels are still tasty even after sitting around for a few days; popping them in a toaster magically restores their soft doughy interior while providing a crispy exterior.
Some people seem to consider Absolute Bagels (http://www.yelp.com/bi...) to be the best, but I have had Absolute's bagels several times and they are pretty good, but & H wins hands down. Another H & H plus: it's open late, so you can almost always count on fresh and warm bagels. One drawback is that these bagels are not cheap.
They're open 24/7, but they don't bake anything fresh between 2am and 6am. The 24 hour thing is a tourist gimmick (which I fell for). The "baker" was sitting in front of a cold oven playing with his cellphone.
I came by at 3am on my way to JFK for my 6am flight. I got three tiny cold bagels for $4.20. These were easily half the size of Ess-A-Bagel bagels and 40% more expensive! Given that my bagels were probably an hour or two old at this point, they tasted like something I'd get at an airport Starbucks. Gross.
Feel free to drop by here during daytime hours, but avoid it during the late night. Totally not worth it.
This H & H location never changes. It looks the same today as it did years ago when when I used to take long walks down Broadway. I'm not a "toppings" type person so I don't have a problem with their minimalist approach to selling . Just give me a plain bagel with nothing on it and I'm good to go.
The reason I'm knocking off one star is because they're higher priced than competitors. H & H is one of the most widely distributed bagels in New York (yes we even get them in Connecticut) and yet they buck the "economies of scale" concept. "Economies of scale" says that the more product you sell, then the lower your price becomes. H & H seems to be an exception to this rule.
Simply as good as a bagel gets. I love places that specialize in one thing, and do that one thing right. In this case, H H does one thing, and one thing only -- bagels. And they are good...very good.
So when you come in here, don't expect 50 some-odd different varieties of shmears and tofu shmears and pastrami eggs this and turkey avocado that. This place does bagels. So deal with it, because they are damn good. When you take that first bite of crunchy crust and warm, fluffy inside, you'll know exactly what I mean.
First off, H&H probably supplies 50% of the delis in Manhattan with bagels which is why they are open around the clock. As an accomodation to the neighborhood, they sell bagels to the public.
Over the years, they added a refrigerator to sell cream cheese spreads, soda and juice as well. They don't sell coffee or tea so fuhgeddaboudit. However, this is not a deli so don't order a bagel with butter or cream cheese from the cashier. Just buy your bagels, take them home and do it yourself, (that's what she said).
These bagels are $1.40 apiece and yes, you can buy them at other delis in Manhattan for less. However, you can't get them hot. The bagels are cold by time you buy them at other places.
That's right bitches - you want fresh, hot bagels right out of the oven? Pay the premium and stop complaining about the lack of service. The lines if any, move real quick. By skipping the butter and cream cheese on my bagels, I can still lose weight when ordering sausage on my pizza (at least that's what I keep telling myself).
Most regulars will just ask for "whatever's hot" or you can simply put your hand against the bagel bin and feel the heat. You'll know what's hot.
Cheers!
N.
These bagels are fantastic.
Loses a star on service. You have to fix whatever you want on the bagel yourself. Which is fine. There are long lines etc but it is worth the late. One of new yorks best bagels.
I've been visiting New York for a looong time now. To put it accurately, I'm kind of obsessed with it. Some of it is the beauty and grandeur of the city, some of it's the shopping, a lot of it's the music, a lot of it's the theater - but most... MOST of it's the food. My quest for the perfect New York bagel had had been put on hold as I moved onto pizza, but when I found myself staying a block away from H and H in the Upper Westside, the fat, carb-loving girl inside of me was bursting at the seams.
Chewy and doughy on the inside with a hard exterior. The everything bagel had a touch of salt, which which was pure genius. I ate three full bagels in two days. A plain, everything, and cinnamon raisin. All perfection.
One star taken away for crappy service. A non-responsive cashier, no cream cheese, and no toasting/warming of the bagel.
Despite all that, these are still quite possibly the best bagels I've ever had.
On my last trip to NYC a co worker asked me to bring some bagels back. I bought them the night before my flight and omg they are so good! They are fresh and some were right out of the oven. I know for sure I'll be coming back the next time I go back to NY
After living in new york for 7 years, we finally decided to try H and H bagels.
We tried both HK and UWS locations. Both locations are for take out only, and to our surprise (should have checked on Yelp first!), they only sell bagels, that is, you need to bring your own lox and fancy spreads, which doesn't bother me at all, especially Zabar's is right next to it (UWS location). They do have philly cream cheese sold in the fridge along with OJ and milk. Crem cheese comes in individual serving size (65 cents each) or in tubs.
We ordered the everything bagel. It was disappointment at first bite - the bagel did not have a crunchy skin. however, It did have a good amount of chewyness, but not enough "body" (i.e. when you cut the bagel, it falls apart and leaves crumbs everywhere). My husband finished the whole thing and thought it was all right. We both agreed Ess-a-BAGEL on 21st st would probably win a larger crowd with the crunchier skin, fuller "body", home made nova, and the great selection of spreads.
Sent from the bagel gods!
I can buy a couple of these bad boys fresh out of the oven, hop on the 3 train, be home in less than 10 minutes, pop it in the toaster for a minute or so, put cream cheese on myself (big deal, I find when the shop puts in on for you, you either get too much or too little) and it's still warm and chewy with a little crunch. So good!
They also keep pretty well, kept a few in the paper bag they came in for a couple days and still tasted great after a few minutes in the toaster.
Really H&H? Really?!?
I can get a fresh bagel of my choosing that is sliced and buttered exactly as I ask for $0.75 from the bagel cart right next to my subway stop...consistently. Not only could you not give me the type of bagel I asked for (whole wheat), you wouldn't even take a knife to it OR butter it up. And then you took $1.40 from me. The plain bagel I ended up with wasn't bad, but I'll stick to my bagel cart.
Sorry. Not a fan.
Hmm...I have to say I was disappointed!
First of all, I was disspointed that they don't put anything in bagels for you.
You have to either go home and make it yourself or buy whatever you need there for the bagel and make it yourself anyways!!!
Because we wanted to eat the bagels in central park....we ended up eating them plain....
The bagels themselves werent so great either. My sister had bluberry and it was good somewhat. But the bagel I had, which was cinamon and raisn....horrible. it was hard and I barely tasted cinamon or raisn...of course there were only a couple raisn in the entire bagel!
They had a good price but I wouldnt go back there,,,will try some other place.
Bagels were decent, but didn't notice the difference from a Noah's Bagel (nation wide chain). There was no place to sit down and eat, only an open area in front of the cash registers where tables and chairs could have been.
I've heard things...things such as " H&H has the best bagels in NY". So today I passed by, my interest was sparked and I had to give them a whirl.
You see I love bagels. I love when people say "Ooo bagels have so many calories!" I like to look at those people with a mischievous glimmer in my eye and take a nice hearty bite out of a big doughy bagel. Hey I'm not trying to be no model, so bagels are my friend!
Well first off I must state I am partial to the Brooklyn Bagel place down the street from my apt so upon entering H&H I didn't want to like them.
-I thought their set-up inside was plain and uninviting
-Their menu was sad.
-I had a construction guy cut right in front of me
-I waited in a line only to have 2 older men behind the counter take a brief pause from their conversation to tell me to move down to the end of the counter to the girl behind the register. So I politely moseyed on down her way.
This straight faced girl behind the register handled some money in her drawer then just took the flimsy paper thing to quickly grab my requested bagel, which I was a little turned out by. Germs, they happen. I was especially disheartened that she made no attempt to pick out the best bagel in the batch for me. It was just a quick grab. I'm one of those people who love when people make that extra effort. Plus if she knew the kind of day I was having maybe she would have realized that giving me the best looking bagel MIGHT have just made my day! The final product...an everything bagel for $1.50.
Well...I am wandering down the subway steps and try my first bite...and dang it!...I thought the bagel was terrific. It still tasted fresh and doughy and delicious with a whole lot of everything on it! So yeah I'd be back. However BB still has my heart but nice try H&H, nice try!
I dont know what is with all the haters out here. There are always people cutting up this place saying their bagels are too sweet, or they are not authentic. However there are also a lot of people who think their bagels are the shit, the category that i fall into. As soon as u walk into their store u are hit with their aroma. I wish u could get ur bagel toasted or with cream cheese, but thats not their thing, they are purists. For any tourists, i suggest buying a dozen or so because later when u are home, all u will be able to think of is H and H.
The first time I had these bagels four years ago, I didn't get what the big deal was. Eh.. better than Noah's?.. not really.
Fast forward to 2009, take two. I tried the whole wheat, the garlic and the sourdough bagels. Crispy on the outside, soft and doughy on the inside. YUM. I was wrong.. SO much better than Noah's!
I agree with almost every other reviewer, H&H has the best bagels! Period. I thought I've had decent bagels before where they were crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, but the H&H bagels are on a completely different level. It's as if I've driven a Ford Focus all my life and now I've driven a Mercedes... Each bite had the perfect crunch texture complemented with the soft chewy insides. My only regret was not buying a dozen or more!
Thank God my friend Lori lives two blocks from H&H - otherwise I would have spent my entire trip on the subway to get my fix every day.
I've had H&H Bagels before, actually at a cafe in San Francisco that has them flown in daily. As good as they are there they pale in comparison to when they come out of the oven all hot and fresh. Sure, they are a bit pricey at $1.30 each, and it's a bit of a pain that they don't put cream cheese, butter, etc on them for you but I figured out that's a good thing because the lines would be even longer if they had to do so.
Take a look at this goodness and if you don't drool I'll buy you a coke:
http://www.yelp.com/bi...
My friend is flying into SF in a couple of weeks...now the only question is how many should I have her bring me?
I don't eat a lot of wheat, but when if I am going to splurge and risk a stomachache for it, an H&H everything bagel will be the cause! I scoop out all the innards to eat mostly crusty goodness, and smear it with Zabar's tofu scallion creem cheese - heaven.
crunch outside, moist inside. i love simple things but multi-players are ubber appealing. :p ive only had blueberry bagel but im sure all the other bagels are yummy.
i was kinda bummed that they only have bagel... which means i had to get the cream cheese seperately and ran to the starbucks cus they don't have tables, they don't serve bagel w cream cheese. it would be nice if they extend their service.
I don't know if they were just having an off day or if most of the reviews here are meant for the midtown location, but after hearing a lot of hype we went to the H&H Bagels on the Upper West Side and waited in the long line only to be sorely disappointed. The bagels were hard and didn't have much taste. Of the two blueberry bagels we got, one had a somewhat respectable number of blueberries and the other had MAYBE four tiny blueberries in it. The cinnamon raisin bagels were bland and the everything bagels weren't anything to write home about. For all the talk the place gets and the $1.40-per-bagel price tag I expected a lot, lot more.
The importance of a bagel is quite often neglected. Most of you visited this place because of a brief mention on Sex in the City or whatever else movie may have name dropped the place.
The concept that buttering and cream cheesing a bagel for this establishment is too difficult is mind boggling... there is nothing like bagels just coming out of the oven and getting them buttered and what not and either eating it at the park nearby or allowing the grease to settle into the bagel penetrate the bag for a guaranteed ultra yummy breakfast.
I am sorry I wanted to like these bagels so bad, it is so close to my job, I don't hate them in the least however, I can't bring myself to say they are even good. How many chances can one bagel get? Save yourself the trip here, get lenders frozen bagels and eat those they are just as good...
Ehh.. I walked over here the other morning excited to finally have the sacred H&H bagel. I was excited to see that there was no line because I had heard it can get long at times, and I'm not really one for waiting in line for a bagel. Anyway, I ordered up a sourdough bagel and was in shock when they said they didn't put anything on it - what the hell? You're a bagel shop, put some cream cheese on it!
So I get the tub of Cheese and my single bagel and head back home. I just moved and don't have a toaster yet so that was a fail, but I'll take the blame on that. After I crushed my single bagel, I was left thinking that it was a tasty bagel but no thrilled.
I guess if I was going to buy a bunch of bagels for visitors or work, I'd be fine with H&H. But for a single bagel, not really worth it. I've had bagels that were just as good in the city and they put all the toppings on for me. I think I finally proved that a NYC bagel is pretty much a NYC bagel from most anyplace... at least to me.
To be honest, the bagels taste ok, but still not worth the price. Also they don't have many options. Furthermore, they don't serve coffee and won't even toast and creamcheese your bagel. Absolute Bagels uptown which charges $1 bagel or $12 for 13 is much more worth it (even with the metro fare). I live right here and I never walk into H&H.
MJ's Star : 3.5
Price : Bagel $1.30, Cream Cheese $0.65
I think that I am being smart when I pick the bagels that just came out of the oven. They are the best, of course. They won't give you those though. They know what they are doing. They confound me - they beat me. Why can't you just give me one of the new ones? Why must I get the older (see: probably oldest) ones. I guess I have to try to guess the ones that are right in the middle or losing their heat.
Their bagels are good, but could be great... (3.5/4)
H&H is only A-OK because they don't provide toasting and schmearing.
The bagels are pretty tasty and of a great bagel consistency!
The service was lacking but I didn't really care because it's a bagel place in New York. I'm not expecting the red carpet.
It was ok.
The best bagel in the world!!! amazing and not too doughy. Their bagels are best when hot and fresh and all of the bagels are delicious. From the plain bagels to the everything bagel! But what I can't understand is how people stand the heat inside, it is soo hot i would never be able to work there. I could barely stand in line for the oh so delicious and yummy bagels and i'm from hawaii!
zomg no explanation needed. Take that, stupid *bread roll* impostor bagels. These babies are boiled to perfect deliciousness and with the topping on *both* sides (hah! total bonus). Warm crispy outside, piping hot deliciousness inside. The only time I bother eating a bagel that hasn't been toasted.
For newcomers, don't make the mistake I first made. All they do--literally--is put the fresh bagels in a bag for you. You can buy accouterments from the refrigerators. They don't wait tables, they don't serve, they don't even hand out a napkin. You take your bagels and you go. Fortunately my mistake was easy to correct--I just got breakfast across the street at Zabar's that day.
Honestly what makes a place for me is definitely service, which is something that this place really doesn't have.
I'm not going to disagree that the bagels here are good but yeesh the people here could be a little more polite about it. Literally having the cashier roll her eyes at us is a big no no.
You can walk for 10 blocks in the snow and a bag of these babies will still be smoking hot.
Just, do yourself a favor: don't, for the love of cheese, go in and ask for only one. They will yell at you and people in the store will stare and point and smirk. I've seen it done, and it's ugly. Get a dozen, it will be mouthwateringly worth it.
Absolute, hands down best bagels in NYC.
Always so fresh and warm.
I had to make one last stop to H n H before my flight back to cali and lugged my suitcase behind me at 6am while it was a brisk 29 degrees outside just to get my hands on as many bagels as i could.
Got my hands on a bakers dozen, stuffed them into my backpack and au revoir NY and hello California. The bagels were def the hit on the plane. I was liek everyones best friend. HA. Too bad sharing is for fools.
Those bad boys were all mine.
I remember walking past H & H late at night and popping in because I was very hungry. Even at that hour, I received a steamy, warm, fresh bagel which was perfect. They do provide bagels to many places in the city, but I like to get mine straight from the source. Friends from out of town always nag me to bring them H & H when I visit!
Im very picky about more bagels whether its hard like a rock or just taste bad. But I would def. say this place was made to make bagels! Soft with butter or cream cheese is the way to please!
Fresh bagels can be had at any hour of the day. Craving a bagel at 3:30 am? You can get them at H&H.
As a NYC bagel icon, H&H bakes one helluva bagel. I love their sourdough bagel. As a non-lover of schmears and cream cheeses on my bagels, I'm not too irked by the fact that you can only purchase the cream cheeses by the tubs. I like my bagels pretty plain. I can see how that's quite inconvenient. On the other hand, H&H is a huge distributor of bagels, so a lot of patrons come here to buy bagels by the dozens. So a tub of cream cheese would be the perfect size to complement those bagels. But I do wish bagels could be toasted here. They don't though. If you ask, you'll receive the worst eye-roll you've ever seen.
The one thing that did disappoint me about their bagels was that their freshness didn't last very long. I had bought a few to bring back home on the day I was flying out and when I arrived in California, they had already turned pretty hard. And the last thing you want to do is microwave an old bagel. It just becomes a chewy and tough mess. Note to self: H&H bagels must be eaten fresh.
I am a really big fan of the bagel and truly enjoy its simplicity with a spread of cream cheese. I came here back in 2004 and wrote about this place in my blog (now transferred here):
[I was cured with a bagel]
If I can go to New York and NOT spend any money on shopping than I must be cured. Come to think of it, that actually sounds pathetic. But, nonetheless that is the case in hand. The concierge at the Westin in Times Square recommended H & H bagels and off I went for about 40 blocks (from 43rd St. to 80th St.) to buy me the BEST bagel in New York. Although I spent no money on shopping (and trust me, I tried!), it was the best purchase I made throughout the trip!
The walk was gorgeous on a sunny August day, as the pathway was on the edge of central park. I enjoyed by plain bagel on a bench on the sub divider in front of the store and went with my S.O. to the Natural History Museum after which was really close by.
There's nothing like getting the bagels at the actual shop. For many weeks my S.O would bring some back for me after his business trips. They were always harder than I remembered. =/ I have found a place that sells them here in D.C. But, once again...there is something about those oh so soft, chewy fresh bagels in the inside and perfectly crisp on the outside texture after just buying them from H&H bagels.
Tip:
-Yea, they don't toast or do cream cheese. =/
-Close to Central Park and the Natural History Museum
Plain bagels are my favorite here
H & H has very good bagels, including wheat bagels, which is a nice touch. They don't put anything on the bagels, or heat them, though, which cost them the fifth star. While I liked the bagels, I would recommend Tal Bagels, instead. I'm pretty sure H & H makes them for Tal, and Tal will put cream cheese, etc. on them, or even make bagel sandwiches.
I was LITERALLY raised on this stuff!
I grew up in a building around the corner from H&H and I do think it is the BEST that NY bagels have to offer. Will it be cheep...prob not, will it be amazing? YES
Their bagels and hours are great, but what's the deal with not selling sandwiches? I hate having to buy an entire tub of cream cheese and a package of lox when I go here; although, they do sell individual containers of Philly (but no individual servings of lox!). Even the whole wheat bagel is good, which is saying a lot considering it's easy to make a really tough whole wheat bagel.
They only accept cash, but luckily there's an ATM right inside. It's over $1/bagel right now, but they're definitely worth it.
Neighborhood: Hell's Kitchen
Category: Bagels
Neighborhood: Upper East Side
Category: Caterers
Neighborhood: Upper West Side
Category: Bagels
Neighborhood: Manhattan Valley
Category: Bakeries
Neighborhood: Midtown East
Category: Bakeries
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