Tal Bagels

This place makes me happy every time I come in. The guys are friendly, food is Mew York through and through, and the bagels are delish

Feels tired. But it’s basically all we have in the neighborhood, especially with a place to sit. Thanks landlords! Not enough and overworked “Mexican”workers, so the lines can be ridiculous. Not a dedicated cashier, which would make service smoother. Tables and chairs are old, wobbly and not in a cute antique way. The bagels? They are OK. Nothing like anything one would get in Queens. The spread display is unappealing and the several slabs of smoked salmon in the front case are far from appetizing, pardon the pun. Throw some oranges, some plastic flowers in there, make it look pretty. Should be good but mediocre at best.

The bagel was warm and made with love. New favorite bagel spot

Dishonest pricing. They will just add extra to your bill for the fun of if. Skip this spot and go to Broad Nosh on 86th and Broadway instead. Far superior bagel and fair pricing.

Excellent food, friendly servers, with that old NYC charm!

I have been going to Tals all my life and i feel like recently the bagels have gotten smaller… i don’t know why i feel that way but they also are putting a lot less cream cheese on it, which for 15 bucks, you’d think i could get all the cream cheese i want. capitalism ig. i have never sat there and ate, but seems like a pretty nice place i guess.

Ridiculous prices for the quantity they give you… $20 for a bagel with lox and barely have any lox. Plenty of other better bagel spots nearby

Best bagels on the UWS. I see people here complaining about prices and wait times. Most of the time I don't get my bagels with anything on them, which may explain why I don't have these issues? I usually buy just the bagels, get cream cheese separately from the supermarket (or sometimes a 1/4-pound container of their specialty cream cheese, usually garlic & herb), and perform the necessary procedures at home myself. This is the "old Upper West Side" way of doing things, dating back to when the old H&H Bagels on 80th & Broadway ruled the UWS. (The new one on Columbus & 85th - 86th belongs to the H&H Bagels East company, which is different and not as good). The old H&H sold both bagels and cream cheese, but would not assemble them together for you. You were expected to do this yourself at home. I guess I just got used to doing things that way. Anyway. Ever since H&H closed, Tal Bagels has consistently had the best bagels in the neighborhood. The everything bagels are absolutely perfect, and they have whole wheat everything too. The staff is "rude" because they are relentlessly overworked and always exhausted. Please try to be patient with them, and consider maybe dropping a few dollars in the tip jar. The guys who show up at 4 AM or whenever to open are the same guys who close in the evening. On top of that, there's usually only 2 of them serving customers, and the place gets pretty busy. This is also why the closing time listed here is not quite correct (6 PM every day? LOL). They close early as often as they can, occasionally as early as 2:30 PM on Sunday. Go as early as possible, and don't count on them being open after 4 PM.