Bagel Uprising — Restaurant in Alexandria

I've been searching for new bagel places in the Northern Virginia area, and Bagel Uprising came up on my list to try out. I've been eating bagels for decades and have a good idea of what makes a quality bagel. Crusty on the outside, chewy on the inside, with a fresh yeasty flavor. Sesame and poppy are my favorites by far, although I like some other flavors as well.

So I bought a half dozen bagels and an egg/cheese bagel sandwich to try them out. The egg sandwich was a messy disaster, since they cram an oversized, over-easy (runny yolk) fried egg on a tiny bagel that is way too small to hold much. A few bites of the sandwich and the egg was dripping all over the place and falling out of the tiny bagel. I basically threw it away before I finished it.

And unfortunately the bagels here just don't cut it at all. They are very small, very dense, and extremely chewy. Not crusty, just very, very chewy. And even worse, they tasted like way too much sugar was added to the bagel dough making even the sesame and poppy bagels overly sweet. Bagels are NOT supposed to be sweet, they aren't a dessert food. I've had many bagels from other places and these are the first ones where sugar is very noticeable in the food.

This was the first and last time I buy from Bagel Uprising. I don't recommend the bagels and will continue my search. I have two left in my freezer and they may not even get eaten, big disappointment!

Attached picture shows a comparison of a Main Street Bagel Deli sesame bagel (top, $1.25) with a Bagel Uprising sesame bagel (bottom, $1.66). Bagel Uprising bagels are very small, equivalent to "mini" bagels, but priced higher than competitors with much larger (and...

Bagels do not seem to be boiled and baked. As a former owner of a successful bagel Shop in NJ for almost 10 years. They have very small bins on a counter with maybe 6 different bagel flavors. I ordered an everything bagel with scallion cream cheese. They automatically assumed I wanted it toasted. I said no, no toast. A good fresh bagel doesn’t need to be toasted. I also ordered a dozen bagels. I should have paid better attention to their little menu.. no egg and no cinnamon raisin…. Okay. So I substitute with more everything and plain. Even ethic is thrown in a bag including my everything with scallion cream cheese. I immediately regret spending $20 for a dozen bagels that look like donuts. I try to stay optimistic…. I head out to my car a block away as there is nowhere to eat and it’s raining. I open it up anticipating our deliciousness…. However to my disappointment the bagel Is like rubber. Extremely difficult to bite into and break apart barely any cream cheese to actually taste. Unfortunately a huge disappointment. I look into the bag of my $20 bakers dozen and wanted to walk back and return however I decided not to go there. I had a feeling I wasn’t going to get anywhere with that. So I decided to feed the birds. These bagels are far from a real kettle boiled bagel. I was here on business and went out of my way for an amazing bagel. Just goes to show reviews don’t always prove to be accurate and apparently not many people have ever had a real NY kettle boiled bagel made with fresh homemade dough. If people love this! We would rock this...

Wow, this place was a 10/10 all around. We just wanted to grab something quick to eat when landing at DCA. We were not anticipating having the best bagels we have ever had. The service was top tier, the owner was in there and he was on his way out and I watched as he went around to each person working and simply said "thank you".

We ordered: Salt Bagel with Cilantro, Jalapeño, Lime Cream Cheese (10/10) - WOW! I'd never heard of a salt bagel, so I'd certainly never had one. I love salt though and I love bagels. Soooo why not?!?! I got my bagel toasted, it was crispy yet soft. How ever they make that bagel they have mastered the technique. The cream cheese gave robust flavors, a little spicy, the freshness of cilantro, and a hint of lime. Delicious!

Bacon, Egg, & Cheese on a Poppy Seed Bagel - This was by far the best bacon, egg and cheese bagel I've ever had! The bacon was good quality bacon. It was thick cut with the appropriate amount of fat on it. I'm not sure what kind of cheese they used but it wasn't yellow American and it was appreciated. The bagel itself however, was the highlight of the sandwich. At the risk of sounding repetitive but wanting to really drive the point home, it was crispy at first contact but once you bit in, it was soft and chewy.

Cinnamon Bagel with the Seasonal Sweet, Spicy Chai Cream Cheese (10/10) - The bagel again was phenomenal with the perfect hints of cinnamon and not too overwhelming. The Spicy Chai cream cheese took us a couple bites to get used to but once we did it really was amazing. Sweet and spicy...