Emerald City Bagels — Restaurant in Atlanta

I want to love this place. I have been dying to have this place open, because I love bagels and it's right by my house. However, a restaurant need to be some combination of fast, cheap and good quality, and this didn't hit the mark on any of those factors in my opinion. I got a toasted bagel with cream cheese and a small drip coffee for $10 - which is okay, if it was fast and amazing quality. I got my coffee right away which is good, but then it took 20 mins to get a bagel with cream cheese. There were at least 5 other people also waiting for their orders, who were waiting before me and mine still came out before any others. No one else in line. The front of house is chit chatting, restocking straws, while theres a bunch of people waiting on food, Whats gives? Anyways, i get this bagel thinking okay they must have steamed it fresh and thats what took so long. It's going to be the best bagel Ive ever had. Also no. Im not even sure they toasted it - was warm but honestly kind of hard like a store-bought bagel. What took 20 mins?? This was disappointing. It's a brand new store, and the store front is adorable. Advice to mgmt - figure out how to speed up service, get orders out to customers fast, fresh and hot - then you can change me $10 for a bagel,...

Atlanta's bagel options are definitely few and far between and this new Emerald City location on the Beltline is a welcome addition to the breakfast options in the area. The store itself is beautiful and super well designed. I applaud the designer who put the space together!

Bagel flavors are plentiful, with all the classics you'd expect and some more interesting options like Rosemary Sea Salt and Jalapeño Cheese. Creme Cheeses are also great, including Dill, Garlic Herb, and Toasted Almond & Fig, among others. They also offer bagel sandwiches (B.E.C.!) that look pretty good but that I haven't tried yet.

But here's the thing - the bagels are pretty decent, but I'm not sure if they're worth the hype around Emerald City. They're just missing something and when you bite into one, it's dense and chewy but not tender enough to keep the toppings/cream cheese from sliding out of the bagel and landing in your lap. Read the Serious Eats article called "The Good Bagel Manifesto" for more info about what I'm talking about.

All-in-all though, it's a solid option on the Beltline and there's a self-ordering window or kiosk that's seemingly opening sometime in the future - I'm...

I’ve given this spot 3 tries in hopes it would get better. Since the opening it’s been packed with people. And everyone looks to be enjoying the bagels. Every time I ask myself what am I missing? Am I just a hater? But no every single time I’ve tried the bagels it truly has not been enjoyable. My first bagel was the Lox bagel with garlic cream cheese (recommended by the cashier). That bagel was so hard to eat and so incredibly salty. The second attempt, a simple bacon egg and cheese. Again the bagel was so hard. I could not finish it. The third attempt, the bagel of the month- Meghan was hard to eat and lacked taste. The only thing that made it eatable was the cream cheese that doesn’t even come with it. I want so badly to like this place because it’s the only bagel/breakfast sandwich spot on the beltline. But it’s truly terrible and not to mention expensive. The bagels taste microwaved and are physically hard to eat to the point it...