Collegetown Bagels — Restaurant in City of Syracuse

TLDR: skip the bagels, get the tea! And if you get a BEC, do scrambled eggs and a roll if possible.

As a certified Long Island rat, I believe I have the authority to speak on the quality of this bagel place. I got a standard order: Bacon egg and cheese on an everything bagel with extra bacon and a large half and half (lemonade and tea).

It does not feel like a “traditional NY deli”. Everything is clean/kinda gentrified and the cashier almost gave me a large cup of half and half creamer (half and half wasn’t on the menu). Which is fine, this place is made to serve and employs a wide demographic. Minimum wage workers should not have to learn weird regionalisms to please bagel snobs like myself.

What is not fine is their everything bagel being called “the Long Island”. It’s an ok bagel, but it’s leagues behind an actual long island bagel. I don’t have the urge to buy a dozen of them and eat them raw like a medieval peasant. The fried egg on the sandwich is also on par with what I’d expect from a really nice food court- I suspect getting it scrambled would’ve been better.

However, what was surprising was the half and half. It was EXCEPTIONAL! You can tell they made it in house and used real tea. I dare say it’s better than what I get locally! Give it the generic drink lid, wrap it in food wrap, and you’ll have the authentic deli drink experience!

If you’re looking for a “long island bagel” this is not the place. But if you’re looking for an easy to reach cafe with high quality drinks and don’t mind middling food, this is definitely a place...

This review is based on the last three times I've been to this location . Ordered a Rosemary salt bagel that literally crusted with salt on both sides of the bagel, it was inedible! Another visit I had a BLT there and the bacon was burned to the point of being charcoal! The Mexican mocha I ordered with it had literally a teaspoon of cayenne pepper in it all you could taste was cayenne! Recently I ordered a breakfast sandwich, a Rise N Grind that literally was just tossed together with no regard to neatness & presentation let alone being wrapped so loosely that insiders fell out of the croissant. The cashier during my last visit decided to check her messages on their phone instead of helping the next customer in a long line

Sure I had a follow up & refund (BLT & Mexican mocha) with someone from the Ithaca shop but no one has ever called from the shop I had the issue with which seems to tell me that there is no one capable of managing the Syracuse location

I left a bad review on their point of sale app with a message saying a bad review would have a follow up phone call I'm still waiting on that call...

It’s easy to see why Collegetown Bagels is so busy. This location is situated on the Syracuse University campus. The food was very tasty and the order was correct. There was tons of flavor in the cheese melt, which was a spicy Italian bagel with mozzarella cheese on it. The Autumn Sky sandwich was good but I wish that the sourdough bread was fresher. In my opinion, the bread makes the sandwich. If the bread is not fresh, the whole sandwich is ruined. I enjoyed the sandwich with bacon, apples, brown mustard, and spinach. All was not completely lost on the bread because the other ingredients were fresh and flavorful.

I placed my order at 11:25 AM and wanted my order to be done by 12. Instead, my food was ready by 11:44. I decided to pick up the order early because I didn’t want my cheese melt to get soggy. I was quite disappointed with their timing of my order. If I couldn’t get to the restaurant until 12, I am sure that I would have had a different opinion on my cheese melt.

Overall I am impressed with Collegetown Bagels and I will try them again, maybe just not with an order to go if I...