5 Borough Bagels — Restaurant in Clive

I stopped in for lunch around 12:30 yesterday with my sister after hearing good things about the place on this site. I have always been a Bruegger's fan girl, sibce my husband worked there for almost 5 years in Ames. I wanted to see if 5 Borough Bagels was better. The place is cute and simple, and refreshing in terms of style. They serve breakfast all day, and have bagels, salads, and wraps. We ordered a breakfast bagel, one of their lunch bagels (The Queens) and a cheddar bagel with veggie cream cheese.

Specialty Bagels- These were both amazing. They were toasted and crisp on the outside while still soft and supple on the inside. I ordered my breakfast bagel with cream cheese, and there was plenty on the sandwhich. The flavors were spot on for both of them, and it was a great experience.

Cheddar with Veggie Cream Cheese- This one we ordered because I felt like to truly judge a bagel place, you gotta go simple and see how they do. Well, they did amazing. Again. Lots of cheddar cheese, and the cream cheese. Holy cow. It was fresh and LOADED with fresh veggies. It was light and refreshing and just amazing. And they give you a LOT of cream cheese, so be prepared for a messy eat.

Price- 2 sandwiches and 1 bagel with cream cheese for less than $20. I felt the price point was a great deal given how fresh and delicious they were.

Service- Our service was really good. The people working behind the counter were courteous, friendly, and knowledgeable.

Cons- They have self-serve water for free, with child - sized cups. I just wish they had full-sized cups, but that's being really nitpicky. Also, most of the tables hadn't been wiped down while we were there, so we found it a little hard to find somewhere to sit (we wiped one down ourselves). And the last con was that there were no napkins at tables. They had one napkin dispenser by the water, and it was empty. With the amount of cream cheese they serve, they need napkins at every table!

Overall, the best bagel place I've ever been to. I HIGHLY recommend going and...

5BB is a local treasure! My daughter, son-in-law (a native New Yorker) and granddaughter — along with my son-in-law’s parents (from Long Island), and for good measure, also along with my first ex-wife (an LA transplant, where they also have some great bagel shops and delis that make pretty good NYC-style bagels and have some really good lox, so no slouch) — were here for the last weekend of the State Fair. I had everyone over for bagels and lox on that Sunday. They were blown away by how good the bagels and lox were! On my many recent trips to NYC to visit — each of which always includes bagels and lox — I would be hard pressed to find a better authentic NYC bagel and lox in NYC, as the ones lovingly made by 5BB!!! And the lox is as good as you’re going to find in Des Moines! And talk about customer service!!! 5BB is amazing in that regard as well! Jordan, the manager at the Clive store, was incredible and very gracious with her time in helping me figure out my online delivery order so that I’d have enough lox for everyone (along with plenty leftover) and was very patient working through my order with me. I’m extremely grateful to her for that! And the delivery on Sunday morning was right on time! I’ve become familiar with the real-life back story of how 5BB’s owners — Tony and Sara — met and fell in love in a NYC bagel shop! We’re lucky they brought their love of amazing bagels to Des Moines! On my future trips to NYC, I’ll be comparing the bagel shops there to 5BB! And I’ll know that once I return home to DM, I’ll still be able to enjoy NYC quality bagels and lox! All the best to Tony and Sara and their amazing committed staff! And may 5BB become a Midwest tradition for authentic NYC...

After hearing so many friends rave about this spot, I decided to check it out on my recent visit to Des Moines. Sadly, it did not live up to the hype. When we arrived it was busy with several people waiting for their orders which made it very congested. It was hard to determine where the line to order was and who was waiting for food vs waiting to order. My husband and I each ordered a toasted bagel with cream cheese. In the 10 minutes we waited for our order we witnessed at least 3 customers who received wrong orders! Upon returning to our car, I realized my husband’s order was incorrect. He had ordered a French toast bagel with honey walnut cream cheese. What he received as a French toast bagel with hot honey cream cheese. This was pretty disappointing as the French toast bagel has an up-charge. Due to time constraints, we couldn’t return to have it corrected. While my order was made correctly (cheddar bagel with hot honey cream cheese), it still wasn’t great. The hot honey cream cheese was flavorful, but too spicy to enjoy more than a few bites and I’m someone who loves spicy. The bagel was dry, not toasted enough for my liking and had more of a bread texture than a chewy bagel. I find these bagels comparable to Panera. The Sunday morning crew at this location needs some additional training. Most of the staff didn’t seem to know what was going on, the employee at the register didn’t seem like she was listening while customers were ordering and I witnessed another employee argue with a customer about his incorrect order. Overall, this spot was a letdown and not somewhere I’d consider stopping on our next visit...