The Bagel Deli & Restaurant — Restaurant in Denver

I hate leaving reviews like this but my experience at The Bagel Deli & Restaurant last weekend left me with a sour taste in my mouth. As a hardcore East Coaster now living in Denver I was excited at the opportunity to try this place.

The vibe in the restaurant side is exactly what you would expect from that exact East Coast style deli/diner. It made me feel at home right away and made me even more excited. Thats about where it ended for me.

My gold standard for any bagel place is an everything bagel with chive cream cheese so I had to order that. It came out toasted on a plate (which I did not ask for) and had one small scoop of cream cheese with it on the side that I had to spread myself onto the bagel. There was barely enough to coat one side of the bagel. The bagel itself was nothing special. It could have easily been bought at Costco if you were to ask me. I also ordered a side of pancakes that came out cold. The butter wouldn't even melt on them. They were very dense as well and just overall not very good. We also had a pastrami on rye which I thought would be the savior of the meal. And for the price it should have been. It was okay, not great but also not bad. Serviceable.

The worst part about the visit was that it felt like from the moment we got into the restaurant that they were trying to get us to leave. I get it, we were the tail end of a Sunday service and everyone is tired but the way the staff was acting was alarming. My friend and I witnessed a younger waiter accosting our older waitress in the middle of the dining room about something or other, verbally saying some things that should not be said in front of customers who are trying to dine and enjoy their experience. They were also vacuuming the floors as we were still sitting there eating which I found extremely off putting, who wants deli carpet dust blowing up on their food while eating.

I hate leaving bad reviews and rarely do but as I understand a single experience doesn't define an entire restaurant but due to my experience I would not come back to this establishment. I didn't pay $20 with tax and tip for a sandwich to hear employees arguing, vacuums running , and cold food. Maybe it was just an off day but my friend and I won't be...

Fantastic deli sandwiches in a slightly chaotic environment. I had a very enjoyable lunch here with a friend who had recommended it. We had a short wait and spent that milling around the deli side of the restaurant. In hindsight, this was probably annoying to employees and customers, so be warned to put in your name & cell number with the host, then go wait in your car or outside (if it's a nice day).

Once seated, we ordered sandwiches: corned beef for my friend and pastrami for me, all on rye. (I only took photos of mine.) I upgraded to have mine with a latke. As you can see from the photo, the sandwich was huge, so it was plenty to eat half then, and save the rest for dinner that night. All of my food was delicious and I would visit again. Our waiter was charming and had lots of fun jokes, so he made being a diner enjoyable.

I also ordered 2 desserts to-go: a chocolate chip cookie cheesecake bar and a piece of chocolate babka. I ate the cheesecake bar that night after dinner and it was a decadent dessert that satisfied my sweet tooth. I took the babka on my flight home and my husband enjoyed every crumb of it. Would...

Ok so I have mixed emotions about this place. Let's start with the good first... the pastrami on marbel rye bread was really good!! Could have maybe been a little hotter but the flavor was spot on and the pastrami is very thinly sliced which I prefer over a thicker New York style pastrami. We also had the stuffed french toast and the cinnamon roll. Both of those were also delicious! Packed with flavor and the cinnamon roll was nice and hot. Could have been a little bit bigger for the almost $5 price but definitely good!

Now the bad... the bagles, at a deli that specializes in them, were honestly terrible. I dont say that lightly, but they had seriously no flavor at all and they were to dense. My girlfriend had the cinnamon raisin bagel and I had the everything bagel. The cinnamon rasin had no taste of cinnamon at all. My everything bagel just had no flavor, and that's hard to do with a bagel that has "everything" on it, man it needed salt so bad! Other than the bagels the food was good I thought. I will be going back to try other things and also to get that pastrami again. Will just have to steer clear...