Isaac's Bagels — Restaurant in Durham

I love me a good bagel sandwich post morning bike ride, or between Sunday pickleball and church. Oddly specific, but those are prime times that I come by. I also love coming here cause people are just so nice and they’re super fast with your orders. Honestly, Isaac’s Bagels might just be the extra push I need to get up in the morning for my morning workouts (maybe not all the time cause I’m a broke grad student ok but you get the point). My personal favorites are their sausage, egg and cheese on a sesame or raisin bagel (the subtle sweet/savory combo is goated). Cheese is melty and so is my heart when I get food in me. I’ve had their lox as well, and my roommates really like their avocado.

I’m always amazed with their unique selection of cream cheeses and unique varieties of bagels. They also have caffeine for ya and if you really like their spreads, they sell them too. Super unique mix like burnt jalapeño, and Sichuan chili? Yeah, give me a couple gallons of those. I’m always intrigued by their other selections so it just means that I’ll have to do come by more often post-morning workouts when I’m in the area (& have some extra spending money). Anyway, gotta come by if you’re in the area. And if you’re not in the area? Why? Come by anyway, definitely worth it :)

Oh and they don’t have seating inside! So be sure to plan accordingly. Because they’re so close to Duke, I just recommend checking out campus or make your way to Duke Garden’s while you’re around. Or if you’re a student like me, just eat it in your car in the parking garage and make everyone walking by to get to class jealous. To each their own- as long as I get my bagels...

It was just…okay. I’m a NY bagel connoisseur so I appreciate a good chew. However, the garlic on my everything bagel was burnt in places, which 1) makes the bagel texture dry and near impossible to chew and 2) added an incredibly bitter taste to half my bagel.

In addition, I just wanted white milk (not chocolate milk) to drink. The woman at the front register happily keyed in my request, but then the employee next to her measured out exactly 8 ounces of milk into a cup. It looked pathetic as it wasn’t even half full. Even more pathetic was that I was charged $2 for that. Had I known, I would’ve just driven home for a drink, as the amount they gave me was not nearly enough to cover the dry, burnt bagel.

Cream cheese was okay; nothing to write home about. Bagel selection is limited. Nowhere to sit, which I knew going in. The employees were all very friendly. It’s cheaper than Brandwein’s and tastes more like a NY bagel. However, the execution was pretty bad. And at $17 for two burnt bagels, I don’t think I’ll be back. Glad I didn’t waste my money by buying bagels to go in advance. I really wanted to like this place! It seems like they do a good business by how busy they were, but I don’t “get it” unless they had a...

Gosh, where do I begin? For starters, Durham is supposedly a foodie town. In some cases, that is absolutely true, but overall we have not been impressed. Isaac’s Bagels, on the other hand, sticks out like a big ol’ shiny diamond! Dare I say these are the best bagels on planet earth? And it doesn’t end there: I’ve been used to not enjoying marshmallows for my entire life save for the periodic s’more application. Isaac’s marshmallows are exceptional, a real game changer. To all marshmallow haters out there, try this one and I guarantee your life will be forever changed. On the bagel front, well, we order a half dozen for my wife and I at least every 2 weeks. It makes a couple mornings very special especially considering the top notch herbed cream cheese (so good that we haven’t even ventured into the sweet options yet, but one of these days we’ll check out the other options). All said, do yourself a favor and elevate your breakfast experience. Try Isaac’s and find out for yourself why the new, previously underground bagel co. is spreading through word of mouth amongst those ‘in the know’ like a...