Main Street Bagel Deli — Restaurant in Fairfax

I've been buying fresh bagels from Main St Bagel Deli for years. These are easily among the best bagels in the Northern VA area. They are fresh, chewy, yeasty, and can be even better when toasted (making them more crusty on the outside, since they aren't super crusty when fresh).

My favorite are the sesame bagels, but I also really like the multigrain and poppy ones. The sesame bagels are absolutely fantastic! They are big (much bigger than places like Bagel Uprising), yeasty, and just amazing when fresh. I also really like the egg and cheese bagel sandwiches, they are delicious and very well prepared. The regular sandwiches are excellent too, they don't skimp on the toppings at all, like some other places!

I actually buy a dozen bagels at a time, and freeze all the ones that aren't going to be eaten on the same day. I put each bagel in a zip lock sandwich bag, then all the bagged bagels into a gallon freezer bag before freezing. When I plan to have one later, I pull it from the freezer and baggie, wrap completely in foil, put in toaster oven for about 10 minutes at 250. Then cut and toast and add whatever topping needed. They remain very fresh tasting even after having been frozen for a few weeks. The key is to immediately freeze whatever you're not going to eat the day you buy them. If you wait and freeze them a day or two later, they won't be as fresh tasting when you have them later.

I've tried bagels from many other local places in the area including Manhattan, Bagel Uprising, Chesapeake, Bagel Buddies, and Tysons Bagel Market. Main St Bagel Deli is way better than all of those. I've included with this review a picture of 4 different fresh bagels purchased just today for reference.

Overall I think this is easily one of the best Bagel restaurants in the NoVA area, highly recommended. It's a great family run business that deserves support from the...

Stop looking; this is the place.

Miss NY? Itching for a real BEC? Are you sick of the awful disfigured dinner rolls the yuppies of Northern Virginia have the sheer audacity to call "bagels?" I've found your promised land without having to hop on the NJTPK!

You see, the WASP housewives of Arlington and McLean (22101, not those poors in 22102) don't like proper bagels. A real bagel is rolled and formed, then boiled before it's baked. That's the secret. That's it. It's not water from the Hudson or whatever your nonna or neighborly hasids told you. This is the traditional and proper way of the bagel. It yields a product with seam or ring that can sometimes leave the bagel asymmetric. However, it doesn't matter; it's bread, not a rotating piece of machinery. A true bagel also has a flawed surface. It should be covered in pimply air pockets. This means the dough was boiled before it was baked, and the baker didn't skip any steps as a sinful means to maximize profit.

The goomads around here want the bagels to look perfect. Smooth, shiny, and uniform to match all their Botox and cosmetic surgery. What they think looks good is the opposite of perfect, and it's lazy. You couldn't find a real bagel shop in NoVA... until the Main...

I’ve been coming here for nearly five years now, and I can’t gush about this place enough. It’s a true Fairfax staple.The food has been spot-on; my go to is a sausage egg and cheese sandwich, and my fiancé adores the nova lox. The foods better than any of the “trendy” and “hip” places in DC and Arlington, and far better than anything else I’ve found in Fairfax county. Always clean with a great atmosphere, and incredibly nice staff.

You’d think that with such great food, atmosphere, and cleanliness, that the prices might be higher to boot- quite the contrary! Although inflation hasn’t spared Main Street Bagel Deli, the prices are still better than other comparable delis in the area.

If you’re looking for a bagel place in Fairfax, come here, and you’ll never need to look...