Bagels Forever — Restaurant in Madison

First off, I'm a New York transplant, so my review is based on competing with the bagel capital of the world, and mostly targeted towards other transplants.

Lets start with what they do right.

Firstly (and importantly) these bagels have a good chew. Eating one is a bit of a jaw workout, just as it should be. It's obvious that these are boiled. Second, they're priced right. 65 cents for a plain bagel, and $4.50 for a lox bagel with the works. Speaking of that, the lox bagel comes mostly with the proper ingredients -- red onion, lox, tomato, capers, by default. Good amount of topping selections as well.

Now, the less good.

Firstly, these bagels are tiny. This isn't terrible because they're priced right for the size and some varieties are available in 'XL' size, but these are not in keeping with NYC area bagels. Their regular offerings would be classified as mini bagels in New York. My working theory is that since this place was established in the 1970s, they've stuck with their original sizes while NY bagels got progressively bigger... which may make them technically closer to old school NYC bagels, but they're still tiny looking to modern transplants.

Second, the flavor is a bit bland. I have some experience making bagels, so my guess is that they're not using malt powder or syrup, or may be skipping the overnight proofing process. These are only gueses and opinions -- I could be wrong -- but something is definitely lacking in the flavor.

Finally, a kicker for me: the salt they use on their salt bagels is incorrect. The correct salt used in NYC is a very coarse, snow white crystal. Specifically, most NY bagel shops use Cargill brand Pretzel M-salt (coarse.) Bagels Forever uses salt that is closer to that found on pretzel rods. I know this sounds like a nitpick, but it makes a big difference in...

Can't believe I've lived here for 3 months and just now found this place! Not sure why anyone would ever get breakfast @ McDonald's any time Bagels Forever is open other than they just didn't know about it. I went in late morning on a Sunday, which has to be one of their busiest times. They were busy but very efficient, I was able to order almost right away and waited no more than 5 or 6 minutes for my breakfast sandwich, which was excellent. Can't believe it was only $2.50. In terms of quality, cost, and speed, this place is definitely the best express breakfast I've had in a long time, maybe ever.

Also, as an aside: I looked at the one other review written by the person who wrote the one negative, snarky one, and it was also unforgivingly scathing. I've been to that restaurant as well, and while I didn't necessarily feel compelled to immediately leave a review about how great my experience was, it was definitely pretty good food. Wouldn't call it the best ramen of my life and also don't claim to be a ramen expert, but I definitely enjoyed it and would go there again. Definitely not at all comparable to instant ramen like they suggested. So it seems like their standards are so high they should just have a...

I've rarely gone to bagel shops, so when I did a little research online it looked great. The appearance when getting there was a bit perplexing. Needless to say, my sandwich was great.......when I figured out how to order it.

Walking in you are greeted with two registers, a ticket number giver, a large sign that asks to take a ticket, a smaller ticket system for bulk buying bagels?, tons of people in a small area and no one with a real smile. Needless to say it was extremely confusing, overwhelming and difficult to process how to place an order. The menu was also rather different then the one online, and extremely cluttered and again, confusing.

My sandwich was great and I got what I wanted, my friend who was with me and didnt understand the menu did not and got a rather weird sandwich. It didnt help that we felt extremely out of place during all of this, and again I cannot stress this enough, was much more complicated then einstein bagels when ordering.

Great sandwiches for good money, we got two for around $5 which is extroadinary. But due to the overly confusing layout of the store, not so helpful workers, lack of coherent menus, and the large traffic the store gets I would recommend...