proper bagel — Restaurant in Nashville-Davidson

My family and I have been Proper Bagel customers from day one. The place was always packed with people from all over and the counter and table service was always efficient. The food was consistently fresh and creative - especially during the holidays.

I’m a Nashville transplant, who isn’t, from North Jersey. Weekend late night trips to the City for fresh H&H Bagels followed by Zabar’s or Russ & Daughter’s and so many other deli’s and appetizer shops was a ritual. We’d double park on Broadway and run in. Sometimes inconvenient but always worthwhile. Standing shoulder to shoulder with discriminating deli lovers including celebrities waiting five deep at the counter for the beloved service with an attitude.

If we happened to be in the City around midnight the trip was completed by purchasing The New York Times Sunday paper. Talk about tradition! The bagels were hot out of the oven which meant one was eaten before I got to my car. Sunday morning breakfast was sublime.

One of biggest culture shocks when we moved here in ‘97 was the limited selection of excellent and diverse dining options. East Nashville eventually became home to Margot’ Cafe and Bar. A standout then as today. Not long after came Tandy Wilson’s Germantown City House - a weekly favorite. Add Proper Bagel to my list of favorites along side City House and Margot’s.

I greeted Proper years later as a much needed asset to Nashville because of the truly authentic delicatessen delights. My opinion has grown due to the responsible measures taken to maintain safety for the Proper Bagel family as well as its customers while at the same time delivering consistently exceptional food.

The dining room closure during the pandemic has put an occasional strain on the ordering system and pickup process. It’s a change they needed to make due to the close quarters inside. So as I continue to order from the wonderful family that is Proper I engage in a bit more patience and understanding for the occasional delay and know that everything will work out in the end. I actually consider the inconvenience to be minor and I can easily tolerate a few extra minutes to place my order and at times a few extra minutes to receive the food at my car - parked in the lot in front, outback, or on the street.

Now to the food. The bagels are authentic as the best in NYC! A slight crunch outside and a delightful chewy inside. All the usual varieties of bagels are represented including a new one for me - wheat sunflower - a sweet palate for the many kinds of fresh cream cheeses and smoked fish (flown in from Brooklyn and expertly sliced to order.) Before I forget they make bialys! I must admit I’ve never eaten an egg sandwich, of which they offer many, but I will soon. The salads are especially tasty especially their Israeli salad and my new favorite the somewhat spicy roasted vegetables. The chicken soup with matzo balls, noodles, and veggies is outstanding. The Reuben and Rachael, just two of the deli sandwiches are robust with flavor and just like the smoked fish bagels they are huge.

The desserts!! The baked goods rotate so if you can find the rainbow cookie, lindzer tart, pop tot, ruggelach, and the best black and white cookie buy them. Wonderful sweets made in-house are perfect treats to cap a delicious meal.

I used to think of Proper as a wonderful Nashville bagel place. It’s Nashville’s but it can stand on its own anywhere, even in NYC.

Hopefully one day the owners will be able to open the dining room and deli/appetizer counter for the person-to-person experience but until that day comes I will continue to shop at Proper Bagel, the best and most authentic place of its kind anywhere. Sometimes inconvenient but always worthwhile.

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Gen Z doesn’t like to wait, and they don’t like waiting for you to wait either. Walking through the glass door into the beautifully white tiled Proper Bagel, which sits across from the musical marble facade of Belmont University, is like walking into a restaurant which serves paradox instead of lox with their shmear.

As you interact, or rather try to interact, with the unsmiling monotone bagel artists, you almost feel like you’re in New York. A young gentleman greets each guest with an in-line wait time and then articulates that the wait time after you order is indeed even longer. It seems they don’t want you to leave, but they don’t quite want you to stay either. But if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere with an everything bagel.

They aim to mimic a New York bagel shop, yet remain committed to the tempo of the south. The artsy youth takes their time with meticulously adding each ingredient to your bagel. Not out of culinary passion and dedication to precision, but out of a generational commitment to “I can’t be bothered.” Yet somehow, thanks to top notch ingredients, and vats brimming with a myriad of gorgeously displayed cream cheeses, slow and steady wins the race, and provides for a deliciously creamed piece of boiled dough.

If you can fight your way past entitled, perfectly skinned, sweatpants adorned influencers, it’s worth claiming a spot at one of the white tables to watch the environment swirl. Boomers, bring your Xanax. Millennials, prepare to feel your age for the first time. Gen Z, welcome home. To all, yes, the bagel is worth the wait and...

I wish I could give 10 stars for service. I forgot my backpack with my laptop and hard drive in it at Proper Bagel this past week and then drove 5 hours home. I didn't realize until I got home that I forgot it and went into a panic. The restaurant was already closed since it's a breakfast spot and I was trying to get a hold of anyone that I could to see if they still had it.

Well, the owner, Heather Speranza, emailed me back within 20 minutes (on Valentine's Day no less) saying she would do everything she could and keep me updated. Unfortunately, we couldn't find anything out that night since they were closed and everyone had left, but by 7:45 am the next morning, she was emailing me saying they had it. I can't explain the relief I felt!

I wanted to write this review to highlight the type of people that work at Proper Bagel. The kind that take care of your belongings when you forget them. The kind that care and send prayers your way when you're freaking out. The kind that don't know you from Adam but do everything they can to help and make you feel cared for when you're losing it (the backpack and your mind).

I enjoyed my bagel from Proper Bagel 100%, that's a given. But I enjoyed my experience 10000000x more. I can't thank the company enough for what they did for me whether it was saving my backpack or showing they cared for a first-time customer. THANK YOU PROPER BAGEL!!!! I will be raving about...