Bagels Plus Café — Restaurant in New York

It is one of the best kept secrets in Queens and a top performer, in my opinion, in the 5 boroughs in New York when it comes to bagels.

I've been to enough bagel spots throughout New York and out of state for the past 30 years to back my opinion on this establishment, and I have to say this is hands down my go to spot when it comes to bagels. The reason is how they are made. I have been there enough times now to watch the process but probably missing the secrets involved.

Once they made the doe and shape of the bagel, which is all I house, they then dump them all into a huge (seems like a 100 gallon) commercial barrel of boiling water.

Once they start floating to the top, they then fish them out with a strainer one by one.

They are then put on wet wooden blocks about 5 or so on a block that are then placed into an old school rotating oven.

Once ready, they pull out the wooden block with the freshly done bagels on them, and then, from the oven to the baskets, they go right in front of the customer.

The ingredients they use are amazing because the taste is amazing.

One more thing I will say why I constantly choose this place over others is the shelf life of their bagels. I am a big egg bagel fan, and their egg bagels can literally last me up to a week and still stay soft after day 4 or 5 with no mold growing on them. If you get there early enough in the morning and want a toasted bagel, they will toast it in their oven, face down, which takes the bagel taste experience to another level.

They also make all kinds of catering, sandwiches and other delicacies.

This place is so underrated and such a hidden gem in Queens that if they actually got their own dedicated place outside of the shopping center they would do phenomenal and probably would be able to open many stores from them in the form of franchising. That is how much confidence I have in this place and the amazing bagels they serve up fresh daily. Hope this store...

The owner of this place is absolutely a low life. Never in my life have I ever been treated so disrespectful .I answered an ad for a job listing from Craigslist. I spoke directly to the owner named John. After a quick phone interview he asked me to come in for a face to face interview. I gladly accepted and came on my appointed time. It took me 1.5 hours each way to get there by bus. After explaining all my experience and what I was looking for he told me to come in on Friday at 8 am. I accepted the offer and made the commitment to him that I would be here. After leaving the interview I received numerous other interview appointments which I cancelled due to making a commitment with him. On fri I woke up 6 am and took the 1.5 hour commute and arrived 1/2 hr early. I just like to be early that's who I am. I was told by the register lady that John was not there .She called him and he said to wait till 8 and then start. 5 mins later he calls back and tells me he doesn't need me anymore. Who does that .Here I am unemployed and I spent money I didn't have to get to a job and once I get there he tells me he doesn't need no more. I assure you this is not how to treat people or how to conduct buisness. If this is how he treats people I can't imagine how he treats his workers. If you want to support low lifes like this buisness then be my guest. Honestly the place is a dump and not the cleanest in the back kitchen very dirty and messy. Just like his buisness practices. He supports nothing but illegal aliens for a low wage and mistreats people. Never in my life have I ever been so disrespect and with no consideration of my time and money I spent going back and forth .He didn't even say sorry . I will be calling the health department to report the unsanitary conditions in the kitchen and call labor department to report his disgusting buisness practices .If you go eat there Good luck ....

Even being in an unassuming location, in a random shopping plaza- this bagel spot is my favorite. I've done the NYC favorites like H & H, Zuckers, Zabars... but I just love the bagels here. The texture is just the way I like them. A bit of a crust on the outside, soft and fluffy with just the right amount of chewiness on the inside. Lightly toasted or not, it always hits the spot. Love the sweet rolls/ challah rolls also. Soft and fresh. If you happen to be there when a fresh batch has just been made, you'll end up grabbing more than you came for. They make their Everything bagels the best. Most places skimp on the Everything seasoning but not here. This is what an Everything Bagel should look like.

The system to order hot breakfast items is bad though which can add a much longer than normal wait time. The front of the house staff go to the back to prepare it leaving the front of the house empty. So waiting to order something simple like a bagel to go can lead to long lines and a big wait! They should have a dedicated person in the back to make the hot items leaving the front staffed for the simple items. Still my go to bagel spot though...