Ess-a-Bagel — Restaurant in New York

Do you enjoy freshly baked bread, that is soft to bite into, with a light crisp to the crust, and still warm from the oven? Look no further,😍you’ve just discovered THE BEST bagels in NYC, and dare I say it, the world!

Ess-a-bagel is a quintessential NYC hot spot that locals and tourists alike equally enjoy. I used to enjoy bagels from them daily when I worked in Midtown Manhattan. My employer at the time had a standing breakfast order for these wonderful bagels to be delivered to our office and I enjoyed every single bite. No matter how I would try to resist I could not help but enjoy even a quarter of a piece just to savor the baking perfection that is Ess-a-bagels bagel.

Now they definitely serve other things on the menu and I’m sure people enjoy the other food options they serve. I don’t even look at any other choices, I only ever come for the bagels. Before WFH life was a thing, not once in 3 years of enjoying these bagels on a regular basis was I ever dissatisfied. The only disappointment is the classic bagel pooch one starts to gain when you eat too many. #chichas Bread lovers beware! Once you have an Ess-a-bagel bagel you may need rehab to help you recover from the carb addition that may commence after one bite of this piece of perfection. At least that was the case for me. 🙃 All jokes aside, I seriously cannot pass up a chance to enjoy one of these amazing bagels.

Be prepared for a long but steady moving line when you visit. You can order in advance to pick up and they do deliver standing orders to local offices, not sure if they offer delivery of personal orders. You can stay to eat but I never do as seating is limited and after the pandemic they have closed off the extended upstairs and downstairs seating for fear of covid spread. On a nice day I enjoy going around the corner to sit in the Greenacre Park (51 St btw 2nd & 3rd Ave) and enjoy my bagel in the tranquility of that little oasis. You can check out my Google Maps review on that spot...

I’ve always enjoyed buying food from Ess-a-Bagel, but my experience at this particular location was extremely disappointing due to the rudeness of the staff.

The first time I called to place an advance order, I was told to call closer to the date. A week later, I called again, and the same woman answered. I explained I wanted to order several sandwiches. As she took my order and got to the fourth sandwich, I asked to add an “Eggs over Avo.” She responded, “What is that?” I clarified, “It’s on the menu—the avocado and egg sandwich.” She let out a deep sigh, said “Hold on” in an exasperated tone, and then abruptly told me, “You’re gonna have to order online,” before hanging up. She could have easily explained this from the beginning, saving us both time, but instead her attitude made the whole interaction unnecessarily unpleasant.

I went online and placed my order. The website lists condiment options, but it doesn’t specify whether they come on the sandwich or on the side. To be safe, I selected the condiment options as if they were for the sandwiches. I called to confirm, and a different woman answered—only to respond with the same rudeness. She said, with noticeable attitude, “NO, NONE OF OUR SANDWICHES—THEY ARE PUT ON THE SIDE.” I asked a simple question for a valid reason: most places ask if you want condiments on your sandwich, and your website doesn’t clarify.

This is one establishment I would never return to—even with a free coupon. The two women who handle the phones seriously need to reconsider how they speak to customers. I’ll gladly stick to the 32nd Street location and avoid 51st and 3rd...

My experience was unfortunately ruined by other patrons/tourists who I felt were being greedy and disrespectful. The line is super long, an hour+ wait and there’s very minimal seating. We got our bagels, then went to wait for a table to sit and eat at, only to find groups/big families reserving 1-2 tables for themselves when there’s only like 6 tables. They left just one member of their group in the line to order (despite them still being 40+ minutes back in the line), while the rest hog entire tables.

I understand that it’s first in best dressed, but cmon by the time it takes for you to even have your food we could’ve been completely done and finished our food and the table could’ve been yours. I feel like there should be some rules/signage maybe to say only sit down once you have food. I felt it was very rude that people with hot fresh food weren’t able to take a quick seat because of others greed.

And then, after waiting 15+ minutes beside the seating area for someone to leave so we could sit, a table freed up and we walked over, then someone from a party of 2 in the line just quickly stepped out and took it? They hadn’t even ordered yet. Even though we were clearly already waiting there with food. I felt it was selfish

We ended up sitting outside in the cold on the curb. Overall bagels were pretty good, filling. Good for NYC bagel experience I guess. Not worth hour+ wait though. Also expensive and asked for no lettuce on bagel but they gave me lettuce...