Modern Bread and Bagel — Restaurant in New York

This place is fully GF, everything is gluten free.

THEY MAKE THE BEST GF BAGEL CURRENTLY ON THE MARKET. I try to avoid sweeping statements like this in general, but everyone who is GF should know about this place, their bagels are effing incredible. They’ve figured out the chewy interior texture and crisp crunchy exterior with a GF dough. I’ve been GF since 2016, and I wasn’t sure if I’d ever enjoy this texture again — but they figured it out here and it’s worth every gd penny. I usually buy them ~6 at a time and slice and freeze what I won’t eat in the first 2-3 days. (The only competitor of note in my opinion is Sadelle’s — their GF bagel is also very very very good, but I haven’t been there since before the pandemic, and it’s a whole different ballgame they’re offering compared to MB&B, the experiences can’t be compared aside from the bagels themselves.)

Cookies: chocolate chip cookie is a reliable go-to. The black and white and linzers are also good (but better at William Greenberg, sorry!). The real star is the strawberry chocolate chip cookie, I dream about this cookie, but I’ve only seen that at the uptown location so far.

Cakes: cinnamon bun slice is the star, for sure. Coffee cake is also decent, a bit sweet. I was disappointed by the Babka, too dry, same for the rugelach. Cupcakes are good!

Skip the doughnuts. Sorry. (Go to Doughnut Plant instead, their GF doughnuts are excellent.)

Savories: The mushrooms sausage was surprisingly satisfying! Really dynamic spicing. I eat meat and would choose a meat sausage egg sandwich if they offered one, but the mushroom sausage is really very delicious. I also love the quiche, great buttery crust, but I think it’s expensive for the portion size.

I would normally knock off one star bc they’re still working out some kinks. Ordered delivery, but things came packaged in a way that they arrived crushed, and some of the items I ordered on the app were not what I received. But I used to order from the UWS locations and I’m really happy to have a second location closer to me, so I want to see this...

I’ve been going to Modern for years now. As someone who’s gluten free, it’s hard to find things that don’t suck, and the recommendations of people are never trustworthy imo. We’ve been trained to think mediocre items are good, because it’s the best we can get.

At Modern, the bagels are absolutely divine. It is not a hockey puck like most places, it is not dense, it is not dough-y in a bad way or sand papery, and it’s not tiny. It’s a regular sized, delicious boiled bagel. 10/10. I have had so many bagels from here.

Food wise, I’ve had their pizza (UWS location only I believe, or UES) and it did nothing for me. Pizzeria Uno surprisingly has way better gf pizza, the best I’ve had (also, two boots is p good). Their latke tots are AMAZING! I just had their salad for lunch, I’ll take a photo. The fried feta is something I shouldn’t have had the day before starting my diet, as this is something I’ll be craving for the next few weeks. Breakfast burrito is okay, sandwich bagels are okay.

their pastries.. I’m so sorry, they’re so bad :( I have tried so many times and I always throw it out or give it away. Even today for the 800th time of not liking a pastry, they had a Twix and I NEEDED to try it because I used to love Twix as a kid. It was terrible :( there’s just something about the flavor of their pastries. They use something weird in it, idk

Their coffee is really good btw!

So :

Absolutely yes to a bagel & a coffee 10000/10

Maybe to food 7/10 You can get better elsewhere, but eh

No to pastries 2/10 :(

Coffee is fine! 8/10

I love this place though, and a lot of the reviews LOOOOVE their pastries, so I’d say try one and see if you like it. It’s just not for me.

ALSO, very important : A lot of the 1 star reviews mention the bad service at Union Square. I go there often, and I’ve never had a bad experience. They have a ton of orders. If you get bad service, you’re probably a shitty and...

As a celiac New Yorker I want so badly to love and support this place, especially the convenient 14th St. location. So this review is not meant to hurt the business but in hopes of adding to the chorus here about the desperate need to improve customer service, especially as Modern continues to expand its delicious empire.

I've been to this location multiple times, spent plenty of money, both day and evenings. On each of our visits, we've encountered indifferent, weirdly checked out staff, a vague air of uncleanness (literally smelling like dirty mop water, with dirty tables and countertops), disorganization and super long waits even when empty. Just a sad vibe. All of which we overlooked, because of deliciousness... But this last visit really hurt! I promised my celiac kid her favorite pizza as a special treat, and checked the hours online, still showing 5-9 for dinner. I thought I'd call ahead that afternoon to confirm these hours and maybe place our order to pick up. I was hung up on, but wasn't surprised, given earlier experiences. Then, arriving just before 5, we were turned away by workers closing up shop, who told us that only the UWS does dinner. This was a recent change, I guess? And one that wasn't communicated, as far as I can tell -- I follow the business on social media and think I would've noticed. My kid was devastated -- like, sobbing on 14th Street. Not cool, Modern!

So... yeah, I will probably be back anyway for bagels -- what choice do we have? But I sincerely hope someone is reading this and the other critical feedback here and taking it to heart. It's terrible to feel like a business is taking its customers for granted because their options are limited and it'll rake in our money either way. But that's how it feels to me. I hope to revise...