Popup Bagels — Restaurant in New York

Their bagels live up every bit of the hype! Don’t let the long lines scare you away, it moves fast! This is my second time here, every bagel I bought was piping hot, literally just popped out of oven. Crispy on the outside, fluffy and chewy on the inside. Many ppl said their bagels tend to be smaller than average NY bagels. Imo they are still quite big and ideal for 1 serving.

Updated Nov 20 THE MOST EXCITING COLLAB FLAVOR EVER!!! Calling all truffle lovers, Popup Bagels brings a one-week limited schmear starting from today till 11/26—Truffle Cream Cheese, in collaboration with Sabatino Truffles.

I’ve been looking forward to the schmear since they posted their truffle hunting clips on IG. On its launch day, I rushed to their NY location once I got up and WOW, THIS IS FIRE!!!

No line when I visited. Hot and fresh bagels popped out of the oven. Insanely delicious cream cheese. Devoured the bagels under fall leaves in Washington Square Park.

Not to be dramatic, this truffle cream cheese is to die for. I loved their truffle butter released last November, but this cream cheese version was even better. It was creamier, easier to dip, with a more intense truffle flavors. Strongly recommend trying it with plain bagels so you can taste the pureness of truffles.

I ranked it as my top favorite schmear after sweet corn butter and pesto herb cream cheese (If you know me, I’ve tried a lot of their schmear flavors!!).

Popup Bagels has launched two new cream cheese flavors —LIFE CHANGING. They easily became my top two favorite from all the cream cheese I’ve tried from them. I can tell they will be a perfect addition on not only bagels but many things e.g. pasta and steak. I wish these would be on their regular menu forever ughhh

＊Truffle Butter Calling all truffle lovers! It has real black truffle bits studded in it. The earthy, umami notes of truffle won the game, and they don’t charge extra for this premium flavor. Texture wise it is more solid than their other cream cheese, which makes it harder to “dip”. I’d suggest using a butter knife at home so you can evenly spread the truffle butter onto your bagels.

＊ Herb Pesto Cream Cheese If I can only have one cream cheese in the rest of my life, I will pick this herb pesto. I didn’t know I would be obsessed with this flavor but the very first bite sent me directly to heaven. The texture is extremely creamy and buttery. Every bite is bursting with the bright and herby aroma from the basil.

＊Bagels After trying all their bagels, so far Plain and Sesame are my two favorites as they won’t overpower the cream cheese. One thing I really like about Popup Bagels is that their bagels are always popped out fresh out of oven. They are hot, fluffy, and chewy. Sesame is generously sprinkled with toasted sesame. Everything is another standout, very well seasoned and tastes good by itself. Might be too salty if you dip it into non-plain schmears. Poppy had the crispiest crust and was very crunchy.

＊ Cacio E Pepe Butter It became my favorite schmear instantly, followed by their previous limited Jennifer Fisher spicy everything and scallion. They change their schmear menu often, which tempt me to keep coming back! (They will launch Honey Chipotle next week!) Smooth and creamy texture. More than enough portion for 3 bagels.

« GRIP RIP AND DIP. » I don’t usually dip my bagels directly into the tub of cream cheese, but it is a ritual to tear a when I eat popup bagels.

*Minimum 3 bagels per order with your...

This place is very hyped so decided to try it, and every time, as a New Yorker, when I give in to try a hyped place, it’s a disappointment. Pop up bagels is no exception. It caters to a typically instagram crazy tourist crowd. I got three bagels and a cream cheese, (min order) which is a bit excessive for $12, and after waiting in line with 50 other people, when I paid, the woman at the counter made it a point to stare at my screen and make a face at no tip, not nice. The cream cheese is a healthy amount, I will say that and tasted fine, nothing special or extra ordinary. The main star, the bagels, unfortunately, are not worth the wait, IMHO. They are too soft, it’s almost like having a hot bun with everything seeds on it. If you’re a bagel purist, you will be most disappointed. The typical crust of a bagel is missing, the everything bagel I got was very heavily salted, difficult to taste much else, and as you can see, there were globs of undercooked dough that I removed while eating it. Hot bagels is a nice slogan, but not if it means doughy and soft buns disguised as a bagel. Also, the guy in the back kept yelling ‘hot bagels’ and clapping, maybe they are a bit high? Wouldn’t be surprised, given the line and continuous service they need to provide. I’d recommend visiting one of the local bagel shops in ny, or even Leon’s bagels, who is their neighbor, they have v nice sandwiches and actual bagels. They have a great gig going, because they don’t have to make the effort of slicing the bagels or toasting them or putting cream cheese on it, they literally just dump it into a paper bag and give it to you and you figure out how to make a bagel sandwich on your own. I won’t be going back, it was v pricey and nothing special, in fact, the bagels are not the consistency or taste of a real NY bagel.

Edit: the business responded saying they had an oven malfunction, yet they charged every single client and sold their bagels, feels like an excuse u fortunately. I was there right upto when they closed and the guys inside actually came out and told the staff to add a few more people to the line as they had some extra...

A cream cheese company disguised as a bakery.

Hear me out.

Like many others, after seeing the virality of Popup Bagels I thought I’d give it a try.

I didn’t hold my breath when I arrived midday on a Friday that there would be options to choose from.

I swung the door open and was hit in the face with the overwhelming smell of boiling malt barley which is good news meaning they were making bagels throughout the day.

There were only also only three people in front of me in line so I felt good that I was going to be able to try their bagels out.

The menu is super limited but focused. Which is refreshing compared to some other delis in New York. You come to Popup, you get bagels, you get your cream cheese, you get out. That’s the experience.

Their staff is well trained and have you in and out in minutes. As I left there had somehow formed a line out the block. A line which I would not wait in knowing what I know now.

I walked over to Washington Square (would not recommend unless you want to be attacked by 593 pigeons) and thought I give them a try.

I started with the plain bagel and shmeared on some Cheez-It Cream cheese. The bagel had a great crunch but that pretty much where my excitement for the experience ended.

I didn’t even finish the plain bagel I was so underwhelmed. I did switch to the everything and felt like the combination worked a lot better. But honestly still felt like it was missing an egg and maybe some bacon. But you can’t have that.

Let me also just say that these bagels are twice as expensive as other similar quality bagels with no discernible difference. $21 for 6 bagels and a tiny cream cheese is terrible value if you ask me. For $21 I can get twice as many bagels at any decent Bagel Spot.

So okay we can find better value bagels and eat them the same way as Popup Bagel… so what’s the value in this place? Is it the unique cream cheese flavors? Maybe? I’m not convinced.

There is no way you can convince me that tearing a bagel apart and manually putting in cream cheese is a better way to eat it than having someone cutting it in half and...