Philly Style Bagels — Restaurant in Philadelphia

I fell for the old gag of showing up after good press, excited for the Lox. Having been raised on Russ and Daughter's, I was excited. Unfortunately, I only discovered they were out of Lox once I reached the front of the line.

I mean, with all these hand made signs, why put up another letting people know you're actually out of your main draw? Oh, right, because they're so busy! But they weren't. There were literally 4 dudes standing around doing nothing. It was a billion degrees in there, so I understand the malaise. But still...

As for the everything bagel, i'd equate it to being more "Montreal" style. It's good. Not amazing. It's merely good. I brought my sandwich home and by now it's bordering on cracker level, but yet once you get through the surface it has a decent texture. Certainly nothing to go wild about. Like, I wouldn't go in there for a dozen type thing. Spread and Chestnut are fine enough for bagels.

I applaud there creative sandwich approach. It's something I witnessed in Oakland a few years ago with Beauty's Bagels. It's a good thing to have around.

All told though, if you're from the NY/NJ area you won't be blown away. If you're from the Burgh, you'll be more excited. If you're from Philly I don't think you need to make a trip. And if you're going to make sure to call ahead because "store bought lox" is something I could have...

I can't say enough good things about this spot!

I've been popping in since they first opened, and immediately got hooked on their salt bagels (which I had never even heard of before Philly Style) with scallion cream cheese, and WOW! Things are delicious, always fresh, just enough of that salty flavor on a chewy textured dough, balanced out by the bite of the creamy scallion, delicious!

In the past month I've transitioned over to a vegan diet, to which their veggie bagel with hummus lends itself perfectly, but this morning was a real game changer. I was informed that they have vegan styles of ALL FLAVORS OF THEIR CREAM CHEESE. WHAT?! Couldn't have asked for more, can still get my scallion cream cheese fix in the form of tofutti, which is so good that I honestly couldn't tell the difference. They also tipped me off to their vegan pastrami style seitan, and I that point I think I almost collapsed at the register.

The cherries on top: the crew is always such a pleasure, and there's bagels being rolled and pulled fresh from the oven every time I walk in. This place RULES, is truly a crown gem of the Fishtown...

I’ve previously given this place multiple 5 star reviews on my other gmail accounts but the last month has been really disappointing. I’m aware the turnover at this place is pretty fast since I’ve had a few friends work here, so maybe there are a bunch of new people learning to make bagels? My partner and I get PSB every Sunday since we moved into the neighborhood 2 years ago. 3 weeks ago my bagels were the size of a mini slider, last week my lox spread cream cheese was a tub of plain cream cheese with no pieces of salmon whatsoever, and the half dozen bagels I bought were rocks the following day. This morning my bagel was burnt and rock solid, got a lox bagel that came with NO cream cheese (why?) and it also tastes like the lox is a cheaper quality. I’ve tried to call but there’s never a manager or a shift leader in apparently, or they say they’re too busy for calls and to place an order online. I hate leaving bad reviews but it seems like there’s no one working here...