The Bagel Lady Sub Shop & Coffee Shop — Restaurant in Rockwall

I absolutely hate leaving this review, but, I owe nothing less than an HONEST review.

Being born and raised in Brooklyn, NY we walked to the bakery every Sunday morning at 5:30 a.m. for a 6:00 a.m. opening to get the freshest bagels. Growing up, lox, bagels, cream cheese, and bialys were a weekly affair. We had bagels from the oldest, greatest, bakery that ever graced the neighborhoods of Brooklyn. I am talking true bagel artists that were Jewish, male, union bakers.

I know bagels. Plain and simple.

Living in Texas, it is absolutely impossible to find great bagels. There are a few places that are pretty good, but never great.

Then.....I heard of The Bagel Lady from a very close Jewish friend of mine who is well known in the community. Of course, I was very excited to hear of such a place. Immediately, I looked up The Bagel Lady on the internet and read all the wonderful reviews on Google.

FINALLY, we have a REAL Bagel bakery. And in Rockwall of all places. My anticipation grew as I read.

So, yesterday, Tuesday, I decided to make the journey to The Bagel Lady. My excitement grew as we neared Rockwall. I simply could not wait to sink my teeth Into a TRUE NY bagel, properly made.

As we entered The Bagel Lady, I must admit it was a bit underwhelming and not what I was expecting. A coffee shop on one side and food on the other. Okay. Zero atmosphere. I was confused. But hey, I just want the great bagels.

We walked to the coffee side and ordered Brewed coffee. We we told that coffee is actually on the other side and is self serve. Um...Okay.

Off to the food side we go. Without getting personal, let's just say the counter help was more confused than we were and leave it there.

We ordered 2 plain bagels, 2 brewed coffees, and 1 platter with 2 proteins. This is after it took 10-12 minutes to have the platters explained to us by 3 different employees. The ONLY employee who appeared to have a clue was the lady working in the "kitchen".

After more mass confusion, we were advised that we would have to wait 20 minutes longer for Bagel chips that go with the platter. Or....we could take a bag of potato chips instead (🤣🤣🤣🤣). Yes, because Chicken salad goes well on Puffed Cheetos. LOL. SMH.

While waiting, we got our own coffee. Please. This coffee was so burned, it was undrinkable. Probably the worst tasting coffee I ever experienced.

Now, on to the star of the show, the bagels. Are you kidding me???? This "round baguette" is the furthest thing from a Bagel I ever consumed. It was stale, the inside was "bread" exactly like a baguette. It not only lacked the texture, but the taste was so far from a Bagel, let alone a true NY bagel it wasn't funny. This dough was for sure well over worked making it far too tough. It appears the proofing was rushed, and if kettle boiled, it was not given a proper cold water bath before baking. Simply put, HORRIBLE.

The ONLY reason I even gave 2 stars was because the Chicken Salad WAS very good!!!

Maybe this was an off day?? Maybe the baker missed a step?? Maybe I will give it one more try?? Nah, let's not go too far.

I am sorry Revi, you absolutely...

We just moved to the area in August, and this place was recommended to us.

I wish we tried it sooner!

The location was CLEAN and you can tell the people who work there really care about the place. It’s kept up very well! We got a ton of stuff to try and I forgot to take picture of anything except my coffee… but EVERYTHING was a hit.

The young lady who took our order was SO sweet and patient. I must have asked 100 questions about all of the choices they had available and she kindly, answered each and every one.

I walked in expecting to spend about $20 but everything looked so good, I ended up leaving with so much more than a couple breakfast sandwiches.

We tried:

Snickers iced coffee, one with whole milk and one with almond milk - both with an added shot of espresso. They were delicious but I think it was best with the almond milk!

Two Customized breakfast sandwiches on everything bagels (10/10)

Baklava cheesecake (I’m still drooling 🤤 thinking about it)

Almond pastry, can’t remember exactly what it’s called but also SO good I can’t wait to get another.

One dozen assorted cookies - the kids loved them!!

We also took a half dozen bagels to go, with two cream cheese spreads (plain & strawberry) and OMG they are some of the best I’ve had.

We will definitely be back, my mom loves bagels so I can’t wait to bring...

First things first. This is a family restaurant. It’s family owned and you can feel it in the atmosphere. You feel welcomed, when you eat your food is like being with family. The environment is very warm and welcoming.

My wife annd I came here for the first time and had breakfast. It was glorious. I had The Revi and my wife had a Cinnamon Strudel. We had coffee and tea. The tea was pretty good and the coffee (I had the Texas regular) was honestly better than I thought.

This place obliterates Einstein Bagel Bros. Hands down. The Revi was so tasty, the pastrami was cooked really good, and they had this pesto butter with it, that gave it a great flavor. It’s not the same as prepackaged food.

I think between my wife’s food, what I ordered and an extra Eggel we got it was like $28… which honestly it’s not bad.

My wife had asked an older gentleman who served us our food about the type of pickles they had used because they were very tasty, and the man went to the kitchen and brought us some pickles in a container for us to take home… like who does that.

We loved it and we are coming...