Rachel's Bagels & Burritos (BALLARD) — Restaurant in Seattle

Used to go here pretty frequently for a lox bagel but I don't plan to go ever again. The food is average and extremely overpriced, but it's the closest bagel spot to my house so I've just paid the high price for convenience. What has convinced me to stop going was seeing that the owners showed up to city council this week to lobby against paying their workers minimum wage... this especially pissed me off because they have a little basket of pins for sale at the counter that say "I tip 20%". What about paying your employees an honest wage?

While this is what did them in for me, I was already coming less and less because it's just not that great of an experience going. There's basically no seating so it functions more like a DoorDash pick up counter than a cafe. For being a popular cafe, it contributes very little to the neighborhood character.

On top of this, I also had a pretty uncomfortable experience once where the cashier forgot to type in the lox on my custom order lox bagel. I only realized it was missing once I took a bite. It wasn't a big deal, and I just asked them to put the lox on it or give it to me on the side for me to put on myself. The manager at the time told me I must have forgotten to order the lox and passive aggressively told me she'd "honor it anyway". It's typically not a good idea to try to gas light your customers. She also took the bagel from me and threw it away saying it had to be remade from scratch. I was pretty confused about this because all I wanted was a few slices of lox on a plate which I could put on my bagel myself. She told me it was a "food safety thing"... i guess food waste isn't an issue though.

Again, they claim they cannot afford to pay their workers minimum wage, but they had no qualms with throwing away my $17 lox bagel...

Edit: they also stopped carrying Atlantic lox. I wouldn't recommend a lox bagel with coho salmon, it's just...

I wish I could tell why these Breakfast Burritos are so damn good. In fact, if a BB could be a Religious Experience, this is probably about as close to it as you can come. I came here a year or so ago (a Kenji rec) and loved these BBs. Today they seem even better. I had The Evie:

Soy shwarma, oyster mushrooms, arugula, eggs, potatoes, red onions / cilantro. queso Oaxaca, salsa verde

There’s no one element that I can point to that makes this thing so good. All of the ingredients were great. Seasoning? Check: not too much and not too little. Texture: no crunchy elements (and that’s ok), just really well cooked potatoes, eggs cheese, wrapper, etc. In fact, it’s a fairly soft texture throughout, which gives it a great mouthfeel. Fat: Check. not too much and not too little. Sugar: of course not. There’s still some low level sweetness in there from some of the ingredients. Acid: not really anything on the radar, at least not with The Evie (and that’s ok too). I did add a little of their hot sauce which was quite good. Eat it warm — that’s part of the experience.

Overall this Bad Boy was definitely worth having. If you’re in Ballard, then get yourself over to Rachel’s.

I also had a Gaby and Becky and it was just as good. It has

Carnitas, pickled jalapeno, arugula, egg, potato, queso oaxaca, red onion / cilantro, tomatillo salsa

Carnitas were not dry (duh!) and pickled jalapeño give it a nice kick and some acid but certainly it...

I am updating my previously poor review of this spot. Is it because my feelings have changed in the last three years? Not especially, but let me explain: You know that one ex you have where everything looks great on paper, but somehow it just doesn't work out? Every individual component is there, it actually seems perfect, but once you actually get into it the love just doesn't spark. It's absolutely frustrating, so you keep going back, trying again and again... Trying to sus out what the issue is. What makes matters worse is that there isn't any particular glaring issue, there's just not that je ne sais quoi. Rachel, I want to love you so badly. But it's become clear that sincerely it's not you, it's me. You're fantastic, Rachel, and I know you're going to move on and have so many new customers who can appreciate you for you in a way I can't. The Gods are cruel and I don't understand why I can't be the customer that you want me to be.... The customer I want me to be. And yes, absolutely, I will be there to try again in the future if you'll still have me.

Also really really appreciate them selling cans of Bianco Di Napoli tomatoes at basically grocery store price. They really are the best canned tomatoes available in the states, in my book, and can be difficult to find sometimes. This is a real classy move on Rachel's part. Also really really enjoy the curated wine and...