Zylberschtein's — Restaurant in Seattle

3 stars = positive review.

Only stopped by to pick up a half-dozen plain bagels. Transaction was efficient, person at the window asked if I wanted cream cheese, I said no I had some at home. The card reader asked if I wanted to leave a tip (sure, why not?). The pastries in the window looked all right. I stood around for maybe five minutes waiting for my bagels. The seating area in the northern section of the parking lot looked very cute. People were sitting there and Soprano’s (next door) was closed. Maybe they share the space? I picked up my bagels in a paper bag and walked home. Bagels were maybe a little petite (size of my fist?) but compact (the “hole” was essentially closed). Big salt crystals on the top. They were a little crispier than other bagels I’ve tried. I cut open the fresh bagel at home and it looked nice and chewy on the inside. I toasted it, though. It was good enough I wished it was a little bigger. Whatevs. Looking forward to going back with friends, trying a sandwich, sitting in the seating area and having the opportunity to leave a higher review.

Update: I froze my other bagels and am quite pleased at how they’re reheating. 30 min. on counter, splash of water (washing off most salt crystals 😢), 10 min. in 350-degree oven. They’re definitely crispy, loud crunch when cutting through, but the interior is springy and not at all dry. Becoming a fan!

Update: Went back with friends on a Saturday morning. Pretty surprised by how busy it was. (Picking up bagels only was on a Sunday morning, there was only one person ahead of me.) Ordering was friendly and efficient. I ordered a 15th Ave, a friend ordered a Jolene (they were out of plain bagels, a rye or sourdough was recommended to them in its place, but the friend asked for a sesame bagel instead--I was embarrassed), and the other friend ordered a ham and cheese croissant. Desserts still looked good, friends selected some fresh, fried dough things (reminded me of beignets) with jam filling and coated in sugar. We sat in the seating area--as I remembered, it was very cute. Covered, cafe tables and chairs, with some bar seating along the walled-in area, which also sported some flower boxes hanging from the outside. Food took a while to come, but no real problem. Bagel breakfast sandwiches were pretty messy, but what does one expect from a breakfast sandwich? Croissant friend's croissant was much tidier, but looked like a disappointment compared to my own satisfying messy sandwich (they confirmed it was good, though. Tbh, a little hard to believe based on how it looked.) Jolene-on-sesame friend had a lot of avocado slip out of her sandwich but a little slippage should be expected. They gave me a bite of the fried-dough things. One was completely missing jam, but they were good. More bread than doughnut, not super-sweet, not really fluffy but, yeah, still good. I thought the place was busy when we arrived, but by the time we finished eating there was a veritable crowd queued up at the window. Friends indicated that other customers were clearly itching for our spot, so we stood, dusted off our table and moved on.

Going to keep the rating at three stars, i.e. "Good" rather than "Enthusiastic". Was pleased by food, service and venue. It's enough that I'll come by again, and this will definitely be the place I get my bagels...

I was disappointed. I had been craving hamentaschen for weeks, months even and needed a fix. We don't have many options to find those delicious treats here but after searching a bit online, I found Zylberschtein's and said to my family in my out loud voice 'oh boy, today we are getting bagels and prune hamentaschen.' I was excited and placed an order for pick up at 10am. After paying, I found out the order was not going to be ready until 11:45. Fast forward to 11:40, I approach the window to check on my order. Nothing. Checked again at 12:05, nothing. Checked again and at 12:15 it appears; 6 bagels, 1 avocado toast and egg, 1 bagel with lox and cream cheese, a 4 oz portion of lox alone and 6 hamentaschen. Upon inspection of the bag, both mine and my husband's faces sunk with disappointment. The hamentaschen fit in the palm of my hand with room to spare. They were mini mini but the menu didn't state that. They were also more pie then cookie in texture and the filling was almost disintegrated...poor little cookies. The poor bagels were pretty tough and seemed older then they should have been. The lox were nice in flavor and texture. The sandwiches were decent too. My stars are for what's right. The wait, the hamentaschen and the bagels made this experience far less exciting than we had hoped for. I made and attempt at hamentaschen last night because if this is the only place in Seattle to get them, that'll be a never again for me. I hated to write this review as the line never stopped while we were there so I know folks love this place. The yelp reviews were great too so I hope this was a one off bad experience. *This is an update written 6 days after my review: My mouth is still agape...I received an email from Zylberschtein's today informing me of a forthcoming refund for the cookies and bagels. Totally unnecessary but WOW, that is customer service to the Nth degree! Thank you Zylberschtein's for reading reviews and making things right. Again, not expected or at all necessary, but very much appreciated. As I said previously, I hated to write the review and still don't feel great about it. I'll be donating the refund amount to a food insecurity organization in the...

We don’t live super close to Zylberschtein’s, but we used to enjoy getting their food on occasions. Usually, since it’s not something we get super frequently, my husband or I would place larger orders, to satisfy the cravings of ours and our kids. We’ve ordered their heat at home food for holiday meals and to eat or give soup to people when they got sick. Most of their food is pretty good, but some of it isn’t. Well, today I got a craving and wanted to get Zylberschtein’s. So my family drove there, and I got out to order while they chose to stay in the car. This was the first time that I’ve spoken to the owner. Although the food was decent, I was very disappointed by the service. I never really felt that way before, when I’ve gone there in the past. The wait to get my food was pretty long, even though they didn’t have a lot of customers then, and only one thing I ordered wasn’t already prepared. Unlike the other customers waiting, they didn’t give me any of my food until the end. I would have liked to be able to hand the pastries to my family sooner, so they could start eating. The whole time I was there, I didn’t feel like my business was appreciated. And I can’t think of anything I did to warrant that. The owner seemed like he was going out of his way to be nice to everyone else, and he seemed very curt and like he was giving the bare minimum of service to me. Among other things, he was going out of his way to make small talk and give free items to everyone else who was there. I’m not mad that I didn’t get something for free, but I was saddened because I felt left out and overlooked. I honestly felt like I didn’t matter as a customer to the owner. I don’t think we will be going back. I know they don’t need my business, and I, of course, don’t need to be their patron. I prefer to patronize businesses where I can feel like I’m fully welcomed and my presence is...