John's Bagel Deli — Restaurant in Simi Valley

Happened to be passing through this area and was looking for a relatively easy family breakfast. Decided to pop into John's Bagels figuring bagel sandwiches would be quick and painless.

Ordering was easy, and the menu was impressive.

We ordered 4 sandwiches and waited.

Although all the items at this place feel a bit expensive, I will say that they seem generous with their fillings, so I suppose it makes it feel a bit more like a decent value.

Where I will disagree is that what they make are bagels. #1, they have no hole (which I realize makes for better sandwiches), #2 I wondered if they actually were Bialy's rather than Bagels. The exterior texture of all our bagels didn't have that snap, and the bread inside seemed much denser than you'd want from a typical bagel.

I know we're in SoCal and can't expect to find NYC style bagels, but for a shop that does so well otherwise, I'd encourage them to either boil the bagels longer, or just call the items Bialy's to remove confusion.

Additionally, when 'toasting' the bagels, a few of ours were outright burnt, which was disappointing, but we had already left to ask about having...

I stopped here on a whim this morning to get a bagel. I was amazed by it! I got jalapeno cheese bagel toasted with butter. When it was handed to me, it was HEAVY! This bagel was thick on the cheese and toasted to perfection. I ate it while driving to work, so I didn't try and take a picture, but it had just the right amount of spice and the cheese pull on it was perfect! They had a bagel there - the jalapeno sausage - that was the size of a small pizza that I might try next time but I'm slightly afraid I would fall into a bread coma! Highly recommend the breakfast sandwiches looked good too I might try...

Love this place!

The bagels are BIG and don't have holes which is different. They don't cook with a lot of salt which can be good or bad depending on what you like. Personally, I appreciate it.

The items are a little pricey but think about what you're getting. These bagels are made fresh and everything is prepared right there. Plus it's a small business and they have bills too. They also make their own cream cheese in plain and other flavors.

There is always a line in the morning but they try to serve everyone as soon as they can in a friendly manner.

Personally, I...