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Try a variety of flavors with a bagel flight at Toasted. Photo: courtesy Toasted.
We’ve scoured the Seattle area (and beyond) for the best bagel shops a-round. Schmeared, buttered, wood-fired, topped with a smorgasbord of delicious fixings, or plain — no matter how you prefer your bagel prepared, these are the best places to score those delicious doughy delicacies.
Hey Bagel
You won’t find sliced and toasted bagels at the new Hey Bagel in University Village. Instead, fresh-baked bagels are pulled from the oven throughout the day, and visitors are encouraged to tear and share their bagel choices with a friend. Andrew Rubinstein — founder of Rubinstein Bagels — opened Hey Bagel’s brick-and-mortar store in January after a year of pop-up shops and plenty of research and development. You’ll find classic bagels (such as everything and sesame seed) alongside savory bialys and a variety of schmears.
Recommendation: Grab a caramelized onion and Gruyere bialy, or rip and dip a salted sesame bagel in lox schmear.
Location: 4610 Village Ct. N.E., Seattle
Hours: Open daily from 8 a.m.–6 p.m. (or until sold out).
Toasted.
The first Toasted. location opened last summer in the University District, and two more locations — one in Bellevue and one in South Lake Union — are on the way. At Toasted., entrepreneurs Jaafar Altameemi and Murat Akyuz have created a welcoming space for the community, centered around a menu of delicious bagels and flavorful coffee. You’ll want to try everything on the Mediterranean-inspired menu, from open-faced bagel sandwiches piled high with toppings, to classic breakfast sandwiches with egg and cheese.
Recommendation: Look no further than the date and labneh bagel for a blend of savory and sweet, or try the TurkeyBEC for a taste of the café’s super secret house sauce.
Location: 4756 15th Ave N.E., Seattle
Hours: Open Tuesday–Sunday, 8 a.m.–3 p.m.
Bagel Oasis
Located in the Seattle neighborhood of Ravenna is a bagel shop with a long-standing reputation for producing some of the best bagels in town. Bagel Oasis uses old-fashioned baking methods to create New York-style bagels worthy of the praise it has received since opening in 1988. It makes bagels fresh every day, so you know they are good. The shop also has ample seating and a welcoming staff.
Recommendation: Try the sourdough bagel with scallion spread.
Location: 2112 N.E. 65th St., Seattle
Hours: Open daily from 7 a.m.–4 p.m.
Grateful Bread
Grateful Bread is a quaint bakery located in the Wedgewood neighborhood that is well known for its bagels. It uses local, organic ingredients, and all its bagels are made in-house every day. The attention to detail is evident in the bagels it makes. Get there early and you can get a hot, fresh bagel.
Recommendation: The everything bagel with salmon cream cheese, capers and red onions is a crowd favorite. It’s a scrumptious combination!
Location: 7001 35th Ave. N.E., Seattle
Hours: Open daily from 7 a.m.–6 p.m.
Oxbow
Oxbow is more than a bagel shop, it’s a bright, airy gathering place for the community. It’s inviting and open with a welcoming and warm staff. The line out the door when we went was a testament to its popularity. The spreads it offers also are unique.
Oxbow is located in Seattle’s Montlake neighborhood close to the Washington Park Arboretum. Swing by, grab some bagels or a sandwich and head to the park for a picnic.
Recommendation: Try the salt bagel with Calabrian chili spread topped with sprouts.
Location: 2307 24th Ave. E., Seattle
Hours: Open daily from 7 a.m.–5 p.m.
Eltana
Eltana has two locations in Seattle, which makes getting your hands on its signature wood-fired bagels pretty convenient. Honestly, we probably don’t even need to give you directions to its shops, the incredible aromas wafting out of the doors will draw you in. You can smell the wood-fired bagels baking in the floor-to-ceiling fireplace from blocks away. What’s unique about the bagels? It’s all about the process. They roll the bagels by hand and boil them in honey water before baking to give them a unique flavor and texture.
Recommendation: Kids will love the bright colors of the rainbow bagel (mine did). For adults, try the za’atar bagel with scallion spread.
Locations: 1538 12th Ave., Seattle (Capitol Hill) and 3920 Stone Way N., Seattle (Wallingford)
Hours: Open daily from 7 a.m.–4 p.m.
Zylberschtein’s
If you have been searching for authentic East Coast bagels, Zylberschtein’s Delicatessen & Bakery is calling. The Jewish-style deli is located near Northgate in the unassuming Pinehurst neighborhood. It claims to have the best hand-rolled bagels in North Seattle, and (according to this bagel lover) the claims are true.
Zylberschtein’s boils and then bakes the bagels fresh daily, and everything is created by hand. Owner and baker, Josh Grunig, realized his dream when he opened the bakery in 2019. He says you can’t cut corners when crafting the perfect bagel. And that’s what he prides himself on — making bagels the right way, slowly and with great care.
The bagels are delicious and packed full of flavor. It sells out of its bagels every day and has a strong community following. Walk up to the small window at the shop and leave with a bagel you won’t soon forget.
Recommendation: Grunig said his favorite bagel and schmear selections vary from day to day, but ultimately you can’t pick wrong. Flavors for bagels include sesame, everything, onion, jalapeno, garlic and more. Schmears range from plain to chive, caramelized onion, lox and more, including seasonal offerings.
Location: 11752 15th Ave. N.E., Seattle
Hours: Open daily from 8 a.m.–2 p.m.
Old Salt Fish and Bagels
Don’t let the name throw you off, the bagels are more appetizing than the name might suggest. If your kids like bagels and fresh fish, then you have found the right place. Old Salt Fish and Bagels has two small shops, one in Ballard and one in Fremont. It offers an assortment of bagels, bagel sandwiches and spreads. All its fish comes from the Northwest and is smoked in-house, and the bagels are made fresh daily.
Recommendation: Try the lox sandwich which includes coho lox, veggie cream cheese, flying fish roe and pea shoots on an everything bagel.
Locations: 3621 Stone Wy. N., Seattle (Fremont) and 6309 24th Ave. N.W., Seattle (Ballard)
Hours: Wednesday–Friday, 8 a.m.–1 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 8 a.m.–2 p.m.
Howdy Bagel
Before you get mad and say, “But I thought this round-up was about Seattle bagels,” we know, and we are making an exception. Ask any bagel aficionado about their favorite bagel places and we almost guarantee Howdy Bagel will be on their list.
The bagels are technically not New York or Montreal style, but a cross of the two. They are hand-rolled, long-fermented, boiled and baked. The outside is crispy while the inside is soft and chewy. Ultimately, isn’t exceptional texture and flavor what you want in a bagel?
Recommendation: Try the pastrami, egg and cheese sandwich to feel like you’re being teleported to heaven.
Location: 5421 S. Tacoma Wy., Tacoma
Hours: Wednesday–Saturday, 8 a.m.–3 p.m.
Rubinstein Bagels
Rubinstein Bagels boasts four locations around Seattle to enjoy its delicious bagels. Its bagel-making process creates flavorful bagels with moist chewy centers. It uses organic flour made in the Pacific Northwest, and its bagels are hand-rolled, boiled and made fresh daily. We love local!
It offers unique and distinct bagel flavors including not-so-plain, garlic, sesame, poppy seed, caraway salt, salted rosemary, shallot, chocolate cherry and more.
Recommendation: If you go, you need to try the herb and garlic schmear.
Locations: 2121 Sixth Ave., Seattle (South Lake Union), 403 15th Ave. E., Seattle (Capitol Hill), 1150 Eastlake Ave. E., Seattle (Eastlake) and 16050 Cleveland St. Suite 130, Redmond
Hours: Open daily from 7 a.m.–3 p.m.
Mt. Bagel
If Yelp reviews are to be trusted, and in this case, they are, then Mt. Bagel tops this list. For New York-style bagel purists, it’s a winner. From the bagel’s impeccable chew to the pillowy center, the perfection peaks in the crispy and crackly first bite.
With hordes of people raving about these bagels, the proof is in the wait time. To snag a coveted Mt. Bagel bagel, you’ll have to get in line, literally. Insider tip: Preorder on Friday to skip the lines.
Recommendation: We highly recommend the spicy scallion cream cheese.
Location: 801 26th Ave. E., Seattle
Hours: Tuesday–Saturday, 9 a.m.–2 p.m.
More great eats for Seattle-area families: |
Editor’s note: This article was originally published in 2024 and most recently updated in January 2025 by ParentMap’s family fun editor, Meredith Charaba, with new bagel spots and a thorough fact-check.
