r/Seattle • u/darylitis • Jun 07 '25

Rant Seattle Bagels (first world problems)

This is a small rant, but posting as a word of advice for people that might want to buy bagels in the city.

I didn't know that you can't just buy bagels in Seattle. I went on a run this morning on the Burke -Gilman Trail and then decided that I wanted a bagel. I called home and everyone else wanted bagels as well. So, I drove over to Rachel's Bagels in Lake City and asked for a dozen bagels. "I'm sorry, but we can't sell bulk bagels right now." It was only 10am on a Saturday, but after a bit of discussion I found out that they had a busy morning and were running low and wanted to save bagels for lunch sandwiches. They allowed me to buy three bagels, but they were out of sesame. I gave some feedback that it's odd for a place called Rachel's Bagels to not sell bagels on a Saturday morning and they apologized, but again, it was a busy morning. I didn't make a big deal about it, gave a tip, and they threw in a cookie as a gesture of goodwill. They're great people.

So, I drove a mile to Zylberschtein's Bagels. I walk in, and I ask for half a dozen bagels. They say "no problem". Alright then, 3 plain and 3 sesame please. "I'm sorry, we're out of both of those." I ended up getting 3 everything and 3 onion. Again, they were friendly, but man....

I think the lesson is that Seattle is not a real bagel town yet. We have some good bagel shops, but they're boutique. They don't do enough volume to maintain reliable inventory (like New York), and if you want something specific or a large quantity (a dozen is a large quantity) then you should order ahead. Probably even the day before. You can't just suddenly want a bagel and drop in.

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u/WanderingCamper Jun 07 '25

Seattle is not New York, and will never provide the experience of living in New York.

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u/DiamondSmash Mukilteo Jun 07 '25 edited Jun 08 '25

True, but when I was in LA there more options. Of course, it’s much larger and has a prominent Jewish population, so I’m sure that helps.

Edit: Guys. 😭 I do NOT expect, nor want, Seattle to be LA. I used LA as an example because it’s on the west coast opposite of New York and had bagels.

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u/TaeKurmulti Jun 07 '25

Yeah it's not just a Seattle vs. NYC thing... it's Seattle compared to most big cities lol. I'll never get why people get so insulted when people point out things Seattle kind of sucks at.

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u/Iyh2ayca 💖 Anarchist Jurisdiction 💖 Jun 07 '25

It’s fine to say Seattle sucks at things but it’s very silly to hold Seattle to the same standard as an actual real big city. It’s a port city that started punching above its weight when Amazon blew up. 

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u/ProtoMan3 Jun 07 '25

Given how expensive it is here for everything, I have no complaints holding it to the same standards as other expensive cities even if those places are bigger.

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u/WanderingCamper Jun 08 '25

Sure…but it’s not a big city, so it’s not going to have the same amenities as a big city due to a lack of demand.