My partner and I love trying viral bagel places in the San Francisco Bay area, particularly bagels that make it to the level of being featured in the San Francisco Chronicle. We’ve really enjoyed trying bagel spots in San Francisco and the East Bay, particularly, and here are our reviews of the best bagels in the Bay Area.
Best Overall Bagel Spot: Boichik Bagels
Boichik bagels are excellent, so excellent that in a head-to-head blind test amongst my partner’s family of bagels imported from NYC, Boichik came out on top. Both my partner’s family and mine are from New York originally, so we take bagel quality very seriously. Boichik Bagels, located in Berkeley, have an excellent dough and are great on their own or with cream cheese or other traditional toppings. Boichik also uniquely has a bagel-adjacent item called a “bialy,” which is described as “Cousin of the bagel, more like a jewish focaccia. Center depression filled with sauteed onions and poppy seeds.”
Best Cream Cheese: The Laundromat SF
Best cream cheese easily goes to The Laundromat, located in San Francisco. Their bagels, limited based on availability depending on the time you arrive like all of these viral bagel spots, are pretty good on their own (perhaps a 4.5/5 or so), but their cream cheese (especially their scallion cream cheese) is excellent: creamy, tangy, flavorful, everything a great cream cheese spread should be and more.
Best Flavor Combinations: Poppy Bagels
Poppy Bagels reins supreme in their capacity to build amazing flavor profiles with their bagel sandos. My favorite so far is the Honey Truffle sando, for which I had an everything bagel base covered in a black truffle cream cheese and topped in local honey. It was the perfect combination of sweet, creamy, earthy, and tangy. I will definitely be returning to try more of their fabulous combos.
Honorable Mentions: Other great viral bagel shops we’ve tried in the Bay Area that didn’t quite make it to the top of the list but are still worth the visit: Chicken Dog Bagels, Shlocks, Wise Sons, Daily Driver.
Whatever popular bagel spot you may decide to try in the Bay Area, be aware that because of the popularity of these bagel shops, they get very crowded, very quickly and often sell out, especially of popular menu items. I recommend arriving early, being prepared to entertain yourself with your phone, a book, or a good conversation partner, and being flexible if your top bagel pick or combo sells out as you are waiting in a long queue.
Millennial's Delight 