The Bagel Restaurant & Deli

Very disappointing experience. Went for brunch, and the atmosphere was dark, and uncomfortable. The food was very bland, and expensive for what you got. Would not chose to go back. With so many better options in Lakeview, don’t waste your money with this place.

This is the only place my family is interested in having breakfast/​brunch at when they come to town. Something Chicago is missing is Jewish delis and the bagel does a great job! They offer all of the classics here! Brenda is the best waitress they’ve got!

Came here for a quick breakfast en route to Midway. Prompt service, yummy bagels. The eggs we had were a tad undercooked but not too bad. If in the area again I would definitely drop in for their bagels. Not a bad deal.

Delicious deli food! Got a bunch of things delivered and it came piping hot and exactly as ordered (which I was worried about since I got 10 things). Soups are all fresh and amazing. Love the matzo ball. Roasted chicken was so juicy. Amazing mashed potatoes and gravy too. Potato knish was great (dipped in the extra gravy from mashed potatoes). Very large portions for the price too. Topped off by a nice piece of cake for dessert. Will definitely order this again and again.

My wife and I like stopping in for the bagels at the to go counter. The bagels are great and you are on your way quickly. Since we had good experiences with that we thought we’d try the actual sit down restaurant area today.
The food was still pretty good but overall the service was lacking. Every table but ours had their coffee refilled several times and they were checked on regularly. Unfortunately, we didn’t get that attention. The waiter seemed to forget we were even there.
So yes the food is decent but the service isn’t there.

My group and I just got carry out bagel sandwiches, but they were so good! I had the cream cheese and lox, and others got egg and cheese. The bagel sandwiches are really filling, and they are great for a quick meal. The customer service wasn’t the best I’ve ever experienced, but it was an overall good experience.

I like this place for a casual lunch. Love that they have free parking behind the restaurant. They do a pretty got job with special requests (eg egg white omelettes made without butter/​oil). Their matzo balls are enormous and good.

Brenda was an awesome waitress and Danny is a very nice owner! Came in for our first time and were treated like family. :) will be back again!
Food was really good and the interior was really spacious.

Slowest delivery EVER!!! Ordered from The Bagel tonight and took 1 hr 45 minutes to arrive, and the food was stone cold! Do yourself a favor and pick up if you order.

The matzo ball soup is amazing! Matzo ball as big as your head! The rest of the food is good too!

The food is good but my order was shorted. I ordered online for pickup. When I got to my destination I discovered I only received half a sandwich. I did get the potato pancake. I thought it was supposed to come with a drink also since it was the full combo. $ 16 for half a corned beef sandwich and a potato pancake is a bit much. I’m sure it was probably an accident but they should check. :/

This place deserves it’s status as a Lakeview staple. Solid deli with a great staff. The last time I was there, the guy who was showing people to their tables was on his cell phone as he was seating them. Surprising, since everybody is usually professional. My chicken salad sandwich was really good, though. I’ll be back.

No veg options at all. Most delis offer something. Dropped by but had to quickly get out when the only veg option was a BLT without the bacon.

Delicious food, throw-​back to the old Jewish delis. Excellent service! The one thing I saw that I did not like is that twice I saw staff drop the menus on the floor and without wiping them off they put them back in the pile with the other menus to me that’s disgusting. Stop it!!! Make sure to sanitize your before you eat.

My wife and I swung by here on a whim. We really just planned on picking up a quick bagel sandwich or something and then be on our way. But once we walked in and saw that this was an actual sit-​down restaurant with full menus, we had to give it a try.
At first, this kind of strikes you like a jewish deli. I guess it claims to be as well. And they have a lot of traditional jewish foods. But they have everything, including cheese on your sandwich meat and bacon. I love bacon. Like really love it. But I digress.
I got their smoked turkey club sandwich and fries. The fries are awesome! Definitely get the fries. The sandwich was good too. Lots of everything, tasty and big. And a goodly amount of bacon too. Did I mention I like bacon? Recommended.
Service was great. Super nice and super attentive. The bagel, which you can get as a side with your breakfast (very cool!) was really, really good as well. The coffee was so-​so. Maybe a little less than so-​so.
Anyway, really good food and awesome staff. Definitely go!

The waiter dropped the check and didn’t return for 15 minutes. I could see him servicing and chatting with other tables, even sitting down to talk at one point — he never looked my way. By the time I finally was able to pay, I had missed the start time of the movie I planned to see (not just «going to be late,» I WAS late). I picked this place for lunch solely because of the convenience to the theater. Now I have to go back out in this godawful deepfreeze weather (actual air temperature below zero, windchill much worse) and miss part of tonight’s TV if I am going to see this film today. Very angry. I don’t treat my customers this way. My experience is that my customers abuse me – while I have to be nice to them — and when the shoe is on the other foot and I’m the customer, I still get abuse. Oh, and their pastrami was half beef fat — I don’t eat that.

Stumbled along The Bagel while walking down Broadway. What a hidden gem. The bread basket and pickles are a great way to start off any meal in my opinion. We had the Matzah ball soup, corned beef, and a western omelet. Everything was great! We will be back for sure. Perfect place for breakfast and lunch!

I’ve been coming for about 20 years now. Love it every time I come and whenever I’m in Chicago I always make sure to stop by. Great service and even better food.

The food here is awful and I have 3 friends that have been booted there. I’m pretty sure that booting cars is there primary revenue stream. The service is relatively unfriendly and I cannot believe that they take advantage of the fact that they are one of the few bagel restaurants in the neighborhood. It’s worth walking a couple more blocks to Chicago Bagel Authority or Great American Bagel where they respect their customers.

The Bagel is a scam operation. If you like their bagels, fine, but after hearing this I hope you choose to buy your bagels elsewhere. The owner has set up a scam operation in his parking lot. He has two low level employees from a parking firm scouting out who parks in their parking lot. We went to grab a pound of coffee across the street and were coming back to go to The Bagel to pick up a half dozen and there was a BOOT on our car. Upon informing the owner inside that we simply went to buy the coffee first and then were coming to The Bagel he said we had to «tell him if we were going to do that». He then said we had two options: Buy $ 50 worth of bagels OR pay $ 150 to take the boot off the car. I’m pretty sure this is illegal and I’ve begun alerting the local authorities. Total losers. Do not go here.

Whatever you do do not order the salt bagel… only a life long smoker would think it’s not to salty… it’s like eating the ocean… Other than that the smear was okay…

I am a huge fan of The Bagel Restaurant & Deli! Since moving to Lakeview I always seemed to walk past this place and I always wondered why there were always so many people going in and out.
I finally got the chance to visit The Bagel Restaurant & Deli when a friend invited me to tag along with them. When you first walk into the restaurant you are greeted with so many delicious looking desserts. I honestly almost didn’t make it past the dessert section because I was so mesmerized. They have desserts that range from giant black and white cookies to yellow frosted cookies that have giant smiling faces on them. I am a huge dessert lover so seeing all the wonderful dessert selections set the tone for my visit.
Once I finally made it past the desserts I was greeted by a very spacious sitting area and friendly staff. I always had the misconception that The Bagel Restaurant & Deli was so much smaller. After experiencing so many tiny bagel restaurants in NYC I was pleasantly surprised by the sitting section.
With the help of our lovely and sassy waitress I decided on the Reuben. I have never had a Reuben before but this restaurant sold me on the idea of the Reuben. All of the ingredients in the Reuben were so fresh and perfectly blended.
If you have been debating visiting The Bagel Restaurant & Deli do not debate any longer! I would highly recommend checking this place out even if it is just once.

Somehow for about eighteen months I didn’t realize that this is not just a slightly-​better-​than-​mediocre bagel shop but actually a traditional Jewish-​style deli as well. And it’s pretty good! They give you a nice plate of pickles at the table, a mix of full– and half– sours. They have satisfying chicken noodle soup, crispy potato pancakes, and a nice range of other stuff I wish I’d had room to try. This might be my new favorite diner in the neighborhood, with the possible exception of the Melrose Diner, toward which I have an almost irrational affection.

Love this place! I think this place gets some negative reviews because of the price point, but if you ever been to a good jewish deli — the price point here is right in line, if not lower, than the norm.
I love matzo ball soup, and they have the best here! I always tell myself im going to order something different because I like trying new things, but I always end up getting the soup because its so darn good!
My boyfriend always end up ordering the pastrami on rye, and he is a pretty picky fella and he loves it! Most times he will eat half and take the other half to go because it is so meaty.
This is our new go to spot. So happy!

A late work lunch and what an amazing experience for a deli restaurant. Traditional Jewish deli with «old world» recipes. Before the meal arrives you are treated to a platterette of dill pickle slices and bread basket. The dill pickles were really fresh and tasty. I know, dill pickles. I’m tellin’ ya — yummy. I skipped the bread as to not fill up. The Rueben Sandwich of course was my pick — when in Rome… AMAZING Sandwich — one if the best Ruebens I have ever had. May be number #2 or #3 on my list. Great, lean, tender corned beef — not dry. The thousand Island dressing was definitely not out of a jar, must have been homemade, it had a wonderful, full-​bodied taste. I know, again, Thousand Island Dressing. Switched out the fries for a bowl of fruit, which was fresh and sweet. I brought home half my sandwich, and then I took a second look at the bread. Not sure what it was, kind of a sweet, Jewish, (egg) bread? OUTSTANDING!!! I kid you not. It was like my dessert, which I didn’t get, even though they have two or three glass cases of homemade bakery goodies! Next time! And the meal was made complete by our delightful, fun, and charming server, Brenda, who handled four grown juvenile men with Jewish grace and pizzazz. Can you tell I’ll be back??? Can’t wait. I’ll add the chicken soup too — oh yeah!

We are fans of the Bagel in Skokie. Although we don’t get there often, we are really fans. While in the city, we took our kids to the Bagel in Lakeview. (It is kind of between where they both live.)
The decoration is not as great as the one in Skokie. It looks kind of run down and does not have a clean feel. (Although, I cannot say it was not clean.)
The menu is enormous with all of the items you would expect from a Jewish Style Deli. I had a corned beef sandwich and fries. Both were very good. I have to say, through, that their pickle tray was quite good. It only had half sours and not full sour pickles, but that was okay. Would have been nice to have the full sours too, but they provide these for free so beggers can’t be choosers…
It was good, but as noted above, I prefer the one in Skokie. And, while I don’t get up that way often, I will continue to visit that one. Not so sure I would go back to the one in Lakeview again.

Overpriced and bad tasting! Sandwiches are way too expensive and are cheaply made, a better sandwich can easily be made at home. A friend of mine ordered a bagel ($ 1.75) which didn’t come with cream cheese ($ 1.75 extra). I ordered the fresh melon and all I got was half of a honey dew on a plate, not even cut.

A few friends and I ordered brunch from The Bagel. We split the lox platter and ordered several bagels to go with, a greek omelette and a matzo ball soup (one of my friends was really feeling soup for some reason, though we ended up sharing everything). I had a great sesame bagel (I’m not sure why some one else said they did not have sesame). The lox was wonderful, though I would note that this was the one item that was a bit pricy. The matzo ball soup had one large matzo ball surrounded by tastes-​authentic broth. I liked the consistency, my version of just right. This is a personnel preference as a friend preferred a bit more firm. The greek omelette came with hash browns. It was devoured despite the large portion. It had a good mix and balance of fillings, nothing overpowered any other item.
A note that you do have to ask for the bagel to be toasted if this is your preference. They do not come automatically toasted.