The Bagel Factory

These are bagels I would (and occasionally do) drive through a snowstorm for. These bagels are hands-​down the best I’ve ever had. I’ve had bagels in Brooklyn and Manhattan; these are better. The texture on the inside is soft, the outside crispy. Perfect bagels.
If you can get a jalepeno before they sell out, get one. Egg, everything, streudel, cranberry, and onion bagels are all good.
The guy who works the counter is super nice. The interior is older, but who cares? I’m there for bagels, not a hot date.
Go there. Right now. While you’re there, get me a bagel.

Best bagels in St. Louis. My favorites are the salt sticks, the onion bagels, and a bialy if they have it.

Today was my first time going to this establishment. A mom & pop feel, friendly workers. I ordered some bagels, handed my debit card to the cashier, and was told it’s cash or check only :(Both items I never have with me. Tony (I’m assuming the owner) never met me before, says, «Go ahead. Come back and pay when you can.» I offered to leave him my drivers license, phone #, every bit of collateral I could so he’d know I wasn’t trying to pull one over on him. He refused. «Don’t worry about it,» he said. «Come back and pay when you can.» What a freaking unbelievably nice guy.
The bagels were great. The price was beyond reasonable. I’m going back for those reasons, but most importantly because of the generosity shown by Tony. Let’s be real, kindness these days is few and far between.
Please note, I did return 15 minutes later to pay :)

The only real bagels in St Louis. Wish they had hours beyond 1 pm! We don’t live close enough to run over in the morning whenever the need for a fresh bagel strikes.

My brother picked me up a bagel from here and let me have a bite of it. It was during Thanksgiving week, so counting carbs were out the window for me. It was so good. It is definitely the best bagel shop in town. It reminded me of what one gets in NYC.

I’d say these are the best bagels I have had in St. louis. These bagels remind me of some good bagels I had in NYC years ago. This is a small shop in a small strip mall off Olive.
There were about a dozen different flavors available when I was there. We had the salt and cranberry bagels and both were excellent.
The bagels are $ 1 or 6/​$ 5. Cream cheese is extra and there is a small drink and coffee selection. Checks and cash are the only payments accepted.
I recommend this place highly if you’re looking for an excellent bagel.

The Best Bagels and cheap price. Also love the day old for little $…great job. Cash only

Came at 12:30 and already closed (closing posted 1:00). Not cool, not convenient.

Fantastic! Great prices and delicious bagels! Don’t go anywhere for bagels! This man knows how to make a bagel. Every time I am in the area I stop. Can’t wait to try the pumpernickel bagel I purchased-​I am sure it will be yummy!

No better Bagel spot in St Louis. And I just fell in love with the jalapeño bagel.

A fairly nice selection of excellent bagels made entirely on-​site, locally owned, and a «Hot Bagels» sign in the window. You can’t go wrong here.
Cash-​only, but 6 fresh bagels for $ 5 is a good deal. I love the pumpernickel, the jalapeño and the Tzitzel bagels, but who doesn’t?
There is not likely to be any flashy gourmet style fare here any time soon. So what? When you want a great bagel at a good price, you don’t need crazy garnishments and fancy boxes. It’s a bagel!
Enjoy!

Best bagels in St. Louis if not anywhere else I’ve been. Love a good salt bagel and the Bagel Factory not only has them, but maybe has the best I’ve ever had. And their plain bagels are right up there with them. Highly recommend this place!

Probably the best bagels I’ve had. Maybe only second to one other bakery, which is no longer around. I seriously crave these bagels and buy them in bulk when I go. Totally worth every calorie.

Best bagels in St. Louis. Nothing even comes close.

These are the genuine, high gluten, boiled and baked to perfection bagels that I remember as a kid. NYC has lots of good kosher bagel places, Chicago has the NY Bagel and Bialy Shop on Tuohy, but these are the best bagels I have tasted outside those two cities. They are always fresh, crisp on the outside, with a chewy, luxurious texture inside. Perfect. I don’t care for all the dessert bagels with fruit and such. But a good, plain, sesame, poppy seed are to die for with some of the Raskas cream cheese. A breakfast made in heaven, with or without the lox. My wife prefers bialys and they are very good too. I wish we had a Bagel Factory in Dallas.

AAabsolutely the best bagels in the State of Missouri. Possibly the entire Mid west! These are exactly what bagels oughta be! The bagel baker is a tad rough but only because he’s been baking since early early am. If you know what you want and make it short he’s actually a very friendly fellow. Same with his female counterpart. Go get ‘em while they’re hot and fresh. And, don’t forget to pick up a lil’ Raskas Cream Cheese… support our local makers of the best cream cheese.

With all of the reviews stating these are the best bagels in the area it was only a matter of time before I made it in to see for myself.
Yep — they are the best bagels I’ve had in years… hands down.
There is just something about this style of bagel. Yes, it is what I grew up eating and clearly their bagels are hand-​crafted. I grabbed a half-​dozen onion bagels because they looked sooooo good. I also picked out another half-​dozen assorted bagels which mostly came from the sweet varieties.
About the onion bagels: they were absolute perfection. This may be the first place I’ve found where they add the minced onions to the top and the bottom of the bagel in such a way that you basically have two tops. Pure genius!
Why only 4 stars? Mainly because of the cash-​only inconvenience.

Very basic — walk in, order, take off. There’s no seating, only cases of bagels and a small counter to order from.
They do have bagged up «day old» bagels for sale at a discounted price.
Great friendly staff, I believe they’re all family. If you have a large order they’ve even helped me load up my car.

Ok stars break down:
(5 stars for the bagels+1 star for the service)/2=3 stars
First the bagels: there’s no doubt to it. It was fantastic! I got a strudel and a strawberry and just finished the strudel one, yum!
Next the service: the cashier was really mean to me and my boyfriend. It was our first time there, and we didn’t know that they don’t accept card. So after we ordered we apologized for not having cash and went out to see if we could get cash. We were able to get cash back from a nearby walgreens and came back at 1:10pm. The cashier is closing the shop. After she saw us, she blamed us angrily: «why didn’t you tell me you were coming back? Now I have to open those bagel bags!» And I thought umm because you close at 1:30pm and we didn’t know whether we could get cash back at Walgreens? We were astonished by her reaction but didn’t say anything for not wanting to argue with her. She continued to complain until we bought the bagels… it was a horrifying customer service experience. I’m guessing that most of the reviews here didn’t mention her prob because she works in the afternoon due to her horrible customer service.
So go for the bagels, and try not to piss off the cashier if she happens to be there!

Real bagels are not from Schnucks or Bread Co or Einsteins. REAL bagels are from the Bagel Factory. Be sure to try the tsitzel, egg, or strawberry. And they sell half dozen day old bagels for $ 3! Next time you are craving a bagel, don’t sell out, go here.
And remember: cash only!