Utopia Bagels Reviews Summary

Bagel Quality

Pros:

• "The bagels stand alone and the plain bagel is yummy… just toasted with butter and your favorite jam."
• "It’s the best bagel in NYC."
• "Great selection of bagels and spreads. They're fresh out of the oven every time."
• "Arguably the best bagels in the city."
• "Their bagels were amazingly delicious with chewy texture especially the French Toast bagel."
• "These are some of the best bagels I have ever had."
• "The bagels are very good, fresh, chewy, and crispy on the outside."

Cons:

• "I don’t understand the hype and I think you can get much better bagels elsewhere."
• "The bialey and the rainbow was doughy and raw."
• "The Salt bagels did have more salt than I'd prefer."
• "The garlic on the everything bagel was burnt."
• "The bagels were subpar and i’ve had better at many places."
• "The bagels are small and vary in quality, some are burnt."
• "The pizza bagel itself was subpar. The bagel was dry and flavorless, and the toppings were limited and unimpressive."

Service

Pros:

• "The service was great as they had several taking orders."
• "Incredible service nicest people and best of all the best bagels you will ever taste ever!"
• "The staff is always friendly."
• "The wait wasn’t bad and the staff served everyone quickly."
• "Most of the employees are very nice and great to deal with."
• "Good service."
• "The line moved quickly thanks to the friendly and efficient staff."

Cons:

• "Ordered a single sandwich that shouldn’t have cost more than $12, but the cashier rang it up in a way that ended up costing me $20."
• "The owner is a hot head and extremely disrespectful to customers."
• "Employees are helpful but slow!"
• "Some of the rudest workers I have ever seen."
• "Whoever picked up the phone was extremely rude."
• "The service is slow and unfriendly."
• "The service is bad."

Atmosphere

Pros:

• "It's not only about the bagel. It's everything: the employees, the atmosphere, the music, the vibe etc."
• "It felt like a true NY experience."
• "The atmosphere was lively, vibrant and happy."
• "It's a great New York experience if you're from out of town."
• "The Atmosphere and Service was Light, Clean, Commendable and Efficient."
• "Clean and spacious place."
• "The shop has expanded with more seating."

Cons:

• "The only reason why I knocked it down one star was the loud music in the morning and hard to order with such loud music."
• "Theres barely any room for the line of people ordering and for people paying."
• "This is what you call a tourist trap or just locals who love what utopia used to be."
• "The place looks really nice. It's a catfish bagel store."
• "But it’s so deep in Queens, it’s really not accessible by public trans!"
• "Crowded even on weekday mornings, but diners should know that this is a discriminatory food establishment."
• "The line is unacceptable. I want a bagel with chicken salad for lunch and I have to wait over 1/2 hour?"

Value

Pros:

• "The bagel, cream cheese, and lox was $10.75 but they gave you enough on the sandwich and didn’t skimp and steal like other bagel stores."
• "There is lots of street parking and parking in the rear."
• "Personally I love their flavored cream cheese. Strawberry, blueberry, and chocolate chip cream cheese... totally worth the wait."
• "Their prices are very good too. Only 2.75 for a bagel with flavored cream cheese where most places are charging 3.99 or more."
• "The prices are affordable."
• "Aside from a large variety of fresh bagels, they offer a good selection of cream cheese and smoked fish."
• "Great bagels with every flavor of cream cheese imaginable available."

Cons:

• "$21 for a dozen bagels is very expensive."
• "Undoubtedly awesome bagels, but the prices are just insane and keep going up."
• "For $16 they giving us less lox and they got amateurs assembling the bagels."
• "This place is absolutely repulsive!!! They leave meats and cheeses on the floor of their refrigerator and and use prepped food way past its shelf life!"
• "The usual 1” of CC- is now down to 1/4”. Nobody wants a dry cream cheese bagel :("
• "The workers are very sly and literally charge you for breathing in the place."
• "We asked the Server to toast 3 bagels with butter, and he said that they don’t toast bagels."

Accessibility

Pros:

• "Fortunately it's so close to Kennedy Airport, it was a tasty no-brainer when I had to meet a flight."
• "If you don't feel like making the line, just place an order online and pickup in the store."
• "Staff was amazing, gave me extra bags to travel back to Austin Texas with."
• "One of my favorite bakeries in the city especially for bagels. It’s a bit out of the way if you are heading to Manhattan but convenient if you are flying into or out of LGA."
• "So happy we found this place! We bought a whole variety of bagels for family and friends and are enjoying them right now!"
• "There's inside sitting area now; or, outside sitting."
• "The store is very large and very busy but the line moves rather quick."

Cons:

• "You cannot call and order in advance and there is no way to order online."
• "Don't depend on utopia and gold belly to get your bagels to you quickly or fresh."
• "The online ordering pickup process is a bit strange."
• "Definitely not Asian-friendly and an absolute bummer as my last meal in the US before flying off."
• "But it’s so deep in Queens, it’s really not accessible by public trans!"
• "By far the worst experience ever had at a dirty bagel shop."
• "Bagels and sandwiches are decent but the long lines are ridiculous. They have 20 plus employees but the line moves slow. VERY SLOW."