What A Bagel

This location is now CLOSED, fu future condo development :/
Really liked the bagels here and other aweasome sweet baked goods like rugaloons or something. Their tuna sandwiches were bomb too and the bread was always super fresh, so sad its gone.

Not sure if it was the same fly that was buzzing around and sitting on their displayed baked goods or if there were more flies. I pointed this out to the proprietor who couldn’t care less.
If a store is not bothered with acting on issues that customers can see and report on, I shudder to think what’s going on behind the scenes.
Needless to say I didn’t buy anything.

I can’t speak to the quality of the bagels here, but I stopped in for a cookie, and I was very happy! Not giant-​sized, but rather a proper cookie size, and delicious at that.
The store is spacious, with a good variety of baked goods (and lots of bagels, of course). Seating area is available, and the store wasn’t very busy when I was in there.
The cookie was also decently priced at 83 cents, tax in.

The food is great but I have a big concern is that there are many flies in that place and bagels and pastries are exposed so this is a health concern and hope that this will be taken into consideration. Did anyone experience the same?

I shouldn’t be rating this place because I have such mixed feelings about it. On one hand it has excellent bagels and fresh toppings. I used to love getting the multigrain with egg salad and veggies in the morning. On other hand, their sanitary (or unsanitary) conditions during last summer made me avoid it altogether. I used to get onion bun for my husband, his favourite, and those little delicious pastry rolls thingies with different fillings. One sad hot day we went in, and 10 fruit flies flew out of the onion bun, then a few more from another. The place was full of them actually. My husband pointed the issue to the counter staff, but they were sort of dismissive, saying it was hot outside hence the fruit flies. I can’t make myself go there again. I miss my multigrain with egg salad and those little delicious pastry rolls thingies. Oh well…

Come here for the freshest & cheapest bagels you’ll ever find in Toronto!
For 99 cents, you’ll get your bagel toasted and buttered, with the option of combo-​ing it up with a cup of coffee. If you wanted to try out their various types of cream cheese, it’s a lot more expensive. Your breakfast will tally up to around $ 3.50, but the cream cheese here is so good, you can also purchase them in a carton.
I agree that the service is somewhat grumpy but they sure move fast — perfect for me (always rushing into work late.).
The best thing is:
You get a dozen FREE bagels on your birthday! Just remember to bring ID.

What A Bagel is a somewhat grungy joint that resembles something like a cafeteria. They make their own bagels and baked goods –pastries, danishes, holiday treats, challah bread, cookies etc. They have a small grocery section that includes juices, dips, wraps, soups etc. In addition, they have a brunch bar where you can be served things such as sandwiches, cheese blintzes, pancakes, omelettes, coffee and much more. They have a variety of things to choose from, the portions are good and the prices are reasonable. However, the food is not fresh and the quality is rather poor.
The bagels and pastries are placed out in the open on trays or in bins and it’s really unsanitary. I’ve seen many people cough or sneeze into the goods or even use their hands to pick out the bagels from the bins instead of using the tongs. Also, the bagels are not always fresh, and sometimes sweet in a weird way as if something was mixed into the flour by accident. Pastries have been stale plenty of times and the challah bread almost always tastes grassy because it was going mouldy– gross! Only around Jewish holidays does the challah bread taste decent.
It just gets worse. The dining area is almost always messy and surrounded with loud people. Crumbs, stickiness and wetness is found all over the tables and floors. The staff behind the counter are friendly and efficient most of the time. However, I’ve noticed that whenever the manager or supervisor is not present, the cleaning staff decides to slack off. The guy who makes the bagels during the week in the afternoon is the one who cleans the place and doesn’t really care about taking care of the place. When asked to clean the dining area, he had attitude and reluctantly went to the dining area and used a dry dirty cloth to wipe down the tables.
Overall, What A Bagel provides a variety of baked goods and food with nice portions and reasonable prices, but their lack of quality and freshness in their ingredients and unsanitary surroundings does not leave me satisfied as a customer.

I saw the grossest thing today — a teenager (guy) with a cold (coughing) and then reaching in to the bagels with his HANDS and not using the TONGS provided.
I may be rethinking about shopping at these self-​serve options … you never know who touched the bagels last. They have tons of tongs there for people to use, and yet there is always someone who needs to put their hands in the stuff … based on today’s experience, I am downgrading them to a three star.

I stopped in here between a haircut and work. I’ve been walking past it for years and haven’t gone in until now, and I wish I had. I’ll miss it when I leave the city.
Yes, the place is a bit of a dive, high-​ceilinged and with the look of an industrial bakery that happens to have tables. The bagels and other goodies are on big wire racks past the cash register. Pick your bagel and take it to the deli counter staff to have it made into a sandwich. Try the cream cheese with the lox already mixed in – it’s half the price of having sliced lox on your bagel, and is still a good dose of salmon.
These are New York style bagels — if you’re used to the chewy, dense, lembas-​like Montréal bagels from Bagel House or St. Urbain, these will look positively plump and fluffy. Don’t be alarmed, they’re just as tasty. Follow it up with some sweet pastries (the cream horn filled with something resembling vanilla pudding is actually really lovely) and a better-​than-​I-​expected coffee.

You have to try the coconut macaroons!!! Its so delicious, and baked fresh daily.
The outside has a satisfying crunch and a bit sticky and the inside is soo moist and flakey. Its like I died and went to coconut hevean! Mmm I always go and pick up 12 at a time and bring them home :)
I also tried the roastbeef sandwich on a bagel. The bagel is nice, sanwich tasted fresh which is great. Better than a Subway sandwich that’s for sure :)

We added this to our tour of greasy spoons in the city, only because it has a typical breakfast special (2 eggs, home fries, toasted bagel and side salad — no meat) for under 7 bucks, but this type of breakfast is definitely NOT it’s specialty.
If you want greasy spoon, go up the street to Mars, The Sunset Grill or Good Bite, but if you want tasty pastry, bagels, cream cheese, lox and the like, this is your place.
Other What A Bagels would earn 4 stars for their quality of food and baked goods… this one loses a star for it’s outdated and unattractive décor. It really needs a makeover.

I agree with Mariko M., Melinda M. and other comments about the rudeness of the staff. I have been to this place a few times but recent event made me realize that the store do not deserve my business.
Agree — their bagels are really good but the staff are so rude — I am starting to wonder what kind of management this business has. The staff members absolutely have zero customer service skills. They all look miserable and never smile at all. The place is also filthy. Tables left uncleaned. Floors unmopped. I think they only clean the place once a day — in the evening during closing time.
I also agree with one of the comments here about the price. The place is not cheap.
During busy hours, paying is a chaos. There is only one line for soup, salad, bagel, coffee — all the way to the cashier so, yes, you can be held up. The staff would not care if you have been standing there for 10 minutes or 30 minutes. The line is so inefficient yet no one bother to fix it or even streamline to make the flow goes smoothly. They should learn from Tim Hortons in downtown financial district on how to handle ‘real, busy time’.
Yes, their bagel may be delicious but I am a strong believer of good service. There are other places at Yonge and Eglinton that can match the price (if not better) with more cheerful and service-​oriented staff plus a clean, wholesome place to eat.
And gosh! They should send their staff to a customer service seminar of some sort!

I really really love this place!
the variety of bagels they sell is satisfying: bagels with onion, sesame seeds, chocolate chips, poppy seeds, plain, marble bagels and many many more!!!
they also sell lots and lots of different sweet pastries (Yum!) and baguettes.
there is also a corner with salads and other snacks and foods but I rarely stop there.
and it’s also a café where you can enjoy one of self picked bagels with whatever stuffing you want (fresh veggies, cream cheese, different types of meat and all of it can be grilled or not)
but the best part… wait for it… they give you a bag of dozen bagels (you pick them yourself) on your birthday≠))

Eek! Methinks not.
I was jonesing a pastry the other day so I went in around four o’clock. By this time there wasn’t much left. A good sign, I thought. They sold most of their products.
Initially I was thinking of getting a bagel, but there were flies around them. The chocolate croissants luckily had no flies in sight so I picked one up. The line was held up because some annoying patron kept asking questions… couldn’t wait any longer ! I started eating the croissant in line. To my disappointment, it was stale and gross.
The gross pastry cost me $ 4. It was not edible that I ended up throwing out my purchase because I just could not continue eating it.
You’ll be okay skipping this place.

I am with Melinda M. I have been there twice. The prices are really high,. and the service people are truly rude. I got a soup and sandwich and paid over $ 15 and they acted like I was bothering them. Second time i was there 10 minutes before closing. Everything was put away and there was no coffee and they made it clear they were not going to make any. They have nice bagels and baked goods, but I can get just as good across the street at Metro without the attitude.

Upon walking in on my birthday, the following brief conversation occurred between me and the lady at the counter:
Me: «Hi, I heard a rumour that – «
Lady: «Birthday bagels? Go get twelve and bring them here with your ID.»
Me: «K.»
I loaded up a giant brown paper bag with twelve bagels, which were sadly cold, but I did arrive around 5 or 6. Marble bagels? Bring ‘em. Cinnamon and raisin? Hell yeah. Chocolate chip bagels! Five of those. With the enormous selection (at least, to a bagel newbie like myself…) I tried to snag one of every variety I had never heard of.
On the other side of the bagel «aisle» were a bunch of sweets that I could barely resist… Some kind of tiny, filled pastry oozing with chocolate, fruit, or some other kind of sugary goodness. It was all I could do to keep my hands off. Too bad I had just indulged at the nearby La Bamboche.
Anyway, true to the counter lady’s word, I flashed my ID at her and was on my way with my bagels. If you saw a weird lady that day carrying bagels in a giant bag and munching the chocolate chip bagel in her hand on the subway, yup, that was me.
(They were reaallllly good.)

Sometimes on my way home to North York, I will venture off the subway at Eglinton just to get a bagel (or other delicious baked good).
Again, my tastes are bland, but their plain bagels with cream cheese are hmm-​hmm-​good. I also love their cookies and chala bread. All the baked goods are equally impressive.
A friend was once disappointed with the pre-​packaged fruit salad…
Around lunch there are a LOT of high school kids that hang out and take up most of the seating, but if you’re on the run, it doesn’t matter much. The service can be a teensy bit slow, but a delicious bagel quickly makes up for that.

This place is awesome for being open and baking fresh goods on Christmas day. I went here to get lunch, then across the street to catch a movie. This is about the only thing you can do on Christmas in Toronto.
I had a ham and egg omelet. Everything tasted really good. You select your food and pay for it cafeteria style, but they bring it to you at your table. Everyone was friendly, despite working on Christmas.
The staff were coming out with trays of freshly baked cookies and desserts while I was there, I ended up picking up a bunch of treats to take to my mom’s dinner tonight.

What A Bagel is solid and consistent. They bake a good variety of fresh bagels on the premises throughout the day, including pumpernickle, multigrain, whole wheat, cinnamon raisin, sesame, etc. They also bake a variety of pastries, have a salad bar where you can customize your own salads, and make bagel sandwiches (I like the chicken curry salad), making it a busy lunch time spot. At lunch times they also have a selection of hot foods but I have not tried them. I can say though that the food is always fresh, the prices are reasonable (just over $ 5 for my bagel sandwich), and the staff, while not amazingly friendly, keep the long lunch lines moving fast.

YIKES! I would be perfectly fine with this place if it wasn’t for the rudeness of the checkout witch. She yelled at me, interrupted me and ignored me. She would ask a question about what I ordered (well, yell a question) and then interrupt me to ask the same question to the counterperson. Really, don’t ask me if you don’t want my answer. She treated me like a criminal, like she thought I would lie about what I ordered to shave cents off what I pay. Damn.
I could not wait to get the hell out of there. The bagels were pretty good but nothing warrants this kind of treatment.