Bloomington Bagel Company

Fine bagels and nice selection of spreads. Hours are for the morning, so this would not be a healthy dinner option. When it’s almost time for them to close, I have found I am often shooed out or not quite welcome. The only reason I return is because I’m not sure where else to get a quick bagel with lox and cream cheese in town and I need one every once in a while in my life.

We want to have a good bagel place in town so much! Sadly this isn’t it. The bagels are puny and tough. I understand that authentic NY style bagels are not the bready style you get at chain bagel places but this is not right either. The bagels are quite expensive at BBC so they should at least be good. But alas they aren’t. We still go every once in a while for the sheer (schmear?) love of local bagels. But we wish we wanted to go more!

I heard a lot of good things about the BBC but I wasn’t impressed my first time there. The blueberry bagel was very bland but the spread made it edible. The mocha coffee was also bland and made by someone who has never made one in his life and he said so himself. There should be a recipe for them if they don’t know how to make one or let me order a regular coffee.
Anyway I thought I’d give it another try since it is closer to my work. And this time it wasn’t that bad. The egg and cheese bagel sandwich was very delicious and the mocha coffee was made spot on this time by someone who knew how to make it. One star for the first visit and two for the second.

I stopped in here on a Saturday morning around 10:30, and it will be the last time I ever go.
There was a line of 6 – 8 customers waiting in front of us, but I have a feeling this was solely because of how slow the business was filling orders, and not because they were at all swamped. The place also smelled overwhelmingly like burned bread instead of the nice fresh baked scent usually associated these types of places. The staff looked to be entirely made up of young college students with no experienced manager in sight, which was probably the first issue. Their menu is on the wall behind the counter. They have quite a few sandwiches options, lots of different bagels and schmears, as well as a handful of other things. When you choose a sandwich or bagel, you select which bagel you want and which schmear you want. The bagels are just in baskets behind the counter, and the list of different schmears was on a piece of paper on the counter. Everything else, including cheese and other toppings, seemed to only be stored in the memory of the people working there so they had to recite the list every single time someone ordered anything. I went with a basic bagel sandwich with egg, cheese, and meat on an «everything» bagel that turned out to be disappointing. They were out of the ham that I wanted on my sandwich, as well as out of the schmear that my girlfriend choose. These weren’t the only things they were out of, as I also heard them tell numerous other people that they were out of things they tried to order.
My sandwich had on it a small microwaved product that resembled an egg. It also had some very thin bacon, and a small slice of pepper jack cheese. The bagel was small, and the top of it was burned, which I very clearly saw the girl making my sandwich look at, show someone else working behind the counter, and then proceed to still use it. I’m pretty sure the sandwich cost right around $ 6.50, but I wouldn’t pay more than $ 3 for it again.
How they were so slow at this whole thing was beyond me. If you ordered coffee, they just gave you a cup and you filled it up at one of their large buckets of prepared coffee sitting on the counter. Everything else was pretty much just toasting a bagel and rubbing cream cheese on it or topping it with already prepared toppings. They were completely out of napkins in the one dispenser that they had for the entire store, and when asked to fill it they just handed us a couple loose napkins instead of putting some out for everyone. They also had no cup insulators and their cups were so thin that it was uncomfortable to hold until the coffee cooled down. Their serving area was a mess, with lots of empty containers where things were supposed to be stocked.
This was just an all around disaster in every aspect of the business. They need a manger there that can get things in order, including training the staff on customer service, hiring enough people to keep up with the orders as well as keeping the customer areas stocked, and they need to get way more efficient at it so the happenings behind the counter don’t look like a circus. Even if that did all happen, the product would still not be worth the cost. They get an extra star from me for their convenient location right by the farmers market and parking garage, as well as the offering of outdoor seating, but there are way too many good breakfast places in Bloomington to waste time going here again.

I’m sure the food is great but when when a breakfast place isn’t open for breakfast it’s tough to judge… Apparently someone didn’t show up for work.

This place is a Bloomington gem! I went for breakfast and had great service! My breakfast sandwich was a delicious combination of flavor and the customer service was phenomenal. Watch out for lines, this place attracts a crowd.

This BBC blows. Every single time.
All the coffee except for decaf was out at 10 AM on a Saturday. No sleeves available for your coffee, either.
The assembly line of indifferent employees is a sh*t show. They skip customers, mess up orders, and generally give no f*#@s.
The girl on the register was so stoned, she needed her hand held through every transaction.
10 bucks for two bagels with barely any cream cheese and two coffees that by default had to be decaf? Nope. Not coming back.

If you want a good bagel in B-​town, this is place to go. Although the employees are very nice, service could be a little faster. Decent price.

You should come here only if you want a perfect New York style bagel, promptly served any way you want it, with great coffee, for less than you would expect to pay. This place is awesome — I wish I had «discovered» it years ago. Great selection of bagels, schmears, and plenty of other toppings. Their bagels are obviously made by bagel specialists — crispy toasted outside (if you toast, like me), dense and chewy inside — and everything from sweet to grainy to veggie to spicy. Very good coffee too. I’ll be back often.

I spent way more money here during my 4 years at IU than I care to admit. But every dollar was worth it. And sometimes, I even managed to save a dollar on my order by correctly guessing their daily trivia questions. The staff is also really nice, and only sometimes do they ridicule you for getting the trivia wrong (just kiding!). Also, they use Partridge and Quigley coffee which is local and top of the line.
The two things I order hundreds of times were either Brown Sugar Cinnamon schmear on Everyseed, or Sausage, Egg and Cheddar on Everyseed. In fact, if any of the employees see this review, they’ll probably know exactly who wrote it.
Sadly, I moved to New York after school, and have to eat these «world class» bagels instead.
I miss BBC :(

The service is really slow on a Sunday morning. Even though it appeared there were 4 employees working, only 1 was taking orders (the other 3 were in back making food, stocking shelves, etc.). Once I was able to order, the food came out quickly. The bagels are very fresh and they have a good variety (onion, pretzel, plain, blueberry, etc.). They have several flavored cream cheese shmears as well. The coffee is hot and fresh and self-​serve (which I appreciate greatly).

The bagels are really good, but I could fly to New York and get a cheaper bagel sandwich than by eating at the Bloomington Bagel Company.
I got a turkey bagel sandwich for lunch, and it was really good and filling, but it cost about $ 7. That’s for just a sandwich, without chips or drink. The price is a shame, because I would eat here again if it was cheaper, but as it is now it’s just not worth it. The sandwich prep area was also dirty, with certain food items making their way into other food items. Some of the staff seemed really friendly, but the person making my sandwich spoke extremely quietly and was hard to understand.
Good food and good potential, but high prices and poor cleanliness will keep me from being a regular.

Mouth-​watering creamcheese spreads, great bagel selection, delicious coffees, fast and friendly service! This place is a favorite of mine if you can’t tell. I freqently get the breakfast bagel sandwich, which comes with egg, choice of meat, choice of cheese, and of course choice of bagel. Egg and meat are pre-​cooked and reheated in the microwave, but the resulting sandwich is still delicious. Highly recommended for breakfast.
Tip: They have a daily trivia question that, if you get it right, nets you a free plain bagel. Questions are not that hard.
Quirk: Coffee refills are not free.

Midwest service, east coast bagel ! That’s my first impression of Bloomington Bagel which mentioned by our professor during the class time. That’s why I made a decision
to try those bagels. Therefrom, this became my best choice of breakfast in B-​town.
Three keywords :
Fresh, tasty and «brunch ambience» !
Always loving to put the fresh salmon and tomato into my Asiago bagel. Cream on Soft Pretzel and Sesame also fabulous.
Worthy 5 stars !

Always delicious. I used to always get the Lox sandwich and my husband and I would split. Always fresh and delicious and great selection. Yum! At this location, I loved the outside seating.

Bloomington Bagel has forever ruined me for bagels. They’re just so darn tasty. Granted, I was raised in the south and never had a bagel till my adult years, but every time I’ve had a bagel they came up short in comparison to BBC (In fact, for my own safety I plan on never getting a bagel should I visit New York, because if I say out loud «They make them better in Indiana» I’ll probably get my teeth kicked in). They have a huge selection of bagels (asiago being my favorite). Huge selection of cream cheese spreads (the salmon schmear being my favorite). Or you can get a bagelwich with all sorts of toppings. And their coffee and other baked goods are quite tasty too. Love the BBC.

My wife and I stopped here for breakfast last weekend. Bagels and cinnamon rolls were good. Coffee was good. Didn’t feel as if it was the cleanest place though.
I wouldn’t hesitate to stop in again.

It’s like the other BBCs, good, but not amazing. Bagels are usually fresh, although somewhat chewier than they’re supposed to be. Better than anything you’ll find in a store, but less than anything you’ll find in Manhattan, IMHO. Good sandwiches, schmears; slightly more expensive than one might hope, and more expensive than Manhattan. Nonetheless, it’s a decent stop.