Collegetown Bagels

Pros:
–LOTs of variety of food (from bagels to sandwiches to pre packaged lunches to desserts to coffee/​alcohol/​tea etc…)
–Hipster ambience
–Conveniently located in Collegetown near Cornell
–Try the CTBLT and the Lox bagel!
Cons:
–overpriced
–crowded
–they’ve messed up my order a couple of times
–long wait if you get something To-​Go

Great try for western style food hahaha. Will definitely come here again

Good go to place for a good coffee and bagel, wouldn’t stay because it’s usually packed. Offers good choices of bagels and wide variety of coffee.

If you are solely critiquing the bagels on their own, then they’d probably get a ³⁄₅. I’m pretty sure they are boiled before baking (how some bagel places still don’t even boil their bagels is blasphemous to me) but the bagels are kind of small, flat and light.
BUT their bagel sandwiches, regular/​breakfast sandwiches, soups and pastries are great! Pretty reasonable in price, lots of options for vegetarians, vegans and meat-​eaters alike. Open often to cater to college students, and drinking on the patio on a warm summer’s day is a perfect way to take a break.
I would skip the smoothies though, they’re pricey and so disappointingly bland. My friend had a similar experience so it’s not just me?

Not only did they get my simple breakfast order wrong and had to remake it, but the bagels suck. Not fresh at all and they’re overpriced for a small crappy bagel. In NJ, you can get a bagel for $ 2.50 almost anywhere and it’s huge and fresh. Don’t waste your time if you’re visiting Ithica. Not worth the hype at all.

On a visit to Cornell, I stopped by Collegetown Bagels before leaving town. I ordered a few bagels, of which the Rosemary Salt was my favourite.
I must admit, while the bagels were pretty good, I was not greatly impressed. I found them difficult to chew, which leads me to assume they were stale. In all honesty, these bagels were somewhat disappointing.
Recommendations:
–Ask for their freshest bagels. I found two of three bagels to be stale and chewy
–The Rosemary Salt bagels were good
Verdict:
Wouldn’t go out of my way for Collegetown Bagels

This is a great place to go if you are visiting Cornell campus and want to see where the students hang out and get a feel for the college town vibe. Tons of students come here and it’s a fun place to meet up with friends.
The food ain’t bad either. I grew up in a Jewish household in NJ and spend a ton of time in NYC so I am the biggest bagel snob. When I came to Ithaca I would bring dozens of bagels from home with me to school to put in my freezer but they’re just not the same as a fresh bagel. Enter CTB. Now their bagels are definitely nowhere near as good as the bagels back home but they HANDS DOWN have the best bagels in Ithaca (along with other CTB and Ithaca bakery locations). As a nice Jewish girl I can tell you that their lox is okay too. They also have some great sandwich options (my personal faves are the octopus on what, the Zabs, and the chicken melt), and a great variety of prepared meals in their small refrigerated section, as well as some delish baked goods a la Ithaca bakery (shoutout to black and white cookies). They also do drinks really well — they’re adorably named drinks are very good and their smoothies are fresh.

Very wide selection and interesting choices at that… great addition to college town by all means. Pizza bagels, crazy combos, do it up!

Love this place. During grad school, I spent way too much money here holed up at Collegetown Bagels studying and just absorbing the environment. Has the classic crunchy granola feel of Ithaca and love that it’s a local small business. Prepare for long lines, crowded seating with lots of Cornell students, and great conversation.
Awesome coffee brewed to perfection, incredible bagel sandwiches, and all the desserts you could ever dream up.

I came here to pick up some breakfast. The ordering process is a little weird. You order food at the back, the person taking your order will write down what you order on a piece of paper twice. They get one copy, and you get one copy to take to the cashier to pay. If you order multiple items they will write each item in a separate paper than writing it all in one paper. Then you pay at the front and you order drinks at the front. Then you wait for your order. It might come separately if you order multiple items. Some items are faster to make than others. They will call out the item that’s ready and you will give them the copy of paper with the item’s name. They have a lot of food to choose from. I had the brooklyn bagel, which is just scrambled eggs with bacon ($ 3.95), it was very neatly made and a small ice coffee. This is a great spot to get some grub and there are plenty of seats indoor and outdoor.

This place is AWESOME. Their menu covers all the bases (and all the wall space). I walked in and just stared for the first ten minutes, completely agog. Soon after one of the helpful staff came over and handed me a paper menu. They have an amazing selection of bottled drinks in the fridges, as well as pre-​packaged salads/​sides and sweets and an extensive coffee/​drinks menu. Oh and some bagels too, I guess. (I kid, I kid, they have the complete variety of all the typical bagels you could want.) Sweet, savory, sandwich, plain: you can have it your way. Service was pretty fast as I just walked up to the counter and placed my order.
I had the pizza bagel and it changed my bagel perspective on life. I think it had four different kinds of meat, a meat-lover’s dream. (Pepperoni, bacon, chicken, sausage I think?) Came with a pickle spear, which I happily devoured after hiking around Ithaca’s «gorges» waterfalls all afternoon. Plenty of seating space inside and out on the tented patio, and I was happy to find plenty of outlets to charge my phone as well as wi-​fi. Pretty jealous of you Cornell students for having such a kick-​ass huge bagel place so close to your university!

CTB is the most popular breakfast place at Cornell, at least from what I have heard. So, I decided to give it a try today. I went to CTB for breakfast. Inside the restaurant was crowded and all menus were written with multiple colors and fonts on a large chalkboard. It was hard to read, so I just asked the seller to get me the most popular breakfast sandwich menu and was recommended «Round House.» After ordering, I followed the long line to the cashier.
The food arrived after about 10 minutes. It was a Rosemary bagel sandwich with scrambled egg, bacon, sausage, cheddar cheese, and hash brown. The combination between hash brown and the bagel was quiet interesting. The sandwich was however not warm, which disappointed me because I expected a freshly made breakfast meal for the cost and waiting time of $ 7.XX and 10 minutes, respectively.
Overall, delicious breakfast sandwich. Because of the long order line and the price, I would only go there when I am super hungry in the morning.

Stopped by here while on vacation for some bagels to take back to the house where we were staying. Staff was super friendly and helpful. A little confusing, though, whether we could order bagels by the dozen, etc. It isn’t on the menu board anywhere, but we were able to ask the guy behind the counter and he helped us out.
The bagels were delicious — highly recommend a rosemary salt one!

I just can’t explain my love for CTB.
To start off — there are endless options. They have breakfast wraps, bagel sandwiches, normal sandwiches, paninis, pizza bagels and great grab n’ go options. Can confirm that their coffee is the best in the Collegetown area (I’m an Eco-​mug owner, so I should know).
The service is always warm and accommodating, they have never turned down my modifications or special requests. During peak times it can be a bit of a wait to get your sandwich, but it’s totally worth it. I recommend the Veganic as the best hangover cure of all time. I probably eat at CTB way too much because I know that once I graduate I might never find a place quite like it.

Hit this place on the way out of town. It’s a bit confusing at first (after all, not all of us have a degree from Cornell) so let me help:
1. If ordering food or sandwiches, proceed to far side of counter and place order. Many sandwiches are named after cities or people and it may take some time to decipher the chalk board.
2. Once you receive your slip containing the code to your order, proceed through the beverage/​cold food area. Shop accordingly.
3. Upon arriving at the hot beverage counter, look for a designated hipster, order a coffee (you can even order according to your horoscope if you choose) and hand over other goods plus any acquired slips. Feel free to order the «ultra» size so you can rub it in the face of the Venti lovers across the street. Pay accordingly and wait for your order. While waiting, take note the clientele; non-​designated hipsters, Cornell students, tourists and proud parents of Cornell students wearing Cornell shirts, walking shorts and mid-​calf socks.
4. Listen for your name (for good fun give them the name you really wanted as a child), receive your fare and enjoy.
The Melissa (egg and cheese) on an everything bagel was a fine breakfast. The ultra Americano was ultra satisfying. My daughter enjoyed the mojito green tea lemonade.
All in all, a good breakfast experience in a university town even if you aren’t full of angst or don’t wear socks and sandals.

MY FAVORITE BAGEL/​SANDWICH SHOP ON EARTH.
I went to Cornell and basically lived at CTB. They have the best bagels and sandwiches, and food is always fresh and consistent. I would recommend any of their bagels toasted with cream cheese, but my favorite thing on the menu is the Mexican bagel. Their San Diego bagel is also on point if you like spicy jams.
I highly recommend the Big Apple and Autumn Sky sandwiches. They also have amazing soups, which you can get in a soft, doughy bread bowl. All of their baked goods and coffee drinks are delicious, so don’t forget to order dessert. And if you’re there late night, get the sangria! #liquidgold

I got their Aquarius drink which was coconut and mandarin French soda– think orange creamsicle that you had as a kid (except this is a drink!). Very good! I would recommend spinning your drink for a bit to mix up the coconut with the soda every time before you take a sip.
I got their sun dried tomato bagel with their garlic and herb (?)cream cheese — soooo good I finished the entire thing and I rarely eat bagels.
Their menu is pretty intimidating, so take a few minutes to digest it before you get in line to order otherwise you’ll hold off the line for others. We sat outside as it was a very pretty day.

For a casual eating experience with a wide variety of choices, I was completely pleased with CBT. I was here for dinner with my teenage son & didn’t want or need anything fancy or expensive. Outdoor patio seating was great on a lovely evening. Could totally see this a a terrific place to hang out. In fact as we were walking around the «Collegetown» section of Ithaca, things seemed completely dead until we rounded the corner to the CBT patio — THERE were all the people! Lively conversation and folks enjoying their food and beers.
Our food was terrific. Yes, the menu is overwhelming for a newbie. SO many choices! SO hard to decide! I went with the 5k because peanut butter, banana, granola, etc just sounded good and it was! Every finger-​licking bite! They even had pears so he offered to include this in the wrap, too. Yum!
My son got the Round House bagel, super tasty. Loved the Rosemary salt bagel it came on. He was disappointed that the fountain drinks are not refillable. We also got a fruit tart and a cannoli (cuz, hey, we’re on vacation and we hiked 7 miles today, so why not!) ;-). Not the best cannoli I’ve ever tasted, but a nice treat all the same. Fruit tart was also good.
All that food, plus the fountain drink set us back $ 22, which I thought was pretty darn reasonable.
I just might be back before we leave town.

So… it’s a little hard to get over the fact that my first experience with Collegetown involved me trying to use their bathroom because we were in the middle of a long road trip and waiting for 15 minutes to find there were people kinda… ummm… humping in it. So, that’s a lot to get over. In a «college town», why not make the effort to have two separate male and female bathrooms so that there’s no humping? Or at least two generic bathrooms so that if there IS humping there is still one bathroom free?
Once I finally got to a place where I could order, I found the following:
–The menu is chock full of delicious things, but it is totally overwhelming.
–Lots of stuff on the menu seems kind of expensive for what it is.
–They have unsweetened iced tea in several flavors– yay!- weak spot of mine.
–Approximately ½ of the staff seem genuinely concerned about customer experience. The other ½ of the staff seem to be intentionally acting out a listicle about how millenials are jerks.
–The food came and was totally creative and delicious and lovely.
So my overall impression is this: If you don’t care that you are eating in a place where sometimes people may hump in the bathroom, and if you don’t care that the person making your sandwich may hate you or making sandwiches, the food is amazing.
I may just be too emotional to love it here. But it was worth a stop.

Collegetown Bagels has long been a Cornell staple. I’ve heard many Cornell alum friends rave about this place and so my partner and I tried it for ourselves during a day trip while visiting home.
I ordered the Bay Burger and she ordered the Reuben. We were each impressed by the Bay Burger’s taste, quality, and ingredients. It was delicious, especially for a vegetarian burger!
The reuben however, was a little underwhelming; it tasted good enough, but the corned beef slices used had a texture akin to that of bologna. Portion sizes also seemed small, given the price we paid.