Gotham Bagels

Love the food here. Sometimes the owner can be a bit crabby but usually only if they’re busy.

Best bagels in Madison are a great basis for their breakfast sandwiches.

Okay, their bagels are good. The stuff they put on the bagels is good. HOWEVER — they are overpriced. There is almost always a huge line, which moves slowly. Even when it is crazy busy on the weekend, there is usually only one person on the grill and so the food takes forever. Expect to be treated rudely by someone, at some point.
My fiancé refuses to go here anymore #solidarity

After some not so great experiences at Gotham five-​plus years ago, I avoided them. Last summer I stopped in with some friends who were in town and had planned to brunch at the Old Fashioned but hadn’t anticipated the hours-​long wait so decided to just grab something quick instead.
In the past, I’d always ordered a plain bagel, untoasted, and plain cream cheese. When they very first opened, my selection was unbearably salty; later it was just dry and cakey. On my return to the land of Gotham I went with a bagel sandwich — the Yellow C.A.B — cheddar, avocado, and bacon. So good. The bagel was chewy and didn’t have me reaching for a glass of water to rehydrate. I’ve returned to Gotham and this sandwich many times since. The bacon is thick and crispy and full of flavor. The avocado is fresh and creamy. The melted cheese pulls it all together. It’s a great choice for when you need something hearty but don’t have the time and/​or desire to do a whole sit-​down meal.
I’ve also tried the spicy pineapple & mint and cranberry lavender juices. Definitely a tasty addition. The spicy pineapple took me a couple sips to acclimate, but once I got over the unique flavor and pulpiness I was into it. The cranberry is extremely tart (no grape juice blend here) and has a pleasant floral aftertaste.
The only thing keeping me from five stars is that the untoasted plain bagel with cream cheese route is still dry. I have to say I was surprised — I’ve had the plain bagel in sandwich form many times now and it’s had the chew I’ve craved. Unheated, though, it’s just not there. The honeyed cherry cream cheese was good (and was in a portion big enough for two bagels) but it just couldn’t make up for the texture of the bagel itself. I think my next attempt will be ordering the cream cheese on the side and taking it home to warm it.

This place is about a block away from my apartment and is so incredible. First of all most of the employees are incredibly friendly, the place itself is super quaint and cute, but most importantly they have hands down the best bagels. I would, however, think it would be good for them to add a few other bagel choices. Specifically some sweet bagels as I am a big fan of ones like blueberry, cinnamon sugar, etc. otherwise it’s a great place to stop by for a bite to eat!

Way overpriced. It was very confusing where you were supposed to wait for your order. Names were called out so softly, no one came up for their orders. After 30 minutes, I asked someone if I had missed my name being called. Very rudely she said no. I asked someone else 10 minutes later and she said my order was next. She handed me the wrong order. After 5 minutes of flagging her back down, she told me oops, my bagel had been sitting in a bag behind the counter for twenty minutes. By that time is was cold.
Very disappointed in my visit.

Had to get a quick bite and stopped through for breakfast this morning. Had an «Everything» bagel with their special jalapeño garlic cream cheese, not toasted. It was «everything» I could hope for in a bagel. Not too soft, not too hard — just right, flavorful, easy to eat. The cream cheese was so fluffy and tasty.
I couldn’t find caloric information anywhere, but I can’t imagine it’s any good. This was my «cheat» breakfast of the week.

Coming from the New York area, I’m very snobby about my bagels. This place is by far the best bagel joint in Madison. I would even say it’s the only place I have found outside of the NY area that serves real bagels.
When comparing these to other bagels in the Midwest, it’s a blowout. Other places don’t even compare.
When comparing these to the best bagels I’ve had back home, these hold their own, which is saying a lot. I wouldn’t say these are among the greatest bagels I’ve ever had, but if I had them in NYC, I would classify them as good, which is quite a feat.
Bagel selection and spread selection is great. Breakfast sandwiches are great. Lox is great. It’s nice to have a little bit of New York available in Madison (considering the lack of pizza in the area).

I’ve mentioned before that I’m not in love with New York City like some people are, but I am a fan of certain aspects of the city. And after visiting Gotham bagels, this is one little slice of New York that I am glad has landed in Madison.
The specials announced on the board were all named after the current presidential contenders, but unlike those folks, every single one of the specials sounded amazing. I settled on the Sanders, basically a New York bagel plus whitefish and arugula. It was heavenly. Prepared with precision, plentiful and super fresh ingredients, neatly wrapped and easy to handle presentation, and absolutely delicious flavors. The pickle was the biggest surprise as it was sweet and sour and extremely spicy, enough to make me break a little sweat on this cold winter day. Pow!
The menu is extensive and there were so many that I’ll need to come back and try. Colectivo coffee and many other beverages, and a deli case with salads and other premade foods sold by the pound.
The cashier was friendly, but there was a dark, brooding, semi surly guy preparing food which only added to the NYC style authenticity. Four stars because the interior was a little messy around the trash bins, and what is up with the grungy, yellow stained drop ceiling tiles? Was the place a cigar bar in its last life?
PS: 15% off your first Unilocal!check-​in purchase, not too shabby!

My son and I come here before we head over to the Children’s Museum in the morning.
I like that they have a lot of different choices of bagel sandwiches or you can get bagels with all sorts of different cream cheeses including a vegan tofu cream cheese which actually tastes really good. I like their lox and cream cheese on a toasted garlic bagel. My son likes the cinnamon raisin bagel.
It can get busy here and you can wait in a line for a while but its good if your willing to wait.

favorite restaurant in town. This is what a bagel should be — hand rolled, boiled, and baked for a hard crust with chewy interior. Try the chimichurri cream cheese! Try the G! Try it all!
A little pricy but it’s high quality food right on the square so complaining about that seems misguided. You want a cheap breakfast sammy, go to McDonald’s or Bagels Forever (no shade on either of those establishments). Lines can be long on the weekend. Staff is all about their business, which I appreciate.

The only bagels worth a damn in the Madison area. Nothing else comes close. Worth the slightly elevated price as everything is made from scratch, using local ingredients when possible (and this is just from what I surmise from hearing the chatter of the chef and cooks behind the counter).
Everything here is good, but the super egg everything with one of their flavored spreads (olive, scallion, or chimichurri) is the simple kryptonite that keeps me coming back.

It had been a couple of years since I visited Gotham, and decided to stop in and get a toasted pumpernickel with cream cheese and lox. Hadn’t had one in ages. So here we go, let’s take a look. They gave me a nice spicy pickle on top of the wrapped bagel. Nice touch, liked it. Plenty of cream cheese, and the bagel itself didn’t disappoint. But hold up… $ 6 for this bagel, cream cheese and lox? And… hello??? There’s not even any red onion or tomato included. I’da thought that was a given when asking for bagel and lox??? Okay, stlightly miffed and disappointed, but still my favorite place here in town for bagels, although there are other options I have yet to try.

I has another enjoyable experience at Gotham today, this time for lunch instead of breakfast. I really enjoy their bagels and cream cheese schmears, but today I was really feeling like a sandwich. I decided to try one of their specials: kofte with cucumber, tomato, and yogurt sauce. They also had a really good looking soup of the day so I gave that a shot as well.
The soup was Italian sausage with potato and kale, and it was awesome! There were a lot of different flavors working here; fattiness and spice from the sausage, bitterness from the kale, richness from the potato. Really, really good stuff! The soup was filling without being heavy and ended up being a great compliment for the sandwich i ordered.
I asked for the kofte special on a garlic bagel and it was a really solid choice! The kofte was grilled up hot and fresh and was very juicy and flavorful. While it was being made I was asked if I wanted onions (which were not on the menu description), to which I replied ‘of course’. The onions were a great addition, but unfortunately I didn’t get any tomato on the sandwich. The yogurt sauce was a really nice counterpoint to the kofte and the cucumbers were crisp and added a nice brightness.
Best of all, on a Tuesday afternoon I had the chance to sit and enjoy Gotham Bagels without a crazy line and huge crowd. There were a few other lucky folks around so it wasn’t dead, but not jammed like a weekend morning during farmer’s market season.
For my money Gotham’s bagels are among the best in the area and I look forward to enjoying them again soon and often.

I went back to Gotham craving a bagel, forgetting my past disappointments. I was more disappointed than ever.
The food is just not good. The ham, trying to be fancy, is so disgustingly salty and does not belong on an egg and cheese sandwich. The sausage is also some weird patty and not a normal sausage patty you’d have on a breakfast sandwich.
Gotham says it’s a NY style bagel shop but misses the mark when it tries too hard. The bagels are great but your egg sandwiches are almost inedible (my friend and I both picked at ours and didn’t finish).
The wait for the food is far too long, it’s overpriced and nobody smiles.

Gotham Bagels is the real deal. Best bagels you can find in the Madison area and they take it to the next level with their sandwiches. Although I’m a Madison resident, I travel to New York regularly and know genuine New York bagels — Gotham Bagels can easily contend with the well known NYC establishments like Kossar’s and Murray’s.
Their sandwiches are amazing and I feel like it’s a disservice to use only «amazing» to describe them. I’ve tried a few but am always impressed with the Mexico and Toscano. The specials on the board shouldn’t be missed and usually have at least one or two «can’t miss» options. The ingredients are fresh. The attention to creating a «perfect» sandwich is 100%. The menu is impressive. They do it right — all the time!
If you’re looking for a «bagel place» then Gotham Bagels isn’t for you. If you’re looking for crazy-​good bagels and home-​made (and delicious) food then you’ve found your «go to» spot at Gotham Bagels!

Good bagels for Midwest.
Coming from New York this bagel place was nothing special but it is probably the best you’re going to get around Madison. Long lines but they move quickly. Big selection of cream cheeses and offers sandwiches as well.
Atmosphere– ⁶⁄₁₀
Quality– ⁶⁄₁₀
Creativity– ⁷⁄₁₀
–A&R

I’m a new fan! They have a good seating area, the bagels are good and the sandwich options are awesome. I’ve never seen bagels so masterfully packed with ingredients before. Despite being so stuffed, the bagels are easy to eat… That’s something to be praised! Also, it’s worth mentioning that their pastrami is so bomb that they even have a neon sign for it. I’ll be back!

Best bagels in town, hands down. Yes, i will always hold a special nostalgic place in my heart for Bagels Forever but honestly, they are even in the same league. Toasted everything bagel with lox and cream cheese. It doesn’t get better that this.
Why not 5 stars? They need to up their cleaning game. Whenever I stop in, there always seem to be a film on the tables and floor. Also, have to take a squeegee to those windows.

I had completely forgotten this place existed until my friend suggested going there for MACN Week. Now I’ll try and forget it all over again. I threw half of my bagel sandwich in the trash, it was so bad.
First of all, I must confess that I’m not a fan of bagel sandwiches. I just don’t understand the concept. Making a sandwich harder to eat, that’s the idea? Um, okay. I’m simply a fan of regular olé bread. Biting into a bagel sandwich is difficult and messy and simply not that fun. Bagels are perfectly fine when toasted and smeared with cream cheese or butter, but not for sandwiches.
So anyway, my MACN Week special bagel sandwich was something called Chomolunga and it was terrible. The tandoori chicken was only warm and very chewy and generally unpleasant. The bagel was slathered in this artichoke/​ricotta/​chickpea/​god knows what else mixture. The slop that was slathered on my sandwich was cold, and my chicken was somewhat warm. It’s odd to have a sandwich that’s both hot and cold. The flavors were not good and didn’t mesh well. This sandwich was impossible to eat on so many levels. Yuck.
My companion ordered a bagel sandwich with an egg, cheese and whatnot on it, and she seemed to like hers fine. Her spicy pineapple-​orange juice was disgusting, though.
A woman came up to the counter while we were ordering to point out her sandwich was made incorrectly. The staff wasn’t very apologetic. In fact, all the people behind that counter seemed disgruntled and lacking in customer service skills.
Also, how are you supposed to know where to pick up your sandwich? There are people yelling out names in the kitchen area and sometimes the cashier will yell out your name. Confusing. And I reckon when it’s busy, it’s difficult to hear them call your name. There are better setups at just about every other restaurant in this city.
Also, the place was pretty dirty. Get those tables wiped off more promptly, folks. No one likes a sticky table full of crumbs.
I did enjoy the pickle spear that came with my meal. It was strong and salty and made me wince. Delicious. If not for this delicious pickle, I’d probably be giving this place one lonely star.
All of my prior unpleasant visits came rushing back to me after today. I would not recommend this place, and I won’t be back again.