Finicky’s Bagel Cafe

Loved this place!!! Best Phở ever!!! A real surprise, a great surprise. Great experience, definitely going to be a returning customer!!!

I just had one of their classic Vietnamese sandwiches (Ham) and, honestly, I can’t stop thinking about it. The bread was light, but crispy from the toaster with generous helpings of Cilantro, Cucumber, and Jalapeño. It had the perfect amount of spice and crunch and was reasonably priced at $ 5.25 compared to the Honeybaked offerings from $ 6 – 8. I do like Honeybaked Ham, but this was a welcome change of pace and a place I will definitely go back to.

I just noticed this place it’s kind of tucked away in a not so attractive mini mall. This is a bagel, coffee, sandwich and salad shop. They also have a few Vietnamese sandwich offerings.
There is outdoor and indoor seating. The inside seating is minimal so I’m sure during breakfast or lunch rush it may be tough to get seating. The mini mall is not very busy so I don’t think there would be trouble finding a parking spot.
Finicky’s offers bagels made by Sunrise bagels and Bowery bagels. They offer all sorts of different flavors including cheese jalapeño, pesto Parmesan, everything, maple, asiago, Sea salt, chocolate chip, blueberry, strawberry, nine grain, garlic, onion, and plain. They can make you a breakfast sandwich or any other kind of sandwich you would like. They have many toppings to choose from as well as multiple flavors of cream cheese.
There is a large selection of chips to choose from. For drinks and they have coffee, tea, soda, juices, energy drinks and bubble tea in many flavors. Surprisingly enough they also have tiramisu for dessert as well as fruit.
I ttook a photo of try the turkey classic sandwich on sourdough. You can order any of their sandwiches on bagels, whole-​wheat or sourdough bread. The sandwich was good and it came with a bag of chips.
I have uploaded a photo of the menu. The prices here seem fair for what you get. I’ll be back! :-)
2015 – 84

Slow service, it took 20 minutes for a BLT. It says Italian Seasoned and was just served with mayo. Huh? Too much lettuce, two slight pieces of tomato and bacon. Plus it was not toasted.

I was craving a turkey sandwich, and was very pleased with the «Turkey Classic» here. Very nicely portioned and priced. Definitely planning on revisiting soon!

Dirty! The tuna sandwich was $ 6.50. For this price you will get the butt end of a loaf wheat bread, probably only $ 1.00.

I’m surprised about the bad reviews this place has. I went in today because I was starving and was looking for the first place I could find that sold food. Without contest, I enjoyed the quality of the bagel sandwich here much more than my regular visits to chain bagel shops. I had a turkey classic on an asiago bagel and it was the perfect choice. The guy working was very fast and also had recommendations that I gladly took. And in response to their prices, I thought they were moderately and appropriately priced.

They are overpriced and just bad. Really, really bad. I got a club on a chonga bagel and the cream cheese overpowered the taste of the meat. The bagel itself was stale, so there was nothing good about it. That’s what I get for last-​minute food. The staff was friendly enough, though. I should have taken a later bus and shown up after they closed. It wouldn’t have been a loss on my part.

I got a «sunrise bagels and more» everything bagel (interesting that they have bagels from different places) they forgot to toast it. So imagine a non toasted bagel with cream cheese. Yuck. The bagel itself wasn’t very I good. Not boiled so very doughy .
Great, friendly service.

The woman behind the counter was so sweet and sincere. My breakfast bagel sandwich came out hot, fresh, and quick! My new go to sandwich place.

I tried the bagels and they were excellent. I than saw a few other things on their specials menu and it was so good so I tried the other specials. Highly recommend.

I stopped in here this morning to grab a bagel on my way to work. I was hesitant from previous Unilocalers but it was the most convenient place by my work and I was craving a bagel. Unlike previous posters I didn’t see any bagels in bags, but they definitely don’t make their bagels on site and they don’t advertise that they do. I cant remember the brand of bagels they use but it is clearly posted and the bagels were delicious. I got an aged cheddar with seeds bagel it was probably the 2^nd best bagel I’ve ever had. My only complaint and the reason they lost a star was for failing one of my good bagel place tests. If you order a bagel to go it should still be made to eat open face, on this they failed, ill have to request this next time I come in.

I love this place. I probably eat there three times a week. I’m really surprised by all the negative reviews.
I usually order a 2 egg and cheese bagel sandwich with lettuce, tomato, and avocado (instead of meat) on a Jalapeño and Cheddar bagel. It is absolutely delicious and only $ 4.75. The avocado is especially nice and the perfect texture. Still hard enough to pick up and soft enough so when you bite down it acts like cream cheese.
I also think the bagels are fantastic. We have a running joke at work because they actually put a little too much cream cheese on the bagel in the morning. But everyone I know likes the place.

I have been going to Finicky’s for the last two months several times a week for breakfast since I moved to Johns Landing. Let me tell you that the poor reviews below just be from a different owner. The guy at the counter is the friendliest, fastest, bagel counter guy around. He does a great job. The bagels are great and there’s a newspaper to read while you wait for your bagel sandwich or bagel w/​cream cheese and enjoy your coffee. They have dam good lox. This restaurant is a hidden gem. Like all the other establishments in Johns Landing, It’s like Cheers, everybody knows your name. All of the tightwads that work in the office parks that don’t live here can go shove a Zupans bagel up their butts.

I really enjoyed my huge egg salad sandwich on a fluffy bagel just like grandma would have made (except my grandma was in Los Angeles, and would have used sliced challah). Prices are good, food is fresh, and the atmosphere is kind of 90s cute.
The man running the counter has been working fast and furious to please everyone who comes in. He rushes, he slices, he passes out the wifi password, he makes espresso drinks and smoothies, and he remembers to bring a straw and a napkin — all with a smile.
oh em gee, why are the reviews so terrible (and ridiculous, some of them… the overall start rating should be much higher)!
I’m so glad I drove by, because I’ve been doing homework here for nearly three hours (well, now I’m Unilocaling… but I’ll get back to that paper soon).
I haven’t seen anyone have a bad experience this mid-​day weekday. Maybe things have changed.

Not sure why many people were waiting in line when I got here. For sure NOT for their bagels or coffee, because those two items are not that good!
This place is more suitable to be called a sandwich place rather than a bagel place; however,
I prefer to get my sandwich at Honey Baked Ham in the Water Tower.

When you walk into a bagel shop and see them in bags, you know there’s something fishy. Or something more than a day old.
I was driving home from my dentist and was feeling the need to cancel out any good she’d done, so I stopped and ordered a plan bagel with honey walnut cream cheese. I like to support the local up-​and-​coming businesses and the atmosphere of this café was nice. The product was not nice.
Stale and bread-​y bagel (texture-​wise), topped with cream cheese soup and some walnuts. I think they may have buttered the toasted bagel and then added the yucky cream cheese? I ate ¼ of the bagel and tossed it.
Needless to say, my dentist won (until I hit up the vending machines later) and I won’t be back at Finicky’s any time soon.

Ugh… this is the most disappointing bagel I’ve ever had. (Still eating it as I write this review.)
I got «The Veggie» on a cheddar bagel. The bagel is stale (not really surprising since all their bagels are pretty clearly bought not made) the tomato is just terrible and the cucumber is pretty flavorless.
The lettuce just tastes like lettuce, which is to also say flavorless, but I’m not holding THAT against them.
They clearly have some regulars (the guy at the register seemed to know both the people before me in line by name.) but I can’t even guess as to why.
Avoid. Avoid like crazy.

The dearth of good bagel joints in Portland is really sad. Finicky’s can be added to the bottom of the «Worst of» list. All I recall of my first visit here was an overpriced bagel sandwich and not much else. Since it’s been a couple years, I thought I’d give it another try. I mean, hey, how hard can it be to f-​up a bagel sandwich, right?
Oh how very wrong I was.
Overall the food quality I might have given two stars. Might. However, when I ordered my $ 6.50 open-​faced tuna melt and asked to add tomato and avocado, the lady actually said, «No, you don’t want to do that.» Seriously? What part of me giving you money to give me what I order is difficult for you? I actually listened to the lady and didn’t add my tomato and avocado because the grand total of my tuna-​melt would have cost me $ 8.50. I think I’ll be finicky next time and go back to Noah’s — it will be a vast improvement over this place.

Well I suppose I should have known better right off the bat; the crazy little Asian lady manning the front counter said to me that this would be a bad idea.
But I was running late for an appointment, and was in dire need of caffeine and a bite of greasy pastry to keep me going. So I ordered the blueberry muffin and medium iced Americano, all the while maintaining a low sense of expectation for the results.
It’s a good thing I did, because I was right; the little old asian lady had no clue how to make coffee; she seemed confuzzled and at odds with the espresso maker from the get-​go, so she summoned her hipster cracker from the back to help her. He chuckled merrily, and gave me a strange look, as if to say «Sorry, but you can see what I’m up against, right?»
As I nodded to myself unintentionally agreeing with him, I took a bite into my blueberry muffin — at once, I regretted it. It had the texture and taste of a stale gas station creation that had sat there since 2005 or thereabouts. Either that, or it was one of those Nemo’s abominations that they took out of a package and re-​wrapped in order to fool hapless customers like myself.
I threw it away after a few token bites, and received what I thought might save the whole experience — my beloved Americano. It was not to be however; the coffee was perfect — as in perfectly tasteless. I didn’t know it was possible to make coffee (espresso, no less!) dark brown and tasteless, but she did it!
I swallowed down a few sips of this evil brownish liquid before I gave up, and threw it away also. I was down $ 3, but I knew it would make an amusing story, so I just chalked it up to Asian Espresso Syndrome — the inability to make good coffee for a despised cracker like me.
My advice to anyone in this area is to walk a few blocks south to the Starbucks, and don’t take the chance on this dog.