The Bagel Hole

I don’t know how this place get this many good reviews but it was a terrible experience!

Have only been to this place twice but so far I totally love it. The bagels are delicious and they put on a ton of cream cheese. The price is also very reasonable– I can get a single bagel with cream cheese for around $ 2 and it will fill me up for the whole morning. I’ve tried the muffins and cookies and they are decent, but I can’t recommend the bagels enough.

Definitely my favorite bagel place. We come here anytime we pass by Princeton. The bagels are not huge but just right, and the cream cheese is always generous. The korean family who runs it is always nice. My go-​to is the sesame bagel with lox spread, and my wife loves the whole wheat bread with veggie spread. Both never disappoint.

One of our favorite weekend spot. Excellent bagel and coffee. Amazing service. Bagels are big enough and not pricy at all …

After bagel hole you can throw all the NYC bagels out the window.
Located near the princeton junction train station, it is hands down my favorite bagel place in the country. Get your bagels toasted and you will be amazed at how crunchy the outside is while still so soft and flavorful on the inside.
My favorite combo: blueberry bagel (extra toasted) + walnut raisin cream cheese
I’ve tried their breakfast sandwiches and lunch sandwiches, but nothing beats that good old toasted bagel with walnut raisin cream cheese. Even after going to the best bagel shop in NYC, it didn’t come close to bagel hole. If you are in the princeton area, this is a must have!

Best damn sec in the tri-​state area. I’ve had a lot of secs in my day, and I stand by my statement. Sec is sausage egg and cheese bagel if you didn’t know. Go here!

When I need a fast breakfast or lunch, this is where I stop on my way to work. The bagels are solid. Having grown up on Long Island, I’m a bit of a bagel snob. I can’t say that these are the best bagels I’ve ever had, but I can definitely say that they’re good. I always get an everything bagel with veggie cream cheese and it doesn’t disappoint!

I’ve lived in Plainsboro for over 15 years and I still have not found a bagel spot that hits home like this one. A toasted cinnamon raisin bagel with honey walnut cream cheese is my favorite!

I miss the jersey bagels
PORK ROLLLLLL!!!

Great bagels and quick service. What more could you ask for in a bagel shop? These people know what they’re doing.

Simply first try of toasted bagel with cream cheese. The texture is just like the bagel from Brooklyn. Not disappointed at all! The size is smaller but I do like the portion size. Will keep coming back and try different flavor of bagel and cream cheese. Many different variety of them.

Decent variety of bagels, only 90 cents for one, and pretty good. The size is smaller than some of the bagels I’ve had in New Jersey. Also the cream cheese is fairly expensive for a small container of it.

Came here for ‘breakfast’ after a dentist appt. Reviews seemed decent so figured I’d try it out. Got a sourdough bagel with veggie cream cheese. The cream cheese was pretty good and veggie filled but I wasn’t crazy about the bagel. The sourdough flavor was there, but it was dense and a little dry. I prefer a soft fluffy bagel and I found this to be thin and weak. It’s edible, but next time I’ll be checking out another shop.

Delicious bagel sandwiches. (I have only gone for breakfast to get egg on a bagel so can’t speak to their lunch sandwiches yet).
Agree with other reviewers that their bagels are chewier and denser than a «typical» NY style bagel but I personally enjoy it and prefer this consistency (at least as a sandwich).
They actually put fresh eggs on the bagel something that shouldn’t be considered a luxury but other places in the area seem to reheat or microwave eggs. You have to wait a few extra minutes but it’s worth the reward of a delicious egg sandwich.
Only downsides are after you order if you are ordering something you have to wait for there really isn’t a convenient place to stand and wait. The line builds up quickly and you find yourself in the way of other guests (you can either block the refrigerators with drinks or the front counter). Also they don’t take credit card. But the food quality easily overcomes these negative aspects.

My office has been getting bagels from here since forever ago. That they’re super close to Princeton Junction helps a lot, but the bagels are pretty decent: flavorful, soft, not doughy, not super huge (which may be a downside to some). I can’t believe I’ve waited so long to try their bagel sandwiches, though. I pretty much devour mine within a few minutes: chicken salad, garlic bagel, toasted. The coleslaw that comes as a side is decent. While I’ve never seen it as lively as the Bagel Street Grill in Plainsboro, it satisfies my craving for a decent sandwich and it’s way cheaper and convenient than trekking to Corner Bakery.

I felt it necessary to update this review for two reasons: 1) I’ve been actively sampling other local offerings for comparison’s sake and this place definitely rises above the competition and 2) there are a couple of reviews on here that seem to cite one off experiences whereas I’ve always enjoyed great customer service.
While their variety of bagel offerings is admittedly less than other establishments, the bagels they do offer are top notch. These bagels are slightly smaller than the competition, but perfectly chewy with the right level of density. Their multigrain is probably the softest (and chewiest) I’ve ever had.
Warning: Gets very crowded around 11 during the school year (when high school students flood in for lunch). And, remember, CASH ONLY.

Totally not sure what they hype is about over this place. They don’t toast the bagels. The bagels themselves are mediocre at best. The bagel sandwiches are advertised as coming with a side of macaroni or potato salad and we got neither. My coffee was weak and tasted awful. The bagels are hella overpriced too. Oh and they are cash only. I would never go back to this place. Anyone who’s giving this place 5 stars can’t possibly be from the tri-​state area cuz if u think these are quality, u don’t know your east coast bagels

Great place to grab breakfast on the go. A fairly large selection of bagels to choose from, and you can add whatever you’d like inside. The prices are quite reasonable and the staff were all extremely friendly. Since they are located in a shopping mall, you won’t need to worry about finding parking.

Late breakfast/​early lunch pitstop on the way to Philly.
I was expecting to come here with only bagel and cream cheese choices but they’ve got a spectacular deli menu as well. Made it hard to decide whether or not I wanted to get a corned beef or pastrami sandwich or my usual lox and cream cheese.
Bagels are fresh and soft — And not dense and heavy like some can be. I ended up going with an everything bagel with light veggie cream cheese, lox, tomato and onion. Definitely did not disappoint! But still wanted to try more! Went home with their lox cream cheese since they do make all their cream cheeses in house and their lox cream cheese has chunks of lox IN THE SPREAD! Nom nom nom! Coffee is hot and fresh as another reviewer reported. I get iffy about regular coffee since I drink mine black, but whatever brand they use is delicious without milk or sugar.
From other reviews I also had to try their Veggiemeister bagel. What is in this wonderful bagel?! From the looks of it, there’s chopped up pieces of carrots, sundried tomatoes and spinach with bits of onion on the outside. SOOOO GOOOD! Toasted and combined with the lox cream cheese is heaven.
Tons of beverage choices in the fridges against the wall. Yes it’s cash only so be prepared for that. Conveniently located in a shopping plaza so parking is a breeze.

I have an existential issue with The Bagel Hole. I presume it is named for the «Hole» in the Wall notion of a small shop where you least expect to find one, as well as the double entendre for the space where the actual bagel is not. Therein lies my problem.
I can appreciate cute meanings, especially when there are multiple possibilities. However, when manufacturing and marketing the bread portion of the creation, why accentuate the negative, non-​bagel piece?
I mean, it’s not like a donut which has managed to seize that emptiness to make munchkins. If this store sold the bagel equivalent I would be impressed. But, that isn’t what’s happening there. It is a standard bagel/​deli joint. Here that phantom is the space between.
Stopping in the other day for a lunch sandwich for the first time in several years, I was again perplexed by this enigma. Still, I ordered a Turkey Breast and Swiss on Onion Bagel with lettuce, and brought it to my office to eat. The store was clean and bright. The several tables up front were occupied by eat ins having a buzzy lunch. The staff was friendly, solicitous, and inquiring. The sandwich was ready before I was able to give the punch line to a joke. I really liked the manager’s smiling affability.
The sandwich was fresh and loaded with thin sliced turkey. It was neat, with not a single shred of lettuce out of place. Praiseworthy. The bagel itself was heavily sprinkled with dry baked onion flakes. Its texture was somewhat densely chewy. While I prefer a crunchier exterior and lighter inner bread with more air pockets, this one was still very good. The balance between the turkey and Swiss was off in that there was so much meat in the sandwich that the two thin slices of cheese got lost to the tastebuds. This is more an observation than a complaint. I would have preferred either less turkey or more cheese. Next time I will offer more direction in my ideal ratio of cold cut to fromage.
There was no question of quality ingredients, nor of skilled handsmanship. Just, not my perfect bagel, nor combo balance. No doubt some coaching from the customer would result in something closer the desired outcome.
Stay tuned for further developments.