Best New York Bagel Review: Bagel Clubs

Picture yourself as a born-and-raised New Yorker, leaving the bright lights and big city to attend college in the Midwest. You go to a local bakery for a bagel breakfast - and it's good, but it's absolutely nothing like what you get back home. That was the inspiration behind the creation of Best New York Bagel, owned and operated by a NYC firefighter who found out firsthand that there's just something special about bagels from the Big Apple. This bakery designed its bagel subscription so that no matter where you live, you can always enjoy a fresh New York bite.

Choose your bagel flavors two-by-two

If you really like being able to choose all of the flavors in your bagel box, Best New York Bagel will really appeal to you. They have 16 flavors in total - including classics like plain and sesame seed, plus more novel ones like blueberry and French toast (though there's a slight surcharge for those last two). And, you get to pick what comes in each shipment: you choose your flavors 2 bagels at a time, so that means you get up to 6 different flavors per delivery. (But yes, if you want a dozen in a single flavor, you can do that too.) Whatever your favorite bagel combos are, you'll pay $25.99 for a dozen.

Shipping costs about as much as the bagels

Once you've added your bagel flavors to your cart, and indicated whether you want them to be delivered weekly, every other week, every month, or every other month, you'll want to check out the shipping rates calculator on the Shopping Cart page. While what you pay will depend on where you're sending your Best New York Bagel subscription, you're likely looking at a minimum of $21 for USPS Priority Mail or UPS 2nd Day Air at $23. We'd strongly recommend going with UPS, since we've seen many USPS Priority Mail shipments taking a week or more - and your bagels would be more likely to arrive stale or spoiled.

High shipping fees

Those high shipping fees take what looks like a super-low-priced bagel club and put it into range with most of the rival subscriptions on our list. It's also a smart idea to put it in the optional notes section if you have a preferred delivery date; that will depend on the shipping carrier you select, but it's a nice benefit if you're trying to get your bagels arriving on a particular day (like Thursday Bagel Breakfast at the office).

No new feedback, and old reviews weren't great

We really wish we could tell you more about this bakery and bagel club, but the company's reputation is pretty elusive. The Better Business Bureau gives the bakery a "C" rating for not responding to one of the three complaints filed there; those issues all mentioned late or missing deliveries. Even Best New York Bagel's social media channels didn't have new posts in the last 18+ months. There was one mention on Facebook in 2024 from someone who said that their bagels arrived in open bags and were dried out, and that no one at Best New York Bagel ever responded to their phone calls and emails. But, that's where the trail of breadcrumbs (pun intended) fades out: no one is saying anything about this bagel bakery lately, and that's a problem.

Not a bagel club we recommend

We were hopeful that Best New York Bagel would have tons more customer comments in the time since our previous review of their subscription - because we really love the idea of being able to try six different bagel flavors in every order. We might have even been willing to pay those exorbitant shipping costs. However, Best New York Bagel just doesn't deliver (literally or figuratively) well enough to justify the risk. With such a high likelihood of winding up disappointed here, you're better off getting your bagels on the regular from a different club on our list.

On the Best New York Bagel website