*Disclaimer: I am not a bagel expert. I did live in the east coast for several years and traveled to New York all the time, but that DID NOT mean I know bagel better than anyone else. In fact, I start to appreciate a good bagel after I moved to Seattle. This crazy hunt for the best bagel in Seattle is done all by myself, so everything is based on my personal taste. If I talk shit about your favorite bagel shop, I am very sorry! *

Bagel is something I didn’t pay too much attention when I lived in DC. I like eating them, but never bother to find the best in town. Until I moved to Seattle and had a really really bad bagel one day, I realized not all bagels are created equal. Now I can’t take good bagels for granted. I decided to find the best bagel in Seattle, before jumping to the conclusion of Seattle is a bagel desert.

I did a bit of research and locked my options to the following 11 stores. Golden Wheat Bakery is unfortunately closed on the Sunday I went to, so I bought bagels from Blazing Bagels, Westman’s Bagel, Standard Bakery, Seattle Bagel Bakery, Eltana, Little Lago, Bagel Oasis, Grateful Bread, Einstein Bros and Three Girl’s Bakery on the same day. I used this chart and this worksheet as my guide to judge. I bought two kinds of bagels from each store – everything and cinnamon raisin, because these two are my favorites. Some stores do not offer cinnamon raisin, so I bought something else. I tasted all the bagels untoasted, without spreads, in their simplest form. Lastly, below are detailed breakdowns of each bagel. If you don’t have that much patience, click here to jump directly to the conclusion.
All right!!! Let’s dive into Seattle bagels.
Everything Bagel


Blazing Bagels

Westman’s Bagel

Eltana

Seattle Bagel Bakery

Three Girl’s Bakery

Standard Bakery

Bagel Oasis

Grateful Bread

EINSTEIN BRO

Little Lago
(Salt and pepper)

Cinnamon Raisin


Blazing Bagels

Westman’s Bagel

Eltana

Seattle Bagel Bakery

Little Lago
(Parmesan Cheese)

Standard Bakery
(Plain)

Bagel Oasis

Grateful Bread

Einstein Bro


Conclusion
Is Seattle the best city for bagels? Absolutely not. Is it as bad as angry ex-eastcoasters’ complaints online? Maybe not either. You might not have as many good options, but it could be so much worse. So, based on the limited options we have in Seattle, here is a sum up list:

A more approachable and still decent choice- Blazing Bagels. The flavor of both bagels I tried is great, but it’s a bit too wet inside. This problem can be easily solved by toasting the bagels (most people toast bagels anyways, for this post’s sake I didn’t toast any). They have 3 locations and sell their bagels in several grocery stores too. Much more approachable than Standard Bakery.



That’s about everything I want to say about bagels and I probably won’t eat another bagel for a while. I have to admit it’s one of the hardest posts I’ve ever written. Keep in mind I’m a one person team. All the results are based on my taste and can be biased. Hopefully, I did a fair job and didn’t offend/hurt any local businesses that I genuinely want them to success. I’m gonna start to experiment different bagel recipes and make my own at home very soon, so stay tuned for future bagel recipe reports!
I completely agree, after a couple of years back East, only Standard Bakery’s bagels reach that level locally.
Yasss!!!! I only wish I live closer to them:(
You missed the best!!!!! Rubinstein Bagels are hands down Seattle’s best bagel!!
When I did the Great Seattle Bagel-Off they’re not opened yet:( But I’ve tried theirs now and they’re great!