Battle of the Bagels: my friends and I tried 20 different bagels in the metro area to try and find the best. Here is our "research."

Hi r/atlanta,

I love bagels. This love has lead me on a quest to find the best bagel in the metro Atlanta area. Over the last two months, I’ve tried several places around town and eventually brought in 20 friends for a blind bagel taste off – all to determine who’s got the best. I figured I’d share the results of my “research.”

Disclaimer: These are all my opinions and the opinions of my friends. YMMV. Everyone’s tastes are different, so you might disagree. But, this might make you aware of some places you never knew about and maybe you’ll have a new favorite spot. If anything, just keep enjoying bagels. Bagels is life. Life is bagels.

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The Top Bagels in Town

These were determined after trying 20 different bagel spots around town (lists below). Only 9 made it into top. I tried to stick to local places (not national chains), so a place like Brooklyn Water Bagel, though fairly good, was out.

In order to determine which was the best of these, my friends and I met on Sunday morning and consumed bagels (fresh – all picked up that morning) from each of the top establishments. We ate them with plain cream cheese – cream cheese that originated from the same place as the bagel itself (e.g. no Goldberg’s cream cheese on a Bagel Palace bagel). We sampled them blind. Each establishment was given a random number 1-9 and, while eating, we were only aware that we were eating “Bagel 1” and not Bagelious, etc.

For those interested, here are some pictures from that morning. It was insane.

Here are the Top Ranked Bagels according to my friends and me. YMMV, but I should say that none of these bagels are bad, some are just better than others:

Place	Score & Comments
#1 BB’s (Alpahretta, but in Forsyth County)	7.8/10 Good texture and taste; cream cheese just right (not too overpowering)
#2 Art’s (Acworth)	5.8/10 Cream cheese is a little too liquidy; everything bagel is a little too light on the "toppings;" good flavor overall
#3 Bagel Palace (Toco Hills and best ITP according to this list)	5.75/10 Good texture inside and out; cream cheese is a touch too tangy; the everything has seeds on both sides of the bagel (not just the top like many others)
#4 Brooklyn Bagel Bakery (Alpharetta)	5.7/10 A little dry, but good; cream cheese flavor just a tad overpowering vs. the taste of the bagel
#5 Bagel Boys (Alpharetta & Dunwoody)	5/10 The everything has oregano on it, which many people thought was odd. The others toppings are sparse. Not a bad flavor though (aside from the oregano)
#6 General Muir (Emory)	4.7/10 A lot of folks thought the everything was way too salty; pretty bready in many people's opinion
#7 Emerald City (Sold at various ITP locations; EAV location coming soon)	4.5/10 A great amount of topping on the everything, but too chewy (even with various levels of toasting); cream cheese was good. The one downfall was fennel seed, which was a major downfall for some people. In all honesty though, this one shocked me. I had thought EC had the best everything bagel in town (though their Sea Salt Olive Oil remains amazing and not something you can get anywhere else; sadly, it wasn’t part of the test). I was also rooting for them a little because they’re the scrappy underdog in the competition, but overall they just didn't go well.
#8 Goldberg’s (All over, including the airport)	4/10 Another shocker. I’ve considered Goldberg’s the best in town for a long time, but even after I tasted it blind, it seemed that there were better options. While we were tasting, someone remarked "ew, this tastes like a grocery store bagel." Others noted that it was too beady. The everything's downfall was again fennel for some people.
#9 Bagelicious (East Cobb)	3/10 Bland, bready, and boring were the words people most often used to describe this one.

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So there you go. BB’s is the best, Art’s is second, and Bagel Palace is the best intown. Some might disagree, but for those looking for a good bagel, I hope that helps you find a great place!

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The Rest

In addition to the nine spots above, I also sampled 11 other places. They’re ranked in order here from best to worst IMO, but I’m not putting the scores because the math behind them would be different than the table above (just my score vs. my score averaged with 19 others).

Place	Comments
Jen's NY Deli (Lawrenceville)	Good flavor, but too bready. Good cream cheese.
Grouchy’s (Alpharetta)	Cream cheese is soft and too tart. Bagel is just on the verge of being too soft, but does ok. Not a lot of flavor though; it's overpowered by the cream cheese.
Hoboken Bread & Bagel Co. (Marietta)	Cream cheese is too liquidy. Bagel isn't firm enough, too soft. Flavor is so-so. More on the bland side.
SoHo Bakery (Sandy Springs)	Good texture; firm but still chewable, though with little flavor. Cream cheese is way too liquidy
Manhattan NY Deli & Bagel (Norcross)	Both the bagel and the cream cheese are too soft. But the bagel has pretty good flavor.
Bagel Meister (Douglasville)	Too soft and fluffy; not dense enough. Bland falvor, but not bad. Cream cheese is a touch too tangy.
Broadway Cafe (North Druid Hills)	Bagel is too soft, but not to the point of bread; cream cheese is too liquidy.
Sunny’s (Kennesaw)	Very bland, both cream cheese and bagel. The texture is too chewy. Not too bready and not dry; just not right
Buttermilk Kitchen (North Buckhead/Chastain)	Just bread. Not firm, no significant taste. Huge hole, which was interesting, but didn't add anything. The rest of their food was pretty good though.
Highland Bakery (O4W)	Just bread with no flavor. I’ve had this one a few times because I want it to be good. But it never is.
Alon's (Morningside)	Just bread. Not even a good flavor or texture. I can (and do) make better bagels.

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So there ya go. I hope this will help you find the perfect bagel in and around Atlanta!

EDIT: spelling