Bagels On the Hill

decent bagels, although noticeably smaller than New York — and also smaller than they were a few months ago. a bigger concern is the poor execution at our visit on March 13 at 1230 pm. they managed to run out of tuna fish at noon? choice 2 was egg salad — which they also didn’t have (!) but made up on the spot.
meanwhile, one staffer was wearing vinyl gloves while prepping food (thanks!) but never bothered to take them off when handling the register and customers’ money.
a small point. I would have bought plain potato chips (since they don’t toss a few freebies on the plate), but all they carry are weird flavored chips (sort of like drinking vegetable flavored iced tea — no thanks!).
while they were clearly working very hard, it seemed that there was more wheel-​spinning than actual progress being made.
Brueggers is comparably bad; Panera is the least bad alternative in the area. maybe i can make my own???

As a wholesale customer, I have been impressed with their quality and dependability. Great job, Bagels on the Hill! –Tim, JVG

Is this seriously the best that the Triangle can do for bagels!!! Went today and had the poppy seed with strawberry cream cheese. The amount of cream cheese I got can best be described as a dribble, like a teaspoon max on each half. That’s unacceptably stingy.
The girl who took my order was really nice. But after making a special trek there and forking over almost $ 5 I left still hungry.

Just wanted to say that Bagels on the Hill has really picked up their game recently since they changed owners. The bagels are just as good as they have always been (they haven’t changed at all as far as I can tell), and the overall atmosphere has improved tremendously. The store is much more inviting, cleaner, and pleasant now.

Absolutely incredible. Sampled the goods at an event in Durham and went there to buy it for myself the very next morning. These bagels are THAT GOOD. Cream cheese is unlike anything I’ve had before. Creamy texture, chunks of real fruit (for the love of god, get the strawberry flavor).
We learned it’s under new management and therefore, they need a higher rating to reflect the changes made.

To start off I want to say I wish I could feel safe eating the food here, because I love bagels, and the only other option I know of in the area, as a chain, is probably no better, but to sum it up the health practices of this place are unacceptable.
The worst part is that my bagel was delicious, if I had gotten it at a drive thru, or while wearing a blindfold, I would be writing a much different review.
I honestly can’t see how they are passing health inspections, I can get past dirty floors, tables, bathrooms even, but unclean food contact surfaces are simply unacceptable. Cutting boards, deli cases, the area that the bagels are stored in, and the griddle all looked like they had not been cleaned properly in months. And what could be seen of the back area at a distance sent shivers down my spine.
I am a bit of a clean freak, but in other cities I have lived and worked in, health codes require a food service establishment to operate in a very excessively clean manor.
If you eat here you may want to order your bagel with a smear of antibiotics.

Best bagel I’ve had in NC. Top-​notch quality and it reminds me of the bagel shops in the northeast. Their cinnamon and sugar was my favorite. I also, recommend salt, pumpernickel, everything and seasme. Can’t wait to go back for breakfast.

The best bagels in Chapel Hill, but I think it’s the only bagel place in Chapel Hill, besides chains. Pretty good bagels, great cream cheese, friendly staff. The sanitation score is really low (in the 80s) but it doesn’t stop me from eating there. Maybe it’s because the bagels are SUPER cheap. It’s closes at 2 PM on weekdays so you can’t get bagels for dinner or late lunch. I recommend!

Bagels on the Hill get my NY stamp of approval. BOTH is Seriously, A solid bagel. Delicious, cooked to perfection. I even got freezer bags, I never got those before from anywhere.
The dudes at the counter were friendly. Parking was a snap. this location is a little odd but I’m not accustomed to the area. The location is out of the way but I will trek there for my Bagel fix the drive was scenic and pleasant.

If you ever wondered what would happen if you mixed a greasy spoon diner with a NY style bagelry, you would get Bagels On The Hill.
When you walk in, you’ll see that the reviews saying the shop is kind of dirty or unkempt are absolutely true. The place itself could use a remodel for sure, or maybe just a really good scrubbing down.
The bagels however, are definitely something to try. They’ve got an excellent selection — everything bagels, jalapeño bagels, pumpernickel, cinnamon, salt, etc. They also have a great selection of schmeres, from a lox mix to pimento, that are all whipped up really well. I have to admit, I’m curious about their egg salad as well. We ordered some breakfast bagel sandwiches with egg, cheese and sausage, and while the sausage was a patty that was perhaps once frozen, the egg and cheese were fresh and very tasty.
The staff was very nice and eager to chat up anyone who came into the store, which is a plus.

Best bagels in the triangle.
Dirty though. Current sanitation grade is a B — 84.5. The women’s room toilet overflowed while we were there today and was trickling out into the restaurant itself. I have seen roaches there in the past. The AC was broken today.
The staff is slow but friendly. Like they smoked a joint in the back prior to you coming in.
So if you can look past the cleanliness factor — and say to yourself, «It’s like street food in a third world country, it is an experience!» — it is worth it for the excellent bagels.

Decent bagels in an off the beaten spot. Got to get them to-​go as the atmosphere is lacking at best.

Five stars for the bagels, brought down to two stars by everything else. They really need a more obvious managerial presence on the weekend. I’ve only gone on weekend mornings, and roughly every other visit something odd has happened. Either I’ve gotten something that tasted funny, or my order was rung up incorrectly, or both.
Last time I went I got smoked salmon, and when I got it home it was obviously going off. It was slimy and smelly, and nobody had noticed it. Today we got the olive cream cheese and it tasted like parmesan. Did they decide to add parmesan to the olive cream cheese, or was the olive cream cheese going off?
Most of the people working there don’t seem to know what’s going on or how to run the cash register. Today my bill came to $ 20.36 and I asked to add three of the 50 cent bagel holes. The clerk rang it up again and it came to $ 24.96. I said, «Shouldn’t it be $ 21.86?» He tried again, got $ 24.96 again and said, «It must be the tax.»
In short it just doesn’t feel like anyone working there really cares about what they’re doing or the food they’re serving. It’s been this way for a while and I know a lot of people who have experienced the same issues. The bagels are much better than the chains and I like supporting a local business, but this may have been my last visit.

These are the best bagels I’ve found in the area. Definitely worth the trip if you don’t live on the north side of Chapel Hill. Go early when the bagels are warm. And try the homemade (I think.) crème cheese.

This bagel store is half-​hearted in every way. The store is worn and untidy and the employees don’t look like they care about working there. As I walked into the store, one of the slightly unkempt-​looking employees was smoking right outside the door. Later I noticed that the apron of the bagelmaker was smeared and filthy. I should have taken this as an indication.
Even though they offer a lot of different types of bagels, cream cheeses, and made-​to-​order sandwiches at low prices, it was strangely deserted at noon on a weekday. The store was not very clean and tidy, and chairs and tables were not wiped down. As I ordered an egg and cheese sandwich on a jalapeño bagel, the smoking employee came back in and I am pretty sure did not wash her hands while returning to work in the kitchen. (Luckily, this was not the employee that was serving me.) The sandwich was ready quickly and it tasted so-​so. There was nothing outstanding about it and the bagel wasn’t even toasted. In addition to that, the bagel was bland and there were probably only 2 or 3 tiny jalapeño pieces in the entire bagel. The mediocre food, coupled with the indifference in attitude and appearance, means I’m not planning to return anytime soon.

Bagels are pretty good here, and they have every type you could imagine, including garlic and pumpkin (seasonal). It was bought and is under a new owner (since late 2008), and is markedly cleaner than it was before. However, their sanitation score is still a B, so don’t take your obssesive-​compulsive friends here, because they’ll freak out. That being said, if you like bagels and are confident in your immune system, come on down.

Bagels on the Hill is right down the road from my apartment, so it’s my to-​go breakfast option when I don’t feel like driving across town to (or can’t justify the unhealthiness of) Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen. I like the cinnamon bagel with regular cream cheese, but pretty much all their spreads are tasty. I’ve also had the bacon, egg & cheese bagel, but since I saw their low sanitation score I play it safe with just the cream cheese. Prices are appropriate, and the service is fine. I’m not an ardent devotee, but Bagels on the Hill is definitely good enough for a quick, cheap breakfast.

I’ve never managed to get out here myself, though on several occasions people at work have grabbed Bagels on the Hill merchandise for brunch for the whole crew. I’ve been very impressed… There’s a lot of variety and it’s pretty consistently good.
The best stuff here is really outside the box… Their seasonal cream cheeses and special bagels are excellent. The dark side to that is that their normal stuff (e.g. regular cream cheese) suffers by comparison. Don’t go for it.

It’s location is kind of far away from the main roads of Chapel Hill, but Bagels on the Hill is worth the drive. All of their bagels are freshly prepared, and the prices are extremely reasonable. I love just getting plain bagel with chive cream cheese for breakfast, and sometimes I’ll buy a half dozen for myself and my roommates to share. It gets really busy here before 9 AM and at lunch time, but it’s well worth the wait. If it was in a better location, I’d give it 5 stars!

Wednesday is «bagel day» at the office and Bagels on the Hill is our supplier. They have bagels for every personality — plain, everything, sesame, cinnamon and sugar, jalapeño, and so on. The cream cheese is excellent — our faves are plain, salmon, strawberry (comes in a light version too!), and chives. They offer seasonal cream cheeses too (like cranberry walnut in the fall/​winter; yum). Get here before 10am for a breakfast bagel (bacon/​egg/​cheese on a bagel). Or try the bagel holes (like donut holes) with a side of chocolate cream cheese.