This Is It Bakery & Deli

Being from the NY/​NJ area, I am always on the look out for great bagels. Usually I’d go to lox of bagels, but wanted to try this place out since it’s closer to my apt. I got a ham, egg and cheese on a Kaiser roll (to eat later for lunch), a toasted everything bagel with plain cream cheese, and a bialy with butter.
Breakfast sandwiches: I definitely love their breakfast sandwiches here in that their eggs are real and not the microwaveable kind that they have at lox of bagels. Real eggs on breakfast sandwiches are an automatic plus in my book :)
Everything bagel: the texture of the bagel was soft and chewy and delicious, and the cream cheese was good… However, the «everything» seasonings on the bagel was sparse and did not have a lot of the «everything bagel» taste
Bialy with butter: just how it tastes in NY :) it was so good and brought me back to my childhood days in the mainland where my mom would buy bialys for breakfast
Overall, I really liked this place, and I can’t wait to come back to try the lox and cream cheese on a bagel. PLUS, this place is cheaper than lox of bagels and café grace — other bagel places!

I work at the UFC Gym Honolulu, only a short walk down the street. This is one of my go to’s for breakfast and lunch.

I am not a bagel fan. This Is It Bakery & Deli has definitely changed my mind. What in the world was in that egg, cream cheese bagel? It was absolutely deeeelicious!!! Definitely coming back for more!!!

Local attempt at a northeast breakfast deli. Being from New England I was pleasantly surprised and generally impressed with the selection of bagel and cream cheese flavors. Definitely prefer these guys to Lox of Bagels in terms of seating and prices, however both places would benefit from putting more effort into their coffee selections. We are in Hawaii after all. They also sell challah bread on Friday mornings. Recommend calling ahead on Thurs to have a loaf set aside with your name on it.

Good variety but bagels are kind of try though. Might come back to try one of their sandwiches.

Great deli place for lunch. Tried their liverwurst sandwich with potato mac. Delicious and reasonably priced. I plan to go back and try the lox sandwich next time.

I was driving by and happened to find this place randomly after hitting Office Max. I love little lunch spots like this. I had a tough time deciding what to get because everything sounded delish. I ended up ordering the half turkey sandwich and soup combo. It was super affordable. The soup was ok; chicken gumbo, which could use a little more zest. The reason I will be back is the bread. It’s really hard to find good rye bread in Hawaii. It was sooooo soft and fresh. I can only imagine what the bagels taste like! The combo also came with a little glazed fritter, which was a perfect ending to my mid day meal. I will definitely return to try their lox bagel. Yum!

Me and my girlfriend absolutely love this place. It’s a good place for a quick bite for lunch or breakfast. However I can only do a review for breakfast, more specifically the bagels. They have a few varieties of bagels such as plain, poppy seeds I guess, and another with everything on it. I forgot what they were called. I suggest not toasting the bagel with the garlic chips on it because it’ll taste burnt unless you like that. Then they have a few varieties of cream cheese like plain, strawberry, lox, chives and vegetables. They have a lot of other things there like donuts and tuna and jellies straight from Maui.
They have a very clean bathroom and it’s probably the nicest bathroom in all of Kakaako. It’s AC and the place is actually pretty big if you consider the hall way. Everything there is made by them. You can actually see them making the dough in the back if you look through the window. It’s pretty amazing actually to see them preparing the ingredients for the perfect bagel. The counter women are so nice and I always go there in the morning so they always say hi and they even have me and my girlfriends regular down which is the plain bagel toasted with strawberry. If they are reading this they know who we are haha
Other than that I love this place because it’s affordable and they accept card. God bless this place!

Guaranteed great sandwich here. Whenever I want something light that will fill me up this is the place to go. Fresh food and fast service.

Minus one star for rude service
Minus one star for getting my order wrong
Minus one star for bad coffee
Two stars (would have been three but they’re so rude), because this place is just ok.
RUDE SERVICE: I came here early on a Saturday morning, groggy, and disappointed that Insomnia does not open until 9am, so I had to settle for this place. There are two cash registers, and both of them had cashiers doing transactions for two separate lines of people. I got into one of the lines, and there was a woman floating around in the background asking me if I was ready to order. I was not ready yet, and thought that I had some time to make my decision while I was in line. The woman kept yelling toward me for my order, and when I told her that I was confused as to where I was supposed to be ordering, she threw her arms in the air, raised her eyebrows, wiggled her fingers, and said, «Right here!» Her tone made it seem like she was making fun of me, and I felt rather stupid as a result of that.
GETTING MY ORDER WRONG: I ordered regardless of the rude woman. I ordered one ham, egg and cheese sandwich on a wheat bagel, and the other was a PORTUGUESE SAUSAGE and egg bagel sandwich. By the time my boyfriend and I dug into our orders at work, we realized that instead of Portuguese sausage, they put SPAM instead. That is completely unacceptable, especially after being so rude about taking my order.
BAD COFFEE: They don’t have iced coffee options. In fact, they don’t have any options at all except for hot coffee in either regular or decaf. The coffee isn’t even that good. Not good enough to be the signature coffee drink for the place anyway.
I won’t be coming back here until I see that things improve.

I’ve always wondered what this place was about, till about a week ago. I’m a fan of Lox. I only know of one other place that has the works, but the drive is out of the way. Until the other half and I came across to this place being open. Thought it was just a pastry place, but then noticed their deli sandwiches. Ahhh, I just about died when I noticed they had Lox available in both a sandwich and just as a spread I of course got the sandwich and it was so yumsss service was great on top of that. I’m super excited to know that there is a deli/​bakery that has this available especially for take out. It comes with a choice of mac salad or chips

Worst service you can find– dirty place, dirty kitchen. I would not recommend this place to anyone

I have never been chased out of a business like this before. We walked in at 1:50 – 10minutes before closing and the staff had already packed away everything. I ordered a veggie sandwich which was basically a home made sandwich, nothing fancy and not very good. It had fallen apart by the time I got to my car to eat it. The staff seemed like they had never made a sandwich before and was angry that I was there. Three other customers walked in the store while I was there and got the same «can’t you see we are trying to close» attitude.
When I went to pay, I could not use my credit card because they had already closed their credit card machine! For how much of a rush they were to get out of there, it took them 15 minutes to make 2 sandwiches, probably because they could not find the cheese.
When we walked out, they literally closed the gate on our heels. This place could be good but the staff was horrible. Will never go back and do not recommend that anyone else does either.

Great place to get a beagal in the morning. But they also have solid burgers and sandwiches in the afternoon. The different flavor cream cheeses are so good.

The bagels and breads are very fresh and flavorful. Staff is really friendly. I was there at 10:30AM on a weekday & hoping to get a breakfast sandwich but it was lunch only (and not busy at all so a good time to go if you’re able to go early). I had the pastrami sandwich on rye — the bread was really soft (maybe a little too soft for rye and pastrami). Pastrami was hot and juicy, not dried out. And a fair amount, not overstuffed and impossible to eat. Comes with a pickle, potato mac salad, & donut hole. The salad could use some more taste and color (maybe some onion, celery, parsley), especially for a deli sandwich. I need to remind myself to always ask if they automatically put mayo on sandwiches because personally, I feel that mayo on pastrami (and burgers) is a sacrilege and almost ruins the sandwich. The mustard they used was good but I could do without the mayo.
Atmosphere is casual, place is small with a few tables inside and a couple outside. They’re obviously geared for the downtown crowd and take out. I would definiely go again.

As a «nice Jewish girl from Brooklyn» I know my bagels. I may not know simple addition or how to park a car, but damnit I know bagels. So when the timing stars aligned and this place was open when I was hungry, I was super happy.
This Is It has a pretty expansive menu from breakfast sandwiches to grill items to sandwiches made with cold cuts, different varieties of cream cheese and of course bagels and lox. The prices are relatively reasonable as well.
I ended up ordering a turkey sandwich on a plain bagel which came with my choice of potato or mac salad or chips and two pickle spears for just under $ 9. The bagel was crispy and pretty damn perfect and the sandwich had a good amount of turkey, etc. on it.
The counter help was pretty good and relatively friendly. Sadly the woman behind me asked a question regarding grill orders and was snidely told «what does the sign say?» Although I wasn’t treated rudely, it did leave a bit of a sour taste in my mouth especially when there are plenty of other places in the area to get sandwiches.
Overall it was a really good bagel so I foresee myself going back… but they do need to work on being nicer

I haven’t ventured into Kaka’ako area for lunch in a while, but I’m glad I rediscovered this bakery. The wafting smells of sweet-​breads act like a trail to this hidden gem among the warehouses. The place has a clean industrial feel; it’s not cozy nor fancy, but it is a nice place to escape the treeless sunshine of the area.
They bake their own breads and pastries. Sandwiches include a side choice of mac-​salad or chips (I always choose the former, it’s delicious), a pickle and fresh danish. All options are reasonable priced, especially for the size and quality of the food. Their drink choices are lacking, but I mostly go with water anyway. The staff is quick to take your order and fast to make it.
This is a great little lunch place!

LOL… gosh I love this place but just can’t find it in myself to give them five stars. The bagels. out of this world! Nothing beats their bialy bagel with lox spread. The chewy goodness of a toasted bialy is extremely hard to beat. The ample spread that oozes out from the sides and thickly spread in the middle is so delicious! Another fave is their blueberry bagel with strawberry cream cheese spread. Amazing! If you’re into hot dogs like me… love it better than steak at times, the hotdog bagel is delicious with the mustard they give you. Rossi’s Special breakfast sandwich bagel just kills a early morning hunger! I could go on and on about all the bagels I love here at This is It.
The only thing I can’t rave about is the customer service! Come on! How hard is it to be even a teensy weensy bit cheery in the morning!!! I’ve been coming here for years and recognize the workers yet they still are grumpy. I’ve even considering tipping but stop myself because that would be like bribing cheerfulness! I’ve never seen workers that seem more pissed that they have to serve anyone a bagel. Is it that hard to say «you’re welcome»!!! I swear this place makes the soup nazi on Seinfeld seem like a angel! Definitely the Bagel Nazi’s…but alas. their bagels are so delicious I keep coming back!
C’mon This Is It. if you read these reviews. just a good morning when I stop there and a you’re welcome when I leave and I’ll update this to 5 stars! Is that too much to ask? I know you folks are nice because you allow that houseless guy to eat there every morning I stop in! I know he doesn’t smell bad but you still must have a heart somewhere in your bagel nazi bodies to prepare him breakfast each day!

CARBS. Probably better to not live with it, but I can’t live without it.
This is a great place for a quick breakfast or lunch. They offer bagels, muffins, donuts and other pastries. The sandwiches are great and filling.
Get here early and pick something up for the office.
There’s some seating inside and a couple tables outside.
Sometimes you can score day old pastries or stuff they over stocked for real cheap!

I always come here for their sandwiches. Once in a while I’ll get their bagel with strawberry cream cheese. btw… I LOVE LOVE LOVE their strawberry cream cheese. It has real strawberries mixed inside. yum!
I mostly order their Lox sandwich on a plain bagel… raw salmon, capers, cream cheese, onion… yum!!!
I just recently tried their cheese burger. It has some kind of herb made within the patty. Pretty flavorful. They use some kind of sweet bread for their buns. I’ll give it a 4 out of 5 stars for the burger.
Every early morning, there is this homeless guy that drinks coffee in there. The owner allows him every Mon — Sat (they are closed on Sundays) to come in and get some coffee and oatmeal for free. The homeless guys name is Vladimir… so if you ever see him, drop him a few bucks. Sweet guy, doesn’t bother anyone and keeps to himself. I gave this place 5 stars because when I heard that story from Vladimir, my heart melted :)
Besides the awesome owner, their food is pretty good! I love coming here for their sandwiches!