Coffee tastes like someone sprayed cleaning solution in it. Way too overpriced for this quality, y'all.

Very good NYC-style bagel. Chewy, with a good bite. Excellent piping hot, plain or with schmear. I'm still a fan of the old-school H&H, so please feel free to take my review with a grain of salt if that's not your bag. read more

Better check your bialys before leaving the Grand Street store. I discovered when I got home that the half dozen bialys they sold me were as hard as rocks. Am I supposed to assume that they didn't notice it when they bagged them? That was a waste of $10 since they went into the trash. read more

To the person who purchased what was formerly a Jewish institution in New York... thank you for MURDERING what little remains of real New York City and the Lower East Side. I waited almost 30 minutes for bialys from Kossar's (what was once a family tradition) for Yom Kippur. It had been a few years since my last visit, but what I remember (dark, dingy, with a wonderful smell of dough and onions bellowing out the door, and most importantly, nothing but bialys were offered for sale.) was gone. It was light, airy, clean, white and offered a full, weak attempt at a Jewish bagel store menu. Service was poor, bagels were HORRIFIC, STALE, and WAY overpriced. The bialys were just as bad, and they were piping hot. Thank you again for killing one of the last few culinary institutions left on the LES. Kossar's, it was a pleasure knowing you my entire life, but I'll never return, and frankly, I want the damn near 50 bucks I spent on two dozen bagels and a dozen bialys back. Best of luck though. read more

I'm inclined to agree with the reviewers who have proclaimed that this place is no longer what it once was after being sold to new owners. On a recent visit, the bialy was so pillowy that it was barely distinguishable from a bagel. And while pillowy might be a positive word to describe a marshmallow, I intend it here to connote the unappealing texture of excessive flour. read more

I order an egg and cheese on a toasted everything bagel today and I immediately felt sick. The eggs tasted rancid and I puked . Realize sad to see food establishments ruin the joy of food . I will never return here again. Get fresh food products and service customers fresh food especially if you charge $8 for a sandwich. I feel sick read more

always forgotten and a lost art because no one knows how to make it anymore. even if you go to your corner bagel place more often than not it's just bread with diced onions. a real bialy should be light in the hands with a mix of doughy and airy innards, and when you bite into a bialy it should be crunchy because it isn't boiled then baked like a bagel. the best ever is located in the lower east side at kossars. you can surely take two dozens if your no longer a subway ride away, but nothing is like having a fresh bialy out of their oven right then and there. read more

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huge bacon egg bagels (they are not frugal on the bacon) also really good cranberry muffins :) staff is friendly

Terrible customer service, I was put on hold 3 separate times and was told to wait for them to get a pen. Meanwhile I was on hold, my girlfriend called and was immediately accommodated. This is very unprofessional and I've never seen this happen before, what business takes puts a new order above someone who's been waiting for 15 minutes plus? As a resident of LES, I won't be coming back. read more

If i wanted to eat moist bread i would have spit on a piece of toast and put it in my mouth for free. I asked for an everything bagel with cream cheese and i got a slap in the face. This abomination of a bagel would never have been served at a respectable bagel shop like Tompkins, Ess-a, or Tal. My day is ruined but I promise I'll never do this to myself again and neither should you. Bleh. read more

Kossar's Bagels & Bialys - Bakeries Near Me - New York, New York

The most bagel-y bagels!! Not sure how to describe it; all I know is that all other bagels now just taste like cafeteria white bread () It's Kossar's or nothing read more

Horrible - was told by grumpy cafe to come here cause they were out of pastries! My boyfriends bagel = The cheese was not melted Bacon was wilted :(. Nasty Coffee tasted like the filter had not been cleaned for years. Has a sour taste. Bagel was ok - nothing special. The staff looks like they love to rush you through - may be that's just New York attitude The tables were dirty and the floor is filled with crumbs and dirty napkins. read more

Where do I begin? I guess with the fact that I am a New Yorker who maybe embraces the gritty city of the 70's a bit too much. That and I love bagels. Most of what passes for bagels in this New York do not meet my description. Bagels should not be too big, they should be shiny with a distinct hole in the middle, the outside should meet with some give maybe even a wee crunch, the inside should be dense and chewy. All this comes with the very important step of boiling the bagel, sometimes with the addition of lye or malt to the boiling mixture for additional crunch. I regularly travel to the Lower East Side to go to the doctor and enjoy going to Kossar's for bialys and their also excellent bagels. This morning I had to go to Madison Street for some eye tests and stopped to get a bagel on my way. When I entered the shop I noticed immediately that the bagels were all wrong; no sheen, no hole, enormous. These were not real bagels but the fucking puffy bagels so often being produced and sold as bagels all over this city. WTF. Yes, I complained and ended up getting a garlic bialy with a horseradish cc schmear for which I was charged $4.39! Having once lived around the corner from Kossar's and eaten my fair share of hot 3:00 AM bialys I an devastated. It turns out that Kossar's has been sold and is under new management. If you're going to buy a NY institution wouldn't it be in your best interest to continue selling what people go out of their way to procure? When friends and family visit from out of town, one of our favorite things to do with them is to go on a tasting tour of the LES and Chinatown. Kossar's is always on the itinerary. No more. I can get a bad puffy bagel and an overpriced pedestrian bialy anywhere. read more

That's a solid (everything) bagel. They have some creative bagel sandwiches, all named after Lower East Side streets. We went with the classic, with lox, onion, capers, cream cheese. Love lox. And it was a hefty portion. The bialys was pretty underwhelming, to be honest. Just a big chunk of dough with some garlic. I guess that's what you get for $1.15. A bit of a wait (~15 minutes), even at 2PM, but what can you do? read more

Really bummed out after wanting to come here for a while. Being open since the 1930's and seemingly of good quality I had my hopes set high. The shop itself is very clean and the workers have good pace and service so no points off on that. The bagels seem pretty good with a selection that is comparable to any good bagel shop. However, the whole wheat bagel wasn't as big nor as soft as the others. Also, toasted here = lukewarm with burned ends. I don't even know how that happened. Where this place starts to really lag is the cream cheese options. The total number of options you can put on your bagel was less than ten. No olive cream cheese? The price was another factor. 15 bucks for 3 bagels. My favorite bagel spot in midtown goes for that price and they have well over a dozen cream cheese spreads. All in all, for a bagel shop that's been open for the better of 80 years, I expected more. Wouldn't recommend honestly :/ read more

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late review it's taken my some time to recoup after a massive brunchFAIL. I am a Grand Street local for nearly 20 years and have seen the neighborhood evolve for better or worse over the years BUT the relaunch of Kossar's is along the lines of MAGA marketing , seriously backwards. Its almost like WONDER bread bought them and put their white bread twist and bleach on the old school recipe , or they just sold out just like the rest of them dirty sell outs do . I cringe when i see tourists in there , waiting on line no less to get a gentrified, WONDERBialy ! Thank goodness for Russ and his daughters, of keeping it real and delicious in the LES ! KATZ and the pickle guys too know a thing or two about LES Jewish soul FOOD .... KOSSAR's bah humbug !! PLEASE take no offense , but PLEASE throw out your current recipe and get the original back or change your name .... read more

I had everything bagel, toasted with lox cream cheese. Who the hell tried it and thought it was good enough for NY? The outside of the bagel was so dam tough that my jaw was sore after eating half of it. Wasn't just me, my friend's bagel was also hard to get through. The lox and cream cheese was decent. read more

LES's Kossar's is a great type of place! I found myself in the neighborhood going to the Tenement Museum , so I thought I would swing by here on a warm New York summer day. FOOD: So many menu choices exist from your traditional Jewish style to their "Newish" style bagels as well. Going for a breakfast style with egg and the works smashed between two everything bagel halves makes this a a great choice. Perfectly made bagel with the right texture of the right amount of dough and chew. Obviously don't toast it because it is already warm from the oven and has the right consistency. I am glad that the guy at the front advised against some other people to not to do it because they're great. I wish I tried the bialys when I was there, but there's always next time! read more

Kossar's Bagels & Bialys - New Yorker on Everything - Bakeries Near Me - New York, New York

Nice little bagel spot with a very nice staff and a few tables. They also offered samples of some of the cookies that they offer. Some of the better bagels in NYC without any lines. I went on a Saturday and got a sesame seed bagel with regular cream cheese, lox, lettuce, and tomato. The bagel was a little too flat and thin, and looked a little more like bread than a bagel should. It had a crunchy outside, but it was so thin that was more like a flagel than a bagel. It did have great sesame flavor though. As far as NYC bagels go it was very cheap also (10$) read more

Walked by this place and decided to pop in because the donuts next door at doughnut plant didn't fill us up. Tried a bialy with garlic and thyme cream cheese. The cream cheese was sooo good but the bialy itself was just okay! It may also be because their toaster was broken so the bialy wasn't hot when we ate it :( This was my first time eating a bialy! Kinda seemed like a more dense bagel without holes. read more

This was one of the 5 stops that I made today while on a little food adventure with my little(big brothers, big sisters). We limited our tour to the general area and since I'd never had a bialy before, decided to step in. The place was packed! Everything except for whole wheat bagels were sold out, with no plans to make anymore for the day. They were still baking bialys though, which were selling out as quickly as they were made -- there was a gathering of people who had pre-paid for the next batch that was due to come out in 20 minutes. So, we did the same and went over to Doughnut Plant to grab a donut while we waited. 20 minutes later, we got our two bialys -- one onion, one garlic. Quite honestly, I was a bit disappointed. Although fresh out of the oven, hot and toasty, they were so bland, despite the garlic and onion center (garlic was better than onion, btw). They were really doughy and chewy, borderline spongey. I'm sure I'd enjoy them with a spread of some sort but on its own, this is not something I'd ever crave or wait in line for, unlike a fresh toasty bagel. While the bialys were underwhelming, the staff was super friendly and the cheap prices can't be beat. I'll probably make a trip back to try their bagels but definitely passing on the bialys. read more

Kossar's Bagels & Bialys - Garlic and onion bialys right out of the oven. - Bakeries Near Me - New York, New York

Had my first bialys ever with the best dill cream cheese and it was very tasty! This place is a must see according to the Tour Guy and I'm pleased to visit it all the way from California. Highly recommend! read more

I come here once a week (usually Saturday or Sunday morning) for my usual: a whole wheat everything bagel, toasted, with tofu scallion cream cheese and bacon. The bagel is super fluffy and not overly seasoned. The tofu scallion cream cheese is extremely creamy - it's got scallion and red onion in it. And bacon to top it off = near perfection. The only thing that sucks is the long line and disorganized waiting area. To avoid the confusion and waiting mess, I encourage you to wait outside. But for goodness sake, please pay attention. No one likes that person whose name has been called 5 times cause you were too busy on Instagram. Anyway, I highly recommend the combo above. If you're worried about your breath afterwards, brush your teeth. read more

The bialys I got here were very disappointing. I went around 9 am on a Saturday and ordered 1 garlic and 1 onion bialy. I didn't realize until I got back to my hotel room that the onion bialy had no topping on it whatsoever. It was plain and tough - barely edible. The garlic one was just so so. I can get better bialys in Durham, NC. read more

Kossar's Bagels & Bialys - Sadly, this garlic bialy was not good. Tough and lacking flavor. - Bakeries Near Me - New York, New York

They make the absolute best bialys. Every time I come to NY I have to bring these home !! I had them delivered to where I was staying. Grubhub did an excellent job delivering them too. Thank you both. read more

(review started on 10/16/16) Bones in my whitefish salad sandwich on an onion bagel. I regret having to give a classic establishment a low review like this, but this is pretty unacceptable. I did also try their chocolate babka, which was not bad and kept longer than I anticipated it keeping, but it was not good enough to redeem the horrible experience of finding bones in my whitefish sandwich. Yikes, seriously. read more

I first tried a Kossar's bialy in 1998, and I've been hooked ever since. I come back each visit to NY, and I'm never disappointed. My last bagel (toasted cinnamon raisin) was so perfectly chewy, it brought tears to my eyes! Highly recommend. read more

I loved the bialys from this place! We had a bunch of stuff we bought from Russ and Daughters (as well as a bialy from them and a bagel) to eat them with and I wanted to compare the bialys. I liked this so much more because the bialy was so chewy in texture and they were still warm when we bought them. The garlic and the plain were both awesome! My only complaint is that the Filipina lady who worked there was not very friendly. She was really abrupt and seemed irritated that we were unsure of what we wanted to order and took too much time deciding. I would've given them four stars but I am giving them 3.5 stars but rated on 3 since the experience could've been better, but otherwise, the bialys were definitely a solid 4. read more

Location: Lower east side is where you can spend a dime and get great food! Kissar's a great example of cheap and delicious quick breakfast spot. They are pretty obviously to be found, since their sign is too red to be noticed! Inside, the left side is for bagels , the right side is for frozen stuff. And they have an open kitchen for you to watch how they bake stuff. I had to have a quick breakfast, so I ended up with poppy seed bagel with cream cheese. The bagel is light, compared to other places. Cream cheese is just average cream cheese. Why I love it? Because it's cheap. However, they have chocolate babka for free the other day. I tried it, too artificial chocolate sauce inside the babka... I prefer bread bakery's outstanding babka.. read more

Kossar's Bagels & Bialys - Bakeries Near Me - New York, New York

After lunching at Katz's on 3/19, I went to Kossar's to strike an item from my bucket list. I cannot remember the last time I had a bialy, a breakfast treat that I enjoyed many times when I was a child in Brooklyn.Many people had told be that the bialys at Kossar's were the best so I was eager to give them a try. When I walked in, I observed a clean and new-looking retail space. The small counter was to my left.There appeared to be places to sit beyond an interior door but I'm not sure about that.Although I did not recall many specifics about bialys the counter person explained that the most commonly sold, and probably the ones I recalled from my childhood, were Onion Bialys. I ordered six to freeze at home and consume the next day. They were not hot. I ate the bialys, defrosted and toasted with whipped butter the next day(Saturday) and the day after(Sunday). The bialys were good, not great. I regarded them as marginally better than an English Muffin. I liked their firm texture but they lacked a deep onion flavor. I would not go out of my way to Kossar's again and I am virtually certain that I can find better bialys closer to my home on Long Island(one of the Bagel Bosses, perhaps?) That being said, I'm thankful to another of their counter people who gave me perfect instructions enabling me to find a "D" train five blocks away to return to my office. Both people I interacted with in the store are an asset to their employer's business. read more

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How disappointing!!! After relocating to Florida 30 years ago, everyone's one ask when returning to NY is to bring back Kossar's bialys.... well not anymore! Our once light and fluffy favorite "bread" in the world is now thin, dense, hard and without any flavor. They don' even look the same! I went to the website where they claim the recipe has not changed and where they show pictures of the fluffy, yummy bialy we all once knew. After everyone in the family had one, sadly the rest of the 2 dozen miniature frisbees I lugged back to Florida had to be thrown away because they're not worth the calories or carbs! SO SO SAD! :( read more

They advertise the French toast as coming with real maple syrup and all they have is crappy Kraft pancake syrup. Not good. Service is awful as well. I wanted challah french toast and they gave me the babka. Never again. read more

So, someone once said that the Jews all moved out of the lower east side, and the old community was long dead and gone. Ratner's are gone, the Judaica stores are no longer, Main Squeeze disappeared and you can't get a fresh Hamentaschen for your baubies anymore. Apparently, Kossars didn't get the memo to move down to Williamsburg or Miami Beach. Kossars Kossars Kossars. What can I say about the place? When I happened upon it once back 12 years ago, its offerings (bialys) both intrigued and enticed me from its closed doors (what, it's Saturday, didn't any of you schumucks know about the sabbach? Oy Vey). The next day when I walk through the neighborhood I was instantly enticed by the Bialys - cousins of the bagel, named after the city of Bialystok where no one has heard of it (what, ask anyone on Stillwell Avenue what a Coney is). A disc-like bread product, both crispy and soft, savory but with hits of flavors like sesame, garlic or onion. Delicious warmed back up via a toaster and served with a schmear of cream cheese or butter. With the exception of this one place in Forest Hills, this is a rare place to bake up fresh bialys. From that day, I was hooked. Never mind the hot stuffy interior, decor from the 60s, linoleum and oldschool baskets and boxes holding the products. Kossars was like my little hidden secret passageway to a people who had all moved to Borough Park, Crown Heights, Upper West Side or Miami Beach. Of course, I can only hope back then that someone would be able to put that bialy (or it's slightly inferior cousin Bagel) on a sandwich. Fast forward to today - Kossar was recently renovated to appeal to the trendies and hipsters of the new lower east side. Sure, the bialys are now $1 instead of the old 60 cent delight, but hey, they can do you a sandwich now (the Jewish special is basically the "Beauty's special" - gravlax, schmear, tomatoes, onions and capers on a bagel..which is the real promised land) - and since they got gentile help, they are open on Saturdays as well. Yeah, it might look different, smell different and come with all those cheesy merchandise, but deep down, it's still the bialys that would keep you coming back, and it's as good as ever. This time, don't forget to pick up some challah for French toast, and thank the lucky stars that they decline the invite to be down in Florida. I for one am grateful. read more

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3.5 stars rounded up No seating except for two benches outside & a counter for four inside. I'm trying to find a happy medium here because the (garlic) bialys are too small & the (onion) bagels are too big for my appetite. I ordered both with onion cream cheese; when you ask for a little extra, they called it "blessed cream cheese," which I thought was clever. Both were nicely toasted and had the flavor profiles I was looking for. My group came here twice within a couple weeks (& yes the lovely staff remembered us & treated us like we were already regulars), but I'm partial to a garlic bagel. Kossar's, do a girl a solid & serve garlic bagels, why dontcha?! read more

Small bagel with smoked salmon/lox. More than $15 plus tax Threfore more than $16 Mediocre quality. Stingy quantity. Lousy attitude. Tired store. Should not be charging "Russ and Daughter's" price without the service or quality. Take a 8 min. walk to Russ and Daughters around the corner. read more

Ahhh the bialy. Where have these been my whole life!? Sometimes bagels can be a bit much, right? Bialys are a little lighter, a little softer, still bursting with garlic flavor and taste amazing w/ a little cream cheese. Less than $1 and baked fresh all day long. I so want a bialy, like, right now! read more

I didn't have a good experience here. First of all, they took two other orders when I was there first. They were about to take another person's order when the gentleman who they were going to take the order from asked me if I ordered yet which is the only reason they did not skip me a third time. Second, I asked for a toasted bagel, but they did not toast it for me. Third, staff was talking about calling out of work, not that I care, but really I've experienced better service somewhere else. Fourth, my untoasted bagel was very hard. I ended up throwing it out because I just could not eat it. Not sure if I want to come back here, but I guess I will give it one more shot and change my review accordingly. Hopefully they prove me wrong. read more

A casually excellent bagel place with surprisingly good coffee. Quite a find for a Bostonian on a quick visit.

I was in Chinatown to take care of some errands and wanted a quick snack. Being right by Grand St. I weighed my options and decided on Kossar's to try out their famous bialys. I recall Kossar's of old (prior to renovation) where sometimes you couldn't see into the place due to the steam generated from making all those fresh bagels and bialys. Equally, inside was like a time warp into the early 1900's. However post renovation, the store is really bright and the whole bagel & bialy cooking process is prominently on display behind a plexiglass screen once you walk in. A bit chintzy, but I guess it would play well to the tourist crowd. Service was quick and very efficient (make sure you grab a ticket!) as my order of a toasted whole wheat bialy with jam and regular bialy with butter was quickly processed and ready to go. The bialy's were yummy, as obviously they were very fresh with a nice slightly chewy texture and a light crisp exterior. Praises aside, one thing really threw me off, as while I was adding sugar and cream to my coffee (which was pretty good), my sister saw a mouse scampering across the floor. I'm not sure if the staff noticed it but it's a worry-some indicator and makes me a bit leery of how hygienic the facility is, and considering that Doughnut Plant is right next door.......well that concerns me even more. It was worth a try and chances are I won't be back just of the mouse incident. read more

Kossar's Bagels & Bialys - Whole Wheat Bialy with Jam. - Bakeries Near Me - New York, New York

Their bagels and bialy's are on point. My go to order is the bacon egg and cheese on a everything bagel, toasted. They get the order always on point. You also have to try the Challah French Toast, just delicious and fulfilling. My fav spread is the Dill cream cheese. They are always courteous and nice. read more