Balena Bagels

Rebecca Ganter 3 months ago

Balena bagels is a great addition to the Castle Shannon area. Their bagels are delicious and freshly made. I like their sesame bagels and everything bagels. You can actually see them making them from the windows. The only downside is there’s not any indoor seating. Plan to either take your bagels home with you or try to find an outdoor bench seat if the weather is nice. We have a toddler and it is truly a blast to go there and sit outside and watch the T go by. We will definitely be back soon!

Jessica Rimel 3 months ago

These bagels are 10/10. Just as good if not better than any Montreal or New York bagel. On the weekend you pretty much need to plan on being there at 7:00 if you want to be sure to get some and not have to wait in a long line. It’s well worth it, though. I also like watching them make the bagels through the window. The scallion cream cheese is great, too.

Eric David 3 months ago

Just left there after driving past it a few times. Originally being from New York I am super judgy with bagels. However, I was super impressed with these. Absolutely delicious jalapeno cheddar bagel. My only gripe is that when I got home and opened it. The cream cheese was about a millimeter thin, the bagel was not cut in half and there were no napkins in the bag. I also noticed that the selection was abysmal at best even at 11:00 in the morning. There were only Three different types of bagels to choose from. Salt, some strange name that started with a z and My cheddar jalapeno which there was only one left. If they can get that together this would be a five-star bagel place.

Dan Bergeron 7 months ago

I am a local and have been to Balena 10+ times. Love the store & the staff is always super friendly. Bagels are great. However a few months ago I realized that the $2.20 for the schmear is an absolute joke. I’m pretty sure it is one person on the staff who is the issue but don’t want to publicly dox. This morning my girlfriend wanted to get a vegan schmear - they need to relabel it as a dusting if this is the serving size they instruct the staff to apply. A 1st time customer would probably not become a 2nd time customer with this output. Love Balena but this is a huge detractor.

Frank Elavsky 11 months ago

Umm what?? Excuse me?? We have bagels this good in PA? In Pittsburgh?? In the south hills?? How? This would give Montreal a run for their money. Pigeon bagels in the city is vastly overrated (with a line down the block, but no line here!!). See those bubbles? That's proper fermentation. This is a real, proper bagel. The texture is immaculate. I am shocked that we are so spoiled to have this place. I see other reviews notice they are good too, but I honestly worry they'll go unnoticed by the folks in the south hills (no offense to us). Although, I worried about Anthos for the same reason and they are a huge success too, so perhaps not! But I selfishly hope Balena can open a satellite in the city that can help sell volume for them. They'd make a killing if they could set up shop in that zone between CMU and Pitt.... I would get them every day.... Anyway, I'm raving about these bagels to everyone, especially folks I know who take transit. It's a teeny stroll from the station!