This was so sad to receive. I ordered a lox bagel with some extra ingredients. Lox was under 2 ounces (yes I weighed it because it looked sparse). Barely had any arugula or capers that I paid extra for. Not acceptable & disappointing.
Food: 1
Sara Ann
Their bagels are good, service is consistently friendly.... but painfully slow. Every time I come here I wait a solid 10-15 mins. 20 closer to 30 on the weekends. For 1-2 bagel sandwiches, nothing more. No modifications. Just standard menu item's. This is even for prepaid carry out orders with a set pick up time, it's regularly a 5-10 min wait!
Every. Single. Time. I'm not counting time waiting in line to order and pick up the finished bagel either. This is just time spent after ordering, solely on waiting for the order to be prepared. I waited close to 5 mins today for a 4oz cup of cream cheese that was 1/3 empty. This has been an issue here lately to the point I got curious today and weighed it out to see on my kitchen scale... 3.0 ounces. The whole container with the lid and cup was 3.3 ounces.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 3
Service: 2
Nima
Fast service, walk up window is nice, coffee is coffee, and plenty of foot traffic
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Manja Petrov
**⭐️⭐️ 2/5**
Yet another disappointing experience. The overall rating for this place seems overly generous — honestly, it should be well under 4.0. The secret to a great **lox bagel** is, of course, the bagel itself — and that’s exactly where things went wrong here. The bagel tasted store-bought and, though toasted, was probably the hardest one I’ve ever had. Have mercy on your teeth, folks. I tried cutting it into smaller pieces, and it literally bent my braces.
On the positive side, the **lox** portion was generous, and the **dill cream cheese** was delicious. But eating a bagel shouldn’t feel like a dental challenge. Also, since when does a lox bagel come *without* tomato and onion unless you pay an extra dollar for each? That didn’t sit right with me. And the final straw — **sweet potato latkes** priced at $7 for just two small pieces. Unbelievable.
All in all, *R & A Sourdough* has potential but misses the basics. Until they figure out that bagels should be chewy, not weapon-grade, I’ll be looking elsewhere.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 2
Service: 1
J
Crazy waits and terrible service. What started as a plan to have breakfast outside turned into a disaster start to the day. After driving past this place early morning seeing the crowds I decided to pick up a breakfast sandwich for myself. Asked the helpful cashier whether or not crispy bacon was an option which he assured me it was. 35 minutes later I’m still waiting for my order and I can hear the staffs commentary about the crispy bacon request. Having worked in restaurants over a decade myself, I understand special orders can take time but I also understand communicating this and being proactive to resolve the situation. After requesting a refund My sandwich was rudely handed to me as though I was out of line. My sandwich is legitimately cold I’m frustrated hungry and don’t understand this. The commentary from kitchen staff is incredibly unprofessional and unwelcoming. Whether or not my race played into this is to be determined but after witnessing countless patrons who ordered larger orders in groups with specialty coffees etc, it’s hard not to question. Quite a disappointment as my hopes and anticipation were high. Never again.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 1
Ahmed Haj
Made a order at 10:45 AM today and came in at 11:20 AM. Came in and looked at the pick up area and didn’t see it.. didn’t catch the name of the individual but very rude. She kept questioning me and where I placed the order was the website. Turns out the whole kitchen missed my order, making me wait another 15 minutes. So it took a whole hour for my bagels two of them want to be ready… whatever happened to customer service.. they were very unapologetic too. Wont be coming back.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 2
Service: 1
Diego Caraballo
One of the best sandwiches I’ve had in a long time.
Laura Sage
I first learned about R&A at the Lakeview Farmers Market and they quickly became a Saturday morning tradition. Now I order from them weekly! The chocolate chip bagel is my favorite, but I also haven’t met one of their bagels I haven’t enjoyed. The Hipster sandwich is delicious!! Love this place.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Olesia Danchuk
Delicious lox bagel, maybe the best in Chicago, or at least one of them. I got a cold brew with vanilla syrup. The staff is friendly, and the patio is beautiful - a great place to sit, eat, and relax. The flowers outside make it even nicer. I really love this place.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Nathaniel Larson
Solid Asiago bagel with schmear. Order through their window, though was a little confused on whether you can also order inside or if they only prefer outside (some guy, I think a customer, said “oh, you have to go outside” though we don’t see any signage).
I discovered these bagels at my local farmer's market. The plain ones are really good. The sesame ones are a little weird because they have black sesame seeds, too. We also tried some sandwiches and it took a really long time and there's really no room to wait and no indoor tables or places to be out of the way. I also tried what they called a caramel apple muffin but it really only tasted a little like apple. Our sandwiches were decent but not amazing. The prices are also kind of high- $11 for only four bagels.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 4
Service: 4
Martin Teat
As a local business, and model of a ‘start-up’ bakery, I was a little surprised that they declined to sell a little of their sourdough starter, to encourage others that may want to bake at home.
Their prerogative, for sure, but enough of a surprise, that I’ll probably try to find and patronize another local bakery that’s a little more encouraging of the local baking community.
Timothy Novak
We got there really early, no sourdough left, no sourdough biscuits, took about 40 min for two breakfast sandwiches. A lot of online orders were being fulfilled with times on the receipts that were past the time or our order. Our food came out and it was ice cold, bagels weren’t toasted. Not a very good place or just can’t handle being busy. Probably won’t go back for a second shot.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 2
Jacob Stover
Very good bagels, lots of vegan and vegetarian options.
Chelsea Pfeiffer
Really wanted to try this place out.
Ended up placing an order through grubhub only to find out I sent it to the wrong location! The staff at this location were nice enough to make my order while I called the other location to cancel.
I enjoyed the hipster bagel I ordered. The only thing was that it was much harder than anticipated.
Maybe it was just the batch? I'll def be coming back to give a different bagel sandwhich a try, though.
This was so sad to receive. I ordered a lox bagel with some extra ingredients. Lox was under 2 ounces (yes I weighed it because it looked sparse). Barely had any arugula or capers that I paid extra for. Not acceptable & disappointing.
Food: 1
Their bagels are good, service is consistently friendly.... but painfully slow. Every time I come here I wait a solid 10-15 mins. 20 closer to 30 on the weekends. For 1-2 bagel sandwiches, nothing more. No modifications. Just standard menu item's. This is even for prepaid carry out orders with a set pick up time, it's regularly a 5-10 min wait!
Every. Single. Time. I'm not counting time waiting in line to order and pick up the finished bagel either. This is just time spent after ordering, solely on waiting for the order to be prepared. I waited close to 5 mins today for a 4oz cup of cream cheese that was 1/3 empty. This has been an issue here lately to the point I got curious today and weighed it out to see on my kitchen scale... 3.0 ounces. The whole container with the lid and cup was 3.3 ounces.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 3
Service: 2
Fast service, walk up window is nice, coffee is coffee, and plenty of foot traffic
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
**⭐️⭐️ 2/5**
Yet another disappointing experience. The overall rating for this place seems overly generous — honestly, it should be well under 4.0. The secret to a great **lox bagel** is, of course, the bagel itself — and that’s exactly where things went wrong here. The bagel tasted store-bought and, though toasted, was probably the hardest one I’ve ever had. Have mercy on your teeth, folks. I tried cutting it into smaller pieces, and it literally bent my braces.
On the positive side, the **lox** portion was generous, and the **dill cream cheese** was delicious. But eating a bagel shouldn’t feel like a dental challenge. Also, since when does a lox bagel come *without* tomato and onion unless you pay an extra dollar for each? That didn’t sit right with me. And the final straw — **sweet potato latkes** priced at $7 for just two small pieces. Unbelievable.
All in all, *R & A Sourdough* has potential but misses the basics. Until they figure out that bagels should be chewy, not weapon-grade, I’ll be looking elsewhere.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 2
Service: 1
Crazy waits and terrible service. What started as a plan to have breakfast outside turned into a disaster start to the day.
After driving past this place early morning seeing the crowds I decided to pick up a breakfast sandwich for myself. Asked the helpful cashier whether or not crispy bacon was an option which he assured me it was. 35 minutes later I’m still waiting for my order and I can hear the staffs commentary about the crispy bacon request. Having worked in restaurants over a decade myself, I understand special orders can take time but I also understand communicating this and being proactive to resolve the situation. After requesting a refund My sandwich was rudely handed to me as though I was out of line. My sandwich is legitimately cold I’m frustrated hungry and don’t understand this.
The commentary from kitchen staff is incredibly unprofessional and unwelcoming. Whether or not my race played into this is to be determined but after witnessing countless patrons who ordered larger orders in groups with specialty coffees etc, it’s hard not to question. Quite a disappointment as my hopes and anticipation were high. Never again.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 1
Made a order at 10:45 AM today and came in at 11:20 AM. Came in and looked at the pick up area and didn’t see it.. didn’t catch the name of the individual but very rude. She kept questioning me and where I placed the order was the website. Turns out the whole kitchen missed my order, making me wait another 15 minutes. So it took a whole hour for my bagels two of them want to be ready… whatever happened to customer service.. they were very unapologetic too. Wont be coming back.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 2
Service: 1
One of the best sandwiches I’ve had in a long time.
I first learned about R&A at the Lakeview Farmers Market and they quickly became a Saturday morning tradition. Now I order from them weekly! The chocolate chip bagel is my favorite, but I also haven’t met one of their bagels I haven’t enjoyed. The Hipster sandwich is delicious!! Love this place.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Delicious lox bagel, maybe the best in Chicago, or at least one of them. I got a cold brew with vanilla syrup. The staff is friendly, and the patio is beautiful - a great place to sit, eat, and relax. The flowers outside make it even nicer. I really love this place.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Solid Asiago bagel with schmear. Order through their window, though was a little confused on whether you can also order inside or if they only prefer outside (some guy, I think a customer, said “oh, you have to go outside” though we don’t see any signage).
Restaurantji Recommends
I discovered these bagels at my local farmer's market. The plain ones are really good. The sesame ones are a little weird because they have black sesame seeds, too. We also tried some sandwiches and it took a really long time and there's really no room to wait and no indoor tables or places to be out of the way. I also tried what they called a caramel apple muffin but it really only tasted a little like apple. Our sandwiches were decent but not amazing. The prices are also kind of high- $11 for only four bagels.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 4
Service: 4
As a local business, and model of a ‘start-up’ bakery, I was a little surprised that they declined to sell a little of their sourdough starter, to encourage others that may want to bake at home.
Their prerogative, for sure, but enough of a surprise, that I’ll probably try to find and patronize another local bakery that’s a little more encouraging of the local baking community.
We got there really early, no sourdough left, no sourdough biscuits, took about 40 min for two breakfast sandwiches. A lot of online orders were being fulfilled with times on the receipts that were past the time or our order. Our food came out and it was ice cold, bagels weren’t toasted. Not a very good place or just can’t handle being busy. Probably won’t go back for a second shot.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 2
Very good bagels, lots of vegan and vegetarian options.
Really wanted to try this place out.
Ended up placing an order through grubhub only to find out I sent it to the wrong location! The staff at this location were nice enough to make my order while I called the other location to cancel.
I enjoyed the hipster bagel I ordered. The only thing was that it was much harder than anticipated.
Maybe it was just the batch? I'll def be coming back to give a different bagel sandwhich a try, though.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
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