H&H Bagels
H&H has made bagels in Manhattan since 1972 and bakes the big glossy style: a dark caramelized crust, sparsely seeded, with a hearty chew.
Why go
That crust puts H&H with the old guard. Pulling the other direction are Apollo Bagels, whose bake The Infatuation calls divisive among bagel purists,
and Popup Bagels, which hands them over hot with no knives.3 Hannah Albertine also warns that H&H puts an excessive amount of cream cheese
between the halves.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: plain or sesame with cream cheese, which is the build her review is written about.1
- Avoid: building a morning around it. Eater's guide of March 2026 runs to 21 shops and The Infatuation's runs to 22, and this counter is on neither.2
What locals & experts say
- Hannah Albertine, The Infatuation, April 2021: "H&H Bagels has been making bagels in Manhattan since 1972, and, as far as we know, it's the only bagel place mentioned in both Seinfeld and Sex & The City."1
- I have not found anything published on this counter since that review.
Good to know
- The doors: an Upper West Side shop trades under the same name. This page is the Second Avenue counter on the Upper East Side.1
- Booking: none.
Verdict
could-visit — Hannah Albertine wrote in 2021 and I have found nothing published since, so the whole picture of this counter is five years old and no writer has revisited the claim. Eater's guide of March 2026 runs to 21 shops and The Infatuation's to 22, and H&H is on neither, which is a real signal for a brand this well known. What Albertine does give is a bagel described precisely enough to order from, plus a warning about the cream cheese. The rest of the fame here is television, which she hedges herself.