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You may think you’ve had a bagel—until you taste a Hey Bagel bagel. Then you get why other “bagels” aren’t really bagels; they’re just soft bread doughnuts. (And this is for the West Coasters among us. You East Coasters have generally grown up with real bagels, so I’m not trying to tell you something you don’t already know.)

Hey Bagel is owned and obsessively operated by Eastsider, Andrew Rubenstein, who takes his job very seriously. “I spend every night thinking about my bagels in one way or another,” he says. “I want people to walk away from eating one of them and feel like it turns their day around.”

What makes Andrew’s bagels great and sets them apart from the fray is the pleasantly chewy and substantial lacquered crust that practically snaps back when you bite into it. This crust has presence, gravitas. It holds its own. Well, actually what it holds is an interior akin to a glutenous work of art. Never bready or pillowy or sweet, Andrew’s bagels are tight and slightly springy—you can tell this work takes time and patience to create.

Hey Bagel bagels are sourdough-based, which implies that fermentation is a part of the process. Which it is. Andrew lets his bagels ferment for 24-48 before boiling them in water, then coating them in classic bagel toppings: salt, everything, salted sesame seed, salted poppy seed and garlic—yes, there are plain ones too.

Hey Bagel definitely does not make sandwiches and no—they won’t toast OR slice the bagels for you, so don’t even ask. But what they do make, which you should definitely pick up, are their cream cheese schmears. My favorite is the raspberry curry and hot honey, which was one of the best things I ate in 2025. I’m not even going to try to describe how it tastes—either you trust me or you don’t. But you should try it.

The crew at Hey Bagel crafts 180 bagels (and bialys, sometimes) every 20 minutes on their busy days, which means a bagel on their shelf is rarely older than two or three hours. Customers are strongly encouraged to dive right in as soon as they’re paid for—just tear and dip into the schmear of your choice. If you must wait and eat it the next day, Andrew provides very specific reheating instructions on every Hey Bagel bag. If you follow those instructions, you’ll be treated to a transcendent gustatory experience that will ruin all other bagels for you forever.

The sole outpost of Hey Bagel is in University Village—not an unreasonable trek across the 520 Bridge— however, Andrew has his sights set on a Bellevue location, so fingers crossed for that. Online ordering is available for pickup.
4610 Village Court NE, Seattle, 98105. heybagel.net