What happened to H&H??? Who's minding the store? It's not even a shadow of its former self! I was a loyal fan of H&H since the mid-80's and went there whenever I was in NYC. I even used to call in orders to send H&H bagels to my friends and clients. I read the recent bad reviews and was hoping they were wrong, but this place has definitely changed for the worse. Just went there last week (in the morning!!!) and the bagels were smaller and dry and the selection was paltry. The dough is still slightly sweet, but the bagels are no longer chewy (no longer bagel-like!). The previous reviewer was right, the sesame bagels had hardly any sesame seeds on them. I bought a dozen bagels including the old standards onion and sesame (the salt and pumpernickel bagels looked sad, and they no longer even make egg bagels there according to the young girl at the counter who looked at me like I was from outer space when I asked if they had any egg ones). My husband and I ate a total of 2 1/2, sampling each kind, and we actually THREW away the rest because we were so disappointed! -- and I never throw away food!!! The H&H bagels I remember from years ago were chunky and huge, moist and chewy inside, slightly sweet, and loaded with sesame seeds, onions, etc. and they were truly delicious. The H&H bagels that they are making and selling today taste like stale grocery store Lenders bagels. They're smaller than Thomas' bagels. I can't believe I'm even comparing them to grocery store bagels! It's so disappointing to see that what was once such a wonderful place is now reduced to this. They should just close their doors. If H&H is still owned by the same family, they need to reevaluate their operations. Ess-a-Bagel now has bagels that are the closest to what H&H bagels used to make when their bagels were good, except the Ess-a-Bagel dough is missing that slightly sweet taste of H&H. Left with no choice, I took home a dozen Ess-a-Bagels. Not a bad choice, just not old H&H.
Pros: across from Zabar's (but Zabar's sells bagels, too)
Cons: horrible bagels, not what it used to be
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