I tasted and ranked every bagel at Einstein Bros. Bagels. Turns out, the best ones are sweet.

• I tried 22 bagels from Einstein Bros. Bagels and ranked them from my least favorite to top pick.
• Ultimately, neither the poppy-seed nor honey whole-wheat bagels impressed me much.
• Einstein’s cinnamon-sugar and apple-cinnamon bagels were my absolute favorite picks.

I felt the honey whole-wheat bagel was too dry.

The pretzel bagel could’ve passed as a plain one.

This apple-cinnamon bagel somehow had a gooey yet crispy center.

My only complaint is that all of the toppings were in the center of the bagel.

Un-toasted, toasted, with cream cheese, or with butter, this bagel was a winner.

Adding butter gave this bagel an apple-crisp vibe, and it was even more delicious with the cream cheese.

Even though warming it up made the bagel a little soggy from all of the toppings piled in the center, I really loved this cinnamon-y, sugary apple combination.

This story was originally published in October 2020 and most recently updated on July 2, 2026.