Alexis B.
Yelp
Had to update my 2021 review after a visit last weekend because it's such different business now! We lived in Crieve Hall 2016-2021. And while we lived there, there weren't too many businesses that we could visit or support in the neighborhood (we even lost a few to that enormous gas station in 2020 or 2021). Crieve Hall Bagel was just opening up as we were moving away from Crieve Hall and Nashville, and I so wish it had been there for all our Crieve Hall/Nashville years!
When I first visited in 2021, it was still operating as a to go business. I was given bagels that weren't sliced with small containers of cream cheese to assemble ourselves. Definitely a to go window operation at that time! But it's not the same business now a few years later - they've really expanded, and it was so wonderful and impressive to see how their operation and business has grown!
When we visited this past weekend, we found a large space with great indoor and outdoor seating, great (very friendly and helpful staff), and a large variety of bagels and toppings. The space is truly lovely - bright, clean, spacious! I had an everything bagel with sun dried tomato cream cheese (which is adventurous for me - I'm pretty traditional when it comes to bagels), which I really enjoyed.
I do think their menu leans more non traditional than traditional when it comes to bagel flavors, cream cheese options, and toppings. For example, for bagels, the traditional flavors include everything, plain, salt, and sesame (but no rye, pumpernickel, egg, sesame, marble, etc.), while they have more of the (to me) non-traditional and sweet flavors: blueberry, cheddar, chocolate chip, cinnamon sugar, jalapeño cheddar, etc. And they do offer lox, capers, red onion, tomato, and cucumber, if you want to create a traditional bagel with lox. But they only offer lox, whereas another bagel shop in town might be a pain to visit but offers more seafood options (whitefish, pastrami lox, belly lox, etc.). Crieve Hall Bagels does offer a lot of what I consider more modern, less traditional toppings like chicken sausage, hashbrowns, pork sausage, Swiss cheese, avocado, vegan sausage, etc.
(Full disclosure: I'm Jewish, so what I consider traditional for a bagel is definitely guided by that - the classic NYC bagel options are what I think of and what I want when I'm eating a bagel. But I get that not everyone is that traditional about bagel toppings and prefer a wide range of things from jam to avocado to pizza toppings. So this isn't a criticism of Crieve Hall Bagels when I say they lean less traditional when it comes to bagel options. It's just a factor to consider when you're thinking of where to order or pick up a bagel!)
I'm so happy that Crieve Hall Bagels is doing well in our old neighborhood. I'm so thrilled that Crieve Hall has a great locally-owned business like this! Would be thrilled to visit on my net visit back to Nashville! Definitely stop by and support this great local business if you're nearby - or even if you're not!