Fast and helpful service! Asked what the cashier's favorite bagel was and they said sour cream and onion - I think it's my favorite now too! Delicious just salty enough bagel with a great chew. The cream cheese is super fluffy and clearly made in house, not to mention just how many types of cream cheese they had available! Cute seating area combined with Java Joe's and with lots of creative bagel options to try, I will be returning!
Kevin S.
This is a Great place w/ great food. Need more local spots like this in the community!
Alex L.
Bagels are delicious! Everything else is where the wheels fall off the bus... First of all you walk in the door and are immediately squeezed into a line of 20 people. Your senses are assaulted by the manager aggressively repeating customers orders and a thick heavy layer of bagel smoke filling the air from the lack of ventilation. It doesn't matter if you want your bagel toasted, it's 50/50 if they fulfill your request. What follows your order is 20 minutes of waiting with awkward glances around the room surrounded by strange decor and crowded placed tables and chairs. Eventually when you do get your food and are ready to leave, you are also gifted with the scent of smoked bagel coating your body and clothing. Wherever you go next, if your food doesn't reveal where you've been, your smell certainly will. Please invest in better ventilation and updated decor with bigger menus.
AnnaMarie A.
Service was good, line was really long. My only concern was the lox bagel that I ordered, there were only 3 very very thin partial shavings of salmon on the very large bagel loaded with cream cheese. Also - capers would've been nice to add but they didn't have that as an option.
Olivia A.
Best breakfast sandwich in Ankeny, with homemade tasty bagels. The renovation has added more events to do on the weekends!
Morgan C.
The bagels are amazing!! Kinda sad to see some bad reviews. They're very fast with preparing the orders even if they're busy. Cute quite little place to enjoy some food and coffee while doing homework! Also coffee is so tasty
Nick R.
I came to TJ's Bagels for the Bagels. Only the Bagels. I bought a dozen including multiple varieties. None of them seemed to be extremely fresh. They weren't bad. But more chewy than I expected. They didn't seem all that fresh. Great selection to choose from. But I was hoping for freshly made Bagels. I used to frequent a big franchise Bagel shop and they were always soft, not chewy.
James D.
It's just not worth it. If you're going out for breakfast, literally every other spot in town is better. It's sad to say, because this used to be an Ankeny gem. The bagel bites are still good, but the sandwiches and bowls are just not worth the price (or the 15-20 min. wait). The restaurant feels old and dated and, honestly, kind of gross. I think if they remodeled the interior and updated the quality of their food, it could easily become a hot spot again, they just need some help! I'd love to see this place popping again. Until then..I'm out
Jasmine T.
They have a lot of fun flavors of bagels but that is where my positive opinion stops. If you want a bagel sandwich do NOT go here unless you enjoy getting ripped off.
Emily S.
This place needs some serious help. They were so slow and we waited 20 minutes for 1 coffee and a dozen bagel bites. The inside was dirty and dingy and didn't look properly cleaned. The staff seemed apathetic and like they didn't care about service at all. I know they recently changed hands but wow, they need some serious changes.
bagels are mediocre. takes maybe 12 years for them to bring out one bagel with cream cheese.
K L M.
Where to start...we visited TJ Bagels several times in Feb 2021 - as we believe in supporting local small business owners. But each visit was some sort of disaster- we were 1 of 3 upset customer groups in a span of 15minutes during our last visit. Overall... orders were fulfilled wrong, service was unbelievably slow, lattes made with spoiled dairy, and the last visit we saw serious health code violations. You can access their inspections by searching Java Joes in Ankeny: The owner was rude: not worth the hassle; not worth the health risk. Ps - it's not really a bagel if you don't boil it; It's just a bread roll with bad service. However, it is worth the drive to Urbandale to buy proper bagels from a different but locally owned biz with amazing service and clean health inspection report.
Abby R.
this place used to be amazing... management changed and everything went down hill. the prices were raised, quality of the food went down, and very slow service. i recommend only if you have time, money, and patience on hand. please take this into consideration "tj bagels"
Shelby M.
Slowest service ever. Took an hour for two bagels. We almost cancelled and left. Yikes
Melissa N.
CJ's used to be the best place around to get a bagel - better than any chains that exist. I've been around since the 90s CJ's days and watched it just deteriorate under new ownership over the last 10(?) years? I keep giving it another chance, hoping I've caught them on a bad day, but today was just the same - or worse. At 11:30 AM on a Wednesday, there were hardly any bagels left (one plain, zero asiago, zero parmesan...). The onion bagel I did order was nearly rock-hard and surely not FRESH baked like they used to be. Drink and chip options were low as well. The carpet squares in the small front section of the store, as well as the back area past the booths was near black - like they've never been cleaned or replaced. Looking around the ghost-town restaurant around noon in the middle of the week had me looking for a "closing permanently" sign. What has happened? New owners clearly did not carry on the legend. So sad. :(
Fast and helpful service! Asked what the cashier's favorite bagel was and they said sour cream and onion - I think it's my favorite now too! Delicious just salty enough bagel with a great chew. The cream cheese is super fluffy and clearly made in house, not to mention just how many types of cream cheese they had available! Cute seating area combined with Java Joe's and with lots of creative bagel options to try, I will be returning!
This is a Great place w/ great food. Need more local spots like this in the community!
Bagels are delicious! Everything else is where the wheels fall off the bus... First of all you walk in the door and are immediately squeezed into a line of 20 people. Your senses are assaulted by the manager aggressively repeating customers orders and a thick heavy layer of bagel smoke filling the air from the lack of ventilation. It doesn't matter if you want your bagel toasted, it's 50/50 if they fulfill your request. What follows your order is 20 minutes of waiting with awkward glances around the room surrounded by strange decor and crowded placed tables and chairs. Eventually when you do get your food and are ready to leave, you are also gifted with the scent of smoked bagel coating your body and clothing. Wherever you go next, if your food doesn't reveal where you've been, your smell certainly will. Please invest in better ventilation and updated decor with bigger menus.
Service was good, line was really long. My only concern was the lox bagel that I ordered, there were only 3 very very thin partial shavings of salmon on the very large bagel loaded with cream cheese. Also - capers would've been nice to add but they didn't have that as an option.
Best breakfast sandwich in Ankeny, with homemade tasty bagels. The renovation has added more events to do on the weekends!
The bagels are amazing!! Kinda sad to see some bad reviews. They're very fast with preparing the orders even if they're busy. Cute quite little place to enjoy some food and coffee while doing homework! Also coffee is so tasty
I came to TJ's Bagels for the Bagels. Only the Bagels. I bought a dozen including multiple varieties. None of them seemed to be extremely fresh. They weren't bad. But more chewy than I expected. They didn't seem all that fresh. Great selection to choose from. But I was hoping for freshly made Bagels. I used to frequent a big franchise Bagel shop and they were always soft, not chewy.
It's just not worth it. If you're going out for breakfast, literally every other spot in town is better. It's sad to say, because this used to be an Ankeny gem. The bagel bites are still good, but the sandwiches and bowls are just not worth the price (or the 15-20 min. wait). The restaurant feels old and dated and, honestly, kind of gross. I think if they remodeled the interior and updated the quality of their food, it could easily become a hot spot again, they just need some help! I'd love to see this place popping again. Until then..I'm out
They have a lot of fun flavors of bagels but that is where my positive opinion stops. If you want a bagel sandwich do NOT go here unless you enjoy getting ripped off.
This place needs some serious help. They were so slow and we waited 20 minutes for 1 coffee and a dozen bagel bites. The inside was dirty and dingy and didn't look properly cleaned. The staff seemed apathetic and like they didn't care about service at all. I know they recently changed hands but wow, they need some serious changes.
Restaurantji Recommends
bagels are mediocre. takes maybe 12 years for them to bring out one bagel with cream cheese.
Where to start...we visited TJ Bagels several times in Feb 2021 - as we believe in supporting local small business owners. But each visit was some sort of disaster- we were 1 of 3 upset customer groups in a span of 15minutes during our last visit. Overall... orders were fulfilled wrong, service was unbelievably slow, lattes made with spoiled dairy, and the last visit we saw serious health code violations. You can access their inspections by searching Java Joes in Ankeny: The owner was rude: not worth the hassle; not worth the health risk. Ps - it's not really a bagel if you don't boil it; It's just a bread roll with bad service. However, it is worth the drive to Urbandale to buy proper bagels from a different but locally owned biz with amazing service and clean health inspection report.
this place used to be amazing... management changed and everything went down hill. the prices were raised, quality of the food went down, and very slow service. i recommend only if you have time, money, and patience on hand. please take this into consideration "tj bagels"
Slowest service ever. Took an hour for two bagels. We almost cancelled and left. Yikes
CJ's used to be the best place around to get a bagel - better than any chains that exist. I've been around since the 90s CJ's days and watched it just deteriorate under new ownership over the last 10(?) years? I keep giving it another chance, hoping I've caught them on a bad day, but today was just the same - or worse. At 11:30 AM on a Wednesday, there were hardly any bagels left (one plain, zero asiago, zero parmesan...). The onion bagel I did order was nearly rock-hard and surely not FRESH baked like they used to be. Drink and chip options were low as well. The carpet squares in the small front section of the store, as well as the back area past the booths was near black - like they've never been cleaned or replaced. Looking around the ghost-town restaurant around noon in the middle of the week had me looking for a "closing permanently" sign. What has happened? New owners clearly did not carry on the legend. So sad. :(