Black Seed Bagels - Rockefeller Ctr. 3/5

Store
Located in the food concourse at Rockefeller Center. A small store with space for 3-4 customers. Very limited drink and pastry selection. Friendly, efficient staff. Novelty points for the location and general Rockefeller vibe. It's a little disquieting to think how many tourists are coming here thinking they're getting the NYC bagel experience from a place that specifically represents the Montreal-style bagel perspective.
3.5/5

Bagel
This is my third and final review of Black Seed's offerings. It's my most reviewed chain as I wanted to give a fair shake on the Montreal-style experience. Of the three servings, this bagel landed in the middle. None of them were particularly good. Visit the other reviews for a fuller picture.

I'll use this space to say in general I think the Montreal-style bagel is different enough from NY-style that the distinction is appropriate and the angle Montreal-style comes from is valuable. I'll also say I've had good Black Seed Bagels, though that was several years before I undertook this task - and presumably before there were so many locations.

NYC prides itself on striving to represent all experiences, and there needs to be space for this dialogue to occur. Maybe the 'control' component of ordering an everything with scallion at each location didn't play into Black Seed's strengths. The general 'cleaving' consistency of Black Seed's dough is reminiscent of many of the Appetizing locations throughout New York City. From this, and from my memory of Black Seed Bagels from years past, I'd recommend getting lox if you're ordering from Black Seed and thinking of the bagel as a vessel for the fish.
2.5/5

Cream Cheese
Just too much. The small bagel size and large central hole apparently makes Black Seed's bagels prone to messiness and over-application. Perhaps there's some order from the top down instructing staff to go thick with the cream cheese, in which case I'd recommend customers to be picky with their application instructions.
3/5