St Pete Bagel Co on 4th Street N

Published on 08/01/22: Here’s a St Petersburg institution that’s been serving bagels, breakfast sandwiches and more since 1999. I’m talking about St. Pete Bagel Co., owned by Renata Plevova and Oldrich Pleva. Upon moving from the Czech Republic 20+ years ago, their goal was to bring both “from scratch” and “fresh” bagels to our area. Turns out, a number of larger chains use the frozen variety.

Several Locations and Great Reviews

Based on the line we often see out the door, they evidently hit the nail on the head! Nearly 1K Google reviewers give this popular breakfast spot a very solid 4.6/5 average. In fact, they expanded to create locations in Dunedin, Largo and Kenneth City. All locations serve the same great bagels, donuts, sandwiches, and coffee.

Many Bagel Options

From a bagel perspective, St Pete Bagel Co. offers 17+ different kinds of bagels. Note that you may have slim pickings the closer it draws to closing time. Arrive early for the best selection. Hours are 6am-1pm, except Sunday which is 7am-1pm.

Boiled Bagels?

Their website states: “Our NY-style bagels are made using the best ingredients, and boiled and baked fresh daily. We’ve perfected recipes that are over 30 years old to consistently produce bagels that have just the right amount of crust outside, with the perfect amount of chewiness on the inside.”

Boiled? I was today years old when I learned that authentic NY bagels are usually boiled in water. Anyone else? Turns out boiling sets the crust before it goes into the oven. While I’d envision a soggy bagel, I learned the water doesn’t penetrate very far because the starch on the exterior forms a barrier.

Line moves quick

Friends of ours have the St Pete location on their regular rotation, so we joined them recently to check it out! Arriving around 8:30am on a Saturday, we quickly noted the line out the door. We’re typically tolerant of lines, so long as they move quickly. And in this case, it certainly did, as we were served within 15 minutes*! We’ve waited 45+ minutes for food to hit our plate at some of the other popular breakfast options in town (especially when you factor in the wait to be seated etc). See paragraph below re: the asterisk.

We made a friend!

*St Pete Bagel Co offers seating both indoors and out, using all possible real estate to accommodate. In our case, the line wrapped near an outdoor table where a nice gentleman was dining. He struck up a conversation with us, explaining how he’s been dining on the patio for years. His regular spot. As the conversation ensued, we made the easy decision to give up our spot in line. We discussed a number of topics, which often circled back to how nicely the staff at St Pete Bagel Co treats him. He then proceeded to buy Colt’s breakfast! Very nice and taught Colt some good lessons in the process. Afterwards, I told the gentleman about LovingStPete and asked if we could get a picture together for my post. He graciously accepted. So while I don’t know how long we were in the actual line, I estimate 15 minutes. 😊

Google Reviews: 1260 with a 4.6/5 Average

Address: 7043 4th Street N, St Pete.

Phone: 727-522-3377

As a Pinellas County Realtor, with over 25K people following my LovingStPete Guide on Facebook, I know our area well! I’d love to help you buy your next property! In fact, you’ll receive up to $10K at closing when you use my LovingStPete Team to buy or sell a property! I love the industry so much I even developed a vacation rental advertising business and ran it for more than a decade before VRBO/HomeAway acquired it. I’m a Florida native and St. Pete resident who would love to earn your real estate business! Simply contact me.