Best bagels in Charlotte? These New York-style shops bake the tastiest around
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Family Dough Bagels in Mint Hill earns top ranking for New York-style bagels.
- BagelGram transitions from home delivery in 2020 to retail store in Indian Trail.
- Charlotte-area readers favor scratch-made recipes and regional ingredient blends.
In a city with dozens of delis and cozy cafes, Charlotte’s full of bagel options. Now, local foodies have spoken up about which is the best of the best.
As part of our Readers’ Choice awards, we rounded up readers’ top picks for the tastiest bagel spots around town. Two local spots known for bringing a bit of New York flavor to the Queen City have risen above the rest.
Following a sweet showdown between 25 savory shops, here is where you can find the best bagel the Charlotte area has to offer.
Best bagel in Charlotte: Family Dough Bagels
Location: 7102 Brighton Park Dr #500, Mint Hill, NC 28227
A direct reflection of its name, Family Dough Bagels is a family-owned and operated shop by native New Yorkers offering a taste of New York-style bagels.
The Mint Hill bagel shop, about 11 miles outside of Charlotte, was established in 2022. Since then, it’s been a staple spot for scratch-made crispy and chewy bagels.
“We opted to train and study with a master bagel maker up in New York. We did a lot of research,” David Sconzo, owner of Family Dough Bagels, told CharlotteFive.
“We kind of took our masters class in bagel making and then we brought it down here and crafted it ourselves to what we love… We’re just a bunch of New Yorkers making bagels.”
With an “artisanal approach using only the highest quality ingredients,” Family Dough Bagels offers freshly baked bagels plain or with cream cheese, butters or spreads, its website details.
But if you want to level up your breakfast or lunch, there are also several bagel sandwich options on the menu, including the Lox NYC made with fresh Acme Brooklyn lox, cream cheese, red onion, tomato and capers.
Finalist for best bagels in Charlotte: BagelGram
Location: 7878 Idlewild Rd Suite A, Indian Trail, NC 28079
What is now one of the most popular bagel spots around Charlotte actually started out as a small neighborhood delivery service during the 2020 COVID-19 stay-at-home order.
“We offered fresh bagel delivery to all of our neighbors and within the first week, we had about 20 orders, which we thought was incredible,” Kevin Priest, owner of BagelGram, told CharlotteFive.
“A month later, people outside of our neighborhood heard about us and asked us to deliver to them.”
After three years and more than one hundred thousand bagels later, BagelGram has set up shop in a storefront about 15 miles outside of Charlotte.
Using local ingredients, BagelGram’s “bagel formula” began with a classic New York-style and was tweaked to ones that Priest grew up eating in South Florida — resulting in a crusty shell and a soft but slightly dense center, according to its website.
There are multiple bagel flavors on the menu that are baked daily, like rosemary salt, poppy seed, sundried tomato and cinnamon toast crunch, along with seasonal and other specialty flavors that rotate weekly, like cranberry, s’mores and Reese’s chip.
While BagelGram offers delivery and pick-up, preordering is not necessary to visit the Indian Trail location, which guests can stop by at any time for food.
Alex Cason contributed reporting.
Want more fan-favorite recommendations? Here are the places CharlotteFive readers have voted as best:
Best of Charlotte: Coffee Shop | Chicken Wings | Doughnuts | Burgers | Ice Cream | Brewery | Pizza | Sushi | Tacos | Food truck | Bar | Ramen | Brunch | Patio | Barbecue | Pie | Fried Chicken | Fries | Cookies | Steak
Uniquely Charlotte: Uniquely Charlotte is an Observer subscriber collection of moments, landmarks and personalities that define the uniqueness (and pride) of why we live in the Charlotte region.
This story was originally published August 18, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
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