You’ve heard the hype about Boichik Bagels, and you’ve probably even tried one. But have you seen how the sausages, er, bagels are made? Boichik Bagel Factory in West Berkeley offers you the chance to see how the magic happens. I recently went on a Saturday morning with my carb loving kiddos to check out what sort of magic they use to bring New York quality bagels to California.
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Boichik Bagel Factory Tour
The West Berkeley outpost of Boichik Bagels is certainly a family hot spot on a Saturday morning. Easy parking, plenty of space for strollers, and fresh baked bagels seem to be a winning combo for a weekend morning family activity. The lines are not nearly as intense at the College Ave location, with the best part being the huge windows that let you see the factory humming. They’ve kindly placed a cute bench at the window to allow little kids a prime spot to see the dough go through the machines.
We arrived around 8:20 am for the 8:30 am tour. This is a free tour they offer on Saturday mornings only, and it’s pretty informal and chill. No sign-up required, just show up.
ProTip: order your bagels and coffee AFTER the tour so they don’t have to sit off to the side and get cold.
You’ll be taken back behind the window into the factory to see how the dough is mixed, shaped, baked, cut, and packaged. The humongous bowls hold enough dough for up to 1,000 bagels at a time! We got to see them dumping the dough into the machine, that then shapes and gets them ready to proof.
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It’s not a super long tour, maybe 20 minutes or so depending on how many bagel aficionados there are asking lots of questions. My 8-year-old was only kinda-sorta interested in everything, while my 6-year-old was super into it. Truth be told, you could see most of the exciting bits by just looking through the window. So if you can’t make the Saturday morning tour, just sitting at an inside table and watching while you enjoy your bagel is still pretty entertaining.
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Boichik Bagel offerings
After our tour we snagged an outdoor table. We enjoyed some plain bagels and cream cheese, along with some pretty expensive juices (which were also pretty darn delicious actually). The challah is another tasty offering, as are some of the specialty cream cheeses. Are the bagels expensive? Yes, but they are delicious. And it’s a local start-up that we feel good about supporting.
Location: 1225 6th St, Berkeley
Hours: Open every day 7:30 am – 1 pm
Tours: Saturdays at 8:30 am
