GO HERE EVERYDAY! Literally. I have never tasted anything better than these bagels! Holy crap! It's so light and airy yet filling and satisfying omg! I kid you not, I was thinking about these bagels the whole flight home. I just wish we didn't share and could go back to get more. One trip you need to make is to this bagel shop

Visiting from Florida and was recommended this place by numerous locals. Bagels were great, but I will say they were on the smaller size. I don't think they're worth the hype, I think nyc bagels are better, but they're still good! Would eat again. Also there was no line when I went which was nice

As far as Montreal bagels go, I'm more of a St-Viateur guy when compared to Fairmount Bagels. Truly, a the sign out front their bakery here claims, it's "La Maison du Bagel!" For full disclosure, I was weaned on old school New York bagels - meaning only savory, smaller than most U.S. bagels these days, dense, and boiled in lye (I guess) - and bialys.. including those from Kossar's which was around the corner from my grandparents' Lower East Side apartment. Echt old school style New York bagels and bialys remain my all time favorites - and that excludes almost all street vendor bagels, cinnamon raisin bagels, blueberry bagels, (fakakta) Rainbow bagels, and any bialy that isn't onion! So, Montréal bagels like St-Viateur were more the size I was used to, except they have a wider hole. Although Montreal bagels are boiled in honey, I found St. Viateur a little less sweet than Fairmount and more to my liking. My reco (at least for Americans) would be to try the Rosemary & Salt variety. You may this variety better to combine these with cream cheese or butter, maybe working less well with smoked fish. That being said, Rosemary & Salt works. [Note - If you make it to Burlington, Vermont, recommend checking out Myer's Wood Fired, including their Montreal Spice bagels. Those spices also includes Rosemary. Yum!] Be advised, their bakery location here is take out only! There is an alternative St-Viateur Bakery & Café location, plus there are restaurants serve fresh St- Viateur bagels.

At this well-known, highly recommended bagel shop in Montreal, you get fresh-from-the-oven bagels (we got sesame and everything). There will certainly be a line, but it moves quickly as it's (1) Canadian cash* only, (2) grab toppings, beverages, etc. out of the coolers next to the line, and there's no table service (or seating, for that matter). Now that I know those things, if I return I will be less overwhelmed and more able to grab everything I want as the line surges forward. The bagels were as good as those we get in New York and even better because they were warm and toasty from the oven. *There's an ATM next to the door and a kind soul who happened to be traveling to the United States the next day also offered to exchange cash on rate.

Wow! Very tasty bagels. On a recent trip to Montreal we knew we had to grab some bagels and everyone says St-Viateur is the best. We walked in and were surprised to see it was cash only. So make sure you bring your Canadian bills! They also have an ATM within the store. The only downside is when you walk in you have to be ready to order. The line moves fast and they are not messing around. I realized eventually that "dressed up" is the American version of an everything bagel so I went for it. They have little packets of Philadelphia cream cheese in the fridget near the register. I wish they put the cream cheese on the bagel, but you just grab the pack and go. The downside of that is that there is no seating so you just stand on the street trying to juggle everything and dip your bagel. I wish we would have gotten a hot bagel, but it seems like you have to order sesame to get that. #nexttime There was a tour group grabbing bagels at the same time as us, so we enjoyed hearing about what makes a Montreal bagel special. You really can taste the sweetness from the honey in the dough. The bagel was very tasty and I would certainly head into St-Viateur again the next time I'm in Montreal. Cash in hand of course.

The debate is whether Fairmount or St-Viateur Bagel is better, but honestly, you should just try them both and decide for yourself! This spot is only a block or two away from the other St-Viateur Bagel but with a much shorter line, so we came to this one instead. It's interesting how Candian bagel spots won't put the cream cheese topping on you for you; you have to buy a container in the shop and put it on yourself. So prepare in advance and get a container from Walmart if you happen to go before the bagel tours -- I promise it's much cheaper! If you want a lox bagel, St-Viateur Bagel sell packs of smoked salmon ($7.75 for 60 g and $15.50 for 120g). Again, it's probably cheaper at the grocery store. The cheapest bagel flavors are sesame, poppy, and plain, but only by a little. The fancier flavors include all dressed, cinnamon & raisn, rosemary & sea salt, whole wheat, museli, blueberry, maple apple, pumpernickle, onion, and butterscotch caramel. And it's cheaper to get them by the half/dozen. If you're traveling with friends (I know locals aren't reading Yelp reviews on this bagel institution), just get a bunch and have a taste test as I did outside. There was a really nice man who was behind us in line and gave us a piping hot bagel when he saw that we just missed the new batch by a bit. Thanks to the kindhearted stranger, I had one of the best bagels in my life.