I honestly don't understand any person who wouldn't give this place less than four stars. I have lived my entire life out east, have spent enormous amounts of time in NYC for work, and can say that Gotham bagels come pretty darn close to the real NYC thing! It's not in the tap water that makes a NYC bagel (that plays a fairly minor role), it's (mostly) the act of boiling it before it's put in the oven. It makes the bagels crisp on the outside but soft on the inside. *Anybody who tells you otherwise has clearly never been to the city.*
In any event, the bagels here are just that. Soft interior with a more crisp exterior. I always get the whole wheat one which has a great flavor too.
Another thing that deeply confuses me about all the this Gotham hate is that I'm also definitely not the only one who loves these. I work at the Capitol and every time we have a major success, we get breakfast sandwiches at Gotham (which everyone is happy about).
The only reason I'm giving Gotham four stars instead of five is because the service, as it has been mentioned, is very slow. It took about 15 minutes to make my sandwich which would have taken me about 5 if I had the bagel already made