Best bagel shop in Vancouver, likely all Western Canada.

If your idea of a bagel is The Great Canadian Bagel ("an exciting foodservice concept ideally suited to today's fast paced, nutrition conscious lifestyle." -greatcanadianbagel.com) or similar, bready superstore varieties, you do not know the bagel. Solly's Bagels are not the only purveyors of real bagels out here, but they are one of the few and one of the best. Real bagels, as you may or may not know, are boiled before they are baked. This gives them a delightful, chewy texture, but as a result they must be consumed immediately or the chewiness becomes unbearable (toasting, however, will make them succulent again). Indeed it seems a general rule of comestible consumables that their quality is inversely proportional to their shelf life.

Solly's bakes their bagels in small batches all day.

Standing at the counter or waiting in line (there is always a bit of a line) you can see into the kitchen, and watch the bagel artisans stretch and knead the magical dough, before slicing it up and deftly twisting it into the quintessential bagel ring.

Solly's has several varieties of bagels.
Good, classic flavors. No fruity blueberry or Jalepeno Walnut bagels here.

Always (almost):

Sometimes: Solly's is not just a bagel shop.
It is a complete Jewish bakery. Their shelves are always well stocked with fresh knish, challah, babka, and other wondrous things. There is often a large pot of matzoh ball soup, and the fridge holds a variety of schmear. On the shelves behind you are various hearty loaves.

Solly's Bagels also makes the BEST cinnamon buns.
I can say this with confidence because Solly's cinnamon buns are the epitome of the cinnamon bun. A better cinnamon bun is simply inconceivable. They are tightly wound (I counted 8 rings on the one I had for breakfast this morning). They are almost-but-not-quite dripping with butter, they are loaded with cinnamon and the top and bottom are a mess of natural, gooey taffy of carmalized brown sugar.

You can find Solly's at:

189 East 28th Ave.
(Main and 28th)
Vancouver

2873 West Broadway
(half a block west of MacDonald)
Kitsilano, Vancouver