As someone who lives only a mile away from Parkwood Deli, I find their pizza, garlic knots, and sandwiches to be staples of what I eat for lunch and dinner. Parkwood’s menu is most commonly found in the diets of many Ridgewood High School students, especially those living on the West Side. As one who has purchased Parkwood for lunch in the form of fundraisers or via delivery, I have found the food to be just as good as in the deli itself. A fellow west side resident, Olivia Shattuck, finds that Parkwood’s pizza is “very delicious, but too greasy. They also have delicious garlic knots.” However, for much of our student body that lives on the east side, Ridgewood Hot Bagels is the common place to get lunch and the “go-to” post-practice meal. Ridgewood Hot Bagels also has a very popular following for school lunch deliveries. Many students may see Parkwood and Hot Bagels as an ‘apples to oranges’ comparison, but both places serve options from breakfast to lunch.
The majority of the times that I have visited Hot Bagels has been with my friends who live on the east side. With them, I have gotten anything from a bagel to a chicken Caesar wrap. However, I find Parkwood’s diverse menu and their close proximity to my house reasoning enough for me to say that Parkwood is my preferred choice.
Hot Bagels also has the advantage of being only a 15 minute walk from the High School, whereas Parkwood is not of walkable distance. However, when practice runs late or you want dinner past six o’clock, Hot Bagels’s proximity does nothing because it closes around six during weekdays, and closes at five on Mondays. This gives Parkwood Deli the advantage, as they close at ten o’clock. Parkwood’s hours hold to the standard Ridgewood High School student schedule much better, as many students participate in athletics or other extracurricular activities, which result in dinner occurring usually around eight or nine o’clock. Personally, as someone who runs Cross Country, I find that many quick places to eat have since closed by the time I get out of practice, and with a lot of homework to do, places with quick service are a necessity.
Both places deliver lunch to Ridgewood High School daily. Parkwood offers 17 options for lunch including a “Create your Own” option while Hot Bagels offers only ten. However, both places offer very similar selection including items such as as both bagels, breakfast sandwiches, grilled chicken wraps, salads, and buffalo chicken sandwiches. However, Hot Bagels offers a variety of sodas, water, Gatorade (extra cost), and more drinks (extra cost), while Parkwood lunches are served with water but also offer Gatorade, Snapple, Nesquik, and Vitamin Water (all for extra cost). Each place offers extra snacks to add on to your lunch for an extra cost.
Additionally, both places do offer catering and share similar prices when it comes to their respective menus. And to anyone who is visiting Ridgewood for the first time, I would highly recommend either deli.
Lily Williams
Staff Writer
Graphic: Yea Jin Lee