Quick Take:
Location: Lakeland
What I ordered: Bacon Egg & Cheese [on a roll], Egg Bagel w. Cream Cheese & a "Bro Joe" sandwich
Extra Order
(Wife/Katie's Order): Taylor Ham Egg & Cheese [on a roll], Egg Bagel w. Cream Cheese & a "Mikey D" sandwich
Final Score: 5/5*
Price: ~$10–$20 per person
For my fifth stop on Mike’s Polk Food Quest, I visited Uncle Nick's Italian Deli & Bagels in Lakeland and felt like I stepped into a transporter back to Long Island and New Jersey.
I'm going to spoil this for you right away: this would get a 10/5 if I could give it.
I've had some incredible food on my Polk Food Quest so far, including saying that Lovebird Almost Famous Chicken is the gold standard I'm using for future reviews (I stand by that); and Uncle Nick's joins that top tier gold standard that I will recommend every single time.
If you're new here, the concept of my Polk Food Quest is simple: every week I try a local spot, order the most common thing people get, try a few extras, and rank it on taste, value, vibes, and overall.
This week: Bagel + Sandwich
Which means I ordered a bacon egg and cheese, bagel with cream cheese, and a speciality sandwich as my "main dish" and Katie ordered the same for hers (but Taylor Ham instead of bacon, and a different speciality sandwich).
I also just published the top 10 coffee shops and Mexican in Lakeland the last few weeks, building on The Best Food In Polk!
How Does This Work?
I order the standard item for that category (for bagel/sandwich shop that’s a bagel, a specialty sandwich), plus a few extras so I can get a full feel for the menu.
Then I rank the experience on four things:
Taste | Value | Vibes | 
Overall
Taste focuses on the standard item.
The rest reflects the entire experience.
Taste: 5/5
I'm not kidding when I say it was like being put in a transporter up to Long Island / New Jersey for Katie and I.
Not only was the deli/market nostalgic, which I'll talk about in the "Vibes" section below, but we have not found a single place in Florida that even comes close to the taste of Uncle Nick's breakfast sandwiches and bagels.
This is an EASY 5/5 taste for me.
I'd give it a higher score if I could.
Katie and I will be there together for breakfast virtually every weekend now.
That said, I do want to give a rundown of what we ate and go through each specific item individually, just because they have so much to offer!
This was technically meant to be a breakfast review, but we also grabbed some sandwiches so we give it a fuller review.
So here's what we have:
1 — Egg Sandwiches: Amazing. I got a bacon, egg and cheese on a kaiser roll, and Katie got hers with Taylor Ham (it's a Jersey thing) instead of bacon. They were incredible. Like the bagels I'll discuss below, we'd eat these daily.
2 — Bagels: The best we've had in Florida, and it's really not even close. This is like searching for New York/New Jersey pizza in Florida; but we've found it to be even harder to get close to the taste for bagels. Uncle Nick's did it. If you want bagels, please don't go anywhere else.
3 — Specialty Sandwiches: Similar to the rest of the food at Uncle Nick's, their speciality sandwiches were also amazing. I'm a breakfast sandwich and bagel guy, but Katie was drooling over every speciality sandwich we tried and it was her version of the time machine.
So, just to recap in case you missed it, Uncle Nick's is getting an easy 5/5 for taste.
Please bring any and all of your friends/family visiting from the northeast!
Value: 5/5
Value is based around the amount of food and taste you get at the specific price point for each location.
With that, Uncle Nick's gets another 5/5.
The prices are variable, which is why I gave it a $10-20 range [per person], being that if you go in for a bagel and a coffee it'll much different than going in for a speciality sandwich, a pastry, a bag of chips and a drink — but either way the value deserves the 5/5.
Uncle Nick's gives you a perfect mix of "grab and go" food options for incredible prices and a full deli/market of options to feed every type of Italian food you could ever want.
Vibes: 5/5
Being from Long Island (and Katie from New Jersey), we might be biased here...
But the vibes are getting a 5/5 for us as well.
This is what it is like if you walk into a deli/market up north.
If you, your friends, your family, or anyone you know is used to (or grew up with) this type of deli — they will easily agree with 5/5 vibes — which is why I feel comfortable giving it this score.
If it's your first time going to an Italian deli/market, it could be slightly confusing at first, but I promise it's easy.
You can take a left, hit the market side and grab whatever you want, or walk right up to the counter to the right and order your food from the deli.
Overall: 5/5*
Remember when I gave a star next to Lovebird Almost Famous Chicken and said it was the gold standard?
I'm doing the same for Uncle Nick's Italian Deli and Bagels.
Uncle Nick's is a gold standard.
While Lovebird is the gold standard for quick-service restaurants you will walk into (especially when comparing to other chicken locations); Uncle Nick's is unmatched among delis (and really the only place I'll ever get a bagel and breakfast sandwich in Florida again).
Here's a question I'm going to start adding to the overall review from now on:
Would I bring my visiting family there?
Obviously!
Even if my family wasn't coming in from Long Island/New York I would be bringing them to Uncle Nick's because I would need them to experience what an Italian deli, breakfast sandwiches and bagels should taste like.
(But, being that they are from northeast, I'd be doing them a disservice if I didn't bring there!)
Here’s how I’d sum up Uncle Nick's Italian Deli & Bagels:
This is the closest you're going to get to a real northeast deli in Florida. It's not even close.
The bagels are the best we've had in Florida. The egg sandwiches are incredible. The specialty sandwiches had Katie going back for more. Everything was firing on all cylinders.
Katie and I are going to be there basically every weekend. If you have family or friends coming in from the northeast, bring them here. They'll thank you for it.
Before You Go....
Hey!
I want to know what you think of Uncle Nick's Italian Deli & Bagels.
Leave a comment below.
The more you share, the better, but anything is appreciated.
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Uncle Nick’s is an “oasis in the “black hole” of Italian food in Central Florida. It’s worth drive of 25-30 miles to get there. Wish it would open a second store in Winter Haven or Haines City.
Couldn’t agree more. We are in Auburndale and we go there more than I’d like to admit. I’m from Long Island and Katie is from New Jersey — both Italian — so this is one of our favorite spots in all of Polk.