I love donuts and I pay attention to the details. I also bake a lot and have made donuts myself. I love interesting interior design, and I was excited to see a donut place open during the pandemic. My husband and I went at about 8 am on a Saturday for our first visit.
First impressions: The landscapers were out front using a blower, the door to the donut shop was open and debris (and air and gas fumes of course) was swirling so much that we couldn't even get out of the car immediately. It seems obvious that the shop would want to run over and shut their door for that but they seemed oblivious. The employee was wearing a mask. No spots marked on the floor to keep people apart, but signage was up to advise social distancing.
Donuts: Not a huge selection (which is ok--but just so you know), and some categories were already low at 8 am, but the display looked nice. We decided to try an old fashioned with chocolate icing, a Horchata (raised) donut and a cinnamon crumb (cake) donut. The old fashioned looked a little thin and my husband reported that the donut dough itself was heavier and denser than he's had before (he orders only this style everywhere he goes) and there was no crispiness on the edges. I took bites of the other two. The Horchata donut looked like a very puffy raised donut with an off-white glaze and no other topping. Perhaps there was vanilla or vanilla flavoring in the glaze (didn't taste like much of anything) but I didn't see or taste cinnamon. It just tasted like a glazed donut--but with something off-putting which I'll get to. The texture was airy with lots of air pockets, as if it had gone too far on the rise. It lacked that beautiful squish and partial rebound when you take a bite, and just stayed airy. The cinnamon crumb was cake style (I assume that's what they were going for since a cinnamon crumb is always cake) and again the crumb looked like the rise had been allowed to go too far. It was very tall with lots of air pockets and not a uniform crumb and that dense but not heavy texture a good cake donut has (see photo). It lacked a significant cinnamon flavor or that nice crisp exterior and I didn't finish it.
Issues with all donuts: I had to nibble the outside skin off the Horchata donut (it was only glazed on the top) to figure out what the strange flavor was on all the donuts. It's the oil. If you've ever tried those awful air fried snacks that come in bags of "spinach, potato and carrot" and have a texture like styrofoam, the flavor of the oil tasted like the flavor of the air fried potato and spinach snacks. It is a really weird flavor, by the way. They definitely need a purer oil that lacks noticeable flavor. And yes, I felt gross after nibbling that off, but I did it for you.
Coffee: My husband asked for a coffee and she asked him if he wanted Columbian Roast or French Vanilla. He loves flavored beans and drinks his coffee black, so he said French Vanilla. Next thing we know, I observe her getting out a big jug of Coffee Mate and pouring it into his coffee. We stopped her since we didn't ask for fake creamer and apparently that's what she meant by "French Vanilla Coffee." She did pour us a new black coffee and apologized, but we were really surprised that's what they mean by "French Vanilla" coffee. The coffee tasted smoky and burnt to me but my husband said he liked it.
The decor was cluttered by boxes which I assume were because of deliveries due to the pandemic--so no points off for that. There is a wall over in the corner where I guess you can take your pics for the gram, but I wasn't tempted. Decor--fine. More modern than donut shops usually look. I actually hope they tweak their recipes and survive, because the world needs all the donut shops it can get! read more