Glazed Pumpkin Spice Donut: Duck Donuts was founded in 2007 in Duck, North Carolina (although they're headquartered in Pennsylvania). They've since expanded to numerous locations across the U.S. and even overseas. Their mascot is Ollie the Duck, who can be found on the sign and packaging. I learned a few things on my first visit. All the donuts are cake style donuts (as opposed to raised/yeast, which I tend to prefer) and they're made to order. The made to order is a pro and a con as you don't have to stress that they will sell out, but you might have to wait a bit for your order. You can also order ahead, but at this time there is no app and I had issues (which were resolved) with placing an order on their website. Being October and a lover of pumpkin desserts, I had to try the Glazed Pumpkin Spice Donut. It comes glazed with cinnamon sugar and pumpkin spice buttercream. The body of the donut was heavy, dense, and pleasantly chewing with just the right amount of moistness and not too dry and cakey. Flavor was sweet, buttery, and of course pumpkin with hints of cinnamon. I loved the gritty sugar granules, but they were sadly confined to just the pumpkin buttercream island in the center. I'm always a little anxious that a pumpkin spice dessert will be too spicy or a burning spice, but this was sweet, not overpowering, and delicious. Doughboy approved Doughboy_Food_Reviews *Reviewed 10/2025 My top doughnut shops: 1. Donut Bar (San Diego) 2. Pinkbox Doughnuts (Las Vegas) 3. Everglazed (Disney Springs) 4. Cranky Al's (MKE) 5. Krispy Kreme (various locations in different states) read more

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A decadent holiday indulgence after a lovely area run. Fresh hand made to order, the maple bacon is hard to beat in my humble opinion. You only go once around the ride so make it a good ride. read more

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We tried Duck Donuts as it is close to UW Hospital and we bought donuts for the nurse staff in cardio. I think it's an interesting concept but for the price, it wasn't worth it. Maybe for a single donut with a coffee is worth it but not a couple dozen like we bought. Owner friendly, but it was just ok. read more

Warm, delicious, and perfectly made donuts! One of my favorites to order for the office!

Welcome to Madison! This is a really fun new donut shop. The donuts are made fresh and then you choose your frosting and toppings. We got a six pack and tried six different flavors -- they were all unique and fun and my son loved watching them be made! The shop is really cute, but they suffer from their size and limited capacity. Only a small number of people are allowed inside at a time, so everyone else has to wait outside until someone else comes out. That works just fine for now while the weather is nice, but it will be interesting to see how it's handled once it gets real cold! Having menus available outside so people can make decisions while they wait would be helpful! Overall, this spot is definitely worth a try and is a welcome addition to the area! Now that I've tried bunch of flavors, I'd lean towards ordering ahead and picking them up so I don't have to wait in line. read more

Duck Donuts - Kiosk ordering - Donuts Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

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Love everything about this shop and business model. Custom freshly made donuts, sign me right up. This is my families new 1x month weekend donuts splurge! Check this place out immediately! The service was quick and friendly. read more

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My coworker brought in donuts for her birthday and they did not disappoint! All of the flavors were delicious! I can't comment on the service or ambiance, but the donuts...top notch. I really want to go back for one of the milk shakes!! read more

Duck Donuts - Donuts Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

This is the first time I am going to a customizable donut place. They fry the donut in store. You can pick from a ton of different toppings. Donut will be handed over hot. Most of the folks were eating the donut right away. I went for 4 donuts - blueberry pancake, chocolate raspberry, boardwalk and s'mores. Chocolate raspberry was my favorite by a wide margin. S'mores may be my second favorite. read more

Duck Donuts - Blueberry pancake, chocolate raspberry, boardwalk, s'mores - Donuts Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

We stopped by Duck Donuts on Saturday, their second day open, and the incredibly long line was out the door and down the sidewalk. We decided to come back on a less busy day, so we stopped by this morning (a Tuesday) at 8:30 a.m. The line was relatively short - maybe four groups ahead of us. There were several other patrons waiting for their donuts. The only ordering option was a single kiosk. As we were were third in line to order, an employee announced to the people walking in that it would be a 25 minute wait. At that, the couple ahead of us left, and we were next up in line. I figured that if it was 25 minutes for those at the end of the line, it would only be about 15 for us. I was wrong. The offering process on the kiosk was smooth, but my kids wanted to get Ollie the Duck jibbitz - but contrary to what the employees told us when asked, there was no place to buy these on the kiosk and no humans we could buy them from. We ordered a six pack of donuts and two singles - all were their pre-created options except one, which was a "build-your-own." Forty minute later, (see picture) this is what we got. Ten donuts all in one very messy box. Two were extra ones they put in by accident but just let us keep, apparently? We didn't get the exact donuts we ordered - not sure what we did get, but we definitely didn't get the lemon or the pj and j donuts we ordered. They decorated them in the box which means there were frosting and jelly and sprinkles everywhere. I had ordered two singles, because I wanted those to go to specific people - I didn't want a giant box of ten. My kids who were watching said the employee struggled a lot and kept breaking the donuts, taking them out, and then adding more, decorating more and creating even more of a mess. The outside of the box was covered in sticky frosting so we had to set it on the floor of the car. The donuts themselves tasted fine - kind of like a large mini-donut with toppings. It was good, but I don't think we will be going back for awhile until they've got all the kinks worked out. I love the idea of a build-your-own donut, but this was pretty disastrous. read more

Duck Donuts - Very messy donuts - not what we ordered. - Donuts Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

OMG, these donuts are amazing! I have no other words to describe how delicious these donuts are. The base for all of them is a cake donut. From there you can choose from a variety of glazes and toppings. You can choose one of their designs or create your own. They are warm when you get them. Besides the wonderful donuts, the place was warm and inviting. The service was fast and the staff were very friendly. I highly recommend if you like donuts. read more

Duck Donuts - A French toast donut with bacon and a chocolate donut. - Donuts Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

Me and my roommates love Duck Donuts! Perfect for a college kid looking to make the trek for fresh made-to-order goodness. The staff are extremely friendly and helped me curate the perfect box for my household. read more

Duck Donuts - Build Your Own Half Dozen - Donuts Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

Not sure what the draw is to this place. Donuts are all fry cakes (and small fry cakes at that!) no raised donuts. They were mediocre at best and I waited at least 20 minutes to get 6 donuts. Two people came in after me and ordered at the kiosk (I ordered at the register). They got their orders first. When I mentioned this I was told they ordered online - nope they did not. No one working there seems to be in any kind of hurry, doesn't seem to be any kind of system. Manager rude and condescending when I mentioned the wait. All I can figure out is people that think these are good donuts have not had a real donut. Greenbush remains the one and only true donut bakery in Madison. Can't imagine DD will last long. Oh and they were $15/HALF DOZEN. Insane! read more

Duck Donuts - Half Dozen Glazed Donuts - Donuts Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

Delicious donuts! There's nothing better than a warm, fluffy treat. I tried the Girl Scout donut with caramel drizzle, and it was incredible. Plus, Dave made the experience even better--his friendly smile and warm welcome perfectly capture that classic Midwest hospitality. read more

Artisanal donut shops have had a rough time in Madison (see Hurts). I really hope this one makes it. The service was fast-considering that the donuts are made to order especially. The inside seems cute but donuts are more of a grab and go. We got a breakfast box and despite the uniform base cake donut the toppings make them seem extraordinarily different. Every single one was delicious. The salted Carmel bacon maple glazed was the absolute favorite in our house. Can't wait to try their breakfast sandwiches next! PS. Some of the prior reviews are a little heavy handed. I don't know about anyone else but going to any dining establishment on the first or second day is a bad idea. Let them get their "ducks" in a row if you will. I hesitated coming in the first week but couldn't wait any longer. 6 days was worth the wait! read more

Great donuts warm and fresh. Specialty flavors definitely made with care. Great variety of flavors and creations.

Good donuts and I like the creativity of designing your own. They're hot when you get them too! Not my favorite donuts in Madison but they're good read more

Duck Donuts is a welcome addition in a market surprisingly lacking in good donut shops. Delicious, creative donut flavors, and the sandwiches and drinka are great too. read more

Donuts are amazing- legit best I've ever had, and I'm an east coast donut snob. The issue is it's terribly run- I've been three weeks in a row and placed an order one minute after they open. The shortest wait has been fifteen minutes. It's almost impressive how slow they are, since the employees don't take orders (single slow terminal) and there are roughly ten of them standing there. If they ever figure out how to put out more than one donut every two minutes, maybe I'll go back, but for now I'm done having my time wasted. As I type this, we're ten minutes past when they assured me they were "ready to start the day," which was five minutes after I placed an order. It's just poorly run. read more

Not a great or even good experience. We walked into a long line with only kiosk ordering possible. I left my phone in the car, so couldn't try to order online. The kiosk itself was horribly setup, with many of the donuts on the digital and print menus not even included. The hot mess that is the donut assembly line was kind of gross. They assemble the donuts right in the box which leaves a lot of excess toppings that aren't constrained to the target donut. When our donuts finally came up, they missed one and the employee that put the order together simply walked away when questioned about it. Another employee made it right, but kind of a pain to get a correct order. Overall donuts were okay. lemon blueberry was good enough to take this from a one star to two star review. Not worth the price or any hype. I certainly won't be back. read more

We visited Duck Donuts Grand Opening weekend. We had to, my daughter is our little donut monster and they did not disappoint! It was busy but the kids bellied right up to the window to watch their donuts be made (nice touch, they thought that was pretty awesome!). The staff was great, the donuts were delicious . We will be making our way for another visit soon! We have plenty more to taste test. Nice work! Opening weekend is stressful and busy but there were all the smiles and great donuts! read more

Duck Donuts - Duck Donuts Opening - Yum! - Donuts Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

Such amazing donuts & staff! Can't wait to bring the kids back to try the new fall flavors. read more

Duck Donuts - Donut taste test 10/10 - Donuts Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

Think of Crumbl Cookies but donuts. Unlike Hurtz, these are made to order and really, really good. Well worth the small wait. I had a jelly-filled peanut butter donut and am still having dreams about it. Surprisingly good coffee, too! read more

I tried one of their "bagel" breakfast sandwiches. Terrible. The bagel is just a bad roll that was likely frozen and then microwaved. it's texture was that of rubber. The undersized sausage patty was utterly tasteless, as was the goopy "cheese" slopped over it. I also tried 2 of their donuts. they weren't a whole lot better. massively overpriced at 2.75 for one, they are assembled to order, which sounds good, but isn't. You end up with a sloppy, almost liquid mess of a donut. The flavor was fine, but nowhere near worthy of the price. This was a one and done experience for me. There are far better, less expensive places to get this type of fare. read more

I went to Duck Donuts on the first day they opened. There was a line which I expected. The staff was great. I ordered two dozen donuts but it took a while to get my 2nd dozen. The donuts are cake donuts with different toppings. The donuts were good but I'm not sure if I'll make the trek over again anytime soon for donuts. read more

Duck Donuts - Box of dozen. - Donuts Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

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Great experience and easy ordering with the kiosk. Breakfast sandwich donuts with the maple glaze are the way to go.

Donuts a great but if your going to post hours on the door and online indicating that you're open until 6, you should be open until 6.

What a flawed business model. First of all, who cares about fresh doughnuts? Doughnuts taste great (arguably better) after sitting for a while. Making doughnuts to order (unless they're beignets) is idiotic. ESPECIALLY if you can't run your fresh-doughnut business with a degree of efficiency that prevents exorbitant wait times. After ordering, I waited a full 30 MINUTES for a dozen doughnuts, none of which were "custom" or "specialty" in any way, shape, or form. And this was at 10:00 AM, not right when they opened or anything. This *could* have all been worth it if the doughnuts were stellar. But they were mediocre at best. Ones that are generally flavor-packed elsewhere, such as coconut and bacon, had almost no flavor at all other than general sweetness. Can't believe I paid more than $26 for this. Will not go back. read more

Duck Donuts is basically a place to mass produce a single type of donut with cheap and easy toppings. Went there the second day they were open and I can tell they were vastly unprepared, as the staff had no idea how to use the register. The staff even told me that the icons on the register are incorrect for their actual menu items. The coupons they sent out before the store opened don't actually work and they have to manually change the price (which the cashier did incorrectly and didn't actually save me money.) I ordered 6 donuts, which should've been $15, and without the coupon it was $18. WITH the coupon, it was still $16. The building is so small that they have a crowded production line that takes up most of the interior, meaning they force everyone to wait in a line outside. If you want cheap donuts at a costly price after waiting half an hour in line, this is the place for you. read more