This delightful place has gone downhill since the move and it pains me to admit it. This service is awkward - they've got more than enough people moving around, they just can't seem to have it together. I've visited twice, and on the second time sat at the bar and immediately ordered a drink - that was never delivered to me. It was a steady flow of customers but the bar wasn't very busy. I was told much later that they had made our two cocktails and left them at the register (away from the bar) bc, apparently, they couldn't figure out where it should go. Why not ask the hand full of people sitting at the bar though? Food took a long time for a meal of raw veggies and cheese that didn't even need to be cooked. Mainly, it's a cluster of servers who are extremely scrambled and trying to do a little bit of everything. There should be designated people at the bar, at the register, in the kitchen, and serving food. That's it. First time I went instead was the opening night. I completely understand how that may have gotten out of hand for a new kind of establishment. But they were simply not psychologically equipped for the crowd. While waiting in line a server came up to the crowd and announced that they would be "taking a 20 minute break"since it had gotten too busy for the kitchen and broke the line into people who would and would not be served at the moment. Everyone can appreciate busy - just say that there'll be a bit of a wait and the customer will understand! But taking a break? That just sounds unprofessional, childish, and unable to handle the rush. And it was a cold, pouring rain night. What would they have done had it been more welcoming weather? Shut it down? I used to love this place. Yes, it was tiny, and the line was often out the door and packed with hungover students, but it all came together. The beautiful mess made sense for a small donut shop. They set their expectations too high and don't have the equipment to fulfill them. What a shame. read more

Ok, if you are serious about coffee and food-- this is the place. Their biscuits and coffee give me life. My only complaint is that it's so good that there's often a wait for seating on the weekend. Our go-to breakfast spot in Durham. And my kids love the donuts! read more

Monuts is awesome! This place is definitely not your typical Krispie Kreme or Dunkin' chain. With that being said, every single one of the flavors they had sounded terrible to me. There weren't any original donuts left when I got there (around 11am) so I was left with Brown Butter Sweet Potato (um, no), Orange Pistachio (definitely not), Raspberry Earl Gray (what the ---), and Ginger Hibiscus (I'd rather not). I'm not into adventurous flavors like that so I skipped those completely and went with the regular food menu. I really did enjoy their sandwich "Guac Dirty To Me." The sandwich consisted of: a biscuit, sausage, guac, red onion, queso fresco, and a farm egg. I would be willing to try Monuts again but if I'm going to be purchasing donuts, I'll just stick to Bakers Dozen in Raleigh. read more

For some reason I woke up this morning and decided to try and be hip like all the other West Durham folk & try out the new Monuts location. We got the banana cardamom and aztec chocolate donut, 2 pep it up biscuits, and a mimosa. It was almost $30 and FAR from worth it. The biscuit itself was tasty, but the pep it up as a whole was just meh. The red pepper jelly in Durham seems to be a dying trend. The donuts were SO sugary and cakey. Just not my preference. I have had a bacon maple one before that I liked at other location. These were just ok. For 30 minutes I did not see silverware or napkins restocked. The floor was covered in food and nobody seemed to notice that tables needed to be wiped down. They are extremely busy but for sanitation someone should be watching for people leaving and cleaning up. The mimosa was good and a good size. I wish I had spent my $30 on some OJ and champagne and stayed at home though. If you love sweeeeeeet sugary donuts - come here. You will leave smelling like a fried donut though. I haven't decided if that's a good thing or not. read more

I have been to the previous location and loved the donuts. Reminded me of Voodoo Donuts from back home. So I decided to visit the new location, 3 days after it opened on a Monday. Their Yelp said they were open and so did Google. Once I get there, I see that they are closed at 9:00am on a Monday. I was not the only one upset in their parking lot. So in frustration I tweeted. I not only got into a Twitter war with them, I was told that I should update their yelp hours. It's your business not mine, why would I update your business hours. Also no one looks on Facebook pages anymore, so please don't tell me to look at your Facebook page for hours. Being rude seems to be their personality. I won't ever be going there again, which sucks because I like supporting local businesses. read more

Donut Taste: above average, but not life changing Price: Steep for a donut, but an attainable luxury Location: nice neighborhood, decent parking, no bike rack Service: Laughably bad I'm not a rich lady, but I can splurge two bucks for a fancy donut occasionally. I think I'd rather eat a two dollar bill than deal with the 'tude coming off the employees at this shop again. Monuts is very proud that they pay employees a living wage and offer benefits. That's great, and I'd love to support a business that takes care of its people. But man, I just cannot bring myself to pay twice as much for a donut so some snotty kid can roll her eyes at me, sigh, and generally act like I"m the stupidest, most annoying person alive. I don't require that I be served by automatons with smiles plastered on their faces, but outright hostility is too much. read more

I heard so much about this place from friends about their old location. We went to their new location, and at first glance it was very disorganized. We didn't know where to go to order donuts, there were 3 separate counters, one at the bar and two on each end of the donut selection area. We decide to sit at the bar and have a bite and coffee. The bartender wanted nothing to do with us, and was very uppity. When we asked to see the menus he scoffed put the red donut menus in front of us and walked away. Another woman comes up asks us what we want. We order 2 maple bacon, glazed, and an apple cider, along with 2 chai lattes and a regular coffee. Coffee gets plopped down, we request some cream or half and half, waitress says sure, 2 min go by, we ask again, another 2 min go by and she says oh I thought the bartender was getting it. Hands us the jug of cream and walks away. We try to grab her attention again because we have nothing to mix the cream in with the coffee. Finally she brings the donuts, they were average at best. The maple bacon and glazed were average, but the Apple cider lacked flavor or anything that remotely tasted like Apple or cider. We then finally receive our lattes. They were bland and tasted very watered down. I will never return here, such a let down because I heard so many great things about their old location. read more

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Very disappointed. Asked for all bagels not to be cut. (They "harden" quicker). And, all were cut. Also extremely expensive. For the price of $18.00/dozen, the customer should be given the "baker's dozen" of thirteen. I believe if the bagels weren't cut, they would be fluffier in the middle. For those of us who like to "tear" off a piece and drag through cream cheese, this isn't possible. read more

Went hoping a newer, bigger space would also mean more emphasis on customer service. Nope. Still rude service but now with the added bonus of rude bartenders and rude waitresses on top of rude cashiers. Doubtful I'll bother going back, especially now that Duck Donuts is in town. read more

YUM. You can't go wrong at monuts. The bagels are fresh and delicious and the donuts are amazing. They have such clever and seasonal flavors! My only complaint is how busy it is - it is often a wait and a struggle to get seating, but it is worth it! read more

I love their Donuts. Easily some of the best donuts I've had the privilege of eating. If you like Donuts you will Love Monuts Donuts. The problem with this place as I see it is workflow related The only reason I won't give them more stars is because there really seems no good time to get a delicious donuts in a relaxed atmosphere while not waiting in line or when the place is packed. I was really hoping when they moved to the new location with more seating and extended hours that some of the shortcomings of their previous location would have been fixed - but I was wrong. There is always a long wait for Donuts in the morning. They are now open till 9 pm so I should be able to go in late afternoon/early evening and pick up some donuts for the next morning and avoid getting up early to wait in line?? Wrong... The girlfriend and I went in last Friday at 6:00pm after we finished an early dinner for restaurant week down the street. We were excited because while we were eating dinner we realized Monuts was right around the corner and we could pick up some donuts to take home and enjoy as our dessert that night and then enjoy again the next morning. We walk in on a Friday night (3 hours before they close) and they only have 1 donut available (chocolate old fashioned). I would like to note that there was no line except for 1 couple ahead of us that were receiving the message from the staff that they only had the one donut offering. We heard this and dissappointedly turned around to leave. As we were walking out the door these two ladies were entering and asked us in a shocked tone "Is that the only Donut they have right now?". We confirmed and the two ladies turned right around and left with us as well. So only being in the store for less than five minutes we saw 6 unhappy customers that just wanted to pick up donuts from a donut shop that didn't have any donuts. I know that this is a testament for how good their donuts are and how quickly they get scooped up, but when you move to a new location and extend your hours I think you should make the effort to make sure your products are available to your customers at all times. Also my other beef with the new location is you don't know what Donuts are available while you're waiting in line until you get close to the front. They write it on a chalkboard that is below the cash register and will get blocked by the line of people. They have each available donut on a covered plate on the counter between the registers, but when there is a line you can't see them either. At the previous location you could see what was offered written above the staff's heads on the wall and could decide what you wanted while waiting the 20+ minutes to get to the register and place your order. Offer your entire selection of dounts during all open hours and try to come up with a way to service your customers quicker. The issue here is not the food, but the workflow. read more

The food is excellent here, and the service is the surliest I have ever seen in the South. Our waitress dropped some of the coffee into the saucer on her way to the table, and instead of apologising complained about having to come back another time to clear the plates that the previous group had left there. Can I just point out that if you're charging 3 dollars for a cup of coffee- 1. it should taste decent 2. you should deliver a full cup, not half in the cup and half in the saucer. On Sunday mornings there's a massive line, and if you brave the crowds, and the scowling servers and make it to the head of the queue order with care. The guy up front, Dustin, I think, did not tell me that the item I had selected off the menu was not available with a bagel and came only with a biscuit, even though I specifically requested the order on a bagel. This is after they had run out of one of their menu items already ( my first pick) at 11 in the morning. I wasn't told that my sandwich would come with a biscuit, which I only found when my order was delivered to me (the server ran off before I could stop him, so up I went to Dustin again). At this point I was informed that this menu item only came on a biscuit, to which I asked why I couldn't have been told this at the time that I was placing the order. "It's in the menu- you should read the menu". Thanks for nothing Monuts. In the approximately 2 minutes that someone can grab a menu and skim it for options while standing in your extremely noisy rushed restaurant I can't be looking around for the fine print as well. Besides it is kind of your job to parse the menu for customers. We ordered a selection of donuts- all of which were excellent- so we will probably be going back- and the biscuit turned out to be pretty good, but if there was some way I could get my money back from these goobs, or point out to someone in charge that their service was uniformly horrible I would. Oh- here's Yelp. Internet universe- their food is amazing and the service is godawful. Make sure you check with your server that they will deliver what you actually ordered, because even if they have no plan to, unlike most other places, they feel no obligation here to tell you. read more

I love the sandwiches and donuts here, but have to say I'm pretty disappointed by a new policy they've enacted. If you're sitting at the counter and order a coffee, it's $1 per refill. I could understand this policy on take-out coffee, or even when a customer is not seated at the bar. This pricing really takes advantage of their customers, and I think the least Monuts could do for those sitting at the bar, tipping their staff, and patronizing their business is offer free refills in those tiny, tiny, teeny mugs. read more

Delicious. That said, when your business constantly has a line out the door and mostly people just want doughnuts, you might consider having a "doughnut only" line. The stressed-out staff was short-tempered and impatient and though the menu is nice, that you can't get a side of bacon or sausage is ridiculous. I don't know if Monuts is suffering from poor management or growing pains, but it seems that with a few simple changes, this could actually be an enjoyable experience and it's not. I guess I should add that we had the apple cider, plain glazed, chocolate earl gray, mimosa and bacon bourbon glazed doughnuts, and a variety of biscuit and bagel sandwiches. All was delicious, but the amount of effort it took to order this food was a little ridiculous and the beverage selection was mediocre. They also don't do a decaf brew for coffee. read more

Disappointed. I liked Monuts in the past but donuts today were greasy and tasteless. Plus the customer service was poor. There is a bizarre sign on the door about how they will treat the customer well if the customer treats them well. So how should I interpret it when the customer treats their staff well and the management treated me like they could not care less? I am off in search of a new donut place because I will never return to Monuts. I would give zero stars if that was an option. read more

Tried 5 items and gotta say the place is overrated. Sausage was almost chewy, gravy was fine but nothing special, cinnamon roll was good but the two donuts we tried didn't taste fresh and one of them was a dry, bland chocolate dough. Was really loud too and also 98% hipsters trying their best at not caring read more

I recently discovered this place on my walk to work, I loved it and stopped almost every day for two weeks and was very happy. UNTIL, I took a friend for breakfast over the weekend. The dine in experience was horrible. My bagel was rock hard, i had to send it back, I couldn't even bite into it. I asked for avocado on the side, I paid what you would pay for 2 whole avocados and got 3 tiny slices. They offered to redo my food and the new food was just as bad. I honestly haven't been back sense because that experience just killed it for me. This was pre pandemic so don't let the date on this fool you, it had nothing to do with it read more

We ordered a couple of breakfast sandwiches and they were pretty good. The donuts...I don't know how those are making 'best donut' lists on the internet, they tasted like dunkin donuts. Which is ok, because I like dunkin donuts, but at dunkin I don't have to wait in line for 30 minutes to order and then stand around waiting for a table to open up. Also, the wait staff was mean, not curt or slightly rude, they were mean. I guess that's what you can expect when they start building huge condo mexaplexes on 9th street...assholes are soon to follow. read more

Best donuts and bagels! I am not really a fan of bagel but this is an exception. We went for breakfast and I love how crispy the bagel is. I also love their donuts, it's not air inside its pure dough! When i come back to NC I will definitely come back read more

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I found the new place to be off putting. there is a nasty sign as soon as you walk in. We were on line and someone got angry at my daughter for sitting and waiting while I got my coffee. It says no saving seats but not after you all get there? you can't find a seat while you order? that is ridiculous. My friend went and they wouldn't put her egg separately from her bagel on the plate. that doesn't even rate as a substitution. I work in a service industry. This just strikes me as the opposite as service. My donut was fine. my husband liked his breakfast sandwich a lot but I will say that the sign just put me off forever. Thank goodness the bagels I bought were not as good this time as that was my favorite thing about Monuts. read more

Was really excited to try this place--super overwhelmingly average. Tried the lox bagel, not a great bagel, salmon was good. Nothing memorable. Tried a few sweets as well and wasn't excited about any of them. Got takeout during Covid, so maybe was a fluke! read more

Just the best! Great food, service and atmosphere. We stop in every time we are in the area. Donuts or chicken pickle biscuit and tomato juice with a beer back. Cool place. read more

Picked up delicious cake donut today with an iced coffee. Vibe was right, people were beautiful and the tastes were on point. I'll be back. For sure! read more

Let me preface this review by saying we have been going to Monuts regularly for the last year and it's our go to spot to bring out of town guests. Unfortunately, today we had a horrible experience that is worth writing about. My husband ordered an iced coffee this morning and when he got to the bottom of the cup he ended up with what he though was ice in his mouth, but was actually SHARDS OF GLASS. He literally swallowed glass. Obviously we alerted the manager, but she was more concerned about getting the next order out than the potential for his intestines being cut open. My husband just stood there and the manager was kind of like "well we can refund your coffee if you want or maybe give you some donuts..." but never acted concerned, did not apologize, and was essentially saying "please stop bothering me." While we will still would probably go back there, the management needs to be trained better to deal with odd situations like this even while busy. read more

Food was okay, but the smell of this place nearly ruined my clothing. I want to love it, but sorry. Not worth hours of trying to get the burned-oil-sweet-donut smell out. read more

This used to be a place my family enjoyed. The past 3 times I have eaten here the waitstaff has been extremely rude. Everything would have been fine today except when we were leaving the waiter started to clear our table and attempted to seat someone at out table BEFORE we had left! Very disappointed. We will no longer be eating here. read more

Had the guac dirty to me biscuit sandwich. I give it a 7.5 because the egg wasn't over easy despite two tries. But everything on the sandwich looks homemade or super fresh and it was sooooooo good. We had four donuts too: apple cider, blueberry pancake, plain glazed, and chocolate sea salt. Blueberry pancake was the best! read more

If you're looking to go here but are deterred with some of the lower reviews, do it. We did. You won't be disappointed. A lot of them complain about long lines, lack of bagels tasting like a NYC bagel (..seriously?), parking, and "not being like the original." Don't listen to that. They have fantastic coffee, great doughnuts, delicious breakfast (veggie and carnivore options) topped with a friendly staff. Sure, you may have to wait. And yea, you might catch a server on a weird day because there's a line out the door like the Great Wall of China. But, if you're a reasonable human being, go here and enjoy the funny animal signs you receive to signify your table's order. We got a bear. read more

The donuts are always moist and just the right amount of sweetness. Hands down the best I've ever had. The breakfast lines are always so long, so try to get there early! The environment is great too. read more

I visited Durham for four days and spent three mornings at Monuts - could there be such a thing as a perfect donut? How likely was that? Three Monut Donuts later plus one or two for the road (in order to write a proper review) - wow - impressed with the light fluffy ones.... The cake ones were good but the fluffy pillow ones were sublime. Such fun varieties, brown sugar and oatmeal, strawberries and cream, Irish cream, I loved them all (I might pass on the all chocolate one just for overdoing the decadence!) the baristas are great and this place know how to make a terrific latte! Young hip good looking crowd - loved the decor and presentation of the donuts! I should mention that the breakfast sandwiches are really awesome too - very nice menu, open until late into the evening for that dessert donut and coffee! I loved this cute little place!! My daughter kept suggesting trying other breakfast places but one bite of their amazing donuts and I was hooked! read more

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The donuts and bagels are really great, and the food is interesting, but the service is terrible and snappy. Employees are rude in person and incredibly snobby in catering emails. Do better Monuts. read more

I think I'm giving up. SO loud, lines are crazy, service is terrible. The donuts are good, but how many times can you wait in line for 20 minutes, only to be told when you arrive at the counter that they have only 1 of the 8 donuts on their chalkboard menu left and they just preferred to leave them there as one great "F you" to their customers rather than drawing a line through them or erasing them as most places do when they run out of items on their chalkboard menu? (Especially when that chalkboard is *right in front of the cash register*.) No apology from the person at the counter, just tough luck for you and your kids and the friends from out of town you took there. The first time you think it's a fluke and mention it to the owner. The second time...okay, this is annoying. The third...they really don't care. They are assuming that after you wait in line 20 minutes, you'll buy *something*, and so they would rather waste your time and try to get your money for something you didn't want rather than warn you that they are out of donuts. I was such a supporter of this place when the owner first started biking around with her donuts and so happy to see it succeed. At first the donuts really weren't very good (heavy, dense), but she was trying, the flavors were fun, and they got better and better. We were happy about all that. But...enough is enough. The support Durhamites offered needs to be reciprocated by at least some degree of return respect. read more

The new location makes this place infinitely better than it used to be. They actually have a parking lot AND they're open for dinner. I never used to be able to make it before they closed at 3pm but now it's one of my favorite dinner spots. I had the grilled cheese with tomato soup and it was honestly some of the best I've ever had (cue Drake). I've also had their BLAT (bacon lettuce avocado tomato) with lentil soup and it was awesome. read more

I tried a variety of monuts donuts for the first time last weekend. I can only base my rating solely on the donuts because this is the only thing I have tried from monuts. I didn't know much about monuts before going, but have heard good things about their donuts. The shop was bigger than I thought inside and I didn't realize it was a brunch restaurant as well. I definitely want to go back for a sit down meal and get to try out some items on the menu since they all looked good being delivered to the tables as I waited in line. The donuts here are delicious. I have tried Rise a bunch of times, and I would say I would choose Monuts donuts over Rise. I tried the classic maple bacon donut. Simply amazing. You can really taste the maple flavor and the bacon makes it crispy and so flavorful. Next, I tried the peach jammie. This was a donut with peach jam in the inside. Usually with custard or cream in the inside of a donut you are expecting a sweet taste, but this was a local jam and it wasn't too sweet and was so rich with peach flavor. The third donut I tried was the blueberry lemon donut. I was not disappointed again. There were real big blueberries in this donut and each bite tasted so fresh. The lemon added a tangy taste to the donut and I loved every bite of it. I have had the blueberry donuts at dunkin donuts numerous times, and this blueberry donut at Monuts did not even compare. I can't wait to go back here and try more items from their menu. I'm also excited to see what other seasonal donuts they will have this summer! read more

I wanna be here for la long time since there has been all these compliments for monuts. Well, here I am. Eating. Donuts. I think there donuts are generally good but expensive. Glazed donut is a dollar. But if I want to spend the same price for donuts, I am more lean to rise donuts near south point. Because donuts in rise is more moisture and has more texture. Nevertheless. Monuts is also doing restaurant so I bet they kind shift their focus on food instead of bakery read more

Excellent Bloody Mary's with the baby back side beer. Perfect after night shift unwinder! Great breakfast too. Bourbon maple is fave so far. And bacon egg and cheese is amazing. Ready to go now!!!! read more

What am I missing here guys? The donuts are not that great, I've tried at least a dozen different ones. The breakfast sandwiches are good but really not filling unless you want a quick bite. They make the bagels in-house which is nice but I guess I've been spoiled by the bagels from brooklyn. The coffee specials are hit or miss. read more

Love this place! Though it's crazily busy, they've got customer service down. Love the artwork and the rabbit statue who greets you when you walk in. Only wish.... a place to sit outside or order outside with my dog. read more

Used to be a great place to have breakfast. Now it seems they want to nickel and dime you to death. When they moved to the new place they started charging for things on the make your own sandwich that they didn't in the past. I let that slide but now they want to charge for coffee refills when you are dinning in. This is for regular drip coffee, not the fancy stuff. Only worth going there now for take out donuts or I will have to start bringing my own coffee from home. Food is still excellent and the staff is very friendly except for the owners. My wife recently made a comment on Facebook about the refill charge and the response from the owner was basically "we have the best coffee in Durham" and "if you don't like it, go somewhere else". What great customer service. May just have to take their advice and go somewhere else if this is how they are going to respond to loyal customers. read more

Monuts - Donuts Near Me - Durham, North Carolina

I have such mixed feelings about this place. I discovered Monuts at their second event with the trike. Lindsay quickly gained a loyal following thanks to both her personality and delicious donuts. Unfortunately, the shop is now so busy she is stuck in the kitchen and doesn't get to interact with customers. As a result, the customer service can sometimes not be the greatest. I also have a hard time justifying waiting 30+ minutes for a decent, expensive donut. Durham needs a good old school donut shop. read more