So Strange Donuts did a GREAT job of marketing. Announce you are opening, make people wait over a year until you actually DO open, all the while pumping out donuts at festivals and tastings while building a strong media following. Darn good strategy.
I also love that they are open late.
So, now they they are open, it's time to finally review them.
I stopped by to pick up 2 dozen to take to the office. I asked the guy to give me a little of everything, and only as I was rung up did I notice that he only gave me the "crazy" donuts (that cost $2 each) and none of the "regular" donuts (that cost $1). So, I had a slight bit of sticker shock, but that was mostly my fault for not specifying.
On to the taste....
Overall, the donuts were.....donuts.
Of the dozen, I tried quite a few of them, and most disappointed to be honest.
The gooey butter donut really was a let down. The base donut, a simply cake donut, was actually really good. It had a great crust, with a wonderfully spongy center. That is where the good stopped. The glaze on the donut was just a glaze, nothing special. The topping, the part that was supposed to make it "gooey butter" was where the letdown really took shape. Instead of actually using yellow cake flavoring, or cream cheese or powdered sugar like a regular GB cake, it seemed the used a fake butter flavoring to try and create the effect, which ended up making something that tasted more like buttered popcorn, or FAKE buttered popcorn.
The Bart's Revenge Donut (chocolate with butterfinger) featured a boring chocolate cake donut that lacked the same crunch and sponginess of the gooey butter donut. The butterfinger topping was more of a butterfinger dust, which makes it awfully hard to be crunchy, the main draw of a butterfinger.
The dreamsicle donut was interesting. The guy at he counter asked if I wanted to add one to my dozens, as they were fresh and not yet on sale, so I would be the FIRST to try one. So of course i said SURE. It was basically a custard filled long john with white glaze that had been died slightly orange, and had a dusting of something on it that was indistinguishable from the rest of the donut. Not a single orange flavor in the donut, a major letdown. Now, had the donut been just labeled as a custard filled long john, I would have been more satisfied. This one failed simply for not meeting expectations.
The m&m donut just looked like an iced cake donut with ground up m&ms on it. Nothing too strange about that.
Overall, i really enjoy the concept of strange donuts, but I feel that they are trying too hard to be "strange" instead of actually focusing on making good tasting donuts. I've had many odd, and wonderfully tasty donuts in my days. These were simply strange, and were missing the wonderfully tasty part.
I have yet to try their late night donuts, like chicken and waffles. Maybe they can redeem themselves then, and if so, I will update my review accordingly.
UPDATE- I have been back a few more times now because I really want to like this place, but I'm still really let down. Some recent attempts...
The Fat Elvis- Great concept, PB, chocolate, and banana? Sounds strange, and had the potential to be great. This donut failed, like the gooey butter donut, due to artificial flavor. The outside was OK, the peanut butter glaze was good, not great, but the banana custard in the middle was horrible. The used artificial banana flavoring. It tasked like a bad piece of banana candy. If I am going to pay $2 for donut, I expect some real banana to be used.
Red Velvet- Boring. Luckily there was a bit of cream cheese flavor in the icing, but it couldn't save the dry boring red cake donut.
SMOA- I guess it was supposed to be a take on a girl scout samoa. This cake donut was a little more moist, but all it had was a couple of drips of chocolate frosting, and a dozen or so flakes of coconut on top. For $2? I don't think so.
Mexican Hot Chocolate- The chocolate dusting on top was kind of tasty. But again, super boring dry chocolate cake donut.
I've come to the realization that they just don't use good ingredients. Lots of artificial flavors, lots of dry/stale like cake donuts. I think the donut concepts have promise, but for $2 a donut, I expect a little more craftsmanship and quality. Right now, they are just focusing on being gimmicky. read more