I went here wanting to get a maple old-fashioned. Unfortunately, they were out. So I got an apple fritter, with it being fall and all. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. It was a little soggy, but the apple chunks were cooked really well. The lady at the counter seems sweet! I love that it's a little local spot. I will definitely have to try again another Saturday, as I want to give it a second chance. read more

The Original Ferrell's Donuts- Aptos - Apple fritter - Donuts Near Me - Aptos, California

Wish I had reviews before going to this establishment. The only reason I am giving 2 stars is that the donut taste was pretty good. We ordered a cinnamon roll and dozen donuts. While selecting donuts the employee seemed annoyed that we asked questions. And when we attempted to pay she rung it up incorrectly and could not get the register to work (she claimed it was locked). Our total was 22.25 and we had $25 but she could not make change. We gave back the cinnamon roll and took the donuts for $20 (dozen was $19). She stated she would give us the cinnamon roll but it wasn't her place any more. read more

Wow! I haven't been here in years, but man have they changed for the better. I had a bagel sandwich today with egg, cheese and sausage. It was hearty enough to share. Eggs fluffy, gooey cheese and flavorful sausage all tucked in a yummy Bagel. My friend was craving a donut and ordered a maple glazed old fashioned and I have to tell you we needed to get a second donut to share since it was so good. Honestly the best old fashioned donut I've ever had. I cannot wait to return again and again!!! read more

Bizarre that there are so many negative reviews here. I've been to this Ferrell's at least 15 times, never was anyone rude, and always fantastic donuts. The cinnamon rolls and chocolate old-fashioned are the bomb. Note, they don't make them there, they are just brought there early AM from another Ferrell's. read more

Jelly donut was well filled. Blueberry Cake was also decent m. buttermilk bar was a bit dry. Apple fritters didn't have any apples and the old fashioned was nice and crispy. read more

The Original Ferrell's Donuts- Aptos - Apple Fritters, Jelly Filled, Buttermilk Bars, Old Fashioned, Blueberry Cake - Donuts Near Me - Aptos, California

Donut was dry and flavorless; and looked to be 2-3 days old. Not worth the calories. Place was messy. read more

It was ok....not whst I expected and the donuts were just average. No ambiance or welcome!

Ferrell has the best apple fritters in Santa Cruz county! It's worth the drive just for the apple fritters. Staff is very friendly. They sell out on weekends especially on Sundays. read more

I always believe in supporting local businesses however every time my partner and I have been here the employee behind the counter is always RUDE and very complaining about she has no help. That is the impression that I have of this location. read more

After reading the reviews, we were skeptical, but our son really wanted donuts. We had a great experience. Tasty donuts and super friendly encounter with the person running the shop! read more

Clean, open everyday, nice staff They have cruellers! Chain style store with newer building fast in and out service

The older lady that works here was pretty rude this morning when I stopped by. Apple Maps says it opens at 6am so I arrived at 6:30am and she acted like I was annoying her because the door was still locked. She said "we don't open till 6:30!"...I pointed at the clock saying 6:30am and she said that she's not opening for another 10 mins. I would've been happy to wait but because of her attitude and rude demeanor I left and went to another donut shop in Watsonville. read more

Honestly, how can a donut store make you sad? Staring at a half-empty, ill-presented rack of donuts, I asked if the bear claw had apple filling and was told yes. Donut believe her. It was a Danish disguised as a donut, dry and bready, with a dried out speck of color as "filling" (see photos). I didn't even finish it. Who doesn't finish a donut?? I mean, besides Karen Carpenter. And, the unusually dense donut holes were little pellets of sadness... like what I'd imagine Eeyore poops. I think my "Original donuts", they might mean these are the very first batch ever made. And the bagel was barely toasted... don't let them add the cream cheese until you can make sure it's not just merely warmed. Insist on toast approval. I want my bagel to make noise when I bite it, and not just to mask the tears from their donuts. read more

The Original Ferrell's Donuts- Aptos - Filling?? Ripped off - Donuts Near Me - Aptos, California

See all

Donuts are always fresh with a friendly service. Love this place: Best donuts in town.

Stale donuts. Definitely seems like they just sit in the case for a day or two and are still being sold. Was told I couldn't eat in the building since they were closing in 15 mins...i had my baby with me. Just seemed kind of rude. read more

Rude and unfriendly woman didn't greet us or even smile when we entered the empty establishment. Selection of about 6 types of donuts, mediocre and not very fresh. Nasty employee obviously hates her job, has no customer service skills and should retire if she can't stand the public. No excuse for being hostile when asked a simple question ("Does the topping contain nuts?"). NEVER AGAIN! Go to Safeway for better selection and prices. read more

I just called in to order a breakfast bagel and the woman working today was extremely rude so I cancelled my order. I'm really disappointed as I usually enjoy going here. Losing business... read more

This is a total old school donut place kinda sorta close by seacliff beach. There are a couple of parking spots right out front and a larger lot right in back of the building both of which combined add up to more then enough space for parking. As luck would have it the original ferrell's donut shops are not a chain or franchise in any way as all are more or less independently owned by different people. It seems that the founder/original owner left each store to different relatives-none of whom had much interest in running them and thus sold whichever one inherited to other folks at different points in time. This is why none of the stores have anything in common besides the name. The one in live oak serves bar b que for example. The inside has a half dozen or so unremarkable older (circa 1980) chair and table combos. the decor is very plain with the exception of a small country style nostalgia section that contains some pictures of friends and family, some books, a speaker system, and some plastic flowers. While this place is all about the donuts they do serve bagel sandwiches. Be warned that the bagels are store bought and fairly unremarkable in every way. They do have coffee, tea and hot cocoa, but the cocoa is powder and the tea is of the american bag in cup style. Not a lot of specialization for the coffee-it's an unremarkable arabica blend in three varieties- decaf, light (italian) and some flavored type usually hazelnut or vanilla. The donuts however is where they earn that fourth star. Good donut places in the area are few and far between, but at this location they nail it. Sugary, frosted donut perfection all made fresh daily. The cinnamon rolls are killer, the apple fritters every bit as good as a roadside stand in Arkansas and the coffee while being un fancy in every way is a great pairing with donuts, and since they focus so much on the basics this place is very wallet friendly. A dozen donuts start at nine dollars, although you'll want to upgrade a bit as that is just for the glazed, it's still quite the bargain. Service is usually one of two old ladies. One is the owner, and the other is her best friend, and both have lived through stuff that would kill a terminator. As such they fear absolutely nothing on earth and don't feel the need to pamper anyone. It's not bad service as such-I mean even if you manage to irritate them someway you'll still get caffeine and sugary donut goodness for cheap-but they most definitely have their own mind of how things are. Get on their bad side (pro tip-do not use profanity in this store.) and expect some savage old lady sarcasm lecturing. When it's all said and done this is a good verging on great spot for some old school donut action. read more

Purchased half dozen "fancy" donuts, $18! The person who put the donuts in the bag asked for a tip. Discovered that the bear claws were raw at the center with filling that was very bitter, as if someone forgot the sugar. Poor quality donuts, crazy expensive. As mentioned by another reviewer, walk across the street to Safeway and you'll get better donuts for a much better price. read more

Got jelly donuts from them and they had mold spots. This was a Friday morning early. Goodbye, Ferrell's. I should have listened to what other's told me. By the way pay your counter people a decent wage rather than begging for tips. read more

I love the donuts at this little Aptos donut shop! Its a quant little neighborhood type of place! A small business! A local business! Honestly the people that are writing bad reviews are probably from big city's where there donut shops have walls of mass produced corporate owned donuts, 35 different types of coffee, and what ever other amenities one might find at a corporate giant of a donut shop! Whats great about this little shop is the atmosphere, the friendly locals who work here, and the yummy donuts they sell! No, they are not some huge big box owned place! They are just perfect being the small town donut shop! Now I want to go get me some of these donuts! Hope they are open right now!!! read more

I went to this Ferrells location for the very first time.I went just before 8 am Saturday morning.They didnt have a large selection of donuts and their drink cooler was limited as well.Now like I said this was my first time here so maybe they have better days.The donuts that I chose was a regulate with butter cream chocolate frosting.The cake part tasted slightly stale but the frosting was very tasty. The place was clean and the service friendly so I will come back another time and give them another chance. read more

New to the area and looking for a good donut place. Wasn't a fan of Ferrell's in Aptos. Expensive and not good donuts. They are dense and chewy. You can get half a dozen bad donuts here for $12 or go across the street to Safeway and get half a dozen similar or better donuts for $4. If you are craving some not very good donuts, save yourself the money and go across the street. Might try Deluxe Foods next. Won't be back to this place. However, the people were friendly and the area had charm, earning them the second star. Forgot to mention (edit): The coffee I bought was weak. Unless you like weak coffee, go elsewhere. read more

Listen to the reviews. Just got a few horrible doughnuts. Worst selection of doughnuts and drinks. Honestly a bag of hostess donuts from the gas station across the street are better than these. The cake donuts were stale. The best part was the carton of school grade chocolate milk. read more

Not too impressed with this little donut shop. The donut I had was dry and I had 1 bite and threw it away. My husband got a cinnamon twist which was also dry and had very little cinnamon. The counter service was slow because the employee was busy flirting with the girls ahead of us. They talked about video games for about 5 minutes while we just stood there. All in all, we waited just to get inedible donuts. Skip this place. read more

I recently moved to Aptos and since I'm a donut lover could not wait to try these donuts. I ordered several kinds and brought them home to my guests. I was so disappointed! Neither my guests nor I liked any of them. They had a weird consistency....I'd say chewy. It was not good and we threw them away, sadly. read more

To me a company that advertises business hours makes a commitment to keep them. They were closed when we arrived 10 min before their advertised closing time. Their window had one sign "we are open" and a second "closed". read more

Wow can't believe that this place doesn't have more stars. Ever since I was a little girl I have been coming here, and it's just as good as it ever was. The same lady even works there that did when I was a kid, her name is Vicky and she is the sweetest person ever! I've always had a great experience, the key is to go pretty early so all the good donuts are available. I recommend the maple bar, cinnamon roll, cinnamon twists, and the donut holes. They are super fresh and tasty. read more

Wish I checked Yelp before walking in here. They had merely 2 trays of mixed donuts, none looking too appealing. The lady behind the counter kept on repeating "we're closing...closing..closing" ad nauseum. I noticed she was getting a bagel ready for someone and was microwaving the egg. I should've walked out at that time but since we had hungry kids with us, we didn't feel like driving around looking for something else. So we picked two biggest doughnut pieces that were left over after basically being informed "take it or leave it, this is what I have". The lady was still repeating that they are closing, guess to make sure the kids don't stay and eat their donuts there. We paid for our stuff and left. Orignal Ferrell's, on top of measly selection has some of the rudest employees I've seen. If the person who "served" us was the owner, even worse. Believe the reviews and don't come here. read more

Just forget about this place and move on. Oh how I wish I would take my own advise and stop going here. But I keep wishing this place would get better but sadly, they won't. I've stopped here many times hoping for a good donut but to my dismay each time I find there are about 2-3 trays of donuts that are obviously cooked someplace else and perhaps left abandoned somewhere for a day or so before they finally make it to the display case at 7765 Soquel. Clearly they are beyond fresh and probably beyond day old as well. Today I stopped and got a Cin-twist donut. It was $1.60 and was clearly cooked yesterday sometime. Frankly, I could have gone across the street and got a 0.45 (that's right my friend, 25% of the price) cin-twist from Safeway that would be orders of magnitude better. And that is from Safeway - a grocery store. Others pointed out the workers here are miserable. I've had good and bad when here. Today she was not in the mood. If you actually are up all night making donuts, this is understandable but clearly she did not make donuts - donut makers are generally covered with flour and have dark circles under they eyes - I know as I assisted the night donut makers when in college. As others wrote, this Original Ferrell's as well as the 17th ave Santa Cruz and the Scotts Valley locations are owned differently from the Mission Street and Ocean Street Ferrell's. I have not been to the 17th ave nor Scotts Valley locations but have seen cupons that are accepted at these 3 locations. The Mission (West side SC) and Ocean stores actually make their own donuts fresh. Different owners are these and apparently by people who are serious about making donuts. read more

i can only vouch for the donut holes. they weren't bad, but they were not like other donut holes that taste fluffy and airy. the consistency was more thick and less on the fluffy side, and the outside tasted like a biting into a deflated soccer ball, sorry. but i'm sure everything else tastes really good, so don't let this review tarnish your experience read more

The ham cheese and bagel sandwich is amazing! The donhnut holes are great too. Every thing is super fresh and yummy.

Freaking AWESOME! I don't know why the other reviews are negative - we were stoked we stopped here. We just happened to see it as we drove by and we flipped around to grab a donut on our way out of town. The woman behind the counter was VERY nice, and we had difficulty deciding, everything looked so good. We each got a vanilla custard filled chocolate covered, then I got a buttermilk bar, and my man got a chocolate covered buttermilk bar. We were still discussing all the donuts we would have liked to try as we paid, and I dropped a buck and a quarter in the tip jar as we were picking up the bag. The lady was so happy we tipped her, she gave us an apple fritter as a bonus. I tipped her another buck. We stopped for coffee elsewhere, but dug in to the custard donuts right away. Heaven! Sheer delight. I saved my buttermilk bar for later, and I wish I had another one right now. You just don't see buttermilk bars much anymore, and this one was delectable. Delicious! The chocolate one my husband had was just as lovely. Sorry for all the folks who had a bad experience there, but we found it to be absolutely wonderful. read more

It used to (and still does) confuse my how all of the Ferrell's Donuts are called "The Original." I guess it's just the name, rather than a statement of being... At any rate, I tend to find that the donuts at this place are generally stale-tasting and not very good. The selection is small, and I'm not really even sure they make them there. Today's visit was even less fun, since it came with a counter person who obviously didn't want to be there or serving me. If you're headed south, stop by Top Donut in Watsonville. Soooooo good. Ferrell's will do in a pinch, but really you're probably better off going across the street to Safeway to get your donut fix on. read more

I've been there twice and that was enough. They have a poor selection of stale doughnuts. If you want good ones, go to the Ferrell's on Ocean Street. It's a scarier location, with all of the homeless people hanging around (don't go at night), but the payoff is superior doughnuts (including cronuts, the BEST EVER). Unfortunately, the one in Aptos is the one I live by and I just drive right past it everyday. read more

Wow, it's really to bad that this place has some bad reviews. My experience was nothing like others describe. Customer service was very friendly and helpful. We purchased 4 different types of donuts and they were all tasty and fresh. Without hesitation I would come back here for donuts. read more

It's not one of the better doughnut shops in Santa Cruz County, but it's the only one in Aptos. I'm not a fan of their raised doughnuts at all. The berry cake doughnuts and buttermilk bars are pretty good. If you're in Aptos and really want doughnuts, you might also want to try Deluxe Foods, Safeway or Sno White. Or, just drive further up the road to Soquel Donut Station for really great doughnuts. read more

Overcharged for quality. Poorly made donuts and bad customer service. Seemed like they didn't make them in house.

Nothing special to write home about, get there early for the fresher donuts..but if you are not a "regular customer" don't expect any special / nice treatment. The lady behind the counter is loyal to her "regular customers"...sometimes they come first before the "you don't come in here enough for me" customers. read more

It seems more a bagel sandwich place these than a donut shop. Came here mid-morning and the donut selection was quite poor. Mostly just dry cake donuts. Also, the behind the counter area is messy and sloppily maintained. If you're looking for a variety of nice fresh donuts, look somewhere else. read more