Shop:
Although I lived in Erie for over a year I had never heard of this donut shop before. In researching this place on yelp, it only had a measly 5 reviews! I decided to seek out more information and stumbled across their facebook page which had a 4.8 star rating with 26 reviews. I got in my car and drove to the shop which was well off the beaten track, it’s no wonder I had never heard or stumbled across this place on my own. The store itself is pretty small and unassuming. There is a large blue signboard outside the store, but the store itself is a tiny beige free standing building. There is a handful of parking spots in front and a small lot adjacent to the store. While tiny, there was counter seating on either side of the donut display case. I went mid-morning on a Friday and this place was a hive of activity! Every seat was occupied and people appeared to be lounging in the shop, reading the paper and drinking coffee. The shop also had tea, hot chocolate, milk and juice available for purchase. The one employee working seemed to be on a first name basis with several of the customers and was very friendly and helpful to me as I browsed their selection.
Donut Selection: I would estimate there were about 10 donuts to choose from when I stopped by. They didn’t seem to have any outlandish flavors, as most of their donuts were classic combinations like chocolate glazed, strawberry glazed, sprinkles, and then a variety of custard and jelly filled donuts with either powdered sugar or an icing topping.
Taste: I decided to try two different donuts, a strawberry glazed fry cake and a raspberry filled glazed donut. I tried the strawberry fry cake first and all I can say is WOW! That was a delicious donut. The outside of the donut was slightly crunchy and the inside was light and fluffy. You could tell the donut was fresh made that morning and the taste of the donut was spot on with just the right amount of sweetness. With chunks of strawberry in the glaze, it was a perfect blend of tartness and sweetness and was easily identifiable as strawberry. With my hopes high for my second donut I moved on to the raspberry filled glazed donut. First bite in the donut and I’m asking myself, where’s the raspberry?? The donut itself tasted stale and lacked any flavor or sweetness. The icing was a godsend as it was super sweet, but tasted like a fairly plain powdered sugar and water mixture. As I keep biting into the donut I’m hit with the raspberry filling and it was… uh interesting to say the least. I found the filling to be too gelatinous in texture to really be considered a “jelly donut”. The filling was tart, but I think if I hadn’t been told it was raspberry I would’ve struggled to identify which type of fruit was used. Last thing to note about these donuts are they are so itty bitty, each of them only measuring about 3” in diameter.
Cost: Donuts are $0.90 each or $8.00 for a dozen and there is a $5.00 minimum for credit card purchases
Overall Score: 6/10
I think the fry cakes here are the real winners. I would hands down recommend the shop for the taste of the fry cakes alone. However jelly filled donuts are a classic and I was pretty disappointed in both the taste and the texture of the filled donut I tried. I also took points off for this place being in the middle of nowhere. I don’t think I would be willing to trek 20 minutes off the interstate to try these donuts again.
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