Donut Places for When you Feel Glazy: Donut Review
By: Audrey McGee
Going to donut shops on the weekend mornings has been a common tradition for many families in the US. It especially has been for me and my dad. Ever since my Pater started a carb cycling diet, every Sunday morning for the last year we got up around 7:30 to go share breakfast at one of the fine donut establishments in Tulsa. We have gone from donut shop to donut shop for the past year. Today we will be revisiting some of the most notable donut shops in Tulsa to give you the scoop on which donut places are worth it.
Being the foodies we are, we developed criteria to formally evaluate each donut shop. We will be judging each place based on...
- Variety of Donuts
- The vibe of their environment
- How good their service is
- Price of the donut
- Taste of the treat
*It should be noted that we are judging each of these categories based on a 5 point scale
Riverside Donuts: 9675 Riverside Pkwy, Tulsa, OK 74137 (4.2)
Sean McGee’s Review: 4.25/5
Variety: 5/5
Fully stocked. Nice balance of all of the different types of donuts. Even strawberry glazed (very difficult to find). Keeps, bales and fried cinnamon rolls, Bavarian squares. Almost anything that you could want.
Environment: ⅘
Not small but quaint. They always have either Disney music or jazz playing. Very relaxing and fun.
Service: 5/5
Extremely friendly. They are always thankful and they always remember their repeat customers. It creates a sense of family and a loyal bond.
Price: $$
$11 for a drink and 5 donuts and a dozen Bavarian squares including cinnamon roll and apple fritters.
Taste: ⅗
The glazed donut has a nice flavor. Light and airy. Expected flavor, done to perfection.
Sausage: 5/5
Probably my favorite sausage roll. Less breading. More flavor, more jalapeño flavor. And the coupe-de-gras is a light powder that is on the outer breading. Wonderful!
My Review: 4.1/5
Variety: ⅘
They had a pretty even and wide variety. They had a lot of things ranging from apple fritters to maple bacon long johns. They also had a lot of cute, artsy donuts.
Environment: ⅗
It is a small-ish shop filled with cute posters and decorative walls. Very cute and they always have either Disney music or jazz playing which was a nice touch.
Service: 5/5
The people that run this place always greet you with a big smile and a warm welcome. They are some of the nicest people who will ask you how your day was and get you on your way.
Taste: 4.5/5
Hurts Donut: 111 S Detroit Ave, Tulsa, OK 74120 (4.075)
Sean McGee’s Review: 3.75/5
Variety: ⅘
fully stocked with a lot of variety. They pride themselves on specialty. Most of their options were a specialty. Not as much of the standard offering.
Environment: ⅘
Cool modern and upbeat vibe. Very clean and open. Lots of space
Service: ⅗
Not bad, but not great. Just very matter of fact. Helpful but not fun.
Price: $$$
$13 for 4 donuts, a jalapeno kolache, and a large soda
Taste: ⅘
surprisingly a very good glazed donut. I’ve always thought of them as a cake donut shop. Their glazed was a large donut, it was rich and flavorful but not too heavy. Definitely substantial.
Sausage: 2/5
Kind of a weird taste and texture. But it IS a Kolache. And I DON’T know what that is. But it DOES look like a sausage roll. Compared to sausage rolls I rate this as under par.
Other:
We did a blueberry centered donut and a cheesecake center donut. Both had a lot of flavor. Overall good flavor combinations. But there is nothing special baked into the essence of the donut. Still a good donut and smart flavor combinations.
Overall very good but very heavy. Like the name says, they gonna hurt ya.
My Review: 4.4/5
Variety: ⅘
they had a WHOLE lot of cake donuts. Very cute but the are all specialty donuts. Very Instagram able and had so many different kinds of donuts which was a lot of fun to see.
Environment: 4.5/5
Very open for a great donut shop and it had a very cute modern feel to it with fun music playing. I got a 2000’s vibe from it and I loved it
Service: 4.5/5
Nice people working there she was friendly and smiled
Taste: 4.5/5
glazed: I have officially found the best-glazed donut. It’s is beautifully done. It’s not too dense with the perfect amount of glaze. It wasn’t plain for a plain donut. I loved this donut would eat twenty of them.
Special: it was pretty good for a crazy donut but dang these things are heavy. You only need one donut from the place to feed a family. Nevertheless, it was good. The blueberry donut was also heavy although it wasn’t too bad. Funny enough it tasted like a pop tart straight up. Their glazed donuts are pretty good.
Other:
This is a donut shop you would go to once a month. It is a super heavy but pretty good cool place to hang out but hard to share the donuts.
Livi Lee’s Daylight Donuts: 3121 S Yale Ave, Tulsa, OK 74135 (3.9)
Sean McGee’s Review: 3.6/5
Variety: 3/5
fully stocked with a lot of variety
Environment: 5/5
Very unique. Felt like we stepped back to the 50s. Very clean and nostalgic vibe. Interesting that for such a strong retro vibe, it was natural and jot forced. I didn’t see a single Elvis or Marilyn Monroe poster.
Service: 3/5
very friendly. Fun staff. Helpful and customer-focused. I left the interaction in a happy mood.
Price: $$
$11 for 5 donuts, 1 cinnamon roll, a jalapeno sausage roll, and a large soda
Taste: 3.5/5
a slightly denser donut, but not too heavy. Perfectly light glaze and not sloppy. Has a bit more of a sweet taste than usual which was a nice touch
Sausage: 3.5/5
Well balanced flavor. The bread was somewhere between a croissant and a roll. With both light qualities yet still holding on to some substance. It was not too doughy and not burned. Light spiciness.
Other:
Several different types of specialty donuts. Including strawberry glazed with Fruity pebbles. Wonderful and crispy. But the one that stood out was a blueberry cake donut. It had a rich flavor but not too dense. And a light glaze which added a nice topping to the rich blueberry flavor
My Review: 4.25/5
Variety: 3.75/5
They have so many decorated donuts it was overwhelming, man. They had fruity pebbles and old fashioned. Very cute donuts although they didn’t have a whole lot of other kinds but we weren’t complaining.
Environment: 4.25/5
This place was super cute and pretty open for a donut shop. Plus the exterior is so cool. It has its vintage daylight donuts sign and it’s in the middle of a parking lot. And to add they have a drive-through! They were playing cool music the whole time too.
Service: 4.5/5
There were a lot of teenagers as services but they were nice and had a smile on their face. Very sweet. They asked everyone how their day was and was not reluctant to help. They seemed happy to be there and were laughing a lot.
Taste: 4.5/5
Glazed: one test before I even ate it. I grabbed it and set it down without any of the frosting falling off. Very impressive. The donut was done very well. It was a bit dense with the bite however the taste was different than usual. There wasn’t a lot of glazed but it was balanced with a sweeter donut overall which was super good.
Sprinkle donut: it was pretty good my fav though was the fruity pebble out of the two. Good crunch and taste
Blueberry donut: PERFECT. I have never met a perfect blueberry donut until today. They never lost that blueberry flavor. It was moist and Camry with a perfect amount of glaze to enhance the flavor of it. This one is a must get!
Other:
Can’t believe they shared the same name with the other daylight donuts. This is my new favorite donut place. Must go if you are a donut lover.
Krispy Kreme: 10128 East 71st St S, Tulsa, OK 74133 (3.8)
Sean McGee’s Review: 3.5/5
Variety: 2.5/5
Okay on variety of donuts. Not as diverse as others that we’ve visited. Also, nothing beyond donuts. So no cinnamon rolls and no sausage rolls. Kind of a letdown.
Environment: 4.5/5
Open. Lots of windows. modern with a nod to the ’50s. But mostly modern. Very clean. Almost corporate but didn’t feel cold or impersonal. I loved that they had hats out on all of the tables. Reinforces the brand and is a fun take away item. having the donut conveyer belt and process opened to the public is unique and intriguing. It catches my attention every time. It’s fascinating to see them transform from dough to donut. And it definitely adds a bit of magic...
Service: 3.5/5
Friendly and efficient. Very personable. Definitely connected with the customers as people. And giving out a free, fresh-off-the-press donut to each of us a nice bonus
Price: $$
$17 for 14 donuts, and a large soda
Taste: 3.5/5
Light and fluffy. It’s almost like tasty air. Not sloppy. But the flakes will make a mess, and you won’t care because it just tastes so good.
Sausage: NA
Other:
Glazed with Kreme in the ring. A unique idea. Tasted good, but after I’ve had one I’m kind of wishing that I could just have a glazed creme-filled and Butterfinger. Very unique. Tasted like a candy bar. Not much of a donut taste. And honestly, if I wanted a candy bar, then I would just have a Candybar. I wish it would have had a bit more donut flavor in it.
My Review: 4.1/5
Variety: ⅗
There were a lot of donuts that looked pretty but all had been donuts. No sausage rolls, no apple fritters, no doughnuts. A bit let down but hey they got a good amount of doughnuts.
Environment: 4.5/5
The environment is super cute and very modern like always. I remember as a kid coming here and being in awe of the hot doughnut belt. This is a great place to go for all ages.
Service: 4.5/5
Good service they were ok and got us out of the line fast. They did give us free Doughnuts too.
Taste: 4.5/5
Glazed: they are wonderful and hands down the best in Tulsa. They are light and fluffy and just melt in your mouth. It’s like heaven in a doughnut. If nothing else you need to come for their glazed doughnut. They do have a drive-thru. The dough has a very unique taste but it is perfect.
Special: mini- they are so cute. It’s your 3 bite doughnut very creative. It made the doughnut denser however I was never doubting its power for a second. Their sprinkle doughnuts will never go unbeaten.
OK Country Donuts: 8048 S Yale Ave, Tulsa, OK 74136 (3.6)
Sean McGee’s Review: 3.75/5
Variety: ⅗
They have a variety of art but just an average variety of donuts. They were fully stocked and all donuts were available. Even though it was a Saturday morning.
Environment: ⅘
Small but we were able to find seats. Very local feel. Not everything matched. But it’s kinda what you expect and want from a donut shop.–authentic and local. The lighthouses are a nice unexpected touch that had me wanting to know the story behind them.
Service: ⅘
Despite being very busy they were able to wait on us within 5 minutes. They were adequately staffed efficiently. Friendly but not overtly.
Price: $$
$8 for 5 donuts a sausage roll and a drink.
Taste: ⅘
Glazed donut was rich and flavorful. Nice glaze on top, lightly crispy. Thick and richer than other glazed donuts but not as thick as a cake donut.
Sausage: ⅗
Good. Definitely local and fresh. The bread is fresh and fluffy. Not too spicy. So everything is in good balance. But nothing unique to stand out above others.
My Review: 3.5/5
Variety: ⅘
They had a whole lot of donuts, however, the focused on the art donuts. They had unicorns, cat in hats, baby Yoda’s, and footballs. It was very cute and artistic.
Environment: 3.5/5
Very simple design with cute fabric tables and various lighthouses. Feels very home-like although the kids come included.
Service: ⅗
The service was good. They took my order fast and we were able to sit with our donuts within 5 minutes after we reached them.
Taste: 3.5/5
Glazed: very light donut with a good amount of glaze. It had that classic donut shop flavor nothing special, just like imagine homemade would taste like.
Daylight Donuts: 4775 S Harvard Ave, Tulsa, OK 74135 (2.3)
Sean McGee’s Review: 2.25/5
Variety: ⅖
Very little was available. The case was mostly empty.
Environment: ⅗
Spacious but not special. Nothing unique
Service:⅖
No kind of connection. Not relatable. All business. It seemed very rushed.
Price:$$
$5 for 3 donuts
Taste: ⅖
Very heavy. Too thick and slight for my tastes. A bit too sweet on top of that.
Sausage: ⅖
Overcooked. Very spicy. Although I do like spice, there was so much heat that it overpowered and of the other flavors. No subtlety.
My Review: 2.4/5
Environment: 2/5
Very open but kind of bare. Their design was ok but I didn’t have anything that made the place glow
Service: 2.5
They were ok. They got the line moving. They didn’t really talk they just got us what we needed and we got to our seats
Variety: 2.75
They didn’t have a whole lot of variety. They had a glazed donut and a couple of sprinkle ones. They still had a couple of different options which was good
Taste: 2.5
Glazed: the glazed donut was ok but it again was really dense once you bit into it. There was a pretty good amount of glaze.
Special: this one was ok. The glaze was good but I didn’t get a whole lot of that raspberry taste I was looking for they just kind fell short with the taste