Doughnut Dolly

Love this place! I always make sure to stop by while I’m waiting for my Philz next door. The jams are usually a bit tart and remind me of a typical jelly donut. But the best flavor is definitely the Naughty Cream, it seems like a typical flavor but it is seriously elevated from your typical cream filled donut. A must try if you’re here or in the area!

Mom all for artisan products that cost more for the quality you get, but this place leaves me a bit conflicted. I like that they sell doughnuts until they run out instead of overproducing, and the cream (that you get to select) is FRESH which is great. But after having my deliverable doughnut I couldn’t help but be a little conflicted that their marketing strategy is to sexualize doughnuts? Like their breadboard sign says «be naughty!» And their most popular (& delicious) cream is the Naughty Cream. Yes that’s fun and it’s good but sometimes I just want to eat a doughnut and not worry about it being a sexual choice? Just a little food for thought.

So, so delicious. I’ve never actually been here because I have pampering friends who just bring them TO me :-D
I have, however, been to the Temescal location. I digress: their doughnuts are delicious. I like them because they are the perfect consistency, so fluffy! They ARE NOT grossly sweet like typical American pastries.
All of the fillings are delicious; you seriously cannot go wrong, but go with your gut. I love Naughty Cream and any/​all chocolate fillings.
Great price for the size (and sugar) in the treat. The quality is unbeatable.

You got me at Dolly! Doughnut Dolly is so scrumptious delicious! This moist, fluffy, mouth watering doughnut is so good! It’s kinda crazy because it wasn’t really as sweet as I thought it would be.
Process:
1. You pick a doughnut — Powdered, Glazed, Chocolate or Sugar
2. You pick a cream — Naughty Cream (my fave), Cherry Jam, White Russian (cost a little more .50) or Mexican Chocolate
Staff was friendly, nothing over exciting, except for he let me taste all the different creams.
Super small space, but outside patio is available.
Along with your doughnut, don’t forget to order «Jittery John’s» Cold brew! See you again Dolly!

What can I say… Doughnut Dolly is like a good relationship gone bad. I’ve been coming here for years, but recently I’ve experienced some quality and consistency issues. The doughnuts are some times spongy and chewy with an off putting taste note I can’t quite identify. Other times they’re light and fluffy with a mild sweetness — as they should be. The fillings range from a thin, runny texture (quality control?) to a thick, uneven feel with a mild sour flavor (getting old?). The best variant is somewhere in the middle of these two.
And speaking of filling, if your premise is fresh, crème-​filled doughnuts they should probably be FILLED with crème not just injected with a dab in the center. The obvious result is a mostly plain doughnut with only one bite in the center, which simultaneously leaves you disappointed and wanting more. The only «filling» here is regret.
I will admit, when they get it right these things are amazing and this is why I chose to give them 2 stars instead of 1. Being on the high end of the doughnut spectrum at $ 3 – 4 each, they better be right EVERY TIME! And this is the problem. Lately I’ve come here with memories of the good ol’ days, but leave remembering why it just doesn’t fit anymore. Sorry Doughnut Dolly, but I think it’s time we go our separate ways.

I’d been wanting to try Doughnut Dolly for a while and was so excited when we finally made it there one Saturday morning! Unfortunately I was pretty disappointed. While the naughty cream and chocolate fillings were both great the donuts as a whole were extremely lackluster and I would NEVER spend $ 3 on a just ok donut, and if I’m being completely honest these shouldn’t be sold for more than $ 1 as is.
For being a place with filled donuts there was hardly any filling! To start making these better there needs to be at least 3x the filling. What bothered me the most was the powdered and regular sugar donuts– being that they coat them before hand are hardly coated at all! All of the donuts may as well be sold plain.
The cons heavily outweigh the pros and I can’t see myself ever going back. Bottom line, over priced and over rated.

I’ve been curious about this place for some time now and it must be good if they sell out by early afternoon everyday.
I came in while I waited for my burger next door. It’s such a cute spot inside! In front of you is like a stage where you see a dish of the 4 types of doughnuts you can pick from, and all 4 filling pumps to choose from. What a cool gimmick! They don’t pump filling into your doughnut until you order and there’s all sorts of combinations to choose from!
It was a Tuesday around 1pm when I came in and the doughnut selection they had were:
— Powdered Sugar
— Lemon Glazed
— Chocolate Frosting (Sold Out)
— Granulated Sugar (Sold Out)
Ok, so I have 2 choices and the guy there told me he has just 8 doughnuts left!
Now for the filling selection:
— Naughty Cream (Vanilla Bean)
— Berry Jam
— Peanut Butter Cream
— Dark Chocolate
What’s cool is that I was able to sample these fillings! So that’s nice. So here’s the combination I went with that cost $ 3 each:
Lemon-​Glazed + Naughty Cream
Powdered Sugar + Peanut Butter Cream
Okay, so… I wish I was able to sample the doughnuts too because I would have not bought it. I really didn’t think it was great and worth $ 3. The dough was spongy and tasted like it was a day old.
As for the filling, there was barely any! The filing was fine and I liked that it wasn’t so sweet. The peanut butter filling tasted like custard with a bit of peanut butter flavor. Both filling was at room temperature; not chilled… which made it kind of weird?
One thing I’m a bit upset about was that I am NOW learning that I can mix fillings! The thought of having both berry jam and peanut butter cream filling crosses my mind but I didn’t know it was allowed! Why didn’t the guy there tell me I can do that?! Oh well, I guess I should have asked.
Overall, sure it’s great branding with friendly staff, but this place is way over-​hyped. $ 3 is way too much for a mediocre tasting doughnut and I much rather go have my regular no-​branding, no-​social media, pink boxing, pre-​filled, mom and pops donuts shop I grew up with.

Doughnut Dolly’s really delivers delicious, fresh, and fluffy doughnuts that are incredibly flavorful and not too sweet. All the filling flavors I’ve tried are solid, but my favorite is the naughty cream. It’s satisfyingly sweet without making your teeth hurt.
I love that you get to pair the type of doughnut you want (e.g., powdered sugar, lemon frosting, chocolate frosting, or granulated sugar) with the type of filling. You could also pair it with a cup of Philz which is right next door!

I love Doughnut Dolly since it’s opening in Temescal. It’s even better parked next to Pete’s in Berkeley.
These doughnuts are out of this world and I love that you get to pick your filling. My daughter and I have a Wed tradition of picking up a doughnut and something from Pete’s on her way to school.
Don’t miss out because these doughnuts are like nothing you’ve every had before.

Doughnut Dolly is so darn good!
Flavors: Try them all!!!
My favorite is the bourbon one. The thing is they won’t have the same 4 flavors everyday but you will not be disappointed. They stuff the doughnuts when ordered and everything is fresh. You can get a sugar, glazed, & I believe powdered doughnut to go with whichever cream you choose. They will definitely mix the flavors or recommend something good if you can’t decide. If you want them you better come in quick! They do run out and close once they’re sold out.
Conveniently located between Philz Coffee and Farm Burger. (Also super good)
Come into doughnut dolly for a sweet snack or your morning brew. BTW owner is also a sweeeetheart.

I absolutely love this place! Whenever I’m in the area I make sure to spot by. All the workers are extremely sweet as well as helpful and no one gives off that «fake nice» vibe.
I do recommend the naughty cream another great thing is that the doughnuts aren’t overly sweet.

The best place to ruin your diet.
Doughnut Dolly has amazing doughnuts – soft, puffy little clouds of fried goodness that you can customize with fillings and sugar toppings.
I’ve never had a stale, oily or gummy doughnut here as others have said. In fact, I have never had a mediocre let alone bad doughnut from DD. I have had the naughty cream, cherry jam and Mexican chocolate fillings and it was worth every sugary calorie. The cherry filled is my favorite, as it isn’t too sweet or sour, but there is a nice tart punch to it that offsets the sweet and mellow doughnut. Naughty cream is a close second favorite, because the cream is rich, thick and has a mellow creaminess most other doughnut shops can’t compare to – way less sweet than a Krispy Kreme with livelier flavors. Mexican chocolate was delicious, but I couldn’t even eat a whole one, the filling was so rich. The eggnog filling tasted just like Naughty Cream.
The shop is small and they often run out/​close once their supply is gone, so come early. 4 stars instead of 5 because at three bucks a pop breakfast often gets a bit pricey, especially when you make a Philz run next door!

Doughnut Dolly has a pretty novel technique for you to customize your dough. They’ve got pre-​fried doughnuts on standby; all you have to do is pick your filling and topping. Once you’ve made your selection (pumpkin spice filling and powdered sugar topping, in my case), they’ll pop that pocket of dough onto a tubey machine thing (my baking lexicon is sadly limited) and fill ‘er up! Pretty cool to watch! The filling itself is great — decadent but not too rich, sweet but not achingly so.
So, the concept is super fun and the fillings are tasty, but the execution of the doughnuts themselves is lacking. Although your doughnuts get freshly filled, the dough itself is far from fresh (remember, they’ve got doughnuts just sitting in the open). Because the dough has been sitting there for a while, you end up with a slightly oily, kinda gummy, rapidly staling ball of dough that is filled with sweet cream. Doughnut Dolly, you got everything right, except for the doughnut :(

We always stop by the Philz coffee next door and catch a glimpse of the donut sign next door so we finally decided to check it out. They have 4 main donuts, you choose your filling and if you want powdered sugar, regular sugar, lemon frosting or chocolate frosting on top. They ran out of chocolate frosting when we stopped by so we ended up getting a Naughty cream with powdered sugar and Dark chocolate filling with Lemon frosting. Pretty pricey, $ 7 for 2 donuts.
Caution! The naughty cream filling is very easy to spill all over the place and makes a mess so I would suggest not eating it in your car or when wearing nice clothes you would prefer not to have covered with drips of cream.
Though it was a cute looking place/​concept to try out once, I don’t see myself returning in the future. Not worth the price or mess. I’m gonna stick to my good old fashioned simple donut shops with real donut prices.

Whooohoooo! Fresh donuts? Check. Fresh fillings? Check. New and interesting flavors each week? Check! Dolly’s has got it all AND some sweet customer service to go with it. Talk about a great business model! The novelty of seeing your very own doughnut filled right before your eyes is a great delight, time after time (at least for me!). Filling is not skimped on so I can’t really justify indulging myself here every morning, but the rotating flavors mean that I can always try something new the next time I come back. Even if the new flavors don’t strike your fancy, there’s always the old naughty crème standby if you’re not feeling adventurous. I LOVE that you can choose your doughnut topping of lemon pistachio/​choco/​powered sugar/​granulated sugar too!

For the last 2 years I’ve gone through a «major» eating and lifestyle change. (Dropped 120 lbs eating healthy, exercising, etc.) Buuuuut, I also don’t deny myself «life’s-simple-pleasures», however, I hold to a steadfast rule, «If I’m going to have a doughnut, it’s going to be „darn“ good doughnut». Here’s the funny part. We live about 100 miles away from this place but often travel to the Bay Area. When we first discovered this «doughnut heaven» my wife and I would split one, usually filled with Mexican Chocolate and naughty cream, affectionately called a «Naughty Mexican». That lasted a couple of times, now we each get our own doughnut and usually find an excuse to bring some to friends and family. In other words, «you may never eat a more delicious doughnut in your life». This place truly tests my will power and for that I’m glad they are 100 mile away.

Yes, yes, and more yes!!!
I got a powdered doughnut with mexican chocolate and it was very sweet and creamy with just a little spicy finish and with the sweet doughnut it was amazing.
My girl got the bourbon Crème and that was almost as good. Can’t recommend enough. It’s a must stop wether I’m at whole foods across the street or philz right next door

Why 5 stars? Because the tastiness: space ratio is as good as it gets.
— — —
The size of Doughnut Dolly’s space is minute. 10 people in here would be a crowd. There are literally 4 donuts sitting on the counter, some supplies from your high school biology lab, and one doughnut sherpa to guide you on your journey.
Here’s how it works:
1) You pick a type of doughnut.
2) You pick the flavor of cream that you’d like infused.
3) The sherpa/​scientist pumps said cream into said doughnut of choice.
4) You pay $ 3.
5) You walk outside onto the lovely patio.
6) You eat your creation.
7) You think, «wow, that wasn’t a cheap doughnut, but it’s very unique, and totally worth it.»
8) Optional thought: «It’s surprisingly not even as filling and doesn’t even make you feel gross after eating, like most cream-​filled doughnuts do.»
Enjoy!

A few years ago, I had the misfortune of having to deal with a staining on one of my favorite shirts. Somehow, after using every last bit of detergent in the house (and tearing through 2 Magic Erasers), the stain was exacerbated. As a last resort, I took it to my dry cleaners… After all, they are miracle workers! As I’m quickly hustling my way out, they stopped and ask, «Oh by the way, would you happen to know what sort of stain this is?» To which I tried my best to calmly say, «I think it’s a protein stain.» The 10 minutes that followed felt like 30 minutes, and EVERY worker was on the floor and struck by hysteria! A three-​legged caveman could have swung from the racks and started rapping on the counter — not a soul would have noticed.
A few days ago, K and I stopped in Berkeley for some fuel. «Donuts — we’re near donuts!» I exclaimed. As I sat in the car, he approached me with (1) sugar donut with raspberry jelly, (1) powdered sugar donut with naughty cream, and (1) Mint Mojito from the Philz next door.
It was a beautiful moment, and all we needed was a damn Kodak.
I scarfed down the raspberry jelly donut and licked its sweet, gooey goodness off my fingers. The first bite into the second donut, however, left me disappointed. «They skimped!» I thought. Into the second bite, a thick, white substance was discharged with a monstrous force: the infamous naughty cream!
And yes, it was all the rage.
Unfortunately, it also naughty-​creamed my shirt. And although I tried to lick it off as best I could, my stained shirt was (once again) the center of attention for the rest of the day.
Five stars for making me relive the most humiliating day of my life and want to come back for more.
PS: Thank you, Donut Dolly, for not getting me in the eye.

Imagine a cream puff with the outer part being donut. That’s the gist of doughnut dolly.
They have their main flavor — naughty cream — daily and the rest of the flavors changes daily. In addition to the naughty cream, they had dark chocolate, coconut cream, and a fruit jam flavors when I went. There are several options for the donut potion too– sugared, glazed/​lemon pistachio glazed, chocolate, etc. The lemon pistachio glazed one and the chocolate one costs a dollar more than the regular ones. The regular ones come inside a small bag and the glazed ones come in a small tray, face up.
If you compare these to a place like beard papa, the doughnut portion is much softer. The size is also a bit bigger and $ 3 is definitely better than $ 3.25 for a puff with cream. The extra dollar is more for preference. The chocolate glaze wasn’t worth it for a whole dollar, but the naughty cream vanilla bean-​y flavor was soooo good. I could just eat that stuff like pudding.
A couple friends got the lemon pistachio glaze doughnut and mentioned it was quite lemony.
Good stuff, good customization– you can put multiple creams into one donut puff. Very friendly staff/​owner. Great location– next to philz and a burger place. Mmmm. I would have enjoyed more cream in the donut, but that’s just me… I like a higher filling to outside ratio. Would definitely come back to try other flavors. Their coffee flavors (malt, Irish cream) sound very interesting and I would have gotten that if they had it the day I visited.
Mm!