Stan’s Donuts & Coffee

Liked the raspberry jelly filled doughnut best. The peanut butter one was salty. The rest of our half dozen was so so.
I did enjoy the retro, circa 1950s, look and feel to it. It reminded me of an old diner. I enjoyed the artwork.
Pretty wheelchair accessible. Just need to go through the hospital instead of the main door, but there are automatic door openers for all three doors involved.
Open later on a Sunday compared to many other restaurants.

This was the perfect stop to get off of our feet for a bit. After a day of walking through the cold, we stopped in and it was nice and warm. Not to mention the donut options were exciting! We enjoyed our donuts and some downtime :)

Why oh WHY must this be located right across the street from where I live. This. this is what donuts should taste like. This is what heaven tastes like.
Location/​Décor — nestled right in the middle of Streeterville and Northwestern’s Campus, Stan’s is always home to students and doctors. It is a very nice place to come and catch up on gossip or work, etc. The décor is fabulous! Very modern. The floor to ceiling windows make some prime people watching. I love the color scheme. And the heavenly aromas!
Service — the cashiers here are all personable and funny! They don’t «serve» you but they do their job well.
Drinks — cannot say because I have only had the complimentary cups of water.
Food — heaven. heaven. heaven.
*Lemon Curd Bismark. 5 stars. Abundant lemon flavor. AMAZING fluffy donut. SO much filling. Literally every time I took a bite, the lemon curd was oozing down my fingers. It was so messy, but my gosh it was worth it!
* Stawberry Bismark. 5 stars. Fresh strawberries and jam filled! No artificial tastes at all! No syruppy jelly filling! Absolutely perfect!
*Blueberry Bismark. 3 stars. Not as good as its strawberry and lemon curd siblings, but the donut itself saves the richness of the fresh blueberry jam.
*Buttermilk Bar. 5 stars. Probably my favorite when made fresh! Love how long it is! Buttery, moist, perfect.
*Maple Caramel Bacon Bar. 5 stars. Its the buttermilk bar with bacon and maple and caramel! Literal perfection. Only thing is, loaded with calories.
I cannot wait to keep trying every donut here! So far, Stan’s only has one rival in Chicago: Firecakes.

COST:
$ 1.50 (Raisin Bagel, (Approx $ 1.50, can’t remember exact price))
$ 1.00 (Plain Cream Cheese)
This would be 4 stars but it’s missing a star because when I went to this location they were OUT OF DONUTS. I’m not sure if it’s because it was late in the day, but they had to pick up products from their Lakeview location. I’m not sure if they don’t bake here at all or if it’s just a special day.
Check out my review for their Lakeview location for a more comprehensive review.

Was in chitown for vacation and came across Stan’s donuts. Looked like a nice, clean, modern establishment so we took the plunge and were pleasantly surprised.
Tried the pistacio donut and the N-​nutella donut. Both were absolutely delicious. Stan’s is without a doubt worth a try.

We were walking down the street and ran into this place one morning. Donuts. can’t hold me back from those.
I walked in and saw all of the delicious options. I told the girl my order — one chocolate sprinkle glazed donut. «Oh one glazed donut and a coffee» she says. Uhh no, and I correct her for just the donut, no coffee. She still goes and grabs the wrong donut! I have to tell another employee to stop her to get the right one.
My other half ordered one donut and a coffee as well and she rang us up. The total was $ 11 something and we paid thinking. wow those are some pricey donuts. Then the lady comes back over with 2 coffees. Okay lady. seriously do you not listen? No wonder it was $ 11. she gave us a free glazed donut and a coupon for another free donut next time we are in. Which doesn’t do much considering I will likely never be back
The donuts honestly were sub-​par. I’ve had much better.

Updating my review to give them an extra star. After my first two lackluster/​borderline bad experiences, I had Stan’s again when someone brought them into work. I had a chocolate old fashioned doughnut, and I must say it was pretty good. However, it’s still overpriced by comparison, and certainly not delicious enough to warrant the price tag. But, it was much better than the more expensive premium varieties I had previously tried here, so there’s that.
I don’t think this would be my first choice if someone says «let’s get donuts» if the choice of eatery was up to me, but at least I know there are some good options in case others want to come here. It’s not as terrible as my initial review had implied.

Stan’s is so insanely convenient if you are at Northwestern for something. It’s connected to some of the buildings on the ground floor. I’ve been going to NW a lot lately for various appointments plus my best friend is a fancy doctor at the hospital. Sometimes we’ll meet at Stan’s for a bite, other times I’ll pop in solo for a grab & go.
The first time we went in to try it out, we had some douchecanoes in front of us who were asking the workers what the rare & limited edition flavors were… ugh. Just get what you want you pretentious doctors in training! Anywayyyyyyyyyysssss…
Also on this first of ours, they handed us our donuts but forgot about our drinks. We knew they had forgot when they were all chatting behind the counter without any movement. When my friend went up to inquire, they were very apologetic and also gave us coupons for a free donut. Woot! I like donuts. I like free donuts even better!
Stan’s had good old fashioned style donuts and are a great stop through when you’re in the area.

This was my second breakfast with my friend (after having gotten Do-​Rite) and between the two of us, we split a lemon pistachio, chocolate orange old fashioned, and apple fritter. (Trying to get our fruit intake!) Our favorite was the lemon pistachio glazed, which was subtle but brightly flavored, and not too sweet. The chocolate orange was extremely rich and we had trouble finishing it (good value, or what?). That said, both of the donuts were a little dry and had to be washed down with the Intelligensia coffee offered. In contrast, the apple fritter was generously sized and moist — my friend is more of an apple fritter fan than I am and she devoured all of it. I’d give a 4 for the lemon pistachio and a 3 for others.
As folks have noted, the interior is eminently Instagrammable.

I like doughnuts and would eat them more often, but my digestive system doesn’t recognize them or break them down at all. It seems each one is deposited directly onto my waistline after it is consumed. So with caution to not go crazy, I made the one block walk from the hotel to Stan’s for some doughnuts for the family.
At 9 AM on a Monday, there was no line and I could take my time making selections. The employee was helpful and patient while I contemplated. Doughnuts are grouped and priced into three different groups depending on color of the tag. I selected a half dozen «standard» and half dozen «specialty» for a total of $ 25.
I had a lemon curd, chocolate orange old fashion, and an apple fritter with the lemon curd being my favorite. They were all tasty but I quickly interpreted an overall sweet theme after my samples, personally, too sweet for my liking. But the true doughnut lover is sure to be pleased with Stan’s central location, their wide selection with unique takes, Intelligentsia coffee, and abbreviated lines.

Love the interior, which reminds me of a 50’s upscale diner. Pretty donuts in a display case, pretty couches, pretty pink boxes.
We ordered 6 donuts for 3 people and killed them. I was halfway done eating before remembering I took no photos, I was that excited for my sweet treats. And sweet they were —
Nutella banana pocket — very very rich
Biscoff banana pocket — very rich
Pistachio glazed — rich
Blueberry old fashioned — less rich
Raspberry pocket — my friend ate this
Buttermilk — least fave… tasted too plain when compared to the others.
You can’t go wrong with any of these options. Glad I went for a run the day before.

Small Stan’s branch right at Northwestern/​they have all the flavors and then some! All the donuts I bought were very fresh & reasonably priced. Believe it or not the Vanilla Glazed with sprinkles was the standout of the morning/​could have been all the Jameson from the night before but it was just so damn good! The Coconut Cake was so-​so, you really have to love cinnamon to get into this one. Always a line but it moves quick/​very good donuts here folks! get dat did/​/​/​ps– Lemon Pistachio is must try/​skip the sinkers

So I went on a mini donut crawl in Chicago. I was MOST excited for Stan’s beforehand — their donuts look absolutely incredible and they have an interesting menu. I will say that I love the seating area at this location and I especially love the wall of Kitchenaid worship. I want that for my own home someday… swoon.
As for the donuts — they are quite good, but not as good — or as varied — as I had expected. Most of them seem to start with the same base, and then have different fillings or toppings. I tried a couple different pockets, and each was very similar — particularly because the filling part was so minimal and the glaze/​cake was the main thing you taste. The peanut butter, nutella and banana are minimized, which is unfortunate. I think these donuts could be very good if the ratios were better. The chocolate ganache is a bit overwhelmingly at present.
I also tried the pistachio, which was a pretty good pistachio glaze on a pretty good cake donut. My favorite was the buttercream pocket, which was large enough and filled enough to serve as a meal on its own! If you don’t have a huge sweet tooth, be sure to split that one… like, four ways. (But it was the perfect donut for just me!)

I have been dying to go here and try their donuts. I love donuts and anticipated these being out of control.
They were good, they were. A little dry perhaps but good.
Good enough to take home the leftovers after our donut taste testing at my daughter’s house? No.
I selected a dozen donuts and we cut them up so we could try different ones. I tasted an old fashioned glazed, a lemon curd filled bismark, an orange old fashioned, an orange/​chocolate old fashioned and a chocolate frosted old fashioned. (Donut tastings are fun, cut them into quarters and have a bunch of donut lovers over.)
The only one which I went back for another quarter was the orange/​chocolate. My granddaughter didn’t even finish her pieces.
We decided that overall, they were a ⁷⁄₁₀. Is that a 3 or a 4? For over $ 25.00 for 12 donuts, that’s a 3.
Nice physical plant, friendly staff, lots of hype, expensive and a-​ok in taste.

Pistachio old-​fashioned and Dreamsicle bar. Both were yummy and the pistachio donut exceeded our taste bud expectations! The shop was loaded with a variety of flavors to choose from and we did not leave disappointed!

Decided to check out this place for a «proper American donut» when visiting the Windy City. Well, the glazed donut was excellent and certainly worth the full five stars. However, the chocolate old fashioned one was frankly not that good.
$ 1.80 for the glazed one was quite all right, don’t remember the price for the old fashioned.
In a nutshell a very good donut place!

Cute place… nearby my 11:30am appointment, so stopped in from breakfast and was like $ 1.99 for one Donut? Better be a damn good donut… geez. I’m the person at DD thinking they should be like .50 each… are you with me? =)
Anywhoo… when in the Gold Coast… got a few things, coffee (meh), plain bagel (meh), a cinnamon twist thing (like a fluffy churro… good — even cold), and one of the stuffed pocket ones with chocolate.
The last 2 items were for friends and I to share later in the day in Wicker Park. I’m so thoughtful right? Yeah… I am.
The place is cute, like the pastel blender décor wall, and liked sitting outside to have the bagel and interesting cream cheese with raisins or something blended into it… shared this with some chubby little starlings that fearlessly landed near me and gave me hungry eyes.
Would not say the haul was worth $ 20. For that, I would go get some real brunch and solid strong coffee with waitstaff… yumm. BF food…

On our trip to Chicago, I made a list of doughnut shops that I wanted to try. Stans was not one of them. Saw them as I was walking around downtown Chicago. Walked into a good looking donut shop. There was both indoor and outdoor seating available. Both areas were nice and sanitary.
The display cases were filled with lovely looking delicacies. I only had room for one in my tummy. Biscoff Banana Pocket was my choice. It was expensive, but worth it. I would purchase that yummy pocket of goodness again!
I’m glad that I dropped into Stan’s Donut & Coffee. It was worth every calorie. Would go here quite a bit if I lived in the area because I would enjoy eating trying all of those good looking sweets!

Love it. Best cinnamon cake donut I’ve had in years. Decent bagels. Excellent apple fritter. Fabulous creamy dark chocolate frostings. Wonderful selection.
Service is good and the inventory isn’t all gone mid-​morning. I didn’t realize this is related to the Stan’s Donuts in the Los Angeles area that we love. Welcome to Chicago!

Loved it! I walked here from my hotel on a Thursday morning around 7:15am and it wasn’t crowded at all. I knew I wanted a biscoff pocket, and I was debating trying the old fashioned donut. However, the girl working suggested that I try her favorite, the dreamsicle bar. She described it as having a nice crust/​crunch on the outside and being soft on the inside. I was intrigued, so I went with it. I was NOT disappointed! It was exactly how she described! The middle was like a regular soft glazed yeast donut, but the crust on the outside made it so much better.
The biscoff pocket was good. I read some reviews prior to going and people mentioned that the filling was a bit dry. I have to agree there. I’m not an expert, but I assume it dries out a bit during baking? Maybe if they piped in the filling after baking, it might keep it more moist? Either way, its still a good donut. Even if they are $ 3 a pop!