Doodles

Built in an old gas station, Doodles is a stand-​out spot in Lexington. They have a smaller menu that boasts unique, southern, breakfast eats that’ll make your day.
Doodles in an order at the counter, seat-​yourself joint. It can get a bit crowded on weekends, and is closed on Monday’s. I tend to come by on weekday mornings and never struggle to find an open table.
I love to come here whenever I’m in Lexington. I personally can’t pull myself away from the pigs and puffs. They are so good! You get four fresh beignets served with four slices of bacon and lots of fresh fruit. I’ve been to New Orleans — I went to Café Du Monde, and these are the only other beignets I’ve had that taste as good! They are served warm and just melt away in your mouth! I can’t recommend it enough. Their bacon is always cooked to crispy perfection. The fruit is fresh and delicious.
I know my mom enjoys the eggs cooked inside a biscuit as well as the pancakes, so they’ve gotta be pretty good too! With this unique menu, I honestly don’t think you can go wrong. I always love to bring visiting friends to Doodles — it’s a great way to represent Lexington!

It’s an old gas station made breakfast/​lunch venue.
Expect long lines on weekends and at peak lunch hours.
The patio is great and the menu is exactly what it says. It’s a little pricey for the amount of food, quality and atmosphere delivered, but it’s all very serviceable. Especially for the location which is at the North end of downtown where there is little competition.

Great brunch place! Came to Lexington for a wedding and lots of locals recommended this place. It looked super busy with a line out the door but their service is FAST. It’s a mix between an upscale fast food place like Panera and a regular sit down restaurant. You stand in line and get to the register and order there. Then they give you a number and you sit down while they bring you the food. Very efficient process.
As for the food, it’s your standard southern comfort classic breakfast. We started with the beignets, which came in a basket of four. Warm, fluffy and delicious. A great starter. You can walk up to the counter and get some fresh jams or honey with it too.
I ordered the little doodle, which is like an egg in the middle of toast but instead it is a biscuit. Because im pregnant, i had to order the eggs fully cooked. If thats the case, i would not recommend this dish because it was too dry. My side was cheesy grits, which were decent and not too salty. My husband ordered the biscuits and gravy. Delicious gravy with just a hint of spice. His side was the fried potatoes which is your classic hashbrowns.
I gave this place a four star because no flavors blew my mind away but still very good staple brunch foods. Also, everyone who works there works hard and is friendly. I would stop by if you haven’t been here before if you want a nice casual brunch.

Our goal is to try new restaurants around Lexington. We tried Doodles for the first time this morning. The people working there were great, 4*. Friendly, and informative about the menu (I’ve got celiac dz). In my opinion, the food is a little pricy. The food is all local so maybe that accounts for the additional $$. $ 8+ for an omelet with very bland grits. Its hard not to have good eggs, which these were. But we weren’t thrilled by anything so we probably won’t be back.

Okay okay I know I’ll probably get some flack about the 3 star rating but at best it was a 4… but here’s the deal — food looked great, picture worthy, but both my husband and I agreed, NO SEASONING. That’s basic y’all. I had to add salt, and I NEVER add salt. It was bland. Boring. Plus, my meal had like a whole can of black beans on it… black beans with no salt.

Breakfast was delicious. I love the utilization of space that restaurants are starting to do. The big windows are perfect for morning people watching. It has a very laid back lazy feel while still being quick and efficient.
I had the lilies egg doodle which had eggs perfectly cooked and biscuits that were fluffy. My fiancé had the Johnny cakes and they looked delicious. We shared and order of beignets. I loved them, he thought they were ok. I would love to compare them to New Orleans beignets.
Overall, a wonderfully delightful little breakfast place that I am plotting to visit again during my short stay in the city.

After following doodles on IG for awhile we finally tried it. I ordered the cure, beignets and coffee. Yum! Warm beignets are a real treat! I loved the bacon and the eggs were cooked perfectly, great jam! The toast isn’t anything special, I would love doodles jam with Lexington diners jam! I wasn’t a fan of these grits but my boyfriend liked them.

Amazing! We ordered the caprese strata and the waffle special, with a side of beignets, and everything was delicious. Most of their ingredients are locally sourced, which I really appreciate. Just don’t forget the self-​serve condiments and try the blackberry jam!
(The only reason there are 4 stars instead of 5 is that I like a cappuccino with breakfast but all they had was mediocre — but bottomless — coffee.)

This is another of our «must stop» places for visitors, which if you’re keeping track involves mostly eating your way around the city.
I’m personally a fan of the Egg Doodle since it’s my childhood favorite (egg in a hole, toad-​in-​a-​basket, or egg&dippies depending on where you’re from) taken to a whole new level with fresh biscuits. The husband loves the biscuits and gravy. (Don’t forget to grab some fresh jam from the counter!) We also like to bring visitors here and make them order different things so we can steal bites off of their plates.
Get there early on the weekends (before the college kids wake up and church gets out) or prepare to wait in a long line. (Although if you do end up waiting in line, the staff usually sends out some free beignets!) A line will also give you ample time to decide what you want for breakfast since there are always lots of yummy options and specials! Once you get to the counter, put in your order then find a seat, grab your drinks and the servers will bring your food way faster than you ever expected.
Definitely an A+ spot for those Sunday morning carbs.

I’m a breakfast enthusiast, so most brunch places really don’t have to work hard to please me. I’m not sure how to accurately summarize my feelings about doodles. In the past, I’ve come to doodles for a delicious breakfast. However, I came to doodles after a 4 – 5 year hiatus and was left with a so-​so taste in my mouth (literally and figuratively).
I came in with my parents at 1:15 on a Saturday (I realize that is 45 minutes prior to their closing, so take my review with a grain of salt). Doodle’s is set up so that the customer orders and pays at the service station and your food is delivered to you. We all ordered and our food was delivered within 10 minutes, which was great. I got the cure (2 eggs, meat, side, and choice of bread) and got the veggie sausage. When it was delivered, the eggs were warm, but the biscuit, fried potatoes, and sausage were cold. Not lukewarm, but literally refrigerator cold. I figured it was because it was 30 mins to close, so I didn’t say anything but I left a bit disappointed.

This service station turned restaurant has a cool vibe (if you can get over walking outside to use the restroom) and all the right pieces to be a great place. They have a lot going for them already. My main issue is that the food could be better. I experienced a lot of build up that led to a pretty nominal food experience. I’d love to see more flavor breaking through their dishes. I hate feeling the need to add salt in an attempt to pull out more flavor.
One high note were the beignets. I definitely recommend a basket, but maybe ask them to go a bit lighter on the powdered sugar.
I’d go again and would recommend someone try it out.

I am a big fan of weekend brunching, and Doodles is one of my favorite Lexington spots. That being said, my friends and I did not have a great experience at Doodles today. We beat the crowd, so we ordered and were served pretty quickly, however our scrambled eggs were all definitely overcooked and brown in places. What saved my brunch was the cheese grits (as always) that were absolute perfection!

Paul and I had breakfast this morning at Doodles. Based on so many good Unilocal reviews, we were both excited.
The best part of Doodles was service. It was fast and friendly from beginning to end.
Unfortunately, the food and atmosphere were not nearly as good as the service. Paul had one of the specials, which was a waffle with a bourbon apple sauce. The dough of the waffle was quite good, but it was served with such a dearth of sauce and whipped cream that it felt lacking. In addition, there was no hint of apple anywhere. I had the meat omelette with a «biscuit» and fried potatoes. The crisp fried potatoes were definitely the highlight. As for the omelette, the eggs were clearly good quality and the amount of cheddar cheese was perfect. However, frying good eggs in oil, rather than butter, and adding floppy bacon detracted from the taste. What I really took issue with was the «biscuit,» which was not a biscuit at all. It was a rather odd piece of tasteless bread that was made worse by being tossed on a greasy grill at the end. Ugh! We also tried the beignets, based on reviews, and were sorely disappointed. Paul and I came to the conclusion that they made the beignets from their «biscuit» dough. What we bit into was a super dense, difficult to chew and swallow, mass of dough. Ugh, again!
As I mentioned, the atmosphere at Doodles is less than stellar. At 9:15 on a Saturday morning, the place was stone cold. Seating is uncomfortable and awkward simply because there is not much of it. Poor ventilation leaves diners inhaling smoke generated from cooking and then leaving the place smelling like a greasy spoon.
Doodles is probably a great place for hungover college students with lousy senses. If you do not fit that description, I suggest going elsewhere.
I would like to give a 2.5 star rating, but since Unilocal requires a whole number rating, I am bumping it up to 3 stars due to service.

Doodles is a great brunch spot.
Pros:
1. The hash with eggs were amazing! They were different from a normal corned beef hash. The eggs were cooked well. Add a dash of hot sauce and it’s perfect.
2. The biscuits were so good. SO GOOD. They’re a hundredfold better than the dry biscuits available in California. I even made my fiancé take the rest of his biscuit home because I didn’t want to waste it. What’s more, they have local honey and preserves for those biscuits– the boysenberries were amazing!
3. Bottomless coffee– solid coffee, and it’s bottomless.
Cons:
1. The shrimp and grits, which is one of my favorite foods of all time, was a little lacking. It actually tasted really good with some hot sauce, but I felt a little disappointed.
2. Long waits can be a bore. I got lucky and only had to wait about 15 minutes, but I can see the line going out the door some days.
When I come back into town, I’d come back for the biscuits and gravy, for sure!

I can’t believe I haven’t reviewed Doodles yet! This was the first place we went out to eat for a breakfast when we moved to Lexington. We decided on Doodles based upon Unilocal reviews and are we glad we did.
Alway friendly service and great food. I follow them on Instagram to find out what the weekend specials are. Today I ordered the banana pudding waffle with a side of eggs. Awesome choice! Sweet and delicious. It came with a side of bacon too.
We usually assemble our own meals. You can’t go wrong with their biscuits or Johnny cakes. Their beignets are super tasty too! Eggs are always fresh, the food is local and the experience is fun!
If you haven’t been yet, visit Doodles now!

One of my favorite places now. The lines are long to get in. So be ready to wait to place an order. I love how they made an old gas station and turned it into a restaurant. I got eggs, bacon, a biscuit, potatoes and New Orleans style donuts. The food was amazing. Every bite I took got better and better. The New Orleans style donuts were to die for. I’ve never had such amazing donuts before. Worth ordering again when I go back. The staff here are very friendly and very helpful. They helped my friend out when he was ordering his food. I will recommend this place to more people. I want to try their lunch next.

I wish Doodles was located in Philadelphia, next door to my apartment.
After running the Bourbon Chase Relay and spending the night in Lexington a few weeks ago, we headed out for a glutenous breakfast before hotel check-​out. I had several brunch places bookmarked, but decided on Doodles because they opened at 9am, vs. 10 or 11am like most other places in downtown Lexington.
Doodles is not your typical restaurant or diner, upon entering you order/​pay at the counter, pick a table, grab your drinks and wait for your food to arrive. When we got there around 9:30, there were at least 10 people standing outside in line, in addition to the line that was formed in the lobby area. It took about 20 minutes to get through the line because we had to wait for tables to open up, but all of our food was delivered within 10 minutes of us ordering. Fast service!
I had a hard time deciding what to order because everything sounded delicious. I ended up ordering the Dirty Shrimp and Grits (when in Rome — or the South). The grits were «smothered in tomato gravy with a dollop of our homemade green onion remoulade». The tomato gravy made the grits all the more savory, and the green onion gave it a pop of fresh! This dish also had more shrimp than I was expecting, but I am certainly not complaining! My dish also came with a choice of toast or biscuit; I went with the biscuit, and covered it with their homemade blackberry and strawberry jam! SO GOOD! The sweet jam gave the moist biscuit the punch it needed!
My friend had the Biscuits and Sausage Gravy from the *specials* menu. Those same delicious biscuits with an overwhelming heap of sausage gravy was just divine. It also came with 2 eggs, a side of cheesy grits, and toast. We also shared an order of Beignets (since us northern folk had never tried them before). They arrived at the table almost immediately after we sat down, and they were warm and generously covered in powdered sugar! We each had one as an «appetizer», and split the last one at the end of our meal.
Doodles concentrates on using local, sustainable and organic ingredients — always a bonus in my book! The portions are large but perfect for a post-​run breakfast and the prices were very reasonable for the quality and quantity! Doodles is a must if you are in Lexington!

Welcoming! Filling! AN elevated delight.
A MUST stop in Lexington, KY
I came for the game and left in love with this place. My party of six got a little of everything and each bite was amazing.
Order whatever sounds good and you will not be disappointed.
WE put it on our must go list when we ass through town.
Best Brunch in 500 miles.

Great place to come especially for brunch. Food was amazing and delicious. I give it ⁴⁄₅ simply because the beignets I ordered were not that good. They are too doughy if that makes sense? You practically have to slice it and smother it in jam to give it any flavoring. Then after all that powdered sugar comes off, you’ve got yourself a mess. The food I had ordered was Tara’s hash and that didn’t look appetizing at all, it was surprisingly very delicious! I would definitely be coming back and would highly recommend to try their hash!

Visiting dtwn LEX: try this diner.
2 eggs in biscuits (Doodle), grits, 2 sausage patties, coffee: $ 13.50.
Great diner fare without just being a greasy spoon.
Dine in or – if lucky — on the patio, with trees, birds, breeze. (Sit away from alley, if possible.)
Food was ready before I decided on a table.
Great portions (large, but not obese).
Local jams, great salsa.
Came on a Wednesday at 1030.
About a 10-​minute walk from Rupp Arena.