Rise Biscuits & Donuts

Best biscuits around, plus great management! I had a to go order that got messed up and when I told the manager she was a complete professional about it! Comped my biscuit immediately and thanked me for letting her know. Rare these days!

I am obsessed with their chicken biscuit — the best one I’ve ever had. They have really tasty donuts, everything is very fresh and they have quick service. Highly recommended!

My husband and I came here on a Saturday morning with high expectations based on reviews. We both ordered donuts and coffee.
I ordered a chocolate frosting donut. It was cold and stale. It tasted like it had been sitting out. It asks had a weird aftertaste. I don’t know what that was about. The coffee was good. I wonder if their biscuits are better… Ironically most of the reviews on Unilocal say the opposite!
It’s ironic that this place is next to a gym. I felt guilty after eating! ;)
I would be willing to try this place one more time to see if I went on an off day. I was disappointed. I wish we could have a duck donuts instead!

4 ½ stars would be appropriate for the Morrisville Rise location. The food is great, just enough portion wise, to be honest. I’ve visited a couple of times now, had the chicken biscuit, the eggplant «bacon» biscuit and the chocolate bacon Donut. Honestly, I’m more of a biscuit guy. Not that the donuts aren’t good… I just prefer savory. I’ve not had a chance to get a monthly special yet, but I will.
The chicken biscuit, the chicken isn’t overwhelmed by the biscuit nor the other way around. Good seasoning too. No need for cheese or hot sauce.
The eggplant is a standout in my humble opinion. The right amount of salty & crunchy. Both are on the regular menu fortunately.
There are a few seats to dine in, as well as a ledge with a view of the kitchen. When the weather permits, there is seating outside.

GREAT BREAKFAST GODS OF GRABTHAR!
These are truly great donuts. I was spoiled for choices with a board with some classics, a lot of Rise re-​invention of classics, and a few adventuresome types.
The base ingredients are really nice — nice textured flour, buttermilk that you can taste in those that have them, and wonderfully balanced batters. Perhaps one caveat — Rise’s icings tend to be a bit sweeter than average, which may be understandable given we live in the land of sweet tea, maple syrup on fried chicken, and sweet apple vinegar in our BBQ.
Execution is perfect. The donuts are fried to perfection without any hint of greasiness. They also have beautiful and consistent toppings. And the quality goes more than skin deep. For example, I could never get on board with the cupcake revolution because it was essentially fancy decorations on generally over-​cooked mini-​cakes. But these I can get behind because they are great from top to bottom. These are not donuts you would wolf down. They are the type you chew 10 times before swallowing.
Look, you’ve got some people who aren’t too impressed with Rise. Good. Don’t come. Shorter line and more availability for me. But look at other people’s reactions. Is there a line even at an unholy hour? Are they excited when they walk in the door. And picture this: we’ve all arrived into a room where there’s a box of DDepressing-​Donuts or Worth-​It-​Only-​When-​Hot brand donuts. You think: «Ugh, there’s a pile of calories. I guess I’ll eat one because I’ve got low self-​esteem.» Now picture bringing in a box of Rise to colleagues. You’re going to see grown men and women go [insert your favorite profanity here] crazy as they clamor for their favorites. Sometimes the hype matches the reality.
This location is crewed with really nice, bright-​eyed, smart-​mouthed, be-​tattooed characters who are quick, happy, and clearly dedicated to the art of Donuts and Biscuits.
The donuts are premium priced, but they are big and certainly worth it. And I am pretty sure I’m going to get diabetes from living so close to this place. But, again, totally worth it.

We hadn’t been to Rise in a while. We decided to give them a try this morning. No crowd. No line. The girls at the register were super nice and helpful.
Good news first — my husband had the Heath bar cheesecake donut. It was fresh and tasty. Just enough cheesecake filling. We both had the chocolate with chocolate crunch coating donut. It was… MEH…I have definitely had a better chocolate donut elsewhere.
BAD news — the old fashioned donut looked awesome. It is actually usually my favorite donut (at other places). It tasted like it was made yesterday. Yesterday morning to be exact. Not fresh.
Next time — we will head to A Bakers Dozen at South Hills.

Really not sure how this place has such high reviews. My wife am I have been looking forward to trying Rise for several weeks, we finally had the chance.
We came in at 7:15, just after they opened. We had anticipated fresh donuts but we were treated to was what seemed like tasteless left overs from the day before. I had the maple bacon, the wife had chocolate frosting. The bacon was cold and the the maple frosting bland. My wife said there wasn’t much flavor to hers either. I’ve had better from the grocery store. Maybe we came on a bad day, It was just a disappointing experience after all the hype.

After my previous review of Rise, the management contacted me and invited me to try it again — I did. I have to say the chicken biscuit was much better the second time, and my wife had one of their eggplant «bacon» biscuits with cheese, tomato, and lettuce — she found it to be quite tasty.
We also tried a couple of their donuts, which, while not as good as nearby Duck donuts, were much better than (even closer) Dunkin’.

I LOVE this place. This is coming from a breakfast food hater!
My husband, bless his heart, loves breakfast, where I am the one that will stall until lunch is served somewhere so I won’t have to eat an egg or waffle or sausage. Luckily, this place saves me! Sure they have traditional biscuits and donuts, but they also have edgy/​non traditional ones. I love that I can get a pork biscuit with grilled onions… or a pig in a blanket with garlic and spinach.
On a more traditional note, their maple bacon donut is on point.
The only thing about this place is that there is no indoor seating except at a small ‘bar’ like table next to the wall unless you sit outside… which… in the upcoming months, may be a deterrent for some people… but I’d just take my biscuit home ;)

BACON MAPLE BARS!!! I repeat, Bacon Maple Bars!!!
We’re talking about a FULL strip of bacon atop a maple bar here folks!
Nuff Said?!!

I came here on a Sunday for brunch with my wife. It was rainy, so there wasn’t much space for seating, but it was still packed nonetheless.
I ordered a sausage gravy biscuit and a pumpkin spice latte doughnut. The sausage gravy biscuit had good flavor, and their biscuits are solid. The doughnut was a cake doughnut, and was intensely sweet — a little too sweet, even for me. The pumpkin spice flavor was good, but I had some trouble finishing the entire doughnut myself.
My wife got the potato hash cake. It had a crispy exterior, with good flavor, but she unfortunately found an inedible onion peel in her hash cake. Too bad we had taken our food home, since there was no place to eat — otherwise I would have sent it back. It wasn’t a huge deal, but still a bit unsettling.
The service was fast and efficient, but not necessarily super friendly — I guess they were just busy.
The food is good, although slightly overpriced. When it’s not nice outside, the seating availability is very limited. Also, we had an unfortunate onion peel incident. Rise had the potential for 5 stars, but these shortcomings bumped my rating down a bit.

Went this morning for the first time and was floored how good this place was. Ordered the Chorizo biscuit and one glazed donut. Both were phenomenal! The donut is light and fluffy and is not so sugary that it tastes too sweet. It was a perfect little treat. The chorizo biscuit was so fresh. The eggs were perfect and the chorizo had just enough of a kick. Delicious. Plus the biscuit itself was great — a little crumbly but perfect because you could tell how fresh it was.
Overall, VERY pleased with our first experience. We will be back again and again. Thanks for the great food, RISE!

Overall, if you were to compare this Rise location to the Durham location, I would say with confidence that the Durham location is better.
I ordered a sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit and the crème brûlée donut. The biscuit was good, however, the sausage was burnt and not very tasty. Overall, I wasn’t pleased with the biscuit. The donut was ok too, maybe not as good because I ordered it to go, but after other donut experiences in the area, I wasn’t a huge fan as before.
Maybe this new location is still working out kinks, maybe not, but I don’t know that it would be my first choice for breakfast type food.

Even though people think of Rise as more of a specialty donut shop, I enjoy their biscuits much more than their donuts.
My go-​to order is the chicken biscuit with pimento cheese. The chicken is so crispy and so juicy! It is definitely one of the better chicken biscuits in the area. They are also very generous with the pimento cheese, which is good considering it is an additional $ 1.75. I’ve also had the sausage biscuit from the Durham location, but just do yourself a favor and stick to the chicken. It’s WAY better! Also, keep an eye out for those specialty biscuits! When I visited, they had a taco biscuit, which had everything that you would put on a taco, but on a biscuit instead. Sounds just crazy enough to work!
If you are looking for something else on the menu to round out your meal, then try the potato hash cake! Potatoes and cheese? Yes, please! My hash cake came out very hot, with lots of crunch on the outside and cheesiness in the inside. Yummmmm!
As for their donuts, they are a little pricey to me and they are not always the freshest either. I prefer straight-​out-​of-​the-​fryer donuts, as opposed to the artfully filled, iced, and decorated donuts that you get at Rise. Not to say they aren’t delicious, but they just aren’t my favorite. BUT they do get points for having creative flavors and combinations.
There is plenty more seating at this Morrisville location than at the Durham location. And the interior definitely has that new feel to it and is not nearly as cramped. This location is super convenient to my work and I expect that this will become a regular spot for me to get any breakfast cravings during lunch.

Ok clearly there’s a special place in my heart for rise. I would always make the drive out to southpoint for a good biscuit and split a strange-​sounding doughnut with my boyfriend. And so when I found out they were opening a location 2 MINUTES FROM MY WORKPLACE? I about died and went to breakfast food heaven.
ok that was cheesy but i’m not kidding, i was happppyy. I even waited in line for a free doughnut on their opening weekend!
so here are my thoughts:
— interior? cute. that’s exactly the word that came to mind when i walked in and saw the mural inside and the chalkboard wall. definitely evokes a similar feeling as the durham counterpart.
— biscuit: i’ve only had the sausage, bacon, and fake bacon at this location, so i’m not speaking for the fried chicken. I liked the bacon the best, simply bc you can’t really mess up bacon. the fake bacon was not great. chewy, too salty. durham does it better. fried egg? yes please. pimento was okay, but not as good as i remember.
— doughnuts: yes, i know, rise doughnuts DO tend to lean towards the super sweet side of the spectrum. I will say i love that cookie dough bullseye though. Not feeling the wonut or cronie though.
— service: one of the cashiers was a little short («no, we don’t have that. no.») but the rest of the crew were very gracious and always apologize for the wait times (yep. expect a wait. always.)
to sum it up? the morrisville rise still doesnt beat the original location, but hey, i’m not driving to durham anyways so this will definitely suffice.

What a Doughnut! Actually, I had 2 and they were both phenomenal. One: a raised piece of oblong dough with icing and bacon. Maybe the icing was maple crème? Who cares– it was like no doughnut I had tasted before. Two: a raised crunchy — glazed delicate crème filled donut. The exterior was cooked to the point of being ‘candied’ and you could taste the love that was put into making the crème. These aren’t your run of the mill donuts, folks. They are everything you can imagine!!!

The crazy donuts might be a bit too much for me. I liked them OK, but too rich to have in any quantity. even just 1 I couldn’t take the one with the cookie dough dropped into the doughnut.
But the biscuits? I’m all in. And I love that they will make the eggs to order — most folks just plop a pre-​made scrambled square on there. Not Rise.
They’re big too, just in case you were wondering.

Ill echo the other Unilocalers saying I dont understand why they dont open a bit earlier being a breakfast exclusive place. Biscuit was good and I went with the home made sausage. What starts out as a 1 dollar biscuit ends up being 6 when you just put egg, meat and cheese on it.
Staff was very nice though and even though they had a line the wait wasnt all that long. If youre driving to Park West keep in mind its by Gander Mountain and Blaze Pizza.

I had been trying to get here after reading reviews on Rise but driving all the way to Durham for breakfast and standing in a queue for long wasm’t my thing. I was impatiently waiting for them to open here. We went on a Saturday morning and the lines were crazy, out of the door. That is an assurance in a way that the food is worth the wait. Don’t be impatient as the queue moves fast. It gave me time to decide, change my mind and decide again as to what I want to order.
I ordered a Huevos Rancheros biscuit and my husband ordered Day’s Special Fried Okra. Ww also ordered two potato hash cakes. The orders were a little backed up but believe me once again worth the wait.
Oh how I love biscuits and Rise’s creative sandwiches were a good way to get some biscuits. Highly recommend addition of Pimento Cheese in whatever sandwich our having. There is something heavenly about biscuit and pimento cheese combination. Also, potato hash cake is to die for. Go get some.

When we tried the location in Durham and loved it, we knew we had to stop by the new Morrisville location and see what they were able to do with a bit more space.
We were very impressed. They have an outdoor seating area (more so than the few tables at the Durham location). You walk in and they are prepared for long lines with a defined line area in front of two registers. They have a ton of people in the kitchen working their butts off to keep up with all the orders. Around the side of the counter then have a bar for people to sit at and enjoy their donuts. At the end of the bar counter is a window into the kitchen so you can see them making the donuts. It is very cool and definitely a kid entertainer.
WE got our three donuts very quickly. I got the cookie dough bulls eye donut. DELISH! It was a soft flaky donut with cookie dough dip scooped in the hole of the donut and it was drizzled with chocolate. My husband got a banana pudding donut which he said was great – filled with banana cream and topped with crumbled vanilla wafers. WE split the crème brule donut. It is a donut with caramelized sugar on top and then a custard in the middle. so good! Everything is fresh but none of the donuts are served hot (that I have been able to tell at least) since so many of them have fillings/​glazes/​icing/​ETC. Their menu changes daily, so be sure to check on twitter/​facebook/​online for their menu. Donuts are about 2 dollars each, but I think this is reasonable given the freshness and high quality.
I can’t wait to come back and try some more of these donuts (and maybe try a biscuit???)