Johnny Doughnuts

Just thought I would update you folks on Johnny’s. I can’t believe it has been almost 2 years and I’ve been eating their donuts right along. Still consistently good. I found out they’re opening up another location on Fulton and Gough streets. See you there.

I tried Johnny Doughnuts at OTG. I usually find doughnuts a little too dense for me, so I was more interested in the filled doughnuts, or their Bismarks. However, when I got to the front of the line, there was one ‘Crodough’ left, so I ordered it thinking I got lucky.
This $ 3.50 version of the croissant-​doughnut hybrid was very dry and very dense. On the plus side, it was huge, super thick, and could easily be shared between two people.
The sign read ‘filled with pastry crème,’ but there wasn’t any. It was covered with a ton of sugar crystals. I’m not a fan of hard sugar crystals, but it provided the only sweet flavor on the otherwise bland doughnut.
I guess I should have tried a filled doughnut after all.

Yummy, delicious, non-​generic & generic doughnuts, but kind of expensive.

Not only are the doughnuts delicious but the store has a super sweet, happy vibe. My daughter and I walked in right before closing, and after what looked like a super Sunday rush there were only strawberry doughnuts left. No big deal, we made a mental note to come earlier next time and decided the buy a water for the road. Caleb the manager was ringing us up as asked my daughter what her fav doughnut was (maple bar) and proceeded to take the time to make her one from scratch. I’m sure he and all of the employees were anxious to get out of there and on with their weekends and we just really appreciated how thoughtful that was. Thank you!

This place is the bomb for doughnuts. I first had a Johnny doughnut at Off the grid in Novato. But, since that is ending, I decided to come to the actual spot and check out all they had to offer. Luckily, it’s in downtown so you can walk it off afterwards or even while you’re destroying your doughnut. Hey if we burn the calories while we eat them… It’s like they were never there at all. I didn’t though. I don’t know if I can walk while eating a Johnny doughnut.
I had the cream filled chocolate doughnut. Very VERY cream filled. And equally delicious. The first time, I had the salted caramel chocolate old fashioned. It didn’t have a lot of salted carmel flavor, it was very lightly salted and very chocolatey. I will absolutely, without a doubt be back to try some of their other creations. It was extremely difficult to decide on just one.

The most beautiful donuts I’ve ever seen.
Huge, pretty, pink. What more could you ask for?
Slightly expensive, but worth it.

Had to treat myself today afterall it’s National Doughnut Day and wanted to check out the remodel at the 4^th St SR store. Love the ambience however the order & checkout wasn’t planned well. Long, slow line. Poorly displayed selection. We’re not that familiar with all the different doughnuts so a more descriptive menu board or signs would help.
Since when did doughnuts become $ 3.50? Yes they are big and delicious but still. More cake like than a regular mom ‘n pop store donut. They weigh every one before cooking. Two people can really share one, add a couple holes and we’re good.
Pairs well with Equator coffee.
Trying to stick with a healthy diet but glad we went today. Great addition to that part of town.

I’m a huge fan of Doughnuts, Donuts and Dough Knots, and I use the words interchangeable to describe the same delicious treat. Johnny Doughnuts are of the highest quality I have ever tasted. They blend perfectly exotic with traditional in a way that won’t offend a purest, but keep it interesting for the modern, epicurean foodie. They use high quality ingredients to create exactly what (I imagine) was intended by the first person to ever attempt to make a donut. They have achieved the highest know level of Donut creation.
I’ve been to the San Rafael brick-​and-​mortar locale several times, as I work nearby. Their creations are always fresh and delicious. Any one of their many varieties makes the perfect pairing with the first cup of morning coffee, or the second cup of «I need more coffee… and I also need a donut.»
The real reason I’m writing this review is to herald the outstanding service by Johnny Doughnuts providing their delicious product for my wedding. My wife and I couldn’t have been more pleased by their attention to detail, the beauty of their doughnuts, and of course they were delicious, and a huge hit with our guests.
As an alternative to a cake for wedding dessert, doughnuts can be less costly, already portioned, and are just as beautiful. We were able to box up the leftovers and serve them to our guests for breakfast the next day. They were still pretty damn good, dunked em in some coffee, and we were in donut heaven.

I’ve never been to the main location yet, but my supervisor brought me and several of my teammates these donuts to enjoy. I also got to go to Off the Grid: El Cerrito and bought a few from their food truck. And my oh my, these donuts are BOMB!
I may be biased because I have quite the donut obsession (like really really OBSESSED). But, these donuts taste different than your standard donut because they use potato in their raised dough and that makes their donuts super moist. And they used locally sourced ingredients. Yummy!
My fav was the vegan donut made with sweet potato. And also maybe the classic glazed as well. So chewy and scrumptious.
I most definitely recommend these donuts. You will not be disappointed.

I’d been wanting to check out Johnny Doughnuts forever, so decided to stop by on the way up to Sonoma. Sadly, they were already out of their CroDoughs by the time I thought to try and call in an order (9am on a Saturday), so I’m not sure we would have been able to reserve one in any case. It didn’t seem like they ran out of anything else by the time I arrived (10am), but it was busy inside and the line started getting long. It would be nice if they had the donuts clearly labeled, since I had to keep asking which donut was which for the flavors I couldn’t figure out– this would also speed up the ordering process since everyone would keep asking about the different flavors. There were so many donuts I wanted to try, but I settled for the ones below:
Box of Doughnuts (
)
–Strawberry Peach Bismark ($ 3.50,
): This donut sounded delicious, but I thought it was just ok. The strawberry peach filling wasn’t sweet at all, and made the entire donut taste bland– skip!
–Wild Berry Bismark ($ 3.50,
): This was much better than the strawberry peach flavor, and worth trying if you like jelly fillings.
–Vanilla Old Fashioned ($ 2.50): I was undecided on this– it was almost too cakey for me, but I liked the vanilla flavor and the glaze. I would consider getting this again.
–Maple Old Fashioned ($ 2.50,
): Too cakey and dense, and it had an overpowering flavor of cinnamon and/​or nutmeg– skip!
–Vanilla Crème Bismark ($ 3.50,
): Just ok– the chocolate glaze was too sweet. The vanilla crème was pretty good, but I thought it needed more filling– skip!
Overall, the only donut I really liked was the wild berry bismark, and sort of the vanilla old fashioned. I thought the donuts were too big/​dense, but I would come back to try their CroDoughs and other donut flavors if I were in the area. Parking can be difficult, but there is some street parking available.

Full disclosure, I’m a bit bias since I don’t actually like doughnuts. (I know… I know… Sometimes I wonder if I’m human too.)
BUT! I did come here to pick up doughnuts for some friends and while I didn’t have any of the doughnuts they actually made. The staff there was also super helpful in helping me pick out some delicious treats for my doughnut loving friends.
They are all visually very attractive, particularly what I’ve dubbed as «The Simpsons one». The doughnuts were a complete hit!
I would highly recommend coming here for those looking for their doughnut fix. Also the fact that they spell doughnut correctly is brilliant!

The only doughnut that I’ve ever tried in my life that rivals this place was the gourmet dessert doughnut at Wayfare Tavern. Maybe I got lucky with my batch, but every single bite made me want to ooze my pants as the dough consistency was PERFECTOOOOO. Everyone can be all gimmicky and do 210 930 129 flavors but its hard to get the actual doughnut dough itself right and this place nails it.

My wife and I have enjoyed Johnny Doughnuts since moving to the area three years ago. Most of their donuts are great … some of their cake donuts are a bit thick though. But let’s get back to the good. The Classic Chocolate and cinnamon rolls are awesome. Fruit frosting, like Mr. Strawberry (now just Strawberry) and Blueberry are real treats, as are the maple bars and maple bars with, wait for it … bacon.
In their new space they offer lattes, but only with Whole Milk or Soy??? No non-​fat or low-​fat options. I know this is a donut store and people may not be concerned about fat, but I like to balance a big-​ass maple bar with a non-​fat latte. It just feels better.
Keep on keepin’ on, Johnny D. But please, give us an option for lattes so we don’t have to stop at more than one place in the morning.
P. S. SUPER nice staff, especially the originals.

5 stars for their crodough! Tried one at their food truck at Off the Grid: Fort Mason Center. There was a long line but it moved fairly quickly.
The crodough is covered with addicting cinnamon sugar and has a creamy custard filling. The outside is slightly crispy and each bite is this delicious bready, flaky texture. I actually prefer this croissant doughnut combo over just a doughnut alone!

Johnny’s Doughnuts… tried the s’more doughnut .the concept was picture perfect but not flavor perfect… it was a sucka punch for my tastebuds :(. Boo… the doughnut didn’t taste like a doughnut. maybe they’ve mistaken this for their wheat/​vegan/​noFat doughnut… overall $ 5 wasn’t worth spending on this Fort Mason Camper special.
…
It was stale. Everything was dry and I felt like I was eating toilet paper. My friend suggested maybe it’s best served warmed up… so we took it home. warned it up and the it still tasted bad.
Maybe just made a bad choice… :(

BEST HOT CHOCOLATE EVER. And definitely the most unique hot chocolate I’ve ever had. It has the slightest taste that reminds me of a doughnut. It’s magical. My donut with chocolate was fluffy and fresh. We also got a fritter thing and it was like a funnel cake without the deep fry stomach ache.
Obsessed.

I love Johnnys ! I really do. I have been stopping here on my way to work ever since they first opened. Now that they are bigger — I love them just as much and love the new coffee maker as the latte’s are great.
However, I think they need more staff in the mornings — I had to wait 15 minutes today for some donut holes and a latte and I understand the «whole experience» aspect and not wanting to be like a Peets or Starbucks which I don’t want them to either — but the flip side is I still need to get to work. Just some constructive info that I feel would make a difference for people to zip in and zip out. Thanks.

I love these donuts. Truly. Yummy and huge.
Today I went in to get two dozen, and I was sort of looked at like I had 5 heads. I said I wanted an assorted variety, and I picked out the ones not to put in to make it easier, and I wasn’t picky. It seemed to be an issue. I figured ordering a dozen or two would not be that outside the box. I opted for them to decide what to put in my dozens in the interest of time, as there were a lot of customers waiting. This seemed to annoy one of the workers and they needed to comment about it to another. Sorry folks. I just paid close to 80 bones including tip for two dozen donuts picked at your discretion, instead of standing there saying «umm that one» 24 times and wasting your time. Maybe you all need more people on busy weekend mornings as it seemed very stressful. Also if you want to tell me to fuck off, just say it.

It’s no Dynamo Donut. Feels more like a higher quality version of those doughnut shops around town that are open really late and sell Phở (for some odd reason). As far as chains go, Krispy Kreme is better. Dunkin Donuts beats them on filing generosity, but the actual ingredients from Johnny taste more natural. Overall, it’s just ok (hence the 3-​star).
Chocolate Vanilla Bismark: So disappointing. They were extremely stingy with the amount of vanilla cream filling. Nothing worse than a Boston Cream Donut with only a smidgen of cream. Too bad, because the two bites I got with cream + chocolate coating + doughnut were pretty tasty.
Wild Berry Bismark: A much better distribution of filling. Cakey/​fluffy, which worked really well with the fruit. Much better than chain doughnuts shops which favor cornstarch and gelatin over actual fruit. They definitely took the high road with their preserves.
Maple Bar: About what I expected. The maple frosting tasted more authentic and was just the right portion to offset the rest of the doughnut.
Twist Vanilla: A tad disappointing. I usually expect twists to have some nice sugary flavoring in the folds of each twist. This one didn’t, just more dough. It was almost like having the Maple Bar without the frosting and twisted around a bit.

Humana Humana.
In this small shop some serious fresh baked deliciousness is happening. Arrive in the morning and you can smell the delectable, pungent, sweet aroma wafting down the street and around the corner.
This petite turquoise shop with marble countertops and black chalkboards propped everywhere has the rustic schoolhouse vibe that is everywhere these days, with trays of enormous cake donuts, gigantic glazed doughnuts, (their strawberry orange cake donut was a stand out) and a plate of roaming zebras (vanilla and chocolate swirls.) After a brief, friendly introduction, I jumped on their cronut, which here is called a CroDough. Full disclosure, I have had limited exposure to cronuts. However, this is last-​meal-​on-​earth type stuff. Nothing legal should taste this good.
They normally have, but were out of, their sugar crust and cream filled CroDough, and while generally I scorn anything with a chocolate and mint combo (sorry Girl Scouts and thin mint lovers!) I opted for a chocolate mint croDough, since it was their last cronut. Truly, I did not like the frosting (for why add toothpaste to chocolate my friends?) but oh, that sugar coated crisped crust was heavenly and the meaty density of the bottom of this cronut (yes, I ate everything except the frosting) proved an inspired combo of croissant and donut. Hands down better than any mere doughnut I have eaten. A terrific treat.
Come here in the AM while the goods are fresh from the oven, and possibly wear your sweatpants people.