Sam’s Donuts

Wow great donuts and friendly owner! She gave me a bakers dozen for $ 7.50. Good price and very fresh, she seems very nice. I give 5 stars because they accept debit cards, and without a fee. Most places are ‘cash only’ but they allow cards. I usually try to pay cash so they don’t get a fee, but I ran out this morning and still was able to get my crew some treats!

Sam’s Donuts didn’t have much donuts to chose from post noon. certainly no french cruellers. looking at the pricing (.60-​$ 1) and the asian lady saying: «we’re closing soon».
her pricing was so cheap i told her.
picked a mable bar & old fashioned which came to 1.60
for total of $ 2, she said i could get another donut. SOLD! got a glazed.
–donuts so fresh they literally melted in my mouth.
crumbs:
–usually go with the flow of times. i.e. house rules, inventory issues.
–if i don’t like things as is, i can always leave…
–cards accepted with minimum purchase. fine with that.

Another Unilocal smear-​job. You’d think we were in Cranky-​Pants central rather than the relatively unassuming digs of Santa Rosa.
I don’t have a problem with a $ 5 minimum for using a card, and casual service in a small donut shop isn’t exactly a shocker, either. In the few times I’ve been here, they’ve been at least fairly courteous. Never seen food ‘thrown’ or had my food microwaved involuntarily.
What I have had are pretty good donuts. In fact, the chocolate old fashioned I got the last time was downright excellent. I have no idea about the other food they offer.
No dramatics or embellishment here, just a hole in the wall joint that serves above par fried pastries with icing. That’s OK by me.

Stopped here on my walk home. The man in front of me ordered a croissant. That sounded good so I did the same. I asked for a bag to go. Before I knew what was happening she she microwaved it. She didn’t even ask me first, yuck! She would exchange it for another cold one. So here I am stuck with a greasy croissant that I had to pay $.40 extra for because she wouldn’t accept my card unless I bought $ 5.00 worth of goods from her. On top of all this she was rude about it.
I should of walked out. But I didn’t.
Now I wouldn’t of minded paying the extra had she exchanged my warm greasy croissant for the cold one.
What a terrible way to treat your customers. I will never give my business to this place again. Shame shame.

So recently I was on the hunt for awesome donut dives in Santa Rosa. I’d read the reviews of Sam’s including the only one star review and wondered if it was as bad as Belle made it out to be. If you get around the country, you sometimes find marvelous places with a few bad reviews that turn out to be the real deal and vice versa.
I would find out on this day that I and Belle A. would share visits in common but for different reasons. I suspect that the same lady which helped her also helped me. I stopped by driving from an opposite part of town. Let me tell you that parking is hard to come by. There are a few businesses on this road that see quite a few customers, so it could take up to fifteen minutes of back and forth to find a good space. It’s mostly due to a popular lunch spot on that block, a café of some kind. Oh yea, Sam’s for play café, not to be confused with this place also called Sam’s, but Sam’s donuts and Chinese food. It’s mentioned on two signs which are outside and on menu’s inside. However per the lady behind the counter, this is no more. The counter and everywhere around it there were clusters of items for sale. Food items such as ramen noodles for instance. I mentioned how I found information about them on the Internet and hoped to get some Chinese food and a few treats. The counter lady hardly cared what I was saying. She just continued to count change in her drawer. She muttered something about not having nor never going to make food again. Just because of hunger I asked about the ramen noodles. She again said, «No, no food only donuts». WHY? it’s not like they were busy. I can’t imagine anyone walked in before me.
Their donut section looked bleak. Imagine an old school donut shop like what you’d find on I-​94. Imagine you decided to head west into the heartland and you are now between North Dakota and Montana. You silly fool you went the wrong way and can’t get to Wall drug. Now you’re at some country bumpkin donut shop that hasn’t been cleaned in ages. The baked goods windows look as though they need to be set ablaze and new ones need placing. It’s that bad.
This lady’s attitude was like. I don’t care if you buy a donut or just leave. She had nothing to say when I mentioned how long it took to park. I’m willing to give her some space. It sounded as though her Mom is in the hospital and maybe it was the big Mom that cared more about this little donut shop. So sad that she wasn’t here. I hope her Mom gets better and comes back to save this donut stop. Otherwise they can be thankful for the last 17 or so years.
I tried a donut based on reviews, not very expensive and didn’t care for it much.

Great donuts here. The owner who is usaully behind the counter is a gem and never seem to have aged though its been 17 years since I’ve been here. If you order a dozen donuts she may give a little extra. The donuts are also fresh. The Chinese food here is pretty good too. Definitely worth the stop

The worst donut shop I’ve ever been to. The old Asian lady threw a fit when I told her I only had a card to pay for the food i was trying to buy, which was under $ 5.00 A simple ok, thank you anyways would of been nice, but she grabbed my food from the counter and threw it! I then said «why are you treating your customers like this?». She replied «I don’t care for you! I call the police!». Wow… I was completely shocked by her attitude. I would NEVER suggest anyone to come to this place unless you want to get yelled at for not buying a lot of donuts because of the very little selections that they have. Grade F place.

Really good donuts, the plain old fashion and Cruller I ate on the way home were near perfect. If I can get these hot I will be in heaven. The service was outstanding.
I usually get my donuts at the Jelly Donut just down the road from Sam’s, but tonight being Christmas I guess they were closed. I drove by Sam’s about 11pm and the sign said open. I went to open the door and it was locked. The lady inside signaled did I want something from the counter. Well Duh, I thought, but I shook my head yes. She came around and opened the door and said Merry Christmas come on in. I said thank and I told her I was surprised she was open. She said she was not sure if she wanted to be today, but she needed to make food for some assisted living facility so…
Anyway, I not only got chocolate Crullers (my fav), a glazed buttermilk bar & a cheese filled crassoint, but she gave me another Cruller and three other donuts as well since it was Christmas, she was closing and I live in the area. She was so friendly and happy chatty (I am too most of the time, but tonight I was a poor mood, which is why I wanted donuts) that I have decided to try and go here more often. I love donuts and am particular, but I tend to want them well after 10:30pm which is their «regular» closing time. I will be testing that out soon enough though. Customer service is oh so important.

I know, I know, it’s gonna sound crazy when I tell you that some of the best Chow Mein in all of Santa Rosa can be found in a take out location that is actually more known for it’s Donuts than it’s Chinese food.
But it’s true.
This is a regular late night stop for me (ok it helps that I live around the corner) Their combo meals are reasonable, and everything is pretty darn good (it’s like the chinese equivillant of the taco truck) but my favorite by far is the chow mein and a side of the BBQ pork.
Donuts — since the departure of Krispy Krack — this is the only decent place to get them, the old fashions are amazing, and the donut holes are really really tasty.
and the coffee isn’t bad. although if I’m gonna drink gas station coffee — I’ll head next door to the quick stop