Dynamo Donuts Review

Today’s review is of Dynamo Donuts.  My husband and I first discovered Dynamo before our kids were born and have been going back ever since.  It is in the Mission District on 24^th near Portrero and is not located near my old job, or his current one.  And that – is a good thing.  It means that we are not regularly tempted to go here, and try to save it for special occasions.

Dynamo Donuts is the gold standard of donuts in my opinion.  It sets the bar to which all other donuts should be held accountable.   I also love the shop itself.  All the donuts are made onsite and come in a variety of flavors.  For those people who like the standards: ‘raised glazed, old-fashioned, maple bars..’ this may not at first be to your liking, but I challenge you to try and you may be converted.

They have donuts that have cardamom, and orange, and passionfruit… and rose.   But they are so so good.  The cake part is perfect, and the donuts are made so that none are overly sweet.  My favorite, and the one which I must get each and every time no matter how many times I tell myself I’ll get something different, is the maple glazed bacon apple donut.  I’m not kidding you – it is the bomb.  Surprisingly, my second favorite is their “I’m not a gluten donut” when they have the lemon buttermilk donut.  It is covered in powdered sugar and YumMEE.  (As a side note, my son’s favorite donut for his first few years of donut eating was the Chocolate Rose donut.) 

The shop has a small indoor seating area (and recently introduced a small table for little ones).  We were going there for about a year before we even realized that they have outdoor seating in back. It is a lovely courtyard that on sunny days is the place to be with your donuts and coffee.

The serve top notch coffee – Four Barrel Coffee – which I must admit actually isn’t one of my favorites.   I am a traditional coffee with cream drinker – no frills, but today I decided to splurge and get a latte, and that my friends was GREAT.   

To test out the quality of Dynamo on others who have never been before. my donut guests today were a few vikings  (You know, the red haired people who only eat meat?).  Anyway, as one would expect with a viking, their favorite was also the bacon donut, and they ended up taking 2 more bacon donuts home to Daddy who could not join us today.  We had two 2-year olds with us, one 3-week old (who will enjoy the donuts later thanks to Mommy) and us moms.   The kids were able to sit at the kids table (the baby was sleeping) and the Mamas got to visit a little. When the kids were done they then found all the donut related books available for their (and our) reading pleasure.  My favorite was called “pat the foodie” and is a parody of “Pat the Bunny”.  For those familiar with that childhood favorite, please check out the pics below.

All in all, and it should be no surprise given my intro above, my ratings are as follows (1-low; 5-high):
Donuts: 5
Coffee: 5 (as long as it’s the latte)
Ambiance: 5

Company: 5

I am on the lookout for other donut places in SF and the Bay Area to try and other friends who would like to join me for a Friday donut review.  Please let me know if you have any recommendations or interest!

 His shirt says "WHAT WOULD BACON DO?"