Sidecar Doughnuts & Coffee

Reviews 4

TI

Tiffany Cheung

Sidecar Doughnuts is well-known for their freshly made doughnuts. With a variety of unique flavors that Id never imagine in/on a doughnut, Sidecar manages to create top-notch and unique doughnuts that have their many fans wanting more. Their storefront is pretty unassuming, but with the crowds of people lining up, eating doughnuts, or snapping photos of their baked goods, its hard to miss. The plaza is pretty busy, so parking isnt the easiest to find if you come during the weekend or afternoon. Luckily its not impossible. The line moves pretty quickly. You walk along the displays of doughnuts before you reach the workers at the front wholl assist you in grabbing your doughnuts (because really, can you just get one?) of choice before you head over to the cashier to pay. They also serve coffee and espresso, which I can see people enjoying on a slow day with their dessert. If the prices were just a tiny bit cheaper - or if there was a deal where you could buy five for a set price, I might have gone crazy and bought one of each doughnut. Granted, I do think most of their prices are justified, especially if youre eating the doughnut immediately after you buy it. Salty Caramel: I love all things caramel, and these doughnuts that were glistening with that layer of salty caramel glaze were calling me to buy one. So I couldnt resist and bought it for $3. I had to say that I was pretty disappointed by this doughnut. Its a raised doughnut and looked amazing on camera (haha), but the doughnut deflated right when I bit into it. It didnt taste as soft and fluffy as I expected it to. The taste was still spot on, but I felt like it lacked the substance, therefore not really justifying the $3 cost. Cinnamon Crumb: $2.75 I do like cake doughnuts and I love cinnamon, so I personally loved this doughnut. There was a good amount of cinnamon crumble on top of the cake, making it just slightly overflow with that sweet topping. You can really taste the cinnamon, and its not too sweet either. The cakeyness (if thats a word) of the doughnut was cooked the right amount - definitely a good idea to eat this when its fresh. Lemon Pound Cake: $3 I felt like this was more worth the $3 because the cake texture gave the doughnut much more substance and "oomph" upon biting into it than the Salty Caramel did. Very reminiscent to a regular lemon pound cake that you can pick up at Starbucks, except this doughnut tasted much more fresh. The cake texture was great, not too cakey and not too hard. If you like lemon, youd definitely be a fan of this doughnut. I would say that after one bite, it might be a bit too much and require a break just because the flavors are super overwhelming (in a good way). Maple Bacon: $3.75 How can you not like bacon and doughnuts together? When I first heard of this combination, I was skeptical, but Local Donuts in Arizona really made me a fan. Sidecars Maple Bacon was not as great as The Local Donut, but it was still really good. Even though this was a raised doughnut, I felt like the maple syrup glaze and bacon bits really added to the overall doughnut, making each bite incredibly filling. Sidecar knows how to captivate the tastebuds as the syrup glaze and bacon bits really meshed well together. The bacon pieces had just enough salt, but the syrup glaze helped it retain that sweetness that ultimately fit perfectly well on top of a doughnut. I was super impressed by the flavors of all the doughnuts that I ate that day. The only disappointment was the Salty Caramel, but I still really liked the flavors of that doughnut. Really wanted to try the Huckleberry - and now they have Smores and Rose geranium & blackberry! tl;dr - Extraordinary spot that serves high quality doughnuts for a slightly higher price than youd expect. Theyre able to retain their customers by having monthly rotations of different doughnuts which is a really good idea. I recommend the Cinnamon Crumb and Maple Bacon, but I definitely want to try their Huckleberry and Ham & Eggs!

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DR

Drew McCrary

I was always one who believed that doughnuts should be cheap, and plentiful. Growing up, they always seemed to show up by the dozen, and were ubiquitous with bad coffee and police movies. Once in a while Id get a doughnut that was pretty fresh, and with milk it was a pretty sublime experience. Cue Krispy Kreme, before the trans fat movement destroyed our hopes of delicious gluttony. Watching the doughnut be created right in front of my mischievous eyes, traveling down the deep fat river, and traversing the rainforest of glaze, I watched workers scoop a doughnut that had literally just been made into a box and hand them into my greedy little hands. Thankfully I was swimming full time at that point, because eating 6 of those bad boys today might have ended my life. Cue today- craft cocktail meets gastropub meets coffee laboratory. There is space in the marketplace for carefully crafted and high quality epicurean taste experiences. Sidecar is one of those places. Maple Bacon, Huckleberry, Monte Cristo, there are some delectable things happening in this doughnut dispensary. Is it expensive? Yes, and I think thats how it should be. You dont need to get a dozen doughnuts, you need 1 (or 2 if youre feeling especially excited) high quality doughnut. So choose wisely, or bring some friends and split a few. Or hell, just buy a dozen and eat them all on your couch while watching Scandal. Its a choose your own adventure sort of deal. 4 Stars.

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PE

Pete Shieh

So I never got into the Sidecar Doughnuts Yelp Event awhile back and since Im working a few blocks from here, I thought I would make Homer Simpson proud and make the time to come here and try out the doughnuts here. Mmmm....Doughnuts. Got to try the Huckleberry $3 (which in all honestly, tasted like a fresh blue sour blueberry version, that was surprisingly good) and the Sour Cherry Cheesecake, $3.50 (which tasted like ...sour cherry cheesecake! ) The cheesecake was too rich for me at 7:30am, thats for sure. Its like me saying drinking a beer at 9am, but at least Im impartial to drinking beer that early and I cannot have dessert this early. Both donuts were quite moist and just crumbly enough that it tasted like donuts, not cake. I also got to try the Latte here . $4. It was quite good, but then again Im a big fan of Stumptown Coffee whenever I was up North in the Portland area. Not too hot, just the right amount of milk and foam and a nice design on top. It did take about 5 extra minutes for it to come to us. . Yes the prices are a bit high and my wallet wont be able to handle this on a daily basis. I would say, this is an indulgent experience. I would come back again...maybe on pay day when and if I ever get a bonus.

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JO

Jonathan Zabala

Ive put off coming to Sidecar because every time Im in the area I wanted something savory, but one morning I was in the mood for a doughnut after having a mediocre one at the Irvine Cars & Coffee. What do you expect from a normal pink box of doughnuts? Over many visits I was able to try pretty much the whole menu. I love maple bacon doughnuts, but this one didnt do it to me. It was good, but not for me. I prefer mine in the longer form with whole pieces of bacon. I really enjoy getting the vanilla twist. Those I could eat at least two of those. The blood orange was delightful. It had an edible triangle piece of blood orange on the top from zest to center. The Samoa tastes just like the girl scout cookie, but in doughnut form. I could keep going on all the specialty flavors, but it would be best if you just look at all the fresh doughnuts and buy one, two, or possibly a dozen. The current lowest price on the menu is $2, so these donuts are not for sharing at the office (unless for some reason you absolutely love your office mates). Get those guys the cheap pink boxed crap. These doughnuts are for those time you want to splurge.

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