Blue Star Donuts

Category:	Donut Shop
Address:	1237 SW Washington St, Portland, OR 97205, USA
Phone:	+1 503-265-8410
Site:	bluestardonuts.com
Rating:	4.3
Working:	7AM–8PM 7AM–8PM 7AM–8PM 7AM–8PM 7AM–8PM 7AM–8PM 7AM–8PM

Location

Photos 100

Reviews 5

Last Visible Canary

Blue star donut is about as Portland as you can get, more Portland than voodoo donut which has risen to the position of being on the cusp of national branding. In doing so they have lost the emphasis on exacting quality and flavor. Blue star donuts, in Portland fashion, emphasis flavor and simple presentation to a fault. The store itself is industrial sparse to the point of not having coffee lids. It is not particularly inviting in the sense that you feel at home, but it is beautiful if you go for minimalist modernist dark art and design. The donuts are well above par. There are three striking qualities to their donuts, the intensity and quality of the flavors present, the lightness of the sweet notes, and the heartiness of the dough. The fruit flavors are bright, the sweet flavors are almost liquor n their bright intensity, and the herbal flavors are subtle but savory. The sweetness is of a kind that doesnt congeal on the palette, it disappears moments after the initial experience leaving you wanting more instead of feeling like you need to rinse, and the doubt has a chewiness and a density that is actually satisfying: the overall experience is that of quality *food* rather than a big block of sugar and fat. Absolutely fabulous. However.... Im deducting a star for their choice in coffee (and possibly tea, I havent had it but I have had few examples of tea better than tao of tea). Stumptown coffee is to local coffee what Voodoo donuts is to local donuts. They produce a coffee that is meant to be soft on the palette with floating grassy notes, but what you get is something that feels watery in the initial mouthfeel with no real flavor profile, and only starts to take on the grassy notes and the bass mouth feel at the very end - overall a frustrating cup. They also do not have coffee lids. With heart roasters only a few doors down (I dont like the overall profile of flavors, they tend to emphasize one flavor to much at the cost of mouthfeel, but at least they *have* a destinct flavor), and sterling coffee roasters is within 10 minutes drive (they produce excellent coffee with complex flavor profile and worthwhile mouthfeel). With other excellent choices, the decision to use stumptown feels more based on name recognition than actual quality. Overall its the best donuts Ive ever had, but by setting the bar so exceptionally high I was kind of let down by the coffee. Still, its the highest recommendation for donuts I have for the Portland area thus far.

Samantha Berg

Alright friends, in the battle of Blue Star vs. Voodoo, I am casting my vote for Voodoo. I came to Blue Star first, having heard from many people that its better than Voodoo and that the lines are shorter. I can definitely attest to the shorter line. We waited for no time at all. I was encouraged by the "quality over quantity" statements and how delicious all the donuts looked. It was hard to decide what to order. My friend and I finally settled on a maple bacon donut, which looked AWESOME. Boy, were we disappointed when we finally bit into it. I like a light, airy, fluffy donut, lightly glazed but not overly sweet. This donut was the opposite. It was SO sweet, like stick to your tongue, overly dense, sweet to the point of being chewy and meaty. The glaze didnt help. The consistency was almost syrupy compared to the light glaze Im used to from other places. All I tasted was sugar... no maple, and while I physically ate pieces of bacon, I could barely taste them. The bacon bits werent crispy and they didnt bring any kind of savory relief from the rest of the sugar. Instead they were gummy and chewy, fatty but not rich in flavor, and overall, completely disappointing. The worst part? Paying $4.95 for the disappointment. If youve got a big sweet tooth, this might be the place for you. Blue Star, I wanted to love you, but alas, it just wasnt meant to be.

Mongol Lee

I had to come here on my first trip to portland. The street it is on reminds me of a mix of San Francisco and Berkeley. On to the donuts! I had a blueberry donut, hard apple cider fritter, a regular glazed, a marion berry? aka oregon berry jelly filled donut, and a pumpkin flavoured one. I think that overall the best was the OG aka the glazed donut. Oregon Berry donut had this spiciness to it i just wasnt prepared for. If you eat it first you most likely will not taste anything else. Hard apple cider fritter was the second favorite. It was tasty but the consistency wasnt as on point maybe it was there too long. The other ones were just too sweet. Im complaining about a donut being too sweet. A SIN. My friends actually really liked the donut experience. I just tend to favor more savory creations. People who want sweeter donuts can have that too. Blue star is worth the visit if youre in the portland area. Its on the same street as other good shops. The thing I liked most is the variety of flavours. Its supposed to be an adventure. Unfortunately no matter how good a donut it is, it cant please everyone, but this shop has a flavour for anybody.

Justin Hardcastle

Theyre nice staff and its a good looking place, but Ive just never been really impressed with their donuts, especially at the cost. Their motto of quality over quantity rings true more so in just the price tag for me. What I dislike most is the texture of the raised donuts. Theyre more dense than others, and have a more bread like texture too. I also find them quite dry. I havent tried many of the cake donuts, but the old fashioned is alright. The glaze on the other hand is too fruity for trying to be a traditional donut. Overall, this is a place you should try at least. Dont expect it to be like other shops where a dozen donuts is all that makes sense price wise. They really push the low quantity aspect of their tag-line, so buying more than a few donuts adds up real quick. Personally I think theyd improve greatly from trying to be less creative in some donuts. People are comfortable with and almost expect things like maple bars, glazed raised, or old fashions; but few of the Blue Star interpretations of those will please the person used to local places like Sesame donuts. Not just in flavor, but also in looks, texture, and price.

Michelle B

While I definitely think this place is worth a try and that some people will throughly enjoy it, I was pretty disappointed. Our service was very meh. The workers were very nice to my friend. They told him if he needed any recommendations they would tell him. He ordered his donuts which they got happily and didnt realize my sister and I had our own order. Thats fine. I understand. As we ordered they just didnt seem to care. I felt super uncomfortable, like I was wasting their time. If we were both treated the same way. I would have totally understood. We all have good days and bad days. But even my friend agreed they didnt seem to like us. The donuts were also meh. My sister had a strawberry rubarb filled donut, I had a chocolate crunchy donut (I cant remembered the name of). Our filling was only in a quarter of a the donut. Everything just felt so minimal. Like no one tried to make customers happy and it was extremely disppaointed. Donuts are donuts, and I love them all. But I wont be doing blue star again. Today they didnt live up to their reputation. But feel free to try it yourself.