Top of the Hill Cafe

Get a bear claw aka almond croissant. Ask them to to warm it up too. It’s life changing, trust me.

They food is good. It’s just that I ordered my food 10 mins before the firefighters and they gave them their food first then I got mine 10 mins later! I was waiting for 30 mins total! When the firefighters barely waited

5 stars! This is what donuts should be about
cheap, delicious, light and fluffy, not overly sweet and not overly hipster nor greasy!
this is a asian family runned old school donuts and coffee shop
nothing fancy in a random area of north of Mission street close to daly city.
.95 cents for donuts is what I am talking about!
We had the glazed, sugar and coffee crumb donut. All really good — the closest thing I’ve had to great donuts was Randys in LA.
will be back when we are hankering for yummy donuts…

This property had been closed for THE LONGEST time. Finally, a café opens in place of the family owned corner store that used to be. Top of the Hill Café is convenient to commuters on their way to Daly City Bart. I’m a BIG fan of their coffee — specifically their hazelnut brew. They freshly brew coffee all day long, even into the afternoons. Their donuts are delicious — my personal favorites are the chocolate glazed or sugar! They also serve, just like their sister café (Daniels Café on Ellis x Cyril Magnin in SF) breakfast sandwiches.
I highly recommend visiting Top of the Hill Café. Their prices are pretty reasonable and it is a good place to catch a breath and hang out. The only downfall would be that they add complimentary wifi — it would even better!

Even though the iconic Krispy Kreme isn’t too far away, you’ll go nuts for these donuts at Top of the Hill Café. (I apologize now for that terrible pun)
They’re open all day long until 8pm, serving up donuts, croissants and other breakfast foods. When I went the head chef was on maternity leave, so I missed out on the food.
They offer a variety of different donuts like your typical glaze, chocolate, or maple. They also have filled donuts with your choice at jelly or crème filled. Although I’d have to reconsider my friendship with anyone who gets a jelly filled by choice.
Pricing is good with the standard donuts at $.95 cents and any others special or filled with 50 cents more. I got an assorted box of 6 for $ 5.00.
The owners are nice and have been there for years. While it’s pretty much like any other real donut shop, it’s definently worth a quick stop in for a Sunday morning snack.

Quality of this place is going down hill! Came here a few times as nd thry ran out of pancakes! Wtf? How can u run outta pancakes? When they finally had some, they were smaller than before. Not consistent at all. It took so long for tg hr food to come out too. How long does it really tske to make scrambled eggs and pancakes bro? Will come back but not for a while…

While there is a lot of room for improvement, this place has some pretty great upsides. I tutor here frequently and have indulged in far too many donuts for my own good while working. They make the donuts at the shop every morning, and you can really taste the difference. Any of the cake donuts are a fantastic choice; they’re seriously my favorite donuts anywhere. The old fashioned donuts could be a bit crispier but they are still super good. My boyfriend begs me to pick some up on my way to his place quite a bit. My student raves of their hot chocolate, and they have a decent selection of refrigerated drinks.
If you’re not a regular the service can seem a bit hit-​or-​miss. Some cashiers are always super friendly and happy to serve you, while others (really only one of the female cashiers) can appear to be cold and reserved. There’s usually only one or two employees working when I’m there, so as a heads up they might be in the back when you first walk in. They come out to the counter pretty quickly though. I also wish they had wifi. If they did I could camp out there all day.
Generally, though, this place is pretty awesome. Great location, AMAZING donuts, usually friendly service. Has room for improvement but I’d definitely recommend the café to anyone looking to satisfy their sweet tooth.

Mission Date: Friday, April 10, 2015
Time: Approximately 1500 Hours
Incident:
On the aforementioned date and time, I was waiting for my son to get his haircut done. I was feeling drowsy so I walked over here to grab some of those Starbucks Double Shot for a quick pick-​me-​up. I couldn’t find it anywhere in their fridge so I asked the lady in the counter, who had no clue what I was talking about. Thanks for the help, lady.
So as a substitute, I was going to grab a regular Starbucks coffee, but I changed my mind since I saw a black tea drink with plenty of caffeine. This should do the trick, I said to myself.
I brought the bottle to the counter and the lady asked if I knew the price. A million questions popped in my head from why is she asking me the price to didn’t you scan the price. The lady working the counter asked her male co-​worker, who fled the scene and didn’t give a damn at all.
I went back to the fridge and noticed there were no prices on a lot of their products. I informed the lady so she said she’ll just charge me $ 1.50. In my head, I was thinking of one of Russell Peters’ stand-​up routine where he said that in India that drivers there don’t follow a lane, but they create a lane and make up their own lane. I smirked and said to myself, «What is this? Create a price?»
I ain’t complaining about the made up price, it was probably more than $ 1.50; but for an establishment to have your workers don’t know the price and products their selling is not ideal and not a business model that’s gonna last.
Here are a few tips:
–Mark your prices
–Train your employees
–Know your products
End of rant.

Very good donuts and friendly counter people. Coffee is self serve and a little bland, luke warm but not bad. Wait for breakfast on a weekend is fairly long but just grab a coffee refill and relax. A regular stop on our way to go hiking and to burn off the donuts on the weekend! CASH only (ATM in nasty bar on same side of street).

Donuts are vicious. I have a serious problem of at least once a week gutbombing myself from these treats. Walking is my redemption to and from here as the guilt is null and void each trip. Check it out!

Great doughnuts all around. Glazed doughnuts are particularly good, but they’re all pretty good. I can’t speak to how it does as a café… that’s never what I’ve been there for, and I don’t think it’s their focus.

Starting out living in San Francisco around the block from the famous Bob’s Doughnut’s on Polk St; moving to Daly City I felt constrained by the mexican/​central america sweet bread shops — which are certainly good but found me missing Bob’s. Being late one day and not having parking at the usual place I get mexican doughnuts, I went a different way and saw this shop at the top of the hill.
I stopped in and grabbed 3 fresh doughnuts and they were amazing. The coffee was also fresh, self-​serve, no-​frills. The place is kind of a dive — just like a good doughnut shop should be. I found myself going here daily.

It’s all about the donuts. No others compare. They have a light, buttery flavor in the cake, and are topped with fine ingredients. The coffee hits the spot, too. They start serving breakfast at 7 and don’t have wifi as of this post, but those donuts… They’re to die for.

This donut shop is now a café, but it is still only a mediocre spot.
Top of the Hill functions as a donut shop, a coffee shop, a breakfast café, and a corner market.
As a donut shop the donuts aren’t bad. I’d come back here for donuts. The apple fritter is nice and crispy, the fluffy glazed donut melts in your mouth. The cake and old fashioned could use a little more work in my opinion. I prefer my old fashioned donuts to be crispy.
As a coffee shop, things could be better. You do still have 6 kinds of coffee, but the coffee’s sugar and cream station is sad. Things aren’t well stocked. They do have half and half out now. I saw Splenda and Sweet n’ Low behind the donut counter but there was none at the coffee station. It wasn’t wiped clean.
As a café things have a long way to go. Food takes a while and is very normal. Two scrambles, two omelets, pancakes. The small menu is expected and isn’t a negative. Drinks were served in disposable cups despite eating in.
Top of the Hill stocks a variety of drinks, and a few things like chips. Since it is on a corner, I suppose this can make sense. The downside is that the café is incredibly loud.
The interior of the café is sad. You can hear the refrigerators humming. The door beeps when someone comes in and also when someone just walks by. This means that the door is often chiming very loudly. The shelves behind the counter are barren. The kitchen is visible, the toast area is just on a table near it. There are supplies stacked on the floors, and some of the refrigerators are empty. It gives a feeling of still being incomplete and without focus.
A few other changes from my last review are that they have ice cream in their freezer now, and I found half and half. I think they have other coffee drinks now, but I didn’t pay too much attention to that.
I still go with three stars since as a donut shop it does the job.

I drove by this place a few times and couldnt wait to try it out, today a Young lady who was helping us had no customer service skills. It wasn’t a really good welcoming. No Wifi! Feels like we cannot chill in here and not a pleasant atmosphere. The reviewers on here must know them personally. Donut selection was ok, I’d rather drive the extra mile to Krispy kremes or Starbucks.

EXCELLENT!!! I came across this little piece of heaven quite by accident this morning. When you walk by the window, the first things that command your attention are the extremely colorful and delicious looking donuts and croissants and pastries. But once I got inside and looked at the menu, I began jonesing for a full breakfast, which I ordered and enjoyed immensely.
The coffee (3 types offered, at various levels of toxicity) was strong and delicious, the omelette I had was light and fluffy, and be home fries were delicious, with peel still on them, and not greasy. My wheat toast was delivered dry, with a couple of squares of real butter alongside, so I could butter them to taste. That is rare and perfect!
Finally, the staff was smiling and friendly and warm at all times. As usual with a restaurant experience, that enhanced things immensely. I was able to buy delicious breakfasts for myself and my companion for about $ 14, plus tip. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

I know it’s too soon to say but I am in love with this place!!! When you drive by Mission in Daly City you usually see a liquor store in the corner, but I guess the liquor store previous to the donut shop did not make it.
Luckily something heavenly happen to this place! It opened recently and it already wowed me! Of course, they are still a starting up business so give it time if it did not wow you
It’s a fairly medium size place, pretty clean!
The people who work here are friendly and they are helpful!
Let’s get to the good stuff! What really caught my eyes when I came here are the donuts, they looked tasty and fresh, I mean come on who wants a stale and tasteless donut?! It’s like eye candy! Everything looks good and there are many choices, you’re like eating them with your eyes. I had the crumb donut and my dad had this pastry that kind of looked like a croissant and turnover. All the flavors and textures were there and I was very satisfied!

Great selection of donuts, made fresh and delicious and they fill them with jelly or custard right before you buy it. No skimping here! Coffee is pretty good too.

This is a no frills, classic donut shop. I got a half dozen and quality was great. Everything looks really fresh. The other donut shops of the area is on Mission/​Templeton (meh), Royal Donuts on El Camino near Estrada’s restaurant (feels sketchy and they never have a crumb cake donut… do they even make them?) and Krispy Kreme, whose donuts feel more like a dense dessert. So far, this is the best option. Employees are super nice and lots of space to sit and read or study.

Daly City. The foggy gateway to SF. Home to big box stores and filipino food. Now you have another reason to visit this city.
I was picking up dinner from Little Yangon (incidentally, an SF Chronicle Bargain Bites spot) a few weeks ago, and the owners said that I should try out the new donut shop opening up next door. I’m always an the lookout for a good donut, so I stopped in the next day to try it out.
Verdict: spot on
I got a mix of donuts: apple fritter, glazed raised, chocolate old-​fashioned, glazed twist, custard-​filled chocolate, and blueberry cake. Every single one was very good. The apple fritter was crispy on the outside, but still moist and chewy on the inside, with bits of apple mixed in. No oily taste at all, which I often find to be a problem with apple fritters. The glazed raised donuts were airy and light, with a good amount of glaze. The chocolate old-​fashioned were also nicely fried without the oily taste, and had a creamy layer of chocolate icing on top. For the filled donuts, I think you can pick a donut and ask them to fill it with either custard or raspberry filling. Kind of like Beard Papas. Blueberry cake donut was moist and had a rich blueberry flavor. Prices are moderate.
The service was extremely nice, and the best part? The woman threw in a bunch of donut holes into my box. Now that is how you gain a loyal customer. I heard them say that they will start serving breakfast soon, too. I’m not sure what that means, but it might be worth checking out. They had quite a large, clean seating area, so that’s another plus.
Overall, I think I’ve found my new favorite donut shop. It’s close, they’re friendly, parking is easy, and most importantly, the donuts are very good.