The Hole

This place always has the worst service! The only reason I gave it one star is because I like the food. I have given this place too many chances, today was thr final straw! We got coffee, they didn’t bring any sugar or silverware, when we asked for some we only got one spoon to share to stir our coffee. When they took our order the waitress wasn’t even paying attention. After 25 minutes she said or food would be right out, 10 minutes later still no food! Needless to say we ended up walking out hungry!

We just happened upon The Hole walking up and down Tennyson on a Saturday at 7:30 AM. Why we were up that early I have no idea, but we were. We had seen it before and had wondered about it being any good so we stopped in.
The service was fine, but at 7:30 AM there isn’t anybody to compete with. We chose a coconut donut and an irish cream donut. Grabbed a couple of decent cups of coffee and sat down. The coconut was pretty good, but the irish cream was fantastic. It was filled with a meringue like substance that was to light and perfect with the heaviness of the dough and glaze on the outside. I am no donut aficionado, but that was probably the best donut I have ever had.
All around a pretty good experience at 7:30 AM on a Saturday morning.

Mike Delmonico’s fun space on Tennyson feature donuts and brew. Does it get any better? Yes it does. They are open 24 hours.
Fantastic laid-​back interior. While you might have to navigate past a hipster or two, most of the patrons are lovely folks as are the bartenders.
The donuts are very good with some unusual concotions. I had a Mexican chocolate donut that was spicy and really great.

The donut sandwiches are just not that great. The loaded french fries were pretty awful.
Service is great, and I had a great time thanks to the bartender.

I still really enjoy their donuts. They have chocolate milk now which is a plus. I would recommend getting their donuts early in the morning. Obviously they are just much fresher!
The walk up window is great. Every restaurant needs one of these!

A doughnut shop — The Lemon Drop is where its at.
After seeing the owner on a recent episode of Challenge on Food Network, my wife made a plan to visit the place. There were plenty of tables when we arrived at midday on Saturday. Most of the tables are two-​tops, so if you have a larger party, you may have a wait. Seating is self-​serve. We sat in the bar area. The natural brick is sort of covered in plaster, with the addition of modern art in places — a nice touch. Yes, there were a couple of TVs in the bar tuned to various sports with the sound turned off. The music was louder than background level, but playing nice soothing slow tunes.
We immediately had our guy bringing over drinks and breakfast menus. At that time of day, I’d have expected a lunch menu. We had to ask for it. I ordered coffee, which was brought over in an over-​sized teacup. And by over-​sized, I mean easily holds 32oz. The soda jar (and yes, it was a jar) was smaller. The coffee was a much darker roast than is enjoyable and tasted very bitter. Definitely not worth it.
Let’s be clear — this is a doughnut shop. So, naturally, everything is on a doughnut. I ordered the breakfast sausage sandwich — a very plain sausage on a more bread-​like square doughnut spread with jalapeño jam, cream cheese and a fried egg. I asked for the egg over easy, but somehow that did not get communicated as my yolk was hard and sulpherous. I was expecting the jalapeño jam to have a kick, but it was more sweet, and added to the sweetness of the cream cheese. Overall, this was underwhelming.
My wife ordered a ham and brie sandwich — smoked ham on the same doughnut bread topped with brie and apricot jam. This was just what you would expect — just different bread. The doughnut did not bring anything to the party, and they didn’t bother to melt the brie, so — again — totally underwhelming.
Since the sandwiches did not come with any sides, we decided to split an order of sweet potato fries. Technically, reasonable — they weren’t soggy, but they needed salt badly. There was no salt or pepper on the tables either. Major issue.
Now let’s talk doughnuts — as in the sweet sort. We decided that to do a fair review, we really had to try some. We asked what the best sellers were and ordered two — a lemon drop and a raspberry cheesecake — both filled doughnuts. The lemon drop had a mellow lemon cream filling and a completely wonderful toasted marshmallow on top, with a very light doughnut. This was absolutely my favorite and I would drive for this. The raspberry cheesecake doughnut was covered in sugar and was more dense than the lemon drop. The filling tasted exactly like raspberry cheesecake. it was not as pleasant as the lemon drop.
Overall, this is an OK place that can easily turn itself into a great place by fixing the technical issues with their food. It is certainly not somewhere I would drive 40 minutes to again. Come for the doughnuts — skip the coffee and get lunch elsewhere.

I came to The Hole expecting to have to unbutton my pants before I left but i was the perfect amount of full after eating the ham, brie and apricot jam donutwich. I expected it to be heavy and rich but it was light and delicious!
I also sampled a Boston Cream Donut and it had the perfect amount of filling… LOTS!
I’ll defiantly be back and will be bringing my children!

I love this little section of Tennyson, and I love good coffee.
Yes, GOOD coffee. You know, the kind that doesn’t come with the burnt aftertaste of overpriced bitterness.
The Hole is hipster but cute, without the über-​cool, you aren’t good enough to be here attitude of other «local» coffee and watering holes.
Cool paintings, artwork, and photos scattered about, an awesome, awesome bathroom (Hell yeah, I took pictures), and an amazingly friendly Barista /​Server /​Etc.
The coffee, first, is Quality. And about HALF the price of other local AND non-​local coffee joints. (Including a dollar tip.)
There’s PBR memorabilia on doorways. There’s a bar upstairs. And there’s MAPLE BACON doughnuts. This is a happy place.
Tuesday Nights: 10pm. Karaōke. I have been assured that it’s pretty kick-​ass, but I’ll find out for myself next week.
You should meet me there.

Hmmmm…
My review kinda waivers between 2.5−3 stars. This place has somewhat gotten hyped up to me by a few people I know so I was excited to try this place out, as it’s in the hood…
Had a Living Social deal for $ 20 to spend so we both decided to get the donut breakfast sandwiches. Now, I LOVE greasy food from time to time but this was just over the top. I only blame myself-​I mean I DID order a freaking DONUT SANDWICH. I got the sausage polidore with cream cheese, and grossly enough, lettuce (!!!) Matt got the maple bacon sandwich and this was his second time ordering it… he said last time, they served sweet potato fries, but this time they were just regular to my dismay.
I don’t know what I hated more about this sandwich-​the fact that there was field greens on it, or the overpowering taste of the sausage itself? I did prefer Matt’s to mine, but in the end it was just too much fried food. I was pretty set on trying these sandwiches and didn’t bother looking at anything else. We also took two donuts to go-​maple bacon and lemon drop. We decided to eat them a few hours later and sadly they had gone stale already. So I guess if I get donuts here again I should probably eat them quick.
The coffee they serve is awesome and in these HUGE mugs I love. Service is friendly and a funky atmosphere. I’m certain I’ll be back-​but not for those sandwiches.

We decided that it would be a good idea to go out to eat in the freezing cold. At first it was awful just getting to The Hole. My fingers & toes were so cold they were burning! Ordered a hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps & a chai to warm our bodies up… great decision! The ham & brie donut sandwich with apricot jam was Ab Fab! Great prices & atmosphere… you should try it.
M

After hearing a lot about The Hole from more than one person, the wife and I ventured there last Sunday morning. I really like the idea, but the execution was a little off for me. The place wasn’t very busy when we arrived and we walked right up to the counter. We mentioned it was our first time and the girl at the counter told us that we were more than welcome to take a seat anywhere and that someone would bring us a menu and that they were full service. Nice surprise!
We opted for a seat upstairs by the bar. As we sat waiting, we noticed the décor which was pretty sweet. It had a lot of funky exposed brick and locally produced art on the walls. At this point we were still waiting for menus as more than one employee walked by us. Not a big deal, but we did wait about another 5 minutes before someone said they would be right back with menus. For it not being very busy it was a bit frustrating.
We glanced over the menus and saw a nice variety of breakfast and non-​breakfast items, but no doughnuts. What? I would have expected to see the various types of doughnuts on the menu at a place known for them.
I ordered the sausage breakfast sandwich which consists of polidori sausage on a doughnut with jalapeño jam, cream cheese and a fried egg. It also came with fries. The jalapeño jam was a nice touch but I must have missed the cream cheese train. The doughnut it was served on really didn’t impress me much. It had a nice subtle sweet flavor, but the consistency was a bit doughy and the size seemed like too much for the overall sandwich. The fries were nice and crispy, just how I like them. The wife got the ham and brie sandwich with apricot jam and sweet potato fries smothered in green chili (recommended by the server). While the sandwich was delicious, it too lacked in ham and brie given the size of the doughnut. Even though you’re left eating plain doughnut, it’s still plain, and leaves you feeling skimped. The sweet potato fries and green chili were delicious!
The one thing I will not be able to forget about The Hole, is the coffee they serve. Not only does it come in a fish bowl-​sized cup, but it is so delicious. It’s probably the best tasting coffee I’ve ever had. I had to ask what kind it was — Kaladi Bothers. A friend of mine mentioned how spectacular it was and he wasn’t wrong.
I like The Hole for the concept and it’s in a great little neighborhood close to home. I look forward to going back and taking a few other peeps with me, even if it’s just for the coffee.

This place was cool and very trendy. Went for breakfast and it almost seemed as if it was a club! The place was packed. They had very good donuts and an amazing cup of coffee but the service wasnt that great. The waiter didn’t really remember anything (isn’t that kinda a prerequisite? Shouldn’t that be the most important element in your job of serving people?) but he was friendly. He didn’t come back for a while at one point and was supposed to bring me a donut with my coffee so I went up to the cashier standing in front of the donuts so I could get a donut to go with my coffee and instead of just letting me get a donut that was right in front of her she sent me back to my table to wait for my waiter. Geee… Thanks! I’d like to wait for my coffee to get cold to eat my donut :) What a sweetheart. LOL… It’s funny now but I wasn’t laughing then. I guess «the customer is always right» policy wasn’t in effect that day…
Once I finally got my donut though it was kick-​ass (super fresh and delicious!)

The Hole is like a Greek Myth:
Donutius blasphemed the Gods, and Zeus said to him «Donutius! You have questioned the God’s authority for the last time. You are hereby cursed to wander the earth. Every time you find a donut that you think will taste delicious, it will taste like a bland regular donut!»
Donutius wandered the land in search of a delicious donut. He stumbled upon the Hole, and he was excited. Never before in all of his travels had he seen so many flavors. He hoped that The Hole would be the cure for the curse of the Gods. He stood at the counter and ordered five different kinds of donuts, so excited by the selection was he. Apricott (sic), Cinnamon and Sugar, Rosemerry (sic), Carmel (sic) Apple, and Plain, just to compare the delicious varieties.
Donutius bit into the Apricott (sic), or so he thought. It tasted like the plain, perhaps he had just eaten the plain and the curse could still broken. So he bit into the Rosemerry (sic), but it tasted plain as well. Perhaps the person at the counter had accidentally given him three plain donuts. Surely the carmel (sic) apple wouldn’t let him down. He sank his teeth into it, plain again! The curse of the God’s appeared to be unbreakable.
Disheartened, Donutius sat down at a table in the empty restaurant to try breakfast at The Hole. He ordered the Flapjacks («Like Pancakes, but fancier!»). They came. Donutius wondered if perhaps he had pissed off Pancakius, God of pancakes, because the pieces of crap that lay before him looked nothing like flapjacks. They were undercooked and doughy, bereft of flavor, covered in more butter than even Heart Attackius would put on his pancakes, and doughy, as if they had sat around for awhile. They were disgusting, and Donutius realized that perhaps it was not he who was cursed, but Zeus had taken away the Hole’s ability to render anything but bland flavor into their food. And also the service sucked and the Cinnamon and Sugar doughnuts were OK.
The End.

I stopped in this morning for a couple of donuts around 7am. I know several reviewers have complained about the sparse donut selection, but I must have hit them at just the right time because their wall ‘o donuts was brimming with options.
I ordered a ginger/​champagne and a maple/​bacon donut. The woman who helped me was friendly and efficient. I handed over my two bucks, grabbed my donuts and dashed back to my car. I was excited.
There may have been skipping…
I took a bite of the ginger donut, and then took another. I kept on waiting for the ginger flavor to hit, but it never did. I couldn’t tell that the champagne really brought anything to the party either. It tasted like a generic raised glazed.
I fixed my glaze on the bacon donut. Same hopeful first and second bites. Same disappointing lack of flavor. I’m hoping The Hole mislabeled their product. I have high hopes for this convention-​busting establishment, but my first visit was a let down.

There really isn’t anything wrong with this place– just not my kind of place. The service is outstanding– I actually took an entire order, turned it upside down and it was delivered just as I asked.
I just can’t really eat donuts and beer together. To put it bluntly, I can’t really eat donuts, so that kind of cuts out half of it with me. The donuts are okay, but not something to write home about.
I would go back to try the coffee, because everyone raves about it, and I didn’t get a chance for it.

This really a two star review that I had to round up for potential. It sickens me really, but it is what it is!
Oh boy! I wanna like you. No, I wanna love you… The truth is, I don’t know what you are. A bar? A sandwich place? Unique donuts? Plain jane donuts? Help me? Out of the three times I have tried you only one was a five star mouth explosion. I dropped by after the serendipitous 5 star and was bummed to see nothing special in the mostly empty baskets. Mostly choices I could get at the local super market. It crushed me a little.
My wish list for you is this:
Please just focus. Don’t have plain lame donuts that we can buy at any olé place. Kick it new school… that’s what we are all dying for. Have more than three choices. If you are going to have a donut you are known for please for the love of God have it ready to buy morning, noon, and night. Just be yourself– awesome donuts, a great beer, and a neighborhood hangout.
Just keep on keeping on. I’m pulling for you.

Ok, so I am a 36 year old chubby chain-​smoker with a baby on the way. The last thing I needed was a friggin donut shop 5 doors down from my post at Rebelle Salon.
I figured out a system to keep myself and my arteries happy.
A.) NEVER order the «Elvis» (chocolate, bacon, caramel, banana and peanut butter) donut. It is ridiculously good albeit a definite widow– maker.
B.) only order the ganache hot chocolate once a week and drink it whilst running in place.
C.) resist the temptation to eat more than one donut a week. (not really working)
D.) about that hot chocolate again, adding peppermint schnapps is probably only a good idea once a week also.
Shite. Think I’m gonna have to re-​think this system.

Let’s face it, we’re all going to die. If we are all going to meet our maker at some point or another, why not go down with the undeniable artery-​clogging deliciousness that is the maple bacon sandwich with fries served at The Hole on Tennyson. If you aren’t feeling sinful enough, I suggest you wash it down with a swish of PBR, or a delightful Denver microbrew.
This sandwich may very well decrease my lifespan, but what a way to go! Maple syrup, bacon and an egg squished between a deep-​friend doughnut and served with fries!
I’m not sure you could find a healthy option on their menu if you tried, but then again, we aren’t visiting doughnut shops in order to train for an Ironman, now are we?
The last time we stopped in, it was a crazy busy Friday night after the First Friday on Tennyson. Doth my eyes deceive me? A hipster with hustle!!! Our waiter kicked some serious ass and was very attentive during our entire meal. While our order took a bit longer than expected, our server apologized and never let our drinks run out, and we felt genuinely taken care of.
On other visits during the day, I encountered more generic hipster waitstaff who really couldn’t be bothered with pesky things like service or delivering our coffee before it turned lukewarm. I love this place, but I think I may stick to going there at night when they bring out their A-​game.

Dood! $ 5 for a shot, a beer & a donut? Fabulous! What could make that better? A chocolate-​frosted bacon-​donut!!! Heaven!!! This place is Brilliant!
Happy Hour at this place is awesome. We rolled in for a drink for a friend’s bday. There were some super cool people to hang with at the bar who had finger-​mustache-​temporary tattoos, yay! A couple employees rolled in who had just got real tattoos down the street, yay! 24hrs on the weekends, FINALLY, an all night grub joint in the hood!
Seriously, this is the best thing to happen to Tennyson. I will def be a regular, here!

Alright. I can honestly say whoever has anything negative to say about their doughnuts is either completely out of their mind, or has a completely different criteria than I do about what constitutes a good doughnut. I have to say, I am somewhat of a doughnut connoisseur. I travel for work and if there is ever a notable doughnut shop I will try to visit it. I have tried some amazing doughnuts in my life, but the one I tried today at The Hole trumps them all.
I got the «Peanut Butter» filled doughnut. It was absolutely incredible. I don’t think I’ve ever spent so much time eating one doughnut in my entire life, just savoring every texture and flavor this thing had to offer. The dough was so crisp it was almost flaky on the outside, and the inside was soft and pliable. It literally seemed to melt in my mouth. The filling was fluffy, light and creamy and it was not too sweet. It had bits of peanut in it too. The glaze on the outside was just the right amount. not overbearing but just enough to make a difference. Wow. After I had finished it, I didn’t even WANT another one. THAT is how satisfying it was. I will probably be satisfied for a month. These doughnuts are so good, I feel like overdoing them would be a crime.
My first thought was that this HAS to be my late night post bar food stop, then I thought… wait a second. There is no way I would want to eat a doughnut that incredible while I was impaired in any way.
The one thing I have to note about this place is that I don’t think its been around long enough to have established its «identity» and «crowd» yet. Give it a month or two maybe.