Donut Connection

Donuts are good here and if you’re passing by here after 6pm they’re half off

I mean who couldn’t love a place with such a name? The coffee was great, and the jelly donut I had was awesome. I mean, it was like the size of a soft ball, covered in cinnamon sugar, and filled with jelly … woohoo!!! What is not to love. The person at the counter was friendly, cheerful, and seemed like a real person — and not a cheap clone. I will definitely be back, once I work off the 500 calories from my last visit.

Donut Connection is a hidden Gainesville gem. There are plenty of people who may enjoy Dunkin Donuts, but their donuts are bland sugary cardboard in comparison to what Donut Connection offers. I am a huge Krispy Kreme fan, but Donut Connection is different in a good way.
The yeast raised donuts are soft and delicious, tasting very rich without any excess oilyness. I much prefer yeast donuts over cake donuts, but some of the cake donut flavors available here mean half the time I get a cake donut anyhow. They have most of the classic donuts from glazed to chocolate covered to jelly-​filled and a bunch of others. My personal favorites here are the bavarian crème and the angel (chocolate or vanilla frosting-​filled donuts dusted with powdered sugar) donuts. Some flavors are not available every day which may be due to the availability of the ingredients. They make a crunchy peanut butter cake donut which is delicious.
They make the donuts fresh every day, so if you show up early in the day, say 6 am, they may not yet have your favorite donut available. That’s probably the biggest downside.
If you’re jonesing for something other than the usual donuts, they have excellent apple fritters which are super big, heavy, and full of apples. They also offer bagels and breakfast sandwiches on bagels which seem to be a popular item. I can’t vouch for the bagels, but people seem to like them.
They have regular specials, and I usually get the 2 donuts and medium coffee for $ 3.50. The coffee is decent donut shop coffee, I think they buy the coffee from Leroy Hill, so if you’re familiar with that coffee, you’ll know what to expect. They have a customer loyalty program, where I think each visit gives you one point, and you can redeem 6 points for a free donut or 10 points for a donut and small coffee.
The owner is often there and quite pleasant to talk with. He also hires very nice individuals, and it’s always a pleasure to drop by for a coffee and donut. The shop used to be on my way to work, but I’ve moved so it’s not as convenient to visit, which makes me sad because the donuts and people there are so great.

This place defines efficient service. Even with the line three cars long, a young woman came out to our car to take our order right as we got there, while the person in front of us was taking what may have been longer than usual. Once I gave her the order for a dozen donuts and paid with my debit card, she went back inside and had our order out to us before the car in front of us moved. Shortly thereafter we pulled up to the window where I was given my debit card back, and went on my way, total time being about 5 minutes start to finish. The donuts assortment were fresh and delicious (especially the blueberry) and you can’t beat the service!

Loved it! Tried the RED VELVET, awesome! The original glazed is soft and fluffy, very good as well. Also tried the sour cream, not sure where the sour cream came into play, but it tasted excellent. I didn’t realize this was a chain, mom and pop feel to it and the staff is very friendly. Really enjoyed the half dozen and will go back! Can’t believe it’s a chain, much better than dunkin

Perfect little place to drop into in the morning on the way to school my Buchholz student has me stop every day for coffee and a donut to start her day.
For your added convience for moms like me who are still in their pajamas while taking her daughter to school in the morning, you do not have to go inside they actually have a drive through and since parking is limited and we are always running late this is a great feature.

I’ve long been a fan of Donut Connection. After Mister Donut closed down on 13^th, our family started coming here. Some of the old Mister Donut staff moved to this shop, and the donut recipes tasted pleasantly similar, so we immediately felt at home here. Perhaps it’s best to not feel at home in a donut shop… hmm…
Unlike the wasted calories that Dunkin peddles, these donuts are fresh, soft, and don’t taste like some wax product has been injected into them to entomb flavor. I prefer the raised donuts (honey glazed, sugar raised) here. The Bavarian and Boston cream donuts are also solid choices, but sometimes their filled donuts don’t have the best cream/​donut ratio. The bagels while not the best are perfectly fine for a quick and somewhat healthier breakfast.
Where Donut Connection could use some improvement is in the general upkeep of the business. Often times it feels a little dirtier than it should, which used to not be a problem. The change in hours was also an unwelcome change. I was one of the customers that would come here in the wee hours of the night to fill a craving, but I guess there wasn’t enough business to justify the longer hours.
To sum it up, come here instead of the handful of Dunkins which have popped up to dilute the understanding of what a good donut is.

Stopped by after dinner at Chomp’s
Went through the drive thru window (love this feature) ordered a box of 60? doughnut holes for like $ 5.what a deal.
We all agreed that the quality and taste was much better than Dunkin Doughnuts.
They are a local business, so we’re glad to report they are worth visiting and supporting !!
Keep up the good work !!

Pro’s:
REAL DONUTS — not commercial (i.e. Dunkin).
Great selection of all the classics.
Hospitable store and service.
Good prices.
Flavorful chocolate icing and fillings. No chemical aftertaste like Krispy and Dunkin.
Drive thru.
Typically a full selection is available. Donut’s are ridiculously cheap to make so it aggravates the heck out of me when my kids and I pull up to a donut shop and they are out of all the classics by 9:00 am. Make enough dang it! This place does.
Cons:
I wish it was a little bit more clean but it is not bad at all. Just dated which is fine if it keeps the prices down.

I went there quite a few times for their donuts which are very good, but I had never been inside (only the drive through). The one time I went inside I saw that the shelves on which the donut baskets were stored were caked with crumbs, icing, and jelly but I decided to get donuts anyways. When I got home I started to dig into them and after the second one I looked inside the bag and saw a giant ROACH crawling around. The donuts might be good but the owners need to admit they have a pest problem and clean it up before I ever consider going back.

This is a great place, much better than Dunkin Donuts or Krispy Kreme. It feels like a mom and pop place, all cool and homey.
Here are some important things to know: One, buttercrunch is the best donut ever. I think it has coconut but it’s not obnoxiously strong and I can’t even tell for sure that it’s really coconut. Two, they have good coupons on their website that are valid pretty much all the time.
Three (so great it gets its own paragraph), when you go to make coffee, they don’t have those little yucky tubs of non-​dairy creamer (just a pitcher of milk), no tiny packets of sugar (container of sugar), and ONE spoon to use for anyone getting coffee. The stuff is real AND hello, environment! Who needs a fresh dazzling plastic spoon to stir their coffee when it is exactly the same as the last coffee that got stirred two seconds ago?!! I’m sure if you wanted a fresh one you could ask — the people are just that nice, too.
Next time you have to bring in breakfast for a crew — 60 donut holes — $ 8. You’re welcome.

This place was actually really good. Their donuts were fresh and they had a good selection… The coffee was pretty decent too, not too dark or bitter, just regular coffee that goes great with the donuts!!! Honestly I prefer these donuts to dunkin!