Dough Loco

I came across a «top Doughnuts in NY» list and swung by the Dough Loco Unilocal page to see what new flavors they are offering and… dun dun dun CLOSED??? WHAT?! NOOOO!!! Pleeeeeeeease! :(:(:(
Granted I haven’t been here in a while because it was a bit of a hike, but my husband and I totally imagined biking by on our next excursions when the weather gets nicer and grabbing a couple of doughnuts for our ride. We imagined we’d try some new flavors, although our previous picks of pineapple brownbutter and blood orange poppyseed were pretty amazing. The dough is hands down the best consistency, and the flavors are daring but work. Doughnut Planet (some flavors are odd and don’t work, yeast doughnuts are not a great texture), Dough (these were SO dense and heavy, made me feel sick after a few bites), etc etc really don’t come close. Plus the coffee is delish! I’m sad, never got to try the cereal covered ones either, sniff.
Baby come back!

I can not get over how these perfect these huge puffy doughnuts are.
I am always finding any excuse not to go uptown because I’m extremely lazy when it comes to commuting but for Dough Loco’s blood orange poppyseed doughnuts, it was definitely worth the almost 1.5 hr commute! So sad that they’ve closed.

Dough Loco, please come back ASAP. Your product is fantastic — and your sister café’s espresso was bangin to boot.
It breaks my heart that the location didn’t work for you, but with the right location you’ll kill em with sweetness.
(May I recommend Astoria, for purely selfish reasons.)

I put in a large order for 120 donuts in August. I was really disappointed with the taste. The donuts were strangely greasy and seemed more deep fried than they should have been. Most of the donuts went uneaten because none of our guests seemed to like the flavor.
I had a really good interaction with the person who works at Dough Loco and it seems like a great team. But I don’t think they are reliable with large orders.

Let’s just say I went all the way to Portland on a quest for the perfect donut. Meanwhile, the best ones are just a few neighborhoods away from me.
The miso maple glazed was OMFG good. I would get a whole dozen of these. Wow. And the dough itself is perfectly yeasty, light, and chewy.
I tried six in total. Yes, six… Anymore questions?
Blueberry rosemary lime — very good, not too sweet
Guava honey lemon — too sweet for me
Blackberry w/​banana — good, but don’t taste banana
Dark chocolate — pretty good, basic
Lychee ginger — great flavors, but kinda meh
Bottom line, I would love to come back and try more flavors, would love to see more like with the cereal on top.
Thinking about maple miso now… Contemplating my day tomorrow…

I don’t come up here often but when I do, you better believe I stopped by Dough Loco!
After seeing this place in a YouTube video featuring NYC’s best doughnuts, I had to try it out. I came in around 3:30, and they still had all their flavors. I admit I was getting a bit hangry, so I was pretty eager to just get that doughnut and devour it.
The inside isn’t much — a small room with a small display and some drinks and merchandise on display on the side. Just one worker there at the time, but then again we were the only ones in there! We got the miso maple and blood orange poppy seed.
From what I remember, the miso maple was sweet with a bit of a savory taste thanks to the miso. Though I usually have a sweet tooth, I preferred the blood orange poppy seed. The flavor wasn’t too overpowering, and it was still sweet and tangy. The doughnuts tasted fresh! They were large and fluffy and perfect and I want more.

Cute place, not much seating though so be prepared to take this to-​go. Came here about 30 mins from closing, and there wasn’t much of a selection of donuts although I did manage to get a pretty awesome one. The one I got was a Rosemary lime blueberry. Delicious! It was big, doughy, and flavorful. Best donut I’ve had for sure!

Dough Loco
NY Manhattan UWS
12pm Friday 31^st July 2015
Four Stars
Deadlift and Doughnuts had a pop up shop at Dough Loco so I came up to buy a shirt and a donut. There was a line out of the door. I ordered their Chicken and Waffle Doughnut $ 4.5. They freshly fry a boneless chicken tender and put it on top of a Maple Yeast Doughnut with waffle bits. The chicken was warm, greasy, salty, and utterly delicious. It was a nice complement to the funnel cake texture of the pastry. The maple icing completed the dish. The waffle squares were kind of stale tasting. I washed it all down with ice coffee $ 4.5 which they get from café grumpy. It was enjoyable but nothing that special.
I will return to try some other flavors like spicy pineapple.

Great donuts. Great customer service. Parked up front to grab a quick box of donuts. Unfortunately received a parking ticket but the lady felt bad and gave me 2 free donuts. I think that’s excellent customer service. Turns out the officer made an error on my ticket so it will be voided. So Win for free donuts and no ticket!

meh.
i came here on a sunday morning and there was only one person working (i believe), in the back. there were a few ppl in front of me and none of us got greeted. i had PLENTY of time to pick from the offerings and went for nutella banana. yea, nutella and banana, sounds amazing on paper, fell SOOOOOOOOOO short from my expectations. it’s a cake donut with a chocolate glaze and crumbs on top. the donut itself didn’t taste very nutella-​y or banana-​y, neither was the glaze. the cake donut was very sweet, damp, and had a mushy texture.
so disappointing.

If Homer Simpson came here he’d have said «Doh» and gone Loco with frustration that the donuts were not as good as he wanted them to be, nor as good as Duff’s Beer for that matter.
I wanted to like them, in fact I was excited to try this famous «Raspberry Sriracha» donut. What I ate was honestly one of the worst things I’ve ever eaten. I’m sure it’s not the donut’s fault, I’m sure it’s just me. It tasted like some kind of crazy savoury chili pepper mixed with syrup mixed with spices you’d never want on a donut… one bite turned my stomach. My travelling companion who eats anything and loves donuts, had the same reaction. Then the donut went in the trash.
Bear in mind these are wildly, extraordinarily popular donuts. I’d usually give a place like this a 3 star just to support a family business. Or a 2 star for being very overrated. But since this was one of my worst eating experiences ever in NYC (sorry!) and since it’s so beloved and so highly rated, I’ll give it a 1 to signify just how intensely I disliked it.
Edit: I’ll raise it to a 2 because they’re not up at 4.5 or 5 stars so they’re not horrifically overrated. They’re a family business so they don’t deserve a 1 just for an awful donut experience. Def overrated though imo.

First of all I am fan that these donuts are located in my neighborhood. The short walk lessens the shame of all the donuts I’ve ordered.
Between the cake and yeast donuts, yeast beats it by miles hands down. The size, the flavor, pure fluff goodness. My favorites are the Blood Orange Poppyseed (which is a yeast). It definitely has a tart pure sugar flavor to it, though I don’t taste orange I keep reordering it because the sweet tooth wants what it wants. My other favorite is the Triple Chocolate (which is a cake) and it is every chocolate lovers dream. Chocolate donut dumped in chocolate frosting and chocolate sprinkles. Seriously. I can order a box of those things.
I’ve also tried the Half Moon which tastes like something you’d get from an Entenmann’s box.
The Half Chocolate is no better. The frosting pretty much ruined a great yeast donut which was pretty disappointing as I am a huge chocolate lover.
The Blueberry Rosemary Lime, I’m not sure I taste blueberry or rosemary or lime but I thought it was super tasty. It had less of that pure sugar taste the blood orange had so out of those two I’d start off with this one if sweetness is not your thing.
It is a small shop right off Madison and 97^th. You have to pray to the donut gods things are in stock when you decide to go. I recently went on a Sunday around 1 in the afternoon and they had a full assortment of flavors. Once I came on a Thursday around the same time and they were pretty much sold out of everything.
Also a plus — they accept credit/​debit cards.

tried the sciracha raspberry, maple miso, Nutella banana, triple chocolate, moon cake, and the blueberry Rosemary lime donut. My favorite of all were the blueberry Rosemary one and the sciracha raspberry. They were very interesting flavors but we’re still addictingly good that I ended up eating it all! The Nutella banana was a cake donut and it had very subtle tastes of both– and for some reason, I tasted bacon (?) overall, these donuts were ‘good’ but I’d rather take a trip down to donut plant or dough for a good ol donut!

Great flavor combos, especially the miso maple and blueberry. I don’t LOVE yeast donuts though, and they don’t have any cake donuts on Mondays which was a total bummer.
Wish there was better seating! Also, they had no napkins available when I went a few weeks ago. Maybe they are still working out those customer service kinks. Anyhow, I prefer this place to Dough.

The name of this place perfectly describes it. When you go inside, it doesn’t really look like a typical doughnut joint. The place doesn’t have any seats, just a elevated table on the side with stools. It’s also not lighted up like most donut shops I’ve been to. The décor is very dark and somewhat dim, although this does put the spotlight on the main attraction, the donuts.
I’ve tried a couple of the donuts here. The best one to me was a complete surprise: The Raspberry Sriracha donut. I didn’t expect to taste that great, but it really blew me away. Not only was it fresh, but the taste of the Sriracha blended perfectly with the Raspberry. This is the must get donut here. If Sriracha isn’t your thing, then I suggest getting the miso maple donut. This place does a good job in blending things that you wouldn’t think wouldn’t taste good in a donut.
The service here is really good. It was very cold and windy and the they have a small heater right where you stand and look at the donuts. I just wish they had a bit more selection and that was what was holding me back from giving it another star. Definitely a 4.5 star place. If you’re near this place you gotta check them out!

I used to frequent their previous location on Park for their delicious New Orleans. Now they’ve moved to Madison, just a couple of blocks down. They’re the only ones who serve Intelligentsia coffee in this area, which I greatly appreciate! Their doughnuts on the other hand, are just ok. But maybe I’m just not a doughnut person. Service is friendly!
No seating. Take it to go.
Intelligentsia: $ 2.50 for medium, $ 3 for large.

I did not like the doughnuts here, but I suspect that this may be more of a matter of personal preference/​taste, so will try not to be too hard and instead just describe what you can expect, because despite reading Unilocal reviews beforehand, I still had the wrong idea when I came in.
First-​off, the donuts here are served cold/​room temperature. This was a bit jarring to me, as my previous experience with donut shop donuts has been that they are traditionally served hot and fluffy. Especially during the cold, New York winters, you really want to bite into a hot piece of butter and fat.
Second, I found the glaze too sweet. The miso maple flavor profile was mostly good, as everyone else says, but very sugary/​cloying. I think this is related to the temperature point. My suspicion is that when donuts are served warm, the icing melts into them better. When they are not served warm, the icing just sits/​congeals on top and forms a hard, sugar crust.
Finally, Dough Loco serves yeast and cake donuts. I prefer yeast donuts, and that’s what I ordered, but it was very cake-​y for a yeast donut. Specifically, the dough texture was very dense and crumbly, as compared to traditional yeast donuts. My guess is that if you’re a cake donut lover, this is a good way to experience yeast donuts. But, if you like light, fluffy donuts that sink down when you bite into them, this will not be the donut for you.
I appreciate the creative flavors that Dough Loco has, but in the end, I prefer when that creativity is layered on only after the basics are mastered as well.

My friend told me about a recent NYTimes list, which included this newish, UES donut spot. So I had to try it, of course.
On a Sunday afternoon, they only had 4 flavors left, and we went for the blood orange and chocolate.
The frostings on both were nice and unique. However, I wasn’t as mesmerized by the donuts itself, especially for $ 3/​each. It had nice texture and taste, but it didn’t feel so incredibly amazing. Even the one that had just come out of the oven. (Though the warmth is nice!)
The guy who helped us out was super smiley and nice. I do appreciate that!
Serves Intelligensia coffee.
Basic set-​up. Not really a spot to hang out for a long period of time.

In any rundown of the top doughnut shops in NYC you will invariably find Dough Loco. With some of the most mindblowingly delicious, fluffy, and preposterously large doughnuts around, I would absolutely put them on par with the ones sold at Dough and Pies-​n-​Thighs.
Where Dough is more streamlined and curated in terms of doughnut flavors, Dough Loco is just living up to their name by being completely insane. Miso Maple doughnuts, Raspberry Sriracha, and Blood Orange Poppyseed are just some examples.
After hitting the old location a lot, my favorite is still the Blood Orange Poppyseed but the Miso Maple and the Blackberry Gingersnap cake doughnut are not very far behind.
If you want to see what is up with fried dough in Harlem right now (Really more UES) definitely check this place out. The only negative is that they now sell pre-​brewed luke warm Intelligentsia coffee rather than Blue Bottle cold brew and pulled espresso which makes me sad but maybe that’s just temporary.
Anyway, this little shop is without a doubt among the top 3 doughnut spots in NYC right now. Rock that Blood Orange Poppyseed so hard.

Great donuts! Chocolate donut and maple tasted great, have not had donut in several years.

It’s really silly to rate a place based on one experience a few days after it opens, when it is still working out some issues.
Sure, they maybe shouldn’t have opened just yet since they aren’t quite ready, and don’t have much of the stuff they promise they eventually will be selling, and it takes forever to get doughnuts.
But — as a regular at the previous location, just one block away, I know how amazing these doughnuts are, and how good this place will eventually be once they are ready for primetime.
I know that all of the flavors are incredible — from the strange ones like Raspberry Sriracha and Banana Curry with Dulce De Leche, to the more traditional ones likes Cinnamon Sugar and Chocolate.
On this visit, I approached at around 1:45 to see a sign that said «doughnuts sold out until 1:30». I figured I was in luck, since they must have some available now, but I entered the small, completely unfurnished room, to see an empty display case, empty racks of doughnuts, and tons of people milling about waiting anxiously.
There was basically no choice on this visit, since as mentioned earlier, they aren’t really ready to be open yet. They were making one flavor at a time, so you had to just take whatever was coming out next, unless you wanted to wait around an hour so.
I got lucky and arrived when a batch of Blood Orange & Poppy Seed was coming out in 5 minutes, and then even better, a batch of the Chocolate 15 minutes after that (all doughnuts are $ 3 each)
Waiting for the Chocolate one was the best decision I ever made — I thought these doughnuts were good before, until I had this one that came directly out of the fryer, and realized that they were even more incredible. It was super messy, with really gooey chocolate icing, and even more so from the impressive height of the doughnuts, making it difficult to bite through the whole thing. It’s worth getting chocolate all over your nose and mouth though, because the base yeast doughnut used for all of these here is just so good. Almost reaches the level of Dough doughnuts. Almost.
They will apparently start selling cake doughnuts too, and hopefully the great soft serve from the original location. I will definitely be back, but maybe in a few weeks once they sort out their production issues.