Winchell’s Doughnut House

The recently remodeled with new Owners, Winchell’s started out with a Bang and quickly Fizzled. what I can only describe my order as a cream cheese filled leather shoe. even microwaving did not help. the place is extremely busy, or the New Owner makes enough product to last a couple of weeks. BLAH !!!

Wow what a pleasant visit. What do you expect from a donut shop? But the girls behind the counter were so friendly and welcoming it really made for an enjoyable visit — and is the reason we come back

No public restrooms. Nuff said.

I never heard of Winchell’s, but apparently they are a fairly established donut chain extending across much of California and parts of the Midwest. As a chain, they are comparable to Dunkin Donuts. Their donut selection, at least at this location, seemed somewhat limited covering a number of traditional choices. This is definitely not the place to try an avant grade kind of donut (cocoa nibs, hibiscus, etc.), so you’ve been warned.
I went with a chocolate cake donut with chocolate icing, a regular donut with chocolate icing and rainbow sprinkles, and a sugared donut. I was able to eat all three donuts readily without that heavy, doughy feeling afterwards. With that said, none of the donuts that I tried was particularly light or airy. Moreover, the chocolate icing was straightforward and boring. While I was never particularly taken with any of the selections, they were all decent enough. For the calorie conscious, my selections ranged 200 – 300 calories each. Beware the bear claw though chiming in at 700 calories! Yikes!
The service was very friendly, and my purchase was take-​out so I never got a sense of the ambiance, but it seemed typical enough for a donut shop. Oh, and they don’t take AMEX.

Crispy Apple Fritter, Heaven!
Crispy, crunchy, sweet, soft, yummy goodness is one of my favorite treats. The coffee to drink with it is tasty, too. This shop on South Main Street has friendly people and nice donuts. A sweet memory of Salinas. =)

This is the doughnut house of my childhood. My folks used to take my friends and I here the Saturday morning after a slumber party and I’d delight in my chocolate doughnut with chocolate frosting and sprinkles and giggle from the sugar high. Fast forward some 20 odd years and I still love this place. We swung by here over the Thanksgiving holiday when I was in town to visit my folks. They keep it simple with their old-​fashioned standard doughnuts and I like it that way. They stayed fresh after 3 days too. You can’t beat that and of course, friendly service with a smile. I love me some Winchell’s on Main Street and so happy to see it’s still standing after all these years when a lot of other things have changed in town since I’ve been gone. My favorite is still the jelly doughnut with lemon filling! Yummy!