Universal Doughnuts

Surprisingly good breakfast sandwich. I had sausage egg and and provolone on a bagel. As a bagel snob I turned my nose up to the fluffy white bread «bagel» at first… But it was a good match for this particular sandwich. I’ll be back. Probably sooner than is healthy. I hope they don’t get squeezed out as neighborhood develops.
But… Why is it called universal donuts? Is there history to this storefront? The only donuts on sight were Krispy Kreme

The workers there are so nice and friendly! It’s a small place, with about 2 – 4 tables.
It says «doughnuts», but they have other foods and a soda cooler fridge as well. They make the food pretty quickly, my friend and I love coming here and getting their egg sandwich with sausage and cheese (American)!

Perfect little hole in the wall place for a breakfast sandwich & cup of coffee. Literally two slices of toasted bread with fried egg, bacon & cheese. Nothing unique about the food, just a solid breakfast sandwich. Very reasonably priced and the couple running the place are cordial and hard working. The donuts are Krispy Crème resales. Just a fun tiny place to grab a quick tide you over bite to eat.

one of those authentic, hole in the wall places you shouldn’t miss. family running the place is adorably friendly– and i recommend trying those dang breakfast sandwiches.

Wonderful experience. Tasty food, good coffee, very affordable. Even better is the staff — some of the friendliest people I have encountered in DC.

A gem! Great breakfast sandwich — bacon, egg & cheese on bagel. Got it to go, it was still warm when I got back to hotel. Fast, friendly service. Great prices.

A little hole in the wall grocery/​deli. The cutest old couple owns and runs the counter. They remind me of my great grandparents who used to own and run a café. I ordered a sausage egg and cheese on wheat breakfast sandwich and it was surprisingly good. My friend had a bacon egg and cheese which wasn’t as good. The bacon tasted old. But the eggs were made in house. A good place to get out of the snow.

I live in the neighborhood and almost missed this really unassuming place when I first moved. In a neighborhood that overcharges for fancy/​organic everything, this place is a gem! Egg sandwiches are prepared on the tiniest grill by an always kind couple. The sandwich is oh so yummy! And the coffee is also solid. Enough said. Reasonably priced simple awesome breakfast. Could almost compete with your standard NY corner deli for breakfast sandwich… almost…

If you’re ok with krispy kreme donuts, 2 – 3 bagel choices, and egg sandwich meats from a microwave, then you’d be ok going here. Clearly a neighborhood coffee/​breakfast sandwich shop, as the owners knew most customers by name, but I am not sure why they frequent this place. Only benefit I see is that egg sandwiches are made from 2 fresh eggs cooked to order.

Scale of 1 – 10 (multiple visits):
5 Food
8 Service
3 Atmosphere
3 Value
Intensely overpriced for what amounts to pre-​packaged ingredients you would buy at the supermarket and put together at home. And the configuration of the shop is painful. The people are nice enough though. This is the kind of place that conventioneers go to in a pinch, and it’s perfect for that — but not much else.

I love this place. Simple, fast and friendly. The breakfast sandwiches are great.

A few days ago, I had an AMAZING cup of espresso macchiato from a
totally random place in DC. I was at a conference at the Washington
Hilton, and right across from it was «Universal Doughnuts». So I went
inside, and they indeed had doughnuts, but from Krispy Kreme. It really looked like the owner just picked up a few boxes before coming into work and just «plopped» them on the counter with a $ 0.99 sign posted next to them. Love the ingenuity.
Anyway, this place was your classic run-​down deli (which always seems to have the best tasting sandwiches), but oddly enough, it had an espresso machine in the back. So I asked what the deal was with that, and the shop owner explained to me (in a Korean accent), «It’s Espresso Italia — you [like] it very much!» I asked if he knew how to make macchiatos, and he gave me this really confused look. So I just asked him to fire up the milk in a steamer and then make a cup of espresso… I’ll handle the rest. He begins to do so, but I notice that the
espresso comes in these air-​tight containers (much like those Keurig
coffee packages), and think «Okay, this guy has no idea what he’s
talking about».
I grab one of the empty containers nearby and see that it’s all in
Italian. «Hmm, looks pretty authentic». After the espresso is brewed,
he brings that and the milk over, and I mix the two to get the right
consistency: as I found out in Seattle, real macchiatos mix milk/​cream
with espresso and don’t necessarily have the frothy milk on top. Also,
keep in mind that the milk is in a styrofoam cup, so half of it spills
on the counter as I pour :)
Before all this happens, I first try the espresso and viola!
Outstanding! Amazing flavor and no bitterness. Then after mixing the
milk, it’s even 10x better. Wow, talk about random. And the kicker
behind this whole thing is, it’s just $ 2.20 a cup, whereas most places
in DC will charge $ 3 — $ 4 a cup for «good» espresso. Couldn’t have
ended my day on a better note.

An odd little place across from the Hilton. Kind of a combo deli and convenience store. The doughnuts are just plastic packaged junk food.

Been going to this place off and on for years because I work in the building. The folks who own and run it are very nice people who make a good sandwich to order at a decent price. It’s utilitarian and a bit like if you’d made lunch at home. Since I can never get my act together to do that, it helps me out that it’s here.

I got off the Metro at Du Pont Circle. It was a perrrrrrrrfect Spring day, Sunny, temperate, and breezy. And I’d heard it was snowing again in Chicago. Ahhhhhh, a nature break, finally.
So I decided to re-​visit the Du Pont hood, where I hadn’t spent much time in maybe a decade.
Damn, it’s become franchise land!!! Homogeneity reigns here now — blech. Chipotle, Cosi, Potbelly’s, Subway. You name it; don’t need it or want it? They got it. All within steps of the Du Pont Circle Metro stop. It felt like an outdoor shopping mall with nice weather.
Mildly disappointed, I kept walking, but I realized I had to pee so bad my back teeth were floating. Deep breath, hold it… hold it… one more block or two, …a little north; a little east… come on, come on… I know it’s here somewhere… Yes! There’s the sign… I knew I was close. There was the Hilton Washington. Lobby. Men’s room. Damn glad.
Breathing easier and feeling lighter, I left the Hilton, looked across the street and I saw this little hole in the wall with a shabby sign. «Universal Doughnuts.» Do people still buy doughnuts?
But there was also a tiny red sign beneath the doughnut sign that said «Deli.» Now, THAT ain’t no franchise. This is the real thing — — a real place owned by real people.
I walked in to be greeted warmly, with smiles, by two tiny elderly women from somewhere across some ocean; I’m not sure where they were from. They were cute, and this place was cute. Old white formica tables speckled with gold flecks. Red vinyl dinette chairs. Not a lick of art on the walls. The only decorating here was shelving lined with a zillion brands of potato chips. There were a few drinks for sale in the cooler, and then of course the main attraction: the Lotto machine. One of the women was servicing (not literally) the handful of patrons who were lined up for Lotto.
Her colleague turns to me, the only non-​Lotto patron, and asks:
«You like lunch?»
«Yes, I like lunch.»
«What you like?»
«I like pastrami.»
«You like bread?»
«I like bread.» (Okay, now, I’m thinking to myself, this must be a female descendant of Chico Marx who is about to make me lunch)(and this kicks double ass over a franchise).
«White bread?»
«No, dear. Rye, please.»
«You like lettuce tomato onion cheese?»
Lettuce Tomato Onion Cheese? Hmmm. Don’t know that one.
«I like Muenster cheese.» (Why’d I even bother saying that? As soon as it was out of my mouth, I knew that she didn’t have it and had never heard of it.)
«No monster cheese. You like American?»
«No, dear. Do you have Swiss?»
«Okay, Swiss.»
«You like mayonaisse?» (I’m poppin this old gal’s pastrami cherry; dead give away, now.)
«No. I like mustard. Do you have hot mustard?»
«Yes, okay. Mustard hot.»
And now I decide to watch her make this sandwich. She’s doing fine; put a nice portion of pastrami on the rye, laid a nice big slice of Swiss cheese on there for me, and then she pulls out French’s Mustard in one of those bright yellow plastic squeeze bottles.
«Wait, please.» I got her attention. «I asked for hot mustard.»
«You like mustard hot?»
«Yes, please.»
And the old gal squeezes the French’s Mustard all over the sandwich, picks up the whole thing, puts it on a tray and slides it into a toaster oven.
«Now mustard hot.»
Five stars in my book just for cracking me up. And the sandwich was very good enough.