Donut Villa — Restaurant in Arlington

Starting with the good news, the vibes were definitely good and fun. They had good music playing at a comfortable volume so we could still talk across our big table (went as 8 ppl). They were like medium busy when we got there so we sat really quick. The bad news is that the service was very slow even considering we were a big group. The place only got emptier while we were there but getting water and such took a while. The server who took our orders was very nice and patient with our questions! So overall the experience would have been great if the food were better and service were quicker. They also seemed to have some issues keeping track of orders, we were brought a drink we didn’t order and a duplicate of the Ruben instead of the dish one of us ordered.

As for the food, we got a nice variety of food since we were a big group so I can comment on a couple things. Firstly, we were there at 5 and they were out of donuts :/ we were excited to try the pizza donut but they didn’t have any donuts - except like 1-2 dessert options that didn’t seem very interesting. I got the Ruben at the suggestion of the server.. that was AMAZING! Probably the best dish that was ordered, the sweet potato fries were nice but nothing special. The breakfast BLT was yummy, had a nice spicy sauce! The vegan waffles and chicken was good and well seasoned. The non vegan version was pretty bland, maybe they forgot the seasoning or maybe it doesn’t came with it. Either way it was disappointing. The fish sandwiches were ok but nothing special, wouldn’t necessarily go out of your way to get it. The vegan Mac n cheese sounded interesting but was super bland and weird.. tasted nutty and like vanilla so a little sweet. It also had no toppings or extra garnishes so it looked very plain and underwhelming got boring to eat after a couple bites. Wouldn’t recommend it either.

Overall, we had a nice time but I’m not particularly eager to go back. Maybe the donut options are what really taste good and that’s why they were out, but if that’s the case they might need to work on keeping them in stock...

I rarely leave reviews for anything, but after having the strangest restaurant experience of my entire life yesterday here, I was reminded of why I rarely patronize Donut Villa despite its convenient location and cute concept. The service is actively, atrociously bad!

I was taking a walk in the area and decided to pick up some takeout for dinner after seeing that they had a seared scallops special that sounded good, and arrived a couple minutes before my order was supposed to be ready. The hostess went back to the kitchen to check and said it would be a few more minutes. No problem, even though I found it a bit odd since the restaurant was completely empty.

I wait, and wait, and wait for 15 more minutes before I get a text that my order is ready, and once I finally get the attention of one of the 4 girls shooting the breeze, another goes back to check. I wait another 5 minutes before someone who appears to be the manager comes out. She tells me they're "still working on the order" and offers a refund. Confused, I ask if there's a problem, and she tells me that "the cook isn't trained to make the dish." Not understanding what she means, I clarify: "you don't have a cook?" "No, we do, but he's not prepared to make that meal since we usually have it on Fridays and it wasn't supposed to be on the menu." Um...why was I not informed of this (or at least told the special was unavailable, I don't need the behind the scenes details!) when I arrived or better yet, when I placed the order? She then asks if I "still want the dish"...aka a meal that the kitchen apparently doesn't know how to make? Yeah, that's a pass from me. While she reached out to offer a gift card, I'm completely flabbergasted as to why any of this happened at an established restaurant when it all could have been completely avoided by reaching out to me when I placed the order, and offering a refund or another dish instead of pretending to make my meal and wasting my time....

UPDATE: After I submitted feedback to Donut Villa Arlington, management reached out to me with a very nice and professional apology and a voucher for the missing donut. They also ensured me that they'll address these issues with their team. This goes a long way for me as a customer, so I'm updating my rating to reflect this very positive interaction.

Original review:

I ordered four donuts online. I was told they’d be ready for 4:13. I arrived at 4:30 and they were not ready, but an employee informed me that they’d be coming right out. I waited another 15 min before a second employee asked if I was being helped. I told him about my online order, and he proceeded to pack my donuts. This indicated to me that my order had not been “coming right out.” How does putting four donuts in a bag take more than 30 min?

A major reason I’d ordered from Donut Villa was for vegan options, but I was then told vegan donuts were out of stock, even though they’d been shown as in stock when I’d ordered online. I am guessing that they'd been in stock when I ordered, but they'd forgotten to pack my order and the item I'd purchased had sold out. I asked the employee to just refund me for that part of the order. He did so, tried to make awkward jokes to defuse the situation, never apologized for the mixup, and told me to “order online next time” so that he could fix any issues that arose. It was all very confusing and strange, and no one took any responsibility for what was going on, or apologized for anything. They were friendly, but absolutely horrible at customer service. A simple, "I'm really sorry for the mixup, and thank you for your patience" could have gone a long way. Instead I was made to feel that I'd messed up by "not ordering through the website," which is what I'd done.

I love Donut Villa for their vegan and GF offerings, but I think I'll be sticking to the Cambridge location...