Lafeen’s Family Pride Donuts and Ice Cream — Restaurant in Bellingham

When moving to a new place, one of the first things you need to do is go out and find yourself a good donut shop.

In my experience, donut shops end up falling into one of three categories. You've got your Chain Stores, a la Krispy Kreme and Dunkin Donuts, offering that sanitized, mass-produced product that doesn't change between locations. Then there's the Gimmick Shops, which is more of a Seattle/west coast sort of thing that tries to stand out by being wacky by putting things on donuts that don't normally go on donuts.

Finally, there's the Small Town Donut Shoppe, which is what I tend to prefer. They all have the same look and feel about them wherever you go. Diner decor on a linoleum floor with a couple of old people in a corner booth drinking coffee. You can usually spot these because the name of the shop is a person's name. When I lived in Fort Collins, it was Lamarr's. In Spokane, there was Mike's Old Fashioned. So when I came to Bellingham and found Lafeen's Family Pride just around the corner from me, I rushed out hoping this would be my new Small Town Donut Shoppe.

It was not.

The decor is similar enough to what I expected. I walked in, feeling right at home, and picked out a sampler box of my usual go-tos to see what was good. I took them home and dug in to find that all of them tasted like day-olds. Every donut was stale, flavorless, generally the same as something you could get at a supermarket bakery, and cost twice what you'd expect to pay for donuts.

Taking a look at some of the donuts individually:

Apple Fritter. Apple fritters are the hardest thing for Small Town Donut Shoppes to get right. Usually, they're working with smaller appliances and overloading them to keep their supply up. You can't do that with apple fritters; the apple chunks introduce way too much moisture so if your oil isn't heated to maximum the fritters come out doughy at best. At the worst, you leave them in too long and they end up soaking up the fry oil, becoming a grease-filled sponge.

The apple fritter from Lafeens fell into the former category: hard on the outside and doughy in the middle. At least it wasn't dripping with grease, but that doesn't justify a two-dollar donut.

Apple Bear Claw. Ended up being a pretty standard raised donut with some apple pie filling. Nothing to set this apart flavor-wise plus the stale, day-old taste of the donut part made this very disappointing.

Bavarian Cream Filled. The cream tasted slightly too sweet and over-processed, with a chemical aftertaste that was terribly off-putting.

Lemon Filled. More-or-less the same as the bavarian cream. The donut was stale and the lemon filling had a strange chemical taste.

Cruller. Usually a favorite of mine, this one was so bad I couldn’t even swallow. Bone-dry, like the rest of the day-olds, and had a flavor that tasted of burnt egg yolks.

Old Fashioned. At first, this seemed like a pretty standard old fashioned. Then, I was just overwhelmed by the taste of tobacco, like someone had been smoking right over the fry oil. It was completely revolting.

The end result of this was $16 worth of donuts going into the garbage and me making a pot of oatmeal for breakfast. I don't know if this was just a (very) off day, but walking in to a donut shop before 9am on a Saturday and coming out with a box of something that tastes like it sat on the counter overnight makes this shop a hard pass and means I'll have to continue my search for a new...

Me and my 2 kiddos were in line outside of Lafeens around 10 a.m. today. The line wasn't that long and the older gentleman in front of me was very cordial and nice to me and my children. There were 2 Caucasian men behind us who were snickering, rolling eyes, and mumbling to one another while staring at myself and my kids.

I only point the race issue out because the men (or I should say boys) were very obvious in their actions towards me and my children. After entering Lafeens to pick our breakfast dessert, we always follow the Covid signs/regulations, etc. Which is "1 FAMILY PER ENTRY OR 3 PEOPLE MAX.

Me and my minions were masked up and walked in. I informed the employee that I would like a large coffee, and asked if they served bagel sandwiches. The employee was decent and said they only have donuts. After 5 minutes of my children picking their donuts, these two boys walked in and began saying why we were taking so long and can't make up our minds!

I was blown away by the disregard for myself and my children's safety during covid. My son is high risk and I will NEVER down play a pandemic or my family's risk. These gentlemen them began berating me indirectly saying ,"why do these people take so long when there's a line outside!" What bothered me was the total disregard for me and my family, the non-compliance of these "boys" and the way they dismissed us!

Then the employee didn't acknowledge the situation or correct the customers as to the store rules to keep everyone safe. I understand his situation but this incident should've been acknowledged. We were blown off and disregarded. I said out loud , I know you're not talking to me". That shut those cowards up. I will not be visiting Lafeens in the future due to this incident. I won't subject my family to this treatment.

I'll always speak out against discrimination, disrespect, and injustice. I never cowered and NEVER will. As you suspect I'm not from here but hail from L.A. born and...

*UPDATE 11/24/24: Donuts this morning were good, but I was given a lemon filled donut instead of the raspberry filled donut I ordered, which was a bummer. Guess I didn't need the donut anyway 🤷

LaFeen's Donuts on Electric Avenue is a true treasure for any donut lover in Bellingham. They offer a vast selection of donuts, from the classic glazed to maple bars and more unique, seasonal flavors. Whether you’re craving something simple or adventurous, there’s a donut for everyone. But LaFeen's doesn’t stop there—they also serve delicious ice cream, making it the perfect spot for a sweet treat any time of day. Despite being one of the few donut shops in town, the quality and variety here make up for the scarcity, which is surprising if you're used to donut shops on every corner like on the West Coast. The donuts are always fresh, and the welcoming atmosphere makes it a must-visit spot for anyone with a...