Dutch Door Donuts — Restaurant in Carmel-by-the-Sea

Located on the upper level of Carmel Plaza are some upper level donuts courtesy of Dutch Door Donuts. Getting here is pretty easy, parking in general in the area is a bit difficult to find so be prepared to walk to the plaza. The exterior is very sleek and inviting, modern but not giving it a corporate feel that we see in a lot of newer donut shops. The inside was very clean, again sleek, and there was a surprisingly good amount of seating. Their menu is smaller, always a good sign in a donut shop to be honest. They focus on donuts but also offer beignets and a diverse option of coffee, again, always a good sign when a donut shop focuses on just donuts and coffee. The donuts on display look very good and the donuts are cooked to order.

We ordered the vanilla bean glaze but they offer chocolate glaze, cinnamon sugar, etc. Ordering is quick and you can watch them prep your order upfront which is nice to watch since you can see that they don’t just pull it out of somewhere and warm it up. Since they’re made to order it can take a few minutes but be patient because they’re worth it. Once we got ours and had a chance to eat it we were very impressed. The glaze is sugary but not overly sweet. The donut itself is light and bready, probably because it’s yeast risen. A very well balanced flavor and didn’t leave us feeling like we needed to do an hour of crossfit or ask God to forgive our gluttony afterwards.

This place is honestly better than Carmel Plaza, and that’s not a knock on the plaza as a whole but this place is definitely good enough to be on Ocean Ave itself and not hidden on the second floor. If we’re ever back in the area, we will without a doubt be back. We’d also be buying way more than just the vanilla bean glaze, and...

Found this place through a recommendation on Instagram and was super excited to try it out. My husband and I were visiting Monterey a few days and went to Carmel specifically to try out a few of their local spots. The girl who rang us up was friendly and dealt with a funny little bird that kept sneaking its way back into the shop for crumbs which refused to stay away. We ordered an iced mocha, iced white mocha and the 3 pack of beignets. The beignets looked great but as soon as you bite into it they were all air. No flavor to them whatsoever and the shell of the dough was a bit tough. Coming from a creole family, beignets are supposed to be full and fluffy so that was super disappointing. When I went to grab our drink order, the barista was super sloppy handling them and coffee was all over the cups. It wasn’t that busy like they had to rush through orders so I don’t know why they overfilled the cups and rushed them out so messily. Taking a sip finally the coffee was extremely bitter. The quality of whatever they used for the espresso was terrible. There was no flavor to the drinks either, I couldn’t taste any mocha at all. They were so undrinkable we had to throw them away 😣 Only giving two stars for service considering the cashier who rang us up was sweet and handled a funny situation with the bird with grace. As an avid coffee lover unfortunately I do not recommend this place and won’t be...

Got the Cara cara & Kumquat donuts + a beignet. They were FANTASTIC!!! Their donuts are like a cross between a mochi & yeast donut drizzled with fun bright juicy flavors. The mouthfeel is just lovely + a rather refreshing flavor profile. The beignet was pretty darn good too. Actually the best I’ve ever had. In fact, I prefer Dutch Door’s beignet over Cafe Du Monde’s beignet in New Orleans since its dough is fluffier and it still tastes good when cold. Actually, the nice thing about Dutch Door is your donuts are freshly made on the spot after you order - it’s a bit longer but I agree it’s worth the wait. Their donuts may look asymmetrical (or not even very photogenic - see pictures below) but being able to have a fresh out of the fryer donut or beignet makes a world of difference. Bonus: they all still tasted good when cold, but if you eat them while hot they taste just WOW! Also, you can watch them while they make your donuts. Would highly recommend while...