The Donut Inn - Porters Neck — Restaurant in Castle Hayne

My husband went to pick up a dozen bagels and cream cheese this morning. He has never been to Donut Inn Porters Neck but wanted to support a local business. He starts ordering and the young man waiting on him rudely cuts him off to tell him they top off at 6. ( In fairness to Donut Inn, they do have a statement on their menu board stating bagel bulk orders must be called in ahead of time. ) However I have never thought of a dozen bagels as a bulk order. When the young man hands my husband the receipt for the bagels he was ALLOWED to purchase, he noticed he wasn’t charged for the cream cheese. My husband brings this to the young man’s attention and in a snarky tone he tells my husband that he didn’t order cream cheese. My husband said I did when I originally tried to purchase a dozen bagels. So another receipt was created for the cream cheese and my husband was handed his bag and the employee moved onto the next customer. When my husband gets home he sees there is no cream cheese in the bag. I drive back to pick up the cream cheese. As I approach the front door, I notice lots of hand written notes taped on it. One stating they are short staffed and that customers need to be understanding of their plight. I’m paraphrasing here but you get the drift. The other are rules about vaccination status. Vaccination=no mask. Unvaccinated=mask. I get in line to wait to speak to the young man. When he gets to me I explained to him that the cream cheese was left out of the bag. He then tells me your husband didn’t order cream cheese. I present him with the receipt and he mumbles something. I also expressed my disappointment in his attitude. He says nothing and lumbers into the kitchen. Another male employee is listening to what I am saying and goes in the back to talk with the manager. They get a good chuckle out of it and just stare at me. I get handed the cream cheese and wished a great day in a sarcastic tone. Besides the lousy customer service, the bagels were good but not great for 12.50 for half dozen. Also it’s clown world to only be able to buy 6 bagels. I can buy a baker’s dozen at Panera Bread for the same price and they offer to slice them and give you a freezer bag if you need. They also put the everything bagels in a separate bag. The young man who waited on me had on a social justice T-shirt, a gaitor face covering and a Las Vegas ball cap. The other young woman working there had a Donut Inn T-shirt on and no face covering. For an establishment that seems to be very concerned about hygiene, I would expect them to be as equally stringent with their employees and have a dress code and the same standards across the board. Donut Inn needs...

Update.

Was five star now one. Business side of the place is failing and the donuts are now sub grocery store quality. Made my donut orders for the week from Harris Teeter instead.

Donut quality control is gone. Started with sub par donuts every so often now it's the odd day you can get a good donut. First time I ever threw out a donut was three weeks ago. Got a Maple bacon and it smelled so bad, bacon was like crumbs, and inside was solid. It was like biting into stale bread that smelled.

Now the places are dirty and staff are rotating a lot with lower customer service.

Passive aggressive signs on the doors, three last I checked, all stating how hard working the donut shop is and how oblivious and rude customers are. Just unwelcoming.

I even offered a free consult for their business but was not taken up on it. Now, the donut inn is no longer my go to place.

The Donut Inn was good off Oleander and this location is even better. I'm into donuts and been going to the Inn for about four years now (still not fat). I've tried many donuts all over the world and in Wilmington the local best donut is easily at the Inn.

Somehow the new location has all the quality donuts but with innovations in the icing not seen at the original location off Oleander. It's all the quality donuts without the out the door lines and better icing.

Something I'd like to point out is the management would be better off specializing with donuts and a limited sandwich selection. It's started to become more about sandwiches than the Donuts. Can't be great for overhead needing so many ingredients that have limited shelf life in order to support the large sandwich menu. Concentrate on a few things and do them exceptionally well. Also, bring back the cool three...

I use to love coming to this place for a dozen donuts once a month for my family as a treat, and since we moved closer we try to grab the occasional bagel sandwich for breakfast. Let me just say this place has a real inventory issue, and lately a very bad attitude problem from the majority of the staff every time I go in there. On several occasions, not only have I experienced being told they are out of staples such as everything bagels, chocolate frosted donuts, provolone cheese, etc. But as I'm sitting around waiting for my order I listen the staff tell other patrons about all the other items they are out of. I've even tried ordering online a couple times and literally half their menu (not just donuts, but sandwich items, drinks, etc.) Are out of stock consistently. This has become such a regular thing that I don't even try most of the time anymore I just go somewhere else. Being out of something on occasion late in the day on a few items is understandable, but consistently being out of stock on half your menu, week in and week out, is just disheartening and turns people off from coming to your establishment. I have also listened to arguments between staff members and patrons on 2 out of the last 3 times in there which seems odd to me. I love the food, but I just have to say these past few experiences have been horrible and I'm not sure why this has been a regular thing lately but once is a fluke, 3-4 times is a trend and it's trending in the wrong direction. I hope this changes but idk how long it'll take me to...