Stan's Donuts & Coffee — Restaurant in Chicago

Review Date: November 26th, 2018

I stand by these delicious donuts.

As my sister and I drove closer to our destination in Chicago, we spotted Stan’s and I made a mental note to check it out in the future. While I helped my sister with some family things, I found myself with about 90 minutes to kill. What did I do with that free time? Explored, of course.

I pulled out my phone and found Stan’s on my GPS. Once it pointed me in the right direction to walk, I booked it there. Upon entering, I noticed how packed the place was for lunch. Not worrying about that, I hopped in line and started to pour over the selection of baked yummies they had on display. Not only did they have donuts but they had bagels and things I wouldn’t classify as either a bagel or donut. Being the ever-indecisive person that I am, I let a few people pass me in line as I couldn’t decide what I wanted. Once I saw the Peanut Butter Pocket, I instantly knew that is what I wanted. Peanut butter is my weakness. I ended up ordering that and a medium house roast coffee.

While I was waiting for my coffee, I quickly snagged the last free table. Whew, I was worried I would have to eat my donut while walking around Chicago. After settling in, I went to town on the donut. It didn’t stand a chance against my hunger. While I didn’t eat all of it, I did put down most of it frighteningly quick. The only thing that was quicker was how sticky my hands got. Luckily there were plenty of napkins nearby. As for the donut itself, I did taste it while I vacuumed it down. Haha! It was filled with peanut butter, as I expected. It was pretty good. Donuts aren’t usually my think but if it’s a unique place like this, I will definitely make an exception.

As the donut disappeared, I scoured the area on my phone for a place to grab lunch. Once I settled on a place, I quickly cleaned up the table and left since it was busy and I didn’t want to hog a spot.

What about the coffee? I actually didn’t start drinking it until I got to Bombay Wraps. It was pipping hot and I used the cold walk to speed up the cooling down process. Once it cooled off, I was able to try it out. The coffee was on par for what you would expect for a house blend. It didn’t blow my socks off but it also didn’t disappoint either. It definitely warmed me up after the cold walk a few city blocks to my lunch destination.

Chicago is a massive city. You could explore a new place every day and never run out of places to try. If you do undertake a massive quest like that, make sure you hit up Stan’s near the start of it. If you happen to find yourself in town for a day like I was, definitely stop in if you are...

Stopped by for a bit since I always see a Stan's donuts somewhere, but have never been. The place is a ghost town after 5pm with almost no business so it's no wonder they don't restock the donuts. There were only four glazed left of which I just took one in-case others wanted them. The cashier seemed surprised that I just took one & asked me repeatedly if I'm sure I just wanted one (I don't know if she expected me to order more or she wanted people to finish them off.) I also got a mango dragonfruit drink. Something was odd about the drink pricing though because either the small is what's shown on the menu or every size is the same price since the pricing seemed a bit much for a small 16oz drink. I was handed my order within two minutes after it was placed.

When I went to sit down I noticed the place was dirty. It looks like it hasn't been wiped down in forever by the looks of the layered on dirt on the table legs & seats. I honestly expected more, especially considering the downtown white collar clientele that come through here. The glazed donut was good. It was a romantic blend of sweetness & fluffyness without too much of either. I scarfed it down then began to sip on the mango dragonfruit. The drink starts out pretty mild. It's almost like a pink lemonade with hints of mango for the first layer, but I guess you're supposed to mix it since once you hit the bottom dark layer you're hit with a wave of sugary goodness. It's odd because they give it to you with a sipping top & no straw so shake it to mix it.

Overall, it's a decent donut shop. Not the best show they got going on here considering the lack of product & cleanliness, but at least they got the food right. If I need a quick bite to eat & nothing else is available I wouldn't hesitate to stop by here, but with other places like Do-Rite around the corner from here it's no wonder the place is a dead after dark. I did note that there were at least 10-15 people that stopped by looking for donuts during my brief time there (30 or so minutes) so perhaps they should at least prepare 3-4 of each flavor & see what sells in the afternoon/early evening in-order to avoid having people leave disappointed or even just leaving money on the table since it says they close at 8PM! That's quite a few hours that a business is open without anything to offer as far as mainstays. They might as well close shop after lunch is over like many other downtown restaurants if...

Do better. Kinda weird (poor) customer service. The woman who took my order made a mistake with my order (2 vegan recipe & 4 vegan chocolate recipe donuts). She put three vegan recipe, one vegan cinnamon sugar and two vegan chocolate recipe donuts in a box and proceeded to hand it to me. I had to ask for a bag (seriously?). Note because I wonder if it matters: she’s Black, I’m Black. Does she treat her “sisters” this way all the time? Something told me to check my box and I went back to her to ask for the order to be corrected. I pointed out she’d also put in a vegan cinnamon sugar donut in there and she says they’re the same. HUH? They’re all vegan some have cinnamon. Ok they’re not the same on the Stan’s app or in the labeling in the Stan’s shops. I didn’t bother to correct her and simply watched her correct my order. She handed me the bag back and said NOTHING. No apology for HER mistake, no acknowledgement she thought two of the donuts where she worked are the same recipe. Come on. I love the donuts but this was the worst customer service I’ve ever had. UPDATE from 4/16/21: Welp I did it again. This place calls my name because hey the vegan donuts are the bomb. But the customer service at this particular location leaves much to be desired. It’s a great treat for myself after I have visited my doctor. But this occasion I was in line behind a woman with a cane and clearly recovering from foot surgery. She ordered for donuts, the first employee offered her a box. The cashier who rang her up however, handed her the box with the customer looking at her like “what am I to do with this?” She asked if she could have a bag and guess what happened next? The young woman handed her a flattened bag, put the receipt on top of the box and stood there. That was it. I said “is she supposed bag it up too?” and the customer said yeah I guess I’m going to do all the work myself. Finally the cashier opened up the bag and put the box in. I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t really care. But if you’re paying three dollars for a vegan donut the very least you can do is seal the...