Sidecar Doughnuts & Coffee — Restaurant in Costa Mesa

I would give 5 stars if every subsequent donut I had from sidecar was as amazing as the first one I had there. The first one was amazing...a thing of beauty. It was lemon meringue. The lemon was perfectly balanced tart and sweet, and the meringue was something only pastry chefs can do well - a fluffy, creamy Italian meringue that is unlike the gross, runny egg white kind typically found atop a lemon meringue pie... But alas, every subsequent visit, they were out of this masterpiece and I chose something else.

While I don't recall what I chose on my next visit, I only recall it being a disappointment - not only as compared to the prior masterpiece, but to donuts in general... It was nothing to write home about.

Undaunted by my last donut failure with sidecar, I went in last night and gave it another go. This time, the pickings were slim - it seems if you don't go there in the morning, you are met with meager choices, as I also recall from the prior visit, which seems foolish, since the place is always buzzing with people, so why not give the people what they want... More donuts!?

Last night, I chose a glazed old fashioned buttermilk, which the girl behind the counter raved about as she mentioned it was straight from the oven. I also tried a sample of the peanut butter and jelly donut, so I will review them both.

The peanut butter and jelly donut tasted EXACTLY like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich... Even down to the Weber bread 🍞... But as I say there marveling at what a perfect replica of a peanut butter & jelly sandwich they had created in a donut, I thought to myself, "why buy a donut that tastes exactly like a peanut butter & jelly sandwich?... Why not just eat a damn peanut butter & jelly sandwich? I came here for a donut, not a stroll down memory lane of my crappy elementary school lunches.

Now onto the old fashioned buttermilk donut:. I really wanted to love this (mostly because I want to know there's a place I can go whenever I get the itch for an over the top awesome donut 🍩) but sadly, this was not the case. It couldn't have been less like the perfect donut unless it sat outside for a day... Even then, it might've helped the main problem with this donut... Well, one of them. A good buttermilk donut - while not sharing the same light and fluffy characteristics of a glazed donut, is nevertheless light and fluffy in its own right, with a nice crisp outside texture. This one was like a tiny brick with a hole in the center - heavy and dense, with none of the nice crunchiness on the outside, because it was overloaded with glaze, making all that great crunchiness soft and overly sweet .

I'm actually very sad about the failure of a classic donut style by sidecar. They obviously have the skill and creativity to do the trendy, artisan creations, as evidenced by that blessed lemon meringue miracle (that either no longer exists, or I am just a victim of repeated bad timing), but they also have the inconsistent misfortune of turning out dry, overly sweet donut-shaped pieces...

I'm really sad to say but my last two visits to Sidecar at Costa Mesa have been extremely disappointing. Sidecar was far and away my favorite donut place in SoCal just a few years ago and everything seems to be much worse now. I would even travel over 100 miles just to get some donuts from here. It stood out for great service, freshness and amazing flavor. It is now lacking significantly in all those aspects.

On my last visit, I wanted to get the new tiramisu and cannoli donuts. As I was about to order some, the person in front of me ordered everything remaining. I guess that couldn't be helped. I was told it would take 5 minutes for more tiramisu and 10 minutes for the cannoli. So I went ahead and ordered them and waited. 10 minutes later the tiramisu came out but I had to get back in line to indicate that I wanted one again. I guess they weren't going to hand it to me until the cannoli was out as well which makes no sense to me.

I continued to wait and wait and saw person after person start to get their cannoli while I was still waiting. The people getting them had all arrived after me so it didn't add up. I go in to check and I'm told it is being prepared. It took THIRTY MINUTES to get a single cannoli donut despite being told it would be 10 minutes. It was also just messed up that a bunch of other people that came later got theirs first. I've never had such a poor experience at a Sidecar location so maybe it's just unique to the Costa Mesa one. There wasn't even a simple apology or acknowledgement of the wait, either. It's a shame because this location is what started it all not too long ago.

Unfortunately both donuts were also just disappointing in terms of flavor. I don't know what is going on lately but there's a lack of glaze or nuance to any of the newly advertised flavors and the donuts were just flat out very plain, which is not how I would've ever thought to describe Sidecar doughnuts in the past. The tiramisu donut had a very plain glaze and cream with little flavor. The somewhat stale cookie thing on top had the most flavor which is strange. I tossed out most of it because it wasn't even worth the calories to eat the rest. The cannoli had a decent filling but the donut itself somehow tasted kinda stale and again very plain, and the worst part is that the filling was maybe 20% of what you see in the advertised photos. It was maybe 1-2 bites worth of filling and the rest was just a plain donut. I tossed out most of it as well since I don't come to Sidecar for plain donuts. Particularly not for the price and the huge hassle it is now apparently.

I ended up driving to Oliboli Donuts about 20 minutes away to get a good donut experience. It's unfortunate that my favorite donut place has devolved to this but hopefully this feedback helps. I'd like to still have the wonderful donuts I've had in the past but for now it isn't even in my top 5 in the area anymore and I don't see myself going back any time soon after this...

According to their sign, the doughnuts are created from their original recipe. They fry the doughnuts in small batches every hour and they don't use preservatives. If you are thirsty, they have coffee too. Outside you will see the list of the donut flavors written on a standing chalkboard.

Donuts I liked the Vanilla Twist it had vanilla glaze of course and the Huckleberry was purple. My favorite would be the Maple Bacon, it was so good!! It was topped with bacon pieces. I'm not a lemon lover but the Lemon Yellow donut was not bad. It was glazed and it had a yellow flower in the middle. The Chocolate Malt had powdered sugar (I think) and a malt ball placed in the center of the donut. It didn't have the chocolate flavor I was looking for. All the donuts that we tasted was fresh. The donuts were not airy but they it was moist. While you decide on the donut, you can see the team baking the donuts. The glaze and sweetness of each donut was just right. Sometimes I find some donuts to have too much glaze and it's too sweet. Also, each donut was decorated with class, neat and cute. I would come back for more. From all the donuts that I tasted, I think the Maple Bacon was delicious.

Customer Service There was a line so the staff did a good job making sure everyone was taken care of.

Notes -There is a line but it goes by fast -Outdoor seating (seats...