Beignets — Restaurant in Denville

4 1/2 stars

My noble chum and I stopped by here last Friday afternoon for a palate cleanser after an okay Mexican lunch down the street. I was here almost a decade ago (good lord) with other friends and was pleasantly surprised to see this place still in existence and thriving. At the time, I had gone specifically to try the beignets since I used to live in New Orleans and was a regular at Cafe Du Monde, but I ended up actually enjoying the donuts here more.

As soon as I saw it referenced on their menu, I remembered that I had ordered the strawberry field forever donut last time and really enjoyed it. I went with that again and was not unhappy. It was like a scrumptious time warp. All of the donuts here are cooked on the spot, made to order, and it shows. The dough has the perfect density, not too heavy, and I'm not sure if I can really articulate how good the individual flavors are without babbling incoherently. I loved the tiny white chocolate chips on the top, which are right on the verge of melting but are still somehow maintaining their shape until you bite down. Goes perfectly with the strawberry. My friend got a lemon-flavored one and really liked it.

They were a LITTLE more expensive than the last time (which, again, was close to 10 years ago and not during a massive supply chain/inflation crisis); I think they were around $1.60 then and are now about $2.00. That's really not bad at all given how much time has elapsed and how nuts price points are these days. Dunkin is probably about $0.40 cheaper, but it's also a substandard product compared to this, especially when you consider that they stop making fresh donuts at Dunkin at a certain point so you're risking stale pastries the later in the day you wander in there.

The service was top notch, with all of the requested items ready to be eaten in five minutes. There were two women behind the counter when we came in, both friendly/personable. No other customers were in there, which obviously helped, but we were promptly greeted and our orders taken as soon as we had pondered the numerous options and made our decisions.

Great to see this place as solid and reliable as ever. Definitely worth bypassing the numerous Dunkins littering nearby Route 46 and coming over to...

So they are 5 stars if you go by taste. Their donuts are a amazing. However they let young kids work here and the customer service sucks. I’ve been standing here for almost 15 minutes and the girl hasn’t said one word to anyone in here. My order is sitting in the counter and I can’t even pay because she won’t and hasn’t acknowledged me or anyone else waiting for that matter. So after waiting for 20 minutes and calling 30 minutes prior to that I’m walking out the door with not one donut and late for work on top of it. This place has resorted to only being open Thursday to Sunday and they open on Thursday morning with one person working I feel bad for the girl that’s there but she has no idea what customer service is. I’ve also been here on the weekends when there’s three or four young kids working and you still get the same service no one acknowledges you no one says a word when you walk in the door you just stand there waiting and hoping that at some point you’ll be acknowledged. If it wasn’t for how great the donuts were I wouldn’t return. Side note if you can catch the owner there she is amazing but haven’t seen...

I visited Beignets with the intention of trying their matcha. From my understanding, matcha should be green and have an earthy, grassy taste. However, what I received was the palest matcha I’ve ever seen in my life. It was essentially milk with a touch of green. To make matters worse, there was a spoonful of sugar settled at the bottom of the cup.

When I took a sip, it tasted like pure cane sugar with milk. Confused, I asked the staff if they had added sugar, only to find out that the powder they use contains sugar. I had no idea. The drink was far too sweet for my taste, so I requested a coffee latte instead. The staff member made it with an obvious attitude, handed it to me quickly, and then turned away without responding when we said thank you.

Overall, the experience was very disappointing. If they are unable to serve proper matcha, they should reconsider having it on their menu at all, and just stick to coffee. I would not recommend this place to others looking for quality beverages and good...