Shipley Do-Nuts — Restaurant in Harker Heights

My recommendation: call ahead before ordering online or go to Top Donut.

I’ve been to this location a few times. I like their food and they were nice before. Yesterday I spoke with people who contradicted my previous impressions.

I put in an order for two dozen donuts and a dozen kolaches on Monday evening for an event (I did put the order in relatively late, but my pick up was at 0800 and they open at 0500. I figured that was enough time for them to either tell me they couldn’t fulfill the order or that they needed to reschedule). I parked in front of the store at 0830. There was a sign that said “closed for maintenance”. There were folks in the store and they let me in. I explained that I ordered and paid for $80 worth of food and they couldn’t pretend to have any empathy for me. I know, I know. It’s just donuts, but a sincere apology and way forward would have helped me get over it in the moment. I received blank stares and “we don’t have anything, the fryers are down” and “you’ll have to cancel the order yourself”. Could my order have been transferred to another store? Could they have at least sent me an email or given me a call? One person did say “sorry about that”, that matters, sure. His apology without action only said to me, however, “sorry, but your problems are your problems even if I created one specifically for you. I have zero solutions and no interest in even attempting to find one for you”.

Maybe they were having a bad day, but I do not believe their reactions were an example of treating others how they would like to be treated.

Now I get to wait for the charge to officially publish to my bank account and then dispute the charge. I won’t be able to come back to this...

By far the worst Shipley's I've visited. First: Food: I had the apple fritter and wife had the bear claw. Both of us took our first bite and immediately grimmaced at the same time. I said, "What's wrong, does your's taste funny too?" Then both of us decided it must be something like OLD grease being used for the frying. Rather than complain, we just decided never to return to this location.

Next: Service: What Service? They stand behind a counter and ask what you want. Theyn they have the nerve to put a TIP JAR on the counter. I'm offended by that. After a lifetime of growing up in the food service industry I find it as an insult to every server who actually WORKS for their tips. If you want tips, go get a job where you have to SERVE the customer.

Last: Atmosphere: Place is too small to have tables and have a line of people waiting at the counter for their order. What happens is someone's BUTT is in your face while you're sitting and trying eat. It is also too small to have some old deaf codger behind the counter trying to carry on a conversation at the top of his voice with a patron at a table in the corner. It's disruptive to any common decency much less my digestive system.

Sorry, you asked for a rating and you got it. This isn't rocket science and if your manager replys with an appology and personal email wanting to know more, I'm going to ask for $100/hour consultation fees. You should be able to spot and correct these types of problems without help from novice customers. If you can't, corp. should replace you with...

Shipley's is by far the best donuttery in the world. If your Creator wants to bless you with proof of heaven, you will be presented with a piping hot doughnut that has been freshly drenched in icing. Once that doughnut graces your tastebuds, you will be transported into another dimension, and will have experienced what it feels like to know the meaning of life itself. You will see the light, - yes, that light - you will feel its pull, and your soul will beg to let go of the drudgery of this pathetic material world to get lost in this new, unknown dimension. You will reach out to that light, fearing not knowing what lies beyond, yet you are mesmerized, nay, entranced by it. You can see you are almost at the threshold, awaiting eagerly to see what it holds for you, and as you reach, that power - the force that brought you up here - gives way to another - gravity. And as you fall back to Earth, spiraling down to this marble that grows larger with every second, you claw through the nothingness, trying to get back to that unknown reality you now know exists. You open your eyes, and you're back on Earth, back to this banal existence you're all too familiar with. You frantically search for a clue, any tiny piece of evidence, to explain why you're back here, painfully aware that it's near impossible to feel and be where you were just moments prior... until you realize you've swallowed that first bite, of the glazed doughnut you hold...