Parlor Doughnuts — Restaurant in Houston

2024.02.18 - Doughnuts and coffee were both excellent. Shop was tiny and very crowded. The sign of a good spot for sure. Love the old school, mid century styling and decor. 12-20 rotating doughnut flavor selections. Try the minis for sure. Sort of like stuffed beignets. 5 stars on food and atmosphere for sure.

Service was with a smile and ready to be as helpful as possible. However the current workflow just doesn't work. The way the shop is setup, it would be best to order over the counter while in front of the doughnuts and then moving to the register to pay. Think Chipotle workflow. Currently, they are having customers sit at the register and order doughnuts 10 feet away, then filling the boxes afterward and calling out names.

This did not work on so many levels. The staff was constantly getting crossed up and running into each other. NOT enough space for this, guys! The very well meaning girl at the register just didn't seem to get any order right either. We asked for 6 different specific doughnuts and 4 minis and a coffee. Paid for some random number in which they don't give you the receipt so you don't know, then handed a box with 2 doughnuts, 4 minis, and no coffee.

Was going to chalk this up to a one-off issue, but it happened to everyone in front and behind us. Very frustrating as everyone needed to reorder and repay which made the rest of the line all the more frustrated.

To be fair, the staff took every opportunity to get it right after the fact. However, it was not of insanity as they avoided making the change at the register or with workflow, facing the same problem over and over again.

Clean it up guys! You have an excellent product and setup. Service can ruin the whole show if not smooth.

Will try again in a few weeks and update review...

I found this through social media and I was dying to finally find a good donut place in Houston.

Location wise, it is great with good music, very nice lighting creating a welcoming ambiance.

Staff need a bit of a refresher on the menu items and what each donut and product has, we asked about ingredients for dietary restrictions, staff wasn’t all knowledgeable about each donut or drink item.

Ordered the maple bacon and raspberry pistachio. It is clear this is not a doughnut dough and more in line with a danish dough.

RP- great texture, still could taste a lot of the oil in which it was fried, the raspberry flavor is only present in the frosting, I think some freeze dried raspberries or fresh raspberries in the dough could go a long way, only pistachio dust sprinkled on top, which doesn’t not factor at all in taste.

MP- a bit too sweet for my liking (if very sweet things are in your alley you will love this one) the dough was not cooked all the way though maybe 1-2 mins extra in the oil would have have helped to create a flakier exterior and that layered inside and not the soft exterior and doughy interior I got.

Overall I would come back maybe once every other month to satisfy a sweet tooth craving and look at new flavors.

Very nice find and welcoming atmosphere, maybe the experience changes if you eat them in the shop and ask for them to heat up the...

I came to order donuts for my brother. I saw they had vegan+gluten free options and I was told they could make any of their specialty donuts vegan and gluten free (except 3). She said they would only be smaller. So I'm imagining the same looking donuts that look so good and fancy but smaller. So I'm down. I was in a hurry and rushed out when they closed. I stopped somewhere because I was so hungry to take a look and was so terribly disappointed... like almost in tears at what I saw. I was still so hungry so ate thinking maybe it tasted better than they looked. My hunger could not beat my disappointment so I had to stop trying (see picture). I obviously didn't fully understand when she said smaller that they would be a completely different donut that crumbles and tastes like a cold sugar cookie. Gluten and vegan donuts have come such a long way for them to look and taste like this. I finally went on their Google profile to see how the vegan donuts were supposed to look like officially and mines still looked terrible in comparison. The pictures had the glazes looking nice thick and in place. The donuts themselves looked toasted. Mine looked like they poured watery glaze all over. See picture for reference. I pray they do better by us that have food restrictions or pls stay with the pretty non...