Original House of Donuts — Restaurant in Lakewood

The donuts are pretty good but not as good as they used to be. They used to be superior to all other local donut shops. Also, I think the donuts are very pricey today (to me) for what you get so I do not go there anymore.

A while back the shop was sold to a new owner and they changed the recipe from a potato based dough/flour, which is what they used to use, back to a regular flour/dough, which is cheaper and doesn't taste nearly as good nor nearly as satisfying. How do I know, you ask? I talked to the old owners years before they sold the shop and they told me they used potato flour.

Of course, if you never went to the old donut shop then you wouldn't know the difference. For example, the cinnamon twists used to have a very good flavor and were heavy and doughy but today they are smaller, lighter and taste just like bread with a little bit of sweetener on top, a big difference from what they used to be, although, just by looking at them you could not tell the difference. But again, the donuts they sell today are ok but just nowhere near as good as they used to be.

I do believe the donut shop is making more money today (under the new owners) because they opened a second store in downtown Tacoma and do promote the shops, whereas the old owners did not promote the shop and were happy with only the one location and loyal clientele.

The older (potato flour) donuts were so good and were so well known in the area that the previous owners did not have to advertise, word-of-mouth did everything to sell a great product. And as Tony Tiger said... "They...

The building is dated. Which adds to the feel of the place and parking is right on site. Which is awesome when there is not a rush. But if you get a craving or wanna make a fun family stop as much as I want to recommend House of Donuts, I really cannot. The drive thru is on both sides of the building, and it seems built for mobile and drive thru orders.

With the interior I'm glad to see a lot of room for the staff to work. They keep the window stocked pretty well. Every interaction with staff is a positive one. I feel guilty about my last interaction. I brought my son in before daycare and let him pick his donut 🍩 😋. I let my son pay and didn't realize until after I walked out that it is a tipping establishment.

Tipping is standard in the industry, and I get it, but I hope that the staff actually recieves all tips and the House of Donut does not collect them. This is why I'm tired of tipping in the area. As customers, we do not know where our tips go, and it puts us in the awkward position of asking a food service worker if they collect all their tips. If they receive all the money for tips, I will update the review and would also recommend clearly posting where the consumers' money goes. 💰

I wish there were smaller more child friendly donuts available as well. I can't remember if the do holiday themed donuts or not but I do plan on going to The House of Donuts a lot in the near future. I plan on updating my review and adding some pictures of their breathtaking retro sign. It is my favorite part 😃 (besides the great work from the...

Yum! They have many choices. I'm an old fashioned donut kinda a girl...... Theirs are the best I've every had! Ever

Update: 08.13.2023

When I posted my original review 6 years ago, I would have bet money that thier donuts 🍩 were 1000 times better then Krispy Kreme. But yesterday's batched was horrible, they were darker then normal and hard, they tasted old and they said they were fresh (not that, that should matter). Kinda irritated 😒.

Who ever made those knew they weren't great and more than likely just wanted to get them done. I would have personally rather have thrown them out if I had made them, because first impressions mean everything.

Have family in town from out of state, thought it be an easy fast breakfast. They said grocery store donuts are better total waste of money. Now that says it all!

I doubt we'll go back, plus Krispy Kreme is closer. This is a once a year outing anyway.

Should of gotten German pantries, we went to Hess first anyways. Thought we'd save a few...