Cafe Knotted Century City — Restaurant in Los Angeles

You hear the buzz, you see the reels of the hour long lines, curiosity just yanks you in. Cafe Knotted was the donut spot everyone was talking about, supposedly slinging the best Korean donuts in town, selling out in hours. I figured, gotta try these at their peak, right? So, I was there practically when the doors opened.

Let me tell you, I walked in ready for that "hot and fresh" donut nirvana everyone describes - you know, light, airy, practically floating. I had my pick of the litter, everything looking perfect. But man, what I anticipated and what I got were totally different. That dream of biting into a fluffy cloud? Yeah, that deflated pretty quick. Instead of pillowy goodness, these donuts were just.. rough. We're talking stale, with a capital S. The texture was tough all the way through, and honestly, kinda dry. Not exactly the melt-in-your-mouth dough I was hoping for, especially since other folks rave about them being so fluffy. It made me wonder if l'd gotten yesterday's leftovers, though showing up that early makes that seem unlikely.

I had the Fresh Strawberry Cream, Dubai Chocolate, and Banana donuts. It takes quite a bit of force to tear apart the donut, almost like an English muffin.

So maybe I caught them on a really off day. Or maybe this particular style of denser, drier donut just isn't my thing, and I'm the odd one out. But based on my trip, l'd be hard-pressed to recommend Cafe Knotted, especially with all the hype. Two stars because the idea is there and the storefront and display is beautiful. The execution, at least for me, was a real letdown compared to what I was expecting. I wouldn't be...

Heard from Seoul friends that Knotted was a big deal—lines out the door, always sold out. Tried their new Century City store. It delivered.

Started with the milk cream donut. It's the simplest one on the menu, and probably the most revealing. The dough is feather-light and delicate without being fragile. The cream first felt unusually generous, but it was smooth, cool, and just barely sweet—precise and not cloying. No grease, no butter overload and not heavy at all. Just clean execution and balance. I'd say this is their quiet classic that doesn’t show off but doesn’t need to.

The Boston cream took me by surprise. It had that nostalgic pull but reworked with care. Nothing overdone, just honest flavors layered with surprising depth and interpretation that pays homage to the original without copying it. Hitting that note is rare, especially when you’ve had as many versions as I have.

No tricks, no overload. Just thoughtful pastries made by people who clearly know what they’re doing. Also a pleasant place to sit and recover from shopping or lunch/dinner. Clearly very happy that we have a new dessert brand in town that raises the bar! Will be back to check out the...

So I’m still debating if I like this place or not. Went there Wednesday around 11:30am, I got the fresh strawberry cream, matcha, tiramisu, and the classic milk. I’m not sure since I went at opening if some of the donuts are from prior day. I speculate the strawberry one was since the strawberry looked kinda of dry, not freshly cut. I personally had the milk cream - not something I’ll pick again 😬. It really didn’t have any flavor lol but that’s my personal taste buds. The donut dough itself was kind of stale/hard.. hence why I speculate its from prior day. Maybe that’s just how the dough is suppose to be and I had imagine it to be more “soft”. I also got the miso toffee cookie - it was “meh”. Only tasted like white chocolate cookie honestly, nothing to gong ho about. I am going to go back a different day and time to see if it’s a one off experience. Overall I do believe everyone should try it and don’t steer away just from my opinion. They are very instagram pretty lol

Update 04/30 @ 12 : Went back and got the strawberry cream this time. Definitely the dough was a lot better. I do believe it was a one off incident. I’ve changed my...