Donut King — Restaurant in North Kansas City

I have been to Donut King in North Kansas City like 3 times, and the last time I visited Donut King was back in April 2022. In 1969 the founder, C.W. Chiles moved his Southern Pride Donuts from St. John Avenue to the expanding community north of the river. C.W. Chiles then selected 3913 Chouteau Trafficway for his new location and he decided to shorten the name to Donut King. Another person named Kathy Sivers had worked at Donut King since it open on Chouteau Trafficway in 1969. It was 1983 when C.W. put the shop up for sale and Kathy jumped at the opportunity to become her own employer. After being in the donut business almost 30 years, Kathy was ready to pass on her apron to a new baker. At the same time, John and Lauren Cone were hoping to become entrepreneurs. With no experience at all, John and Lauren took over Donut King in October 1996. Kansas City contacted the couple in the fall of 2010 when the expansion of Chouteau Trafficway was about to force Donut King into a new chapter of local history. The new move would mean an opportunity to expand, and with the expansion, a lot of hard work. To help with the expansion, John and Lauren made the decision to add a new partner. They turned to Lauren’s sister Kristen and her husband Jeff. Together, the newly formed partners began the work involved in the expansion and move to their current location.

Donut King is known for serving about 48 different donuts along with other pastries, cupcakes, cakes, savory breakfast treats and gourmet coffee. Since 1969 Donut King has been serving the Kansas City Northland with it’s Award Winning Donuts and excellent customer service. Because of this, Donut King is considered “The Best Donut Shop in Missouri” and also considered “The Sweetest Bakery in America”. Because Donut King is almost like a coffee shop, the place has its own punch card called a “Kingdom Card” which has 10 punch boxes with the 10th donut purchase for FREE. The menu at Donut King has been known for its unique recipes for certain donuts and other pastries. For example, the flavors for cinnamon rolls include glazed, vanilla, chocolate, caramel pecan, and cream cheese iced. Unique and uncommon icings for Vanilla Cake Donuts include Caramel Icing, Orange Icing, Blueberry Icing, and Cherry Icing as well. There are some unique combos of Cronuts, which include Fruity Pebbles, Maple Bacon, Peanut Butter & Jelly, Strawberry Cheesecake, and Strawberry Nutella. Donut King has its own style of donut called a “King Cake”, which is a pastry that is sprinkled with yellow sugar, green sugar, and purple sugar probably because the Donut King logo has yellow, green, and purple in its logo or probably because some of the owners and employees at Donut King are from New Orleans and probably celebrate Mardi Gras. There are also some donuts that can be made for celebration of birthdays, holidays, and special occasions. One special type of donut used for celebrating any kind of special occasion is a custom donut letter, which is a yeast raised donut shaped any letter of the alphabet and people can order multiple letter-shaped donuts to make words that relate to anything of the customer’s choice. The other special type of donut is a “Big Donut”, which is the hugest size of donut served at Donut King that is considered equivalent to the amount of a dozen donuts. Both the Big Donuts and the Custom Donut Letters are Yeast-Raised Donuts that come with custom icing colors of the customer’s choice.

When I went to Donut King in 2022, my father & I shared an apple fritter and it tasted better than Ray’s Donuts that time because it has more apple flavoring to it and the place had good service because the food is always on the donut counter and freshly baked each day. If customers are looking for a donut shop with a wide variety of uncommonly shapes and unique flavors of donuts and more, I would personally recommend that customers visit and order donuts from Donut King as the place the place has been given 100% smiles as a way of good food and...

In the battle for Kansas City donut supremacy, 2 places undoubtedly rise to the top. Donut King and Fluffy Fresh. Having now sampled each establishment’s best offerings I can confidently say… it’s a tossup!

Donut King perfectly represents the “new” school of donut making. Crazy flavors, a million different options, bright storefront. The quality is there in spades. Donut King slaps you across the face with awesomeness. Try any of their seasonal offerings, chocolate frosted original, og glazed, peanut butter or devil’s food and you won’t be disappointed. There are a couple misses among the bunch… I didn’t love the choc. long John (too dry), and the old fashioned was way too sweet. But in general, these guys make some of the best donuts I’ve ever had.

Meanwhile, over at Fluffy Fresh it’s cash only baby and fully old school. Your donuts will be bagged by the same gentle soul of a man that rolled the dough and fried them at 4am. The atmosphere is a bit dark, slightly dingy, and looks a whole lot like the set of some 50’s cop movie. It’s got a serious vibe, and so do the donuts. They taste significantly more homemade than Donut King. These donuts are mature, they’re slow growers. The more you eat them, the more you’ll love them. There’s not a ton of options… but the Chocolate long John, choc frosted cake, and original glazed are all standouts. Nothing too fancy here on the flavors, cinnamon twists are about as exotic as it gets. Fluffy Fresh ain’t trying to pretend to be something it’s not…but boy do these donuts transport you back to a different age! A simpler time. They’re a Time Capsule of donut making and that makes them very special. It’s cliche, but you can absolutely taste the love that went into making these…and that has to account for something in this crazy world. Did I mention they’re extremely affordable? (as in 5 donuts for 4 dollars affordable). Also, get there early. Like before 9am, because once they run out (and they always do) they close for the day.

I guess the best way to put it is.. if Donut King is the Beatles, Fluffy Fresh would be the Stones. What mood are you in? You can’t go wrong with either. Both are among the best donuts you’re going to find...

I'm a donut guy, I've had donuts from all over the US, unfortunately chain stores are absolutely taking the flavor and magical simplicity out of donuts, no kidding a hundred different type of glazed donuts in that airy round or bar (which are good), the problem is real flavored donuts, the kind you dunk the classic and amazing cake donuts are disappearing across the country, now for the honest reason for this review, Donut King not only has the most amazing cake donuts in more flavors than any place I've been to, they also have the glazed and bars and such. But it's the cake donuts the original donuts the real reason you dunk donuts in milk, blueberry, strawberry ect...... Donut King has them all. I still don't understand how the shop in St. Louis is voted best in Missouri, believe me it's not even close. I live in Blue Springs and have no issues driving 35 minutes to get donuts from Donut King in North Kansas City while passing on my way many large and national donut shops, I don't want just the quality I want all that flavor that comes in the Donut King donut. Hopefully those reading this review will take notice that on the other side of the State of Missouri there is a place being overlooked by so called critics, go ahead give it a try, no kidding if your disappointed at Donut King you should probably reevaluate what you call a donut. Thanks, and sorry for such a...