The Salty Donut — Restaurant in Orlando

In my experience of being a sugar connoisseur, a lot of hyped up donut shops have really disappointed in one way or another. Most of the time, they are just simply too similar in taste and quality to a donut you could get at any well-run dunkin or your local grocery stores bakery, but you pay a premium for their ambience or gimmick.

So I'm always weary when any business throws out the:

"BEST (insert product) in (insert city here)"

but I still always need to try if I can so I can see if the hype is deserved or not. Show me the awards baby! Words are wind. Don't just claim to be the best, make the best donuts! And after so many feelings of disappointment, I finally came across THE SALTY DONUT 🍩 . A donut shop whose name and not reviews are actually what made me want to try them even though who the heck wants a salty donut? Having a sticker on my car that says "Stay Salty" and generally being known as a salty dog meant I had to try them out.. but then a quick google search shows me pictures that looked so scrumptious, I can even tell you about what they did to me in this review.

So I rushed over there as quickly as I could, only to spend 10 minutes looking for a parking spot. Oh well, sometimes you just fight for what you want. The cashier was nice and knowledgeable, but didn't really seem like cared too much for questions as opposed to just taking orders (real reason service I only gave 4 stars) when I would expect someone clearly on a sugar high taking my order when I saw those donuts in person. I could literally feel my insulin levels rising just by looking at these feats in modern donut making.

I wanted them all. There were probably about 12-14 donut options available, just looking at them I was ready to throw down the gauntlet and break the bank to grab 12 and have some to share with the fam. Then I finally was able to grab a menu and see pricing.... SHEEEEEEESH, can't even lie, my heart did sink a little bit when I saw the majority of the donuts had $4.XX and $5.XX next to their names. And most certainly no deals for half or full dozen... what i was thinking? That these modern day magicians would even allow 1 person to have that many of marvelous donuts to themselves, that just wouldn't be fair.

So I let a few other people order ahead of me while I convinced myself to order without price in mind and just treat yourself because this place surely is the closest thing to heaven I've ever seen. I decided to go with Carrot Cake (limited edition) which was probably the best singular donut I've ever tasted, The Oreo crumble big guy because I've always gotta go with the O, and Strawberry Shortcake because described it quite nicely to the couple before me. The strawberry donut was the only one that somewhat fell short for me and that's 100% due to my personal taste buds and not the quality of the ingredients or finished product. Still a great donut, just lots of flavors clashing and a lot of jam inside. The Oreo cookie donut looked like a frosted donut covered in oreo crumble with just 1 small change, this donut has been doing steroids for 3 months and is jackkked and then it was filled with an oreo cream that made you make a face that can only be described as pure ecstasy (see pics attached).

This review is already far too long, so I will wrap it up. The atmosphere of the shop was also very inviting, they were playing some, good soft tunes at a reasonable volume to still encourage conversation. Outside area was massive and a cool spot to have the kids not be cooped up inside and big enough for dogs to have room to roam if you wanted to bring your best friend. All in all, The Salty Donut is one of the gems of Orlando. I would recommend it to anyone except a diabetic, and even then, I still might with a proper warning. These things definitely have way too much sugar in them, but this is Florida in the good ole USA where we don't put limits on deliciousness.

If I had to choose 1 word to describe The Salty Donut... I'm not sure such a word exists... so I'll make one up on the spot right now:...

This donut/coffee shop is definitely everything you could hope for in a cafe: delicious food, tasty drinks, and an amazing visual appeal to allow guests to sit back and enjoy their treats. We stopped in here on a whim because we were in the area and I'm so glad we did! The curb appeal is phenomenal, the garage door siding, the colors, and there's a great amount of indoor and outdoor seating too! They had a ton of donut flavors and they were all laid out so nicely for you to see. I really appreciated all the flavors being at the front by the register so you could easily see what donut flavors they had in stock as well as what they looked like (definitely entices you to buy more because they all look delicious). We went in planning on getting one or two donuts and ended up getting 6 + drinks! They aren't like any other donuts I've had before - not as dense or crumbly as cake donuts and not nearly as light and fluffy as yeast donuts. They ARE very bread-y and kind of dry for some flavors. The only negative thing I can say is that I feel like they should put on a heavier coating of glaze for a majority of the donuts to counteract how dry the inside is. They are fairly thick donuts so I feel like you didn't get enough flavor from the glaze/toppings to level out the flavor of the plain donut by itself. I liked the flavors of each donut I just wish there was more of it in each donut. But hey, maybe that's just me and some people might prefer that! Besides that one tweak though, everything was absolutely fantastic. I ordered the hibiscus lemonade and that was true to taste. It had that floral taste from the hibiscus coupled with a fresh, not super tart lemonade. It's good but you really have to enjoy the floral taste to like this drink; I likely wouldn't get it again if I came back. Also be prepared to pay a pretty penny if you plan on getting more than 2 donuts, or if you want to have drinks with your dessert. I wouldn't count that against this place though considering it is a super popular donut shop, very worth the price, and also in a trendy area of Orlando. P.S. they have the COOLEST shoe box -esque donut boxes that I absolutely adored. Very sturdy and unique look to them that made the visual appeal just that much better! Overall, I'd say it's worth your time to stop by if you're looking for something...

I live in Oviedo, so all the great things that happen in Orlando would allude me if not for various magazines and social media. Well, one award that has been given out the last couple of years has been The Salty Donut placing amongst some of the best donuts in town. One Saturday morning came up where I needed a donut, so I saw my chance, and I struck.

Thank goodness I did. This place has truly changed my decision making tree on where I will go when I want a donut, or when I want to show a friend a good donut. This place took my off guard. Left me shook, as the kids say.

As opposed to dozens of varieties, this place chose to specialize in 11 different kinds of sweet donuts, and to make them perfect. It was nearly impossible to pick just two, but I ended up going with the Butterbeer and the Toasted Coquito. And as a bonus, I got one of their savory options, the, wait for it, 4 Rivers Brisket Kolache.

The donut itself was a big, thicc boi. Well fried, and oh so porous and fluffy within. These are the qualities of a good donut. Some TLC went into how these guys came up with their base dough recipe.

The Butterbeer was nice. Caramelly, cream soda-y, with some extra drizzle and some texture crumbs on top. If you like Butterbeer, you'll like this.

The Toasted Coquito was a stuffed donut. Very reminiscent of coquito was the creaminess within, and on top of it was a bruleed meringue of some sort. Very good.

I will say, these donuts are sugar bombs. Part of me still thinks that the first one was so sweet that it kind of inhibited my ability to fully taste the second one. Not a terrible thing, but I do recommend sharing so you can taste a variety of flavors.

Then I finished off with my dessert, the savory one. 4 Rivers was nice enough to donate their brisket to the cause and The Saltly stuffed them into a kolache. This thing was perfect. Heaven. Lots of brisket inside of a warm, perfectly crisp pastry, with a fine sprinkle of sea salt on the top. I could eat a dozen of these things, and I do Not recommend sharing this.

Overall, this was truly a revelation. I can't believe it took me so long to find this place, but now I have a new place to frequent. Great, there goes all my...