Linda's Donut Shop — Restaurant in San Diego

Super dissapointed. My own fault. I read the bad reviews and still decided to try for myself. I live locally and had the craving for donuts. This place was the closest. I pulled up. I was reassured by a happy smiling couple walking out and then the A posted in the front window by the food inspector. Front windows were filthy. There was a window wide open without a screen. The displays had just a few of each kind of donut and they didnt look very appealing. I asked for a dozen and the young woman at the front grabbed a box and started filling it with what i asked for. Maple bar, jelly filled, glaze... I wasn't happy with anything I saw as they were on dirty crumb filled trays with flies inside landing on the donuts. I completed my dozen in which she charged me 10 bucks and then asked for a coffee. The counter around the register was dirty. The carton of half and half sitting out on the counter was room temp which im sure isn't safe. The sugar dispenser was rusty. I didnt recieve a thank you or have a nice. I grabbed my first donut when I reaced the car, a maple bar. Dry, definetly not prepared today. Way too little icing. At home I grabbed a custard filled chocolate donut. Same dry old texture of pasry. Same amount of too little icing. Custard was the only enjoyable thing about this donut. Final complaint, coffee tastes like crap. Watered down and awful. Ill be trying Luckys Donuts down the road next time I have...

The reader of this must first understand my history with donuts. I lived in Chicago my entire life prior to moving to SD five years ago. Chicago is the Mecca of donuts, along with my family making donuts and operating a small donut shop. When I say these are the best donuts I’ve had in SD, I think I can justify this opinion.

On to the donuts, I went late afternoon so obviously my expectations were low as donuts early in the AM are the best. I bought a half dozen, and went home. My first was a chocolate sprinkle, that tasted like I was eating cotton candy being so soft, and effortlessly pulling apart. I then had a few others, each one offering a distinct taste but amazingly soft.

The last thing I want to mention is how kind they are there, and patient. It feels unique and refreshing when you can go to these small mom and pop’s shops, and they absolutely deliver in every way. I’m so far from Chicago, but this is the closest thing I’ve had in SD that allows me to...

There's a lot of mixed reviews here, so here's the deal... This donut shop is EXACTLY like 90% of the other independant donut shops out there. They're not bad donuts. Trust me, you've had them many times before at other shops. The interior is not that nice but the woman working there was. But most notable, the donuts are the same ones you can get anywhere else. When I was a kid, each donut shop was very different from one to the next. But at some point, most of those shops went out of business and they were eventually replaced by shops that use some sort of food service donut mix that results in the ridiculous lack of variety in donuts today. I don't know why this happened but I miss real artisanal donuts. 3 stars...