Hook & Press Donuts — Restaurant in Santa Barbara

I hope the owner of Hook and Press sees this review. I'm a regular customer. I work at the courthouse. I've been coming for a while now. My favorite item is their doughnut holes. I’m addicted to them! Now, my review has to do with the attitude of some of the employees. Their attitude at times can be uppity. As if they are above me. That’s ok. I don’t know them so I avoid staying there. I’m always in and out. Except today, the bad attitude was taken to another level. I placed my normal order. Doughnut holes and drop coffee. The coffee is served at the back counter but normally the service is quick. When they see a customer approaching they normally ask you your name. (They know my name because I’m signed up for their loyalty program). Today it was different. I had to make it to work so I needed my coffee right away. Since it’s drip coffee, it’s already premade. Anyways, as I approached the counter, there was a girl with hot pink or red colored hair facing the counter. She’s talking to another guy whose back is toward the counter. After 2 minutes of being ignored, I said hi. The guy left to the kitchen right away. The girl stays in the same place folding boxes. I had to ask her to please give me my coffee. She rolled her eyes, finished folding boxes, and slowly walked to serve my coffee. I asked her if she was ok. Her answer was, that I was busy folding boxes. With a very condescending look handed my coffee but today I decided to not take their bad attitude and decided to call the manager. I waited for the manager for 5 minutes. As I was waiting, I saw the girl go to the manager, who was behind the glass window in the kitchen, and they both laughed. I saw the manager go inside the fridge, come out, and walk around. Thankfully I had plenty of time to wait. When she finally asked me if wanted to talk to her, I told her what happened with that worker. She smirked. She gave me that look that managers who don’t care about customer service give you. She just stated that the girl was new and they work hard on customer service but never said anything about an apology or at least acknowledged my concern. Anyway, I walked away and decided to post this review for the owners. The culture in your shop needs improvement. I’m sure I will not be the only one being...

I’m not feeling the music on this one and I’m a pretty big donut fan. Let’s start with the donuts- at a whopping $3.75 a piece I’m left unimpressed. I ordered a brown butter sugar donut (BBS), peanut butter banana (PBB) donut, and a hostess (HOS) donut.

The BBS didn’t have the fresh airy feel you would expect of a buttermilk donut, in fact the dough felt quite weighed down and depressed as if it was sitting there for a hot minute. Furthermore the BBS’s icing was just plain sugar with maybe (just maybe) a hint of that brown butter nuttiness- it was disappointing at best. Usually when you think of brown butter you think of its unmistakable nuttiness and perhaps another flavor it plays well with (sugar isn’t a flavor). Perhaps a tad bit of salt to add complexity to the flavor profile or even throwing sage into the mix might do that donut favors. I would rlly love to see a creative spin on a brown butter sage donut- that may be worth $3.75.

Moving along, we have the PBB- another mid donut. The texture was dense and dry, the taste of peanut butter was present, but it felt somehow cheap and perfume-y. Not the roof-of-the-mouth lingering nuttiness you can taste well after ur last spoon of peanut butter. It needs to be reworked- just not impressed at all.

Lastly, and this will be short, the HOS was actually pretty nice. Again with the stale/unfresh dough, but overall decent. I was quite fond of the chocolate icing- i found it rather decadent. I ate the whole thing (i didn’t finish the other ones)

Other than that the ambiance was fantastic (great study spot) and the coffee was nice. Workers were nice too, but some have a weird...

Donut Series, Part 8 I probably wouldn’t have guessed that “Hook and Press” was a donut joint by its name alone, but after it was recommended to us by @donuthunting we just knew that we had to try it.

They claim to offer “craft donuts” and it would be difficult to argue with them. I never imagined using the term “dining experience” when it comes to the partaking of a donut, but that’s exactly the term that jumped into my mind because of the ambiance they have created. “Donuts” and “ambiance” being associated in any way? This was truly a first for me.

Although their extended menu offers Vegan and gluten conscious offerings, I’m not actually sure I could be here and pay attention to anything other than their donuts.

After an extended internal struggle I finally placed an order for a “Coastal Fog” and a “Hostess Cupcake.” Genius names, amirite?

They were both so good that they inspired us to create (what we think is) a new term. These are “sipping donuts” and by that we mean that they are meant to be savored. Much like a fine wine or whiskey, please slow down and take your time when enjoying these beauties.

If you happen to visit with a four legged friend in tow, there’s no need for your companion to be left out as they also offer “Dog Donuts.”

“Hook and Press” has earned our full support in continuing to bring scrumptious joy to the Santa Barbara region.

And that’s…Henry’s...