Top Pot Doughnuts — Restaurant in Seattle

It's hard not to love this place. It's a gourmet doughnut shop. I drove in yesterday morning because I needed to pick up a thank you dozen for the local Les Schwab (in Lake City Way) for being upstanding professionals who are just about making a buck but actually helping customers out the best way they can.

These are gourmet donuts so donuts is just under $29. I ordered one dozen, but by the time I picked them I realized one dozen isn't going to be enough so I ordered a second dozen. The first dozen was almost entirely raised donuts with a focus on the maple bar and perhaps the most delicious I've had being the raspberry glazed, but don't take my word for it go ahead and try it. The second box was almost entirely cake donuts except for the necessary apple fritter and an additional powdered sugar lemon filled and another raspberry bull's-eye. Notably there were a couple of seasonal cake donuts including pumpkin, and blood orange in honor of Northwest Bloodworks the local partner that allows you to donate blood and platelets.

Was the server who helped me, and her team really backed her up at the register because each donut has to be entered separately, and I wound up trying the housemate pumpkin spice (nondairy/vegan for me) latte $6 just because they were using actual pumpkin and it was explained to me the owners had come up with the recipe.

Though I always worry that there's not going to be enough parking but if you wait a minute someone pulls out and a slot opens for you.

The total tab was over $75, so just be prepared that you are in a gourmet doughnut venue is the pride of the city and not just a grocery...

There are two main kinds of doughnuts available commercially (I'm not counting Chinese yu-char-kuay or Indian gulab jabun, or even beignets here)-- the mostly air and sugar Krispy Kremes types and the heavier, more traditional cake doughnuts. Arguably, there are even two kinds of doughnut lovers, one for each kind, but I wouldn't know, having mild addictions to both.

Top Pot Doughnuts are all cake doughnuts, with a wide variety of types and flavors. Their bear claws have been praised by Zagat, but I couldn't say... I have rarely been able to grab anything other than the chocolate-frosted chocolate cake.

While you can get your doughnuts and lattes to go, it would be a shame-- the seating area’s walls are floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, which are filled with old hardcovers, dating mostly from the 1930s through 1950s. While a high school chemistry textbook from 1952 may not excite much interest in me, some of the history and fiction does. There are children’s books that are exact copies of ones my grandmother stuck in her attic after my mother outgrew them, books from the 1930s that I read as a kid in the 60s— “Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates”, “Toby Tyler, or Ten Weeks with a Circus” (both originally children’s books, which it appears all the younger children have long since locates.

The sole disappointment, in a place with good (and some great) doughnuts, good coffee, and all these many books not merely from my past but from my mother’s as well, is that the books must be left behind when you leave— you can’t borrow them to finish at home!

Highly...

PARKING is an issue but not a deal breaker. Probably depends what time you arrive. I parked on the street. There are a few spots in a lot. COFFEE, as far as decaf goes was weak, luke warm and also sour taste (sour type roast seems to be a trend I don't love, so that could just be me). Went back and ordered decaf Americano. Still did not love the roast but much better and hot so big improvement. DONUTS: Cake donuts were perfect. ATMOSPHERE: Super great design and details. High ceilings, wood built-in bookshelves all over. Fun 50's type details. Building is getting run down unfortunately. Roof was leaking right by the bar seating area and the cool terrazzo flooring really needed a thorough cleaning and/or a clear coat. There was a corded off area out front by the front door because the patio area needed work (perhaps was getting worked on?) Felt neglected. SERVICE was very nice. Girls were sweet and helpful. I didn't complain about the drip - I just paid for a new American so I don't know how that would have been handled. It was pricey but all Seattle is not so, to be expected. **They don't take cash which I find very disappointing in a donut and coffee joint. And not proletariat at all. They said it was because they had been robbed a few times. It must be a balance. I am not sure if there are other options. Cash is legal tender and I don't agree with not taking it. I did not double check options like venmo or apple pay or cash app. Still, those don't fulfill the same space as cash so that's a bummer. Overall good scores from me be but a few...