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Warren Street (Green)
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How great is this place?! I'm serious. How can you not love a cheap, old school, tasty diner?
Was just there this morning and enjoyed a long cup of coffee with an old friend/co-worker.
I recommend the egg and cheese on an English Muffin. It's barely $2 and delicious.
On my way to early work, a Twin's egg/chz/ham sandy is cheap, quick, and tasty. The donuts are a tad above average, but def worth a try if you're in the area.
One of the best parts about Twin is the historic sign and obvious location.
Let us reflect for a moment upon this restaurant's name: Twin Donuts.
... what kind of joint does that sort of name conjure up? For me, it's definitely -not- the kind of image that screams "Deliciousness!" or "Wholesome goodness!" It's more likely to evoke scents of grease permeating the air, patrons resembling the Michelin Man, and calorie counts that would have a fitness junkie running for the nearest Stairmaster.
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Okay. So, I'm not really a cravings kinda personality. There's not much that I really get an itch for. And of the small list of things that I'm ever really wanting for, donuts definitely aren't on it.
I do, however, adore a lovely meal to kick-start my day. And while Twin Donuts is not fancy, it's not delicious, and it sure isn't exciting, it -is- convenient (to the boy's apartment), inexpensive, filling, and reasonably efficient.
For a satisfying ham, egg, and cheese muffin and a coffee at under a $5 price point, there's not much to gripe about. Fin.
NB1: Signage indicates a minimum of a $5 purchase to use plastic. Come armed with cash.
NB2: It turns out that there -is- limited parking (and by "limited" I mean "two spots") right out back.
How do you think a $4 meal is supposed to taste?
Was in there early one Saturday morning not too long ago and heard one of the obvious-date-from-previous-evening-unfamiliar-with -where-they-were girls in front of me ask the guy behind the counter for "UM A LARGE COFFEE WITH UM, NON-FAT CREAM?"
They don't have non-fat cream here. Or low-fat cream. And that is a damn good thing. Old people, kids, hip, not-so-much. It's like any number of places you remember going to a few years ago that are now occupied by a mobile phone store or dd's.
The candy dispenser in the window near the counter and its words of wisdom taped to the sides is golden.
Sometimes if there's too long a line I'm forced to go to the ubiquitous pink-and-orange monstrosity hidden in the Store24 next door. And am saddened.
Only thing that's both refreshing and depressing (and worth a star or lack of one) is that you look around the place and if you're old enough (or watch 'Happy Days') you can really see what it must have looked like. A new coat of paint wouldn't kill this place.
(the edit - I changed "the only think" to "the only thing" so as to make more sense. Also, wanted to say that I need to stay away from their lemon bars, they're just too evil.)
come early to get their boston creme donuts.
i used to work until 1pm and all i wanted was a BCD, but no luck.
4am however!
best time to eat.
Bright. It's very bright in here. The price is right, and it's classic, tasty diner breakfast. Until 5PM. I like that.
I'm not totally hating on this place. Good service and good banana nut pancakes. Although a lot of stuff looks and tastes like it went straight from the freezer to a mirocwaved blob on your plate.
But when I experienced my first up all night drinking binge in the city there was no place I just wanted to stoop down and my set and eat a greasy breakfast then here which was conventiently located a few blocks from my old apartment. But going there be prepared for just that hangover kids glaring at your kid for yelling about her grilled cheese sandwich grumble grumble.
A little slice of heaven to remedy that nasty hangover.
First of all, it's run by an Asian family, which I find interesting since this is straight up American diner food. But they do a great job. I have been numerous times for Saturday or Sunday brunch and ordered a ridiculous amount of food. It's perfectly greasy, delicious food and coffee refills keep on coming. And cheap! Definitely hangover-cure material.
It's Brunch. In Allston. At a good price. What else needs to be said?
Twins. Nuts. Do. i try not to delve too deep into all of this. what does it all mean? why is this building in the shape of a triangle? why is it flesh colored? why doesn't anyone ever clean that giant cylinder in the center of the dining floor? why are there eye-balls on my napkin holder?
these are dangerous sorts of questions. i admire their dingy, 1950's looking sign, and i stop there.
the eggs are very very nice. the home fries are silly. just potatoes that need salt. but that's ok. because there IS salt.. right there next to the napkin holder.. with the eye balls.
everything is so so cheap. the toast is lovely. the sausages are such gregarious little things. eat them. eat them all.
and i love the people that run this place, they are SOOO NICE! it's ridiculous.
people rag on their english... whatevs man. just eat your sausages and be nice.
I love this place. I go with my roommate every Saturday morning, sometimes Sundays as well. And by morning I mean between 1pm-3pm. The food is good, SO cheap...the menu is huge for such a small place. They could serve dishes of crap and I'd still go just to see the people who work there. I've never been to a restaurant that has nicer waiters. Not to mention they practically have my breakfast on the table before I'm finished ordering.
Twin Donuts is the shit.
Twin Do-nuts or as we like to call it, twin Dongs. No idea why but it will always be twin dongs to me.
This place is just down the road from me so it is our usual "its too cold to walk too far for breakfast and we are hung over to make breakfast" breakfast place. I'll break it down for you:
The good: Prices. so cheap.
fast and friendly service
interesting crowd
the name
The Bad: its really not that great quality food. i mean its not bad, its just nothing special.
The ugly: there is way WAY too much garlic on these homefries. I have yet to find really good home fries in allston. someone please help me. please
Twin dongs holds a place in my heart. while there are better places to go to get breakfast, none will be as cheap or as close or named as good.
for a diner it fulfills all your needs.
i usually need donuts, tea, and an omelette of some sort. the omelette comes with toast, and the food quality is great.
the price is great.
however what i like the most and often determines my disposition towards restaurants is the setup of the venue. Twin donuts is slightly tight space, and no frills. it fits with the character of being a quality diner.
My friends and I call this place Donut Whore. We patronize stealthily, under cover of the wee-hours' half-light. We go mostly when our body confidence is unusually high. We immediately slink back home and take naps. We don't speak of it to anyone else. We all look at each other and see John Goodman for at least half the day, until the heavy cream starts to drain. And the oils. Those sometimes take a full day.
I'll see you there. But I won't make eye contact. It's nothing personal. I just....can't.
I've been to this place twice now, so I think I can weigh in.
Yes, as others have mentioned, the staff does not speak engrish vedy well, but they are so nice! You can't get angry at them.... so you just repeat yourself in a much slower manner.
I stick with the breakfast sammiches here, namely the bacon, egg, and cheese on a croissant. They nail this. Two thumbs up from THIS GUY.
Their homefries suck... think of brown, warmed up potatoes. A buttload of ketchup and salt can only do so much. Their eggs by themselves look a little gross too.
The clincher in my book is the price. So reasonable!
I may actually go to Twin Donuts tomorrow morning. How do you like THEM apples?
I live quite close to Twin, which is incredibly awesome. Why, just this morning (afternoon) I woke up with a 2-breakfast sandwich hangover (which is about as severe as one can get). I put on my oversized shades (you know, trendy circa 2005) and eighteen American Apparel hoodies before stumbling on over to the best lil' donut shop in all of Allston, if not the world.
They start frying the donuts at 11 pm every night - you can smell it all the way down Brighton Ave. They open at 4 am, which is a fantastic way to get your second wind after a heavy night out. I've tried most of the donuts, and they are all pretty delicious - the earlier you go, the better. If they run out, they run out, which is certainly better than having a bunch of wasted donuts at the end of the day.
I really don't feel like I'm exaggerating when I say that the breakfast sandwiches are definitely the best in the area. They're cheap, fast and DELICIOUS. I'm not so outrageous that I make a habit of getting two at every visit, but this morning, it was exactly what I needed.
So...to summarize, Twin is great, the clientele make for great people watching, and they diligently refill your coffee if you decide to sit in. What more can you ask for? That's right; nothing.
TDN is that place you know other people go, you know you go and you know others going by want to go....but you never really tell others you go. You know? Well except, of course, on Yelp.
So what, I can't understand a word their staff says? Who cares that this place is always packed! All that goes out the door when I can have their blueberry pancakes. They taste like they were made with blueberries...... freshly picked ......by a homeless person ......from a patch growing on Cambridge Street. How can you resist?
If you want a smaller donut for worse taste and for 20 cents extra,
there's a Dunkin' Donuts next door.
If you want a large, tasty, yet cheap donut,
Twin DO-Nuts is the place.
Their breakfast is VERY reasonably priced,
staff members are really friendly,
the food is awesome-
this is my most favorite breakfast place in Boston.
I literally go here 2 times per week.
It's that great.
Believe me.
A good, fillilng breakfast for under $8. I had a combo of eggs, sausage, and french toast. Although the server screwed up and brought me pancakes first, he apologized and had the cook prepare frech toast immediately.
I have to come try their donuts one day. I mean, what's in a name?
Many years ago I used to live a block away from here in a large group house and we were all die hard devotees of twin donuts. It changed ownership a few years back but the managed to keep everything exactly the same as far as I could tell. I occasionally had to be in at work really early in the morning and would go there at 4 am when the donuts were just made and it was incredible. I used to order the egg and cheese and a coffee every morning, which the former owner (was his name Henry?) would call out in shorthand as "egg and chee, salt pepp" when it was ready. I still refer to all egg and cheese on english muffin as "egg and chee" in honor of this pinacle of the art form. The coffee is damn fine, and the design of the place is from another era. The cast of local veterans who would hang out there arguing about the Vietnam war and giving hipster BU kids the hairy eyeball were great. I'm sure some of those are still there every morning.
Love it! No better hangover helper out there. Staff is friendly and food comes out quick. Even though this place is always busy, I've never waited for a table... even going in with 8 people. Staff is tolerant too... I've got loud, crued friends... okay I just described myself.
The breakfast sandwichs and blueberry pancakes are my favorites. Get to Twins if you haven't been!
1. I live pretty dern close.
2. The building is triangular.
3. That sign out front-- it's my favorite thing about Union Square.
4. It doesn't just sell donuts. It also has normal breakfast foods. Which is very important to me since the Grecian burned down. Their eggs are a tad bland, and their home fries SUCK (why the hell does everyone cook home fries like that in Allston/Brighton?!? yuck!), but it's not half bad.
5. All kindsa affordable.
I won't lie, the location and retro-looking neon sign is enough to love this place.
I went at an awkward time of day, so there weren't many options and the business was very slow. STILL, my glazed donut was cheaper than it would have been at Dunkin', and I'm not sure if it was just my hunger talking, but it SEEMED better than Dunkin'.
The guy behind the counter, speaking broken English, laughed and told us "BUY ONE GET ONE FREE!" Haha. Uhm... COOL! I think.
I'll go back, and walk that extra few blocks past Dunkin', the next time I feel like donuts.
Solid, but nothing super special.
I'm trying not to be a big breakfast pastry person anymore, so I can't comment on their donuts, etc. I did have some pancakes (chocolate chip!) and homefries. Also some hazelnut coffee. It was okay. The pancakes were fine, I thought it was weird that they used mini-chocolate chips. The home fries were pretty good.
As far as the "landmark" sign goes, I'm totally fine with it during the day, but as someone who waits for the bus at early hours, it's friggin creepy. all red and flashy. Not wild about that.
Anyway, I think price wise it's pretty comparable to Steve's Kitchen on Harvard Ave so if you're looking for sit down (or take out?) breakfast, I would head over there. As far as I know, Steve's doesn't have donuts though. So if that's your bag, Twin Donuts seems like a good place.
allston-hipster central... minus one star for that... especially on the wknds
the staff kicks ass
food is fresh
super cheap
i usually get b-fast sandwiches, but their plates, and baked goods are the shit.
best value for the money... and opens @ 4am.... perfection for late/drunk nights : )
(alarms going off) Dive! Dive! This is definitely a good thing.
Can't disagree with any other Yelper. Surprisingly a great place to have some damn cheap and tasty breakfast goodies whether it's the donuts or the eggs. I'm not as keen about the light-roast coffee (I'm not a Starbucks person either), but that's a minor point.
This place is simply phenomenal. When I had a car, I would drive from JP to Allston every Sunday morning, just for the joy of eating at Twin Donuts. The crowd is the typical Allston/Brighton mix of hipsters and long-time resident old folks, but both groups seem to understand how special this place is. Twin Donuts lacks any sign of pretentiousness, it just offers quality Americana breakfast.
I would recommend the chocolate glazed and the regular glazed donuts, both of which will make you wonder why one would ever venture to Dunkin Donuts. Furthermore, Twin Donuts makes a mean egg and cheese sandwich. I go with a sausage-egg-and-cheese on a bagel, and I am in paradise with the first bite. Add a side order of homefries(with a wonderful seasoning), and you will understand true breakfast greatness.
The service is also superb. They are very protective of their customers, and have a great memory as to your preferences. If you go here regularly, there is a good chance that your order will already be cooking by the time you get from the front door to the counter.
While Twin Donuts doesn't quite satisfy my desire for a really good sit-down breakfast joint in Boston, it is the best option that I have found, and I wish I could still make the trek as regularly as I did before. For good donuts, coffee, and full breakfasts, you can't really beat Twin Donuts.
Twin Do-nuts and I are not on the best of terms. See, I love donuts, they love making and selling donuts, so you'd think we'd be a perfect match, right? Sure, but I also dig staying fit and not feeling gross for hours and hours after eating a donut (you know, if I treat myself)... and every time I indulge in one of their donuts, my stomach rumbles for quite some time thereafter, and I'm left feeling gross and greasy and yucky and, well, that it wasn't quite worth it. But do they taste good? Oh, heck yes they do. Will I get another donut from them again? Of course, I'm a glutton for punishment. Do I think they should maybe go a little easy on the glaze and the fillings and the hugeness? Maybe just a tad.
Good donuts, but when a place runs out of things to sell at 10am on a Thursday something is wrong!!! Make more!!!
The honey dipped was damn good for a donut that was made at 4 am, I guess I'll have to go over in my pjs to get a jelly.
Ok, it's pretty simple stuff. Average but super cheap coffee. It's open early and serves breakfast for bums like me who wake up at noon.
The bacon, egg, and cheese on an english muffin is simple but one of my favorite quick bfast sandwhiches in the area. The conversations that take place by the old timers at the round table in the middle are amazing.
This is one of those places that I would just hate to see go. The sign is a landmark in Allston... Do you really want the Dunkin Donuts next door to bulldoze it down and build a SUPER DUNKY DONUTS in this spot? Then go grab a quick breakfast here.
eh, it's ok. Not a bad place to get a quick, cheap breakfast. They make a pretty good, albeit very simple breakfast sandwich. The staff are pretty friendly.
But every time I go in there I'm struck by the "half-assedness" of the whole operation. No atmosphere at all, nothing at all special about the menu or the food itself. I guess that's what a lot of people like about it, but to me it's just totally forgettable. They could do so much more with the place.
Twin Donuts is that kid on the team that you really need to cut but you just can't do it.
Their setup ok inside and I rather like the large high table. Staff is very friendly and are quick enough to fill your coffee and bring you your food. However the coffee is watery and my eggs were rushed. The bacon was properly cooked but had just didn't seem to be great quality.
Pricing is fair but the food really is a let down. I know that I am still going to eat there but if you consider their quality to be good then you need to get yourself to a proper diner.
The Twin!!
I lived across the street from Twin for awhile, and it was really perhaps the nicest part of getting off the 57 bus in crappy Allston. The breakfast sandwiches are amazing, but the coffee is the real draw -- CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY COFFEE. It's great hot, but it's to die for iced in those (brief) summer months. Plus, the exterior of the place is like a little snapshot from the 1950s. I always thought it would be the coolest ever to play a show on top of the Twin. Much cooler place than the Model across the way. Highly recommended!!
Love, love, love the eclair! Of course not even an over-sized, cream-filled, fat-soaked confection can clear up the strongest of hangovers and so this is where the breakfast sandwich comes in. Delicious and large and cheap- you really can't go wrong. I have only been on the weekends (when you can lasso each patron and squeeze the alcohol out of them until you have the makings of any mixed drink). The service is always quick and if you are a drunk...err..go enough, they will start remembering your order.
UPDATE: It has come to my attention that I may come here too much. For one, the other day my boyfriend and I walked in for breakfast and they were already putting menus down and pulling out the chairs at the table we usually sit at. Secondly, I went (alone) to get my boyfriend a coffee last weekend and she didn't even need to take my order and just said "French Vanilla with milk and sugar for your boyfriend?" before I even opened my mouth. On the one hand, impeccable service. On the other, I am now a regular. [depressed sigh]
First off: The Sign. Brilliant. Classic. The atmosphere: homey. Even if there's a butt-ton of bored ("cool") looking hipsters swarming within, Twin Donuts is glorious. Cheap, breakfast sandwiches are nothing short of AWESOME and the coffee is pumped full of cream and sugar. This morning (particularly hungover) I had the pleasure of devouring 2 eggs over easy, 2 pieces of french toast, white toast, homefries, and bacon and coffee. All for 9$ including 18% tip. WHAT? HUH? that is undeniably superb. homefries kinda suck but whatever. french toast is majestic in its simplicity (no cinnamon, powdered sugar, nothin. just egg battered bread. sweet.) twin donuts is grand.
If you like donuts, these are some good donuts. I'd suggest something other than the Boston Creme though, as it was less than satisfactory.
Echooo, echoo, echo. One might seriously consider moving to this neighborhood so your tummy could be greeted with their killer breakfast sandwiches and honey dipped donuts. Though I have to say, those things ain't honey dipped. But it's no high fructose corn syrup either. I find it funny that this donut shoppe (and yes, the antiquated spelling warranted by their super cool, old school sign) is run by a pack of sweet Asians. Did we have these rings of delight in the home country? More reasons why America is just the best nation on the planet, opportunity and obesity.
well, it looks like everyone else summed it up, great breakfast, quick and cheap...but most note-worthy is the iced coffee. it doesnt quite make sense. they poor a cup of hot coffee, they walk into the back room, only to instantly re-appear with an iced coffee. i guess i dont really care how shady the place is or what exactly is going on there. but it is the damn best iced coffee ive ever had anywhere(just go and get one) and some of the best breakfast in town! also it opens really really early just in case your out too late regulary!
The location of this donut shop is a bit out of the way, but I like to stop here on my way back from a trip to the Watertown mall for a sweet snack. It's pure old-fashioned goodness--like what Dunkin Donuts used to be like before it got all big and mass-marketed (at least that's what the old timers tell me...). The honey glazed and chocolate cake donuts are the only flavors I've tried so far, but just give me some time and I'm sure I'll work through a few more :) And yeah, they claim to open at like 4 a.m., but I can't confirm this for sure cuz I'd never be up that early to find out...
Brighton, MA
Category: Coffee & Tea
Neighborhood: Allston/Brighton
Category: Breakfast & Brunch
Medford, MA
Category: Donuts
Neighborhood: Jamaica Plain
Category: Donuts
Neighborhood: Mission Hill
Category: Donuts
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