Dynamo Donut & Coffee

If the quality of one's life can be judged in terms of number of donuts consumed, then my life is amazing. Because I eat a lot of donuts. Some might say too many, but I say (do)nuts to them.

I've been a Dynamo devotee since about 2010, and I still deeply appreciate what they've got going on here. Some folks I've recommended them to weren't as enthusiastic about them as me because they're not what you might think of as a traditional donut shop. But that's what I love about them. Soft, pillowy dough. Creative, interesting flavors. An alluring mix of year-round mainstays and seasonal offerings. A couple of my favorite flavors that are always on the menu are spiced chocolate (because I'm a total sucker for spicy chocolate) and passionfruit milk chocolate. And I'm always excited when caffeinated crunch or pumpkin chocolate chip hit the menu. My personal favorite as of late has been the elote fritter -- too good for words.

My only feedback is that the customer service has been a little less warm and fuzzy over the last couple of years. Nothing terrible, just a little less smiley and personal than what it used to be. Not a big enough deal to keep me away by any stretch of the imagination, the quality of their donuts smooth out any wrinkles in their near-perfect game.

I first had this place when I used to live on the corner of 24th and Harrison a few years ago. At the time I hadn't yet begun my donut era so I didn't appreciate it. Decided to give it another shot today and it was so good I stopped by a second time in afternoon to get another donut.

I got the seasonal pumpkin chocolate chip donut and a sweet potato maple donut. I really liked the flavors of the donuts and the density. I just wish they were a bit bigger!

With the pink decor and their unique donut flavors, Dynamo has something for everyone. You order outside for to-go, but there's seating inside too. Service is warm.

I eyed donuts like the Bacon Maple Apple Donut, their famous spiced chocolate donut, or rosemary cherry, but tend to just enjoy an Iced oat lavender latte.

Ok I have to keep coming back because this place is so good! It's become THE pick me up for hospital workers at SFGH. At least, our lil group of resident doctors. My co-resident was having the toughest day with some really acute patients, so we took a 10 min field trip to fetch her (and ourselves!) some donuts and it brought the biggest smile to her face. Granted, she wolfed it down because she still had a ton of work to do, buuut she also wolfed it down because it was SO GOOD (highly recommend the carrot cake while it's still featured). We all got our own too, and we'll keep coming back for sure!

It's official--I'm obsessed. Listen, I'm not normally a donut person but wow I was happy with these ones. My friend got them for me as a gift and I was able to try a myriad of different flavors.

The texture was different from a normal donut and the uniqueness of the flavors made this an incredible experience. The mango sticky rice one was definitely a highlight but surprisingly, my favorites were the lemon pistachio and pumpkin chocolate chip. Super unusual for me to like these flavors because I genuinely prefer non fruity flavors in my pastries. These ones hit it out of the park... I was literally licking the melted glaze in the box after.

I will be dreaming about these donuts for a long time and I can't wait to go back!

Is it me or do businesses not say thank you anymore? I waited outside for the shop to open and when the two cashiers came out to pull up the gate and prep the counter I stood behind them patiently waiting. They did not even greet or acknowledge me. I ordered 18 donuts and a coffee. Yes, 18. She put them in the boxes, I paid, and she said "You're all set". No "thank you" or anything. Wow, I felt like THEY were doing ME a favor. The donuts are not cheap and it doesn't matter how much I paid, if I choose to spend my money at your store I expect to be thanked.

What better way to celebrate the day of love then with Valentine's Day themed donuts? We ordered the Classic Valentine's Box that included one of each:

Heart shaped Chocolate Rose
Hibiscus Rose
Chocolate Chip Raspberry Champagne
Meyer Huckleberry
Chocolate Star Anise with heart center
Vanilla Bean with pink sprinkles

While aesthetically pleasing and the donuts all sounded good, they all tasted good as well! Some of our favorites were the Chocolate Chip Raspberry Champagne, Meyer Huckleberry, and the Vanilla Bean with pink sprinkles. You can definitely taste the homeyness in comparison to your generic Safeway, Krispy Kreme donuts and I can't wait to try more of their seasonal flavors!

There's very few things that would make me make a mission to the mission, but Dynamo Donut is definitely one of them

Their cute storefront was nice and vibrant, and their variety of tasty donuts were prevalent and so yummy

We tried the hibiscus rose which was probably my favorite, the chocolate chip raspberry champagne wasn't too sweet but I think the fruit flavors could've come out a bit more, the vanilla bean was pretty standard, and the chocolate star anise was pretty dense and decadent so I probably wouldn't try it again

Still the variety keeps going and changing so I look forward to trying more of their flavors

I hate the word MOIST. But I do love Dynamo Donuts, they have a specific biteNess texture that I really love!
It's been awhile since I had Dynamo and Maple bacon is what always brings me back. But what really caught my attention is when I seen a pic of an Elote Fritter & Ube black sesame on InstaGram. I was like, WAIT A MINUTE! HOLD THE PHONE! I need this!!!!
So when I finally got my hands on these luscious goodies I seen the menu and even more flavors caught my eye. I told cashier I'll get a 6 piece. Of course I got Maple Bacon, Elote fritter, ube black sesame, whiskey peach then the cashier recommended the guava coconut. I was like, I'll take it!!!
Maple bacon always delicious & my fave! The elote fritter was good as well, the flavor combo was definitely there with corn in the Donut itself. Ube black sesame is good, the ube flavor is subtle BUT again (the word I hate) the *moistness* is what I admire with Dynamo. Guava coconut is really good! , its not overly guava which I like and the coconut had a crispness to it which I love chewing. I'm weird, I like coconut but I hate it at times as well. The way the coconut was created here is really complimenting. The whiskey peach is fine but not something I'd get again, I was hoping some peach bits but whatevs. The flavors change on a monthly basis, so I can't wait to taste whats available next month. I'll be back

It's become tradition for me whenever I have a donut craving to make a donut shop the destination for my morning run. Since Bob's Donuts is just too far away for me to be motivated to do in the morning, I figured I'd give Dynamo a try this time. I previewed the donut lineup on their website beforehand, but ultimately decided to order in-person as I like to be able to see the product to evaluate freshness.

I had no trouble finding the right place as it's a bright pink donut stand. Donut places tend to have a kind of rustic, old-school feel to it which this place definitely did. Despite the throwback vibes, everything looked clean and the payment terminal was definitely modern. I ordered one vanilla bean, one whiskey peach, one maple bacon, and one black sesame donut. They do have the option to order by the half dozen but there is no quantity discount. The donuts are not on display for customers to see, but luckily I had previewed the menu before leaving so I just went with the four flavors that initially stood out to me. I requested my donuts in two little bags so I could fit them in my backpack for my run back which was quickly honored.

Once I got back home, I was excited to unpack my haul. The first thing that caught my attention was the fact that all the donut glazes are super sticky, so much so that a good amount of glaze was left stuck to the inside of the bag and pulled off the donuts during the process of transferring them onto a plate. The next thing I noticed was the fact that the vanilla bean donut was considerably smaller than than the other three. I decided to start with the vanilla bean and I found it to be extremely dense. If you read other reviews, a lot of them emphasize that the donuts here are neither classic raised nor classic cake but somewhere in between. I'm personally not a fan of cake donuts, but I knew this wasn't going to be a classic raised experience as soon as I pulled the donuts out of their bags. While the vanilla bean might not be as dense as a classic cake donut, it was considerably denser than the other three donuts. I also didn't particularly enjoy the vanilla icing, which I felt had a bitter element to it and didn't really deliver vanilla. Everyone agreed that this was the least favorite of the day.

I've never had maple bacon before but was convinced to get it because I know it's such a Canadian staple. This donut looked the most aesthetically pleasing with the little bacon bits on top. I think the taste could potentially take a bit to acquire but I didn't hate it. The bacon has a good crispy flavor which was too crispy for my personal taste, but I understand that it's the flavor to be desired by other bacon lovers. The donut base was less dense than the vanilla bean donut so I was much happier with it. There were also a couple of bacon bits in the donut base, which was a nice added touch.

The whiskey peach tasted almost like a peach pie with the cinnamon dusting on top. The icing wasn't giving me whiskey vibes exactly but there were little peach bits within the donut base. I almost wish they did a bigger peach slice on top just because the little peach bits were rather dry, and a little more juiciness would've been an extra touch. Bottom line, still a good flavor.

I was probably the most excited for the black sesame initially and I saved the best for last. There was a good amount of black sesame flavor in the icing and the donut body looked like the same as the other three but had a bluish hue in color. I thought it was more moist than the other three but the icing was just a bit runnier as well, so I'm not sure exactly what makes this one better but it just was. Full-size black sesame seeds in the icing helped to add a bit of texture, so this one was definitely my favorite of the day.

All the donuts had a sugar coating on the bottom which I'm personally not the biggest fan of, I just think it's excessive sugar. I also noticed that the prices online were higher than the prices I paid ordering in person, each donut was almost 20% more expensive online. Personally I don't think I'll revisit Dynamo just because I'm not the biggest fan of their donut style, but if you've been searching far and wide for a middle ground between raised and cake donut then this could be the winner for you. Just be careful with the vanilla bean, you might get more donut for your money with one of the other flavors.