One of my wife’s friends told us we had to put The Original House of Donuts on our list of places to visit as part of The Great Jelly Donut Hunt. Meanwhile, someone at work told me that I should take my family to the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge.
I did some highly detailed internet research and found that the Original House of Donuts is basically on the way to the Billy Frank Jr. Refuge. So we decided to check them both out one Saturday afternoon.
Here is the scale:
The Jelly Donut Review
The Original House of Donut’s Jelly Donut
TOTAL SCORE
It pains me to say this, but everything about OHOD looks good — if not great. But the donut itself was disappointing.
Detailed Review
Ambiance/Vibe & Cleanliness
Although I have stopped including the ambiance and vibe of the store as part of the donut score, I do think it is important to at least comment on it.
The Original House of Donuts has great branding and a great feel. As far as the appearance, this was my favorite donut store I’ve visited so far. The staff was very nice and they even gave my kids free OHOD stickers (which were high-quality stickers).
By all appearances, the OHOD speaks quality.
Unfortunately, I’m now wondering if all this branding that they do so well elevated my expectations of the donut too much. It pains me to say this, but I found the donut itself to be disappointing. It was not quite a “lipstick on a pig” level of disappointment, but I feel like the quality of the branding is definitely higher than the quality of the donuts.
Presentation
My impression of the jelly donut was influenced by the overall branding of the store. The very first thought I had when I looked at the donut was that I was disappointed that they went with a powdered sugar top instead of a glaze. I also thought that the donut looked like it could be dry.
But I quickly withdrew those thoughts because of the store branding. “They must know what they are doing,” a voice inside of my brain said to itself. Plus, other than the fact that it didn’t have a glaze and looked a little dry, the donut itself has an attractive shape and size. “It must be good!”
They also put it in a fancy, custom donut box. “You wouldn’t go through this great length for a subpar donut, right? So it must be good?”
When I first pulled the donut out of the box, it felt lighter than I thought it would be based on its look. This again caused my brain to think, “It’s probably because it is going to be a dry donut.”
I also noticed that there was a little, green fuzz on the side. Granted, this could have been from my own handling of the donut. But no one was wearing anything green.
So overall, I would say that my opinion of this donut based on its presentation is that the donut itself looks and feels suspicious, but the branding of the store is on point. The donut’s appearance is on the disappointing side, but the branding made me give it the benefit of the doubt. For this reason, I’m giving the presentation 2.5 stars.
The glaze
As I mentioned, I was disappointed that this donut did not have a glaze. I like powdered donuts, though, so I was open to the idea that the powdered sugar could be really good. It wasn’t. It was just disappointing.
The Dough
The dough was dry for a donut. It tasted and felt more like a dinner roll. It was not a bad taste, though, because dinner rolls are good. It’s just not great for a donut.
The Jelly
The jelly had a very mild flavor. Most of the raspberry jellies will have some tartness to them, which I like. This one was not tart at all. It wasn’t particularly sweet. It was just very mild. The texture and consistency, however, was good.
Overall, the jelly was neither disappointing nor good. It was okay.
Jelly-to-Dough Ratio
The jelly-to-dough distribution was okay. The jelly was lopsided on one side of the donut.
The value
The donut was $2.50, which is the second most expensive donut I’ve gotten so far (the most expensive to-date was Top Pot Doughnuts). I thought the value for the more expensive Top Pot Doughnut was okay, but the OHOD is disappointing. That’s just because the OHOD donut itself is disappointing.
Conclusion on The Original House of Donut’s Jelly Donut
I was very much looking forward to visiting the Original House of Donuts. I heard good things about it. It looks like a great store. Everything was outstanding except the jelly donut, which was disappointing.
We got a dozen donuts with a variety of donuts. The overall assessment from my family was that we didn’t love these donuts. Everyone seemed to agree that the dough was dry and just not that great.
