Best Seattle Doughnut Shop Award: Family Donut Shop
Recommended by: Nobody. We’ve been to Family Donut Shop many times, but never got around to adding it to our reviews of Seattle donut shops.
Description on the Donut Factory’s website: Don’t Worry, Be Happy. We exist to help everyone achieve delightful experiences. We believe in quality, especially when it comes to a donut, taste is the key ingredient to happiness.
Neighborhood/Type: Northgate
Address: 2100 N Northgate Way, Seattle, WA 98133
What we ate/drank: See various pics below
Comments: We’ve mentioned before we consider ourselves donut connoisseurs and due to our love of donuts we’ve unintentionally turned our two daughters into budding donut experts. So it’s apropos that Family Donut Shop has become one of our favorites since family donut picking has now become a full-fledged sport in our family.
You can see our review on the two Seattle doughnut empires, Top Pot and Mighty-O, the trendy, General Porpoise Doughnuts and Dochi and the secret doughnut spot that nobody seems to talk about, Tempesta Coffee (RIP). We also just tried the relatively new Half N Half Doughnut Company and Raised Doughnuts. And we can’t forget nearby Donut Factory.
Family Donut is of course a family owned business that’s been in existence since 1993. It’s not in a trendy neighborhood nor is it’s decor modern and sleek. It’s located in a nondescript strip mall shared with a 7-Eleven. You also won’t find fancy toppings or exotic fillings.
So what do you get with Family Donut? You get a huge variety of simple solid classic doughnuts that are freshly made. And once they run out for the day, you are out of luck. So coming in early will ensure you get your full selection. They’ve got your classic maple bar, old fashioned, jelly filled, Bavarian cream filled, lemon frosting, blueberry frosting, chocolate cake, etc. They’ve also got donut holes, apple fritters, cinnamon rolls and even ham/cheese croissants.
Just take a look at the size of their apple turnover and cinnamon roll in the picture below that has a butter knife for size reference. It’s not just the size of the donut, but the taste and texture of the donut is on point. The selection is so vast and the donuts so good that when our family visits there is literally a battle royale that occurs over picking donuts. Their apple turnover made it in to our Top 15 Seattle Dishes of 2020. It’s that damn good!
It’s gotten to the point where we order a dozen instead of half a dozen because it gives every family member an equal amount of donuts divisible by four. There’s also been occasions where I wake up early, sneak out of the house and get a dozen donuts from Family Donuts to bring home, so there’s not the fighting and indecision when the entire family goes.
The customer service is what you’d expect from a family run business. It’s personal and exceptionally friendly. They’ve provided suggestions, answered all our questions and even gave our girls free donut holes while we’re picking donuts. If you get a dozen on Friday, Saturday or Sunday, you get a free latte.
The best thing about Family Donuts is the price. It is by far the best bang for your buck for Seattle donuts. The picture of the dozen donuts that includes the huge apple turnover and cinnamon roll was a total of $16.99. The is a steal in Seattle!! It also came with a free latte. Half a dozen at Top Pot is $15.39.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 4.00
Service: 5.00
Food/Drinks: 4.75
Bang for the Buck: 5.00
Overall: 4.70
Locals Only Factor: “Locals Only” grading-We’ll assign a grading as to how “local” a place is.
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- Well known or Touristy. Most locals don’t go there unless they have business dinners or visitors in town.
- Most locals know about it
- Locals “in the know” know about it
- Only those who live close by know about it.
- You’re in on the secret. Don’t tell anybody!
Servers locals recommendation to visit in the future: One of our friends recommended Raised Doughnuts after seeing our Family Donut Shop review.
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