Sidecar Doughnuts & Coffee

Sidecar was awesome a few years ago but going to a Sidecar shop today the doughnuts seemed no better than many other doughnut stores. Shame. Doubt that I'll be going back.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 3

Service: 4

Donut was excellent but coffee could have been better.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

best donuts OAT

I got the huckleberry doughnut and the flavor was delish!! Only down side is I got a doughnut that wasn’t cooked all the way through; it was still doughy so I couldn’t finish it /: would definitely go back and give it another try though, maybe get a flavor that doesn’t use a wet ingredient like the berries! Still worth the try!!

Good donuts. Hand crafted and yummy flavors.

Donuts are to die for. Loved the gluten free huckleberry!! Definitely give them a try

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Was visiting LA for a couple days and heard the doughnuts here were worth trying.... and they were! We had the Huckleberry and the apple fritter. Fresh delicious, left us wanting more.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Apple Fritter, Huckleberry Doughnut

Their doughnuts are consistently fresh. I love their seasonal ones. The bourbon pecan one is melt in your mouth after heating it up. The apple fritter and maple bacon have always been my go to. I always make it a habit to stop by when I’m in town. There’s literally nothing like Sidecar in other parts of country. Check them out if you can.

Food: 5

Service: 5

Wow this place is really something David, Tony, Elizabeth, and Jasmine did an excellent job helping me and my buddy Mike out! Thanks guys and next time we're in the area we will be stopping by!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

The dough was so good compared.to other donuts 10/10 and staff is nice

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

Last 3 visits, I get a donut and coffee and the pot is empty. Then they only have one person making drinks. Have to wait for coffee. This shouldn’t be. Mismanagement!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 2

Usually, Sidecar would have gotten 5 stars a few years ago but lately I've been consistently disappointed in the downhill quality of these donuts. I used to buy 5 or 6 at a time and share with family. Sidecar donuts used to always taste fresh and soft with distinct tastes and flavor.

Now, every. time. the donuts are bland and dry. I don't know if they are not making them fresh daily, putting them in the refrigerator overnight, or if they are freezing donuts in advance then warming them up... this seems likely as I used to work at a place that did this with pizza crust and you can taste the difference between a fresh crust and a refrigerator one that was made in advance.

I'll keep trying but we are starting to lose our reason for buying these donuts and we've been buying them for years. Even the butter salt used to melt in your mouth (if it was made fresh) but now it feels like the salt is a separate flavor from the bland dough (because the dough is too dry). The Saigon cinnamon can also be quite dry. Sometimes the best tasting donut is the sample put out because it's hot and fresh tasting.

And a lot of the donuts taste very much the same with just a different flavor glaze on top. The puff donuts are just too dry to ever want one of those. They are a cop out of a donut because we all know the flavor is concentrated in the center and not in the actual dough of the donut so you can just make a bunch of those and fill it with a little flavor.

There is donut competition in Torrance with another gourmet donut company and I really dislike their donuts - they are trash donuts. Sidecar used to stand out as quality donuts. Now I see sidecar starting to make donuts that seem in the same quality range as the other place that's horrible. Like they built up a fan base and decided to start putting out subpar donuts.

Another thing, the flavors can be a bit misguided. I once tried a pizza donut or the strawberry buttermilk and both were horrible. The pizza donut hardly has any sauce in the middle - all you were eating is bread. What happened to something simple like blueberry lemon or pumpkin cheesecake. They did a matcha donut that had no flavor whatsoever.

Anyways, for now I recommend the vegan chocolate coconut (which is seasonal and will be ending soon even though it's a better chocolate base donut than the chocolate one they always have available), Saigon cinnamon and butter salt if it happens to be fresh. Those are some of the OG donuts. Maybe heating them up in a toaster oven or air fryer at home can help.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 3

Donuts have been a passion (my wife would probably say obsession) of mine since early childhood. So when in Rome…..well in this case California. Sidecar have locations throughout California (and probably beyond but I’m here for the donuts not a geography lesson) but we stopped at the one in Rolling hills, Torrance. The selection is good but not mind numbingly enormous so making your choice doesn’t take 2 weeks.
The prices are reasonable compared to the U.K. (£5-6 in the U.K. for an “artisan” donut compared to £2.50-3 here).
The Huckleberry was delicious and the chocolate donut was crispy on the outside but moist and almost gooey on the inside. For me the standout was the maple and bacon. I’m not a big fan of savoury/sweet combinations but this works so well. Maple bacon is weakness of mine anyway so sticking it on a donut seems the next step in evolution.

Check Sidecar out for delicious donuts and coffee. Definitely in my top 5 donut shops worldwide (but I haven’t visited them all yet so that may change over time!)

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Made it a point to visit here on our trip to the LA area. Absolutely delicious donuts and excelente coffee options. My husband still talks about their drinks.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

I expected more from their donuts. They’re over priced and cakey. Their original glazed is okay.