Gladstone Donuts - Long Beach, CA

It was the week before Easter and I was on my way to Mexico with my band, Kokua, my sister, and my girlfriend. We were going with The King’s Academy to build houses in Tecate for people less fortunate than us. The thought of 6 days without a donut was scary so we decided to grab one before we headed south and crossed the border into the land of tacos, burritos, and great guacamole.
As we were driving we came across a humble donut shop called Gladstone Donuts. Here is my critque.

Vibe of Shop: 3 ½ Nadas
The more I visit other donut shops through out California, the more I’m realizing that they all have a similar feel, some better and some worse. I think they must pass around interior design plans that say: 1. Use an ugly old fake tile floor. 2. Use yellow booth-like benches with table connected. 3. Paint your walls white, but a white that looks like it was painted 30 years ago. 4. Tape your walls with random posters and advertisements that create visual noise to distract from the ugly floor.

Hours: 5 Nadas
24 hours, always a plus.

Outside Appearance: 3 Nadas
Nothing special but they do have florescent light signs, which I think is another requirement upon opening a donut shop.

Service: 4 1/2 Nadas
I forget the guy’s name who served me but he was super friendly and helpful. I told him about my blog and he still didn’t offer me a free donut so I can only award him 4 ½ Nadas… I liked him though. Make sure to say hi and thank him for serving great donuts.

Taste of Glaze Donut: 4 1/4 Nadas
I thought the donut was fresh and tasty. Not the best ever, but really moist inside with a light crunch on the outside.

Coffee: 1 Nadas
I do not recommend the coffee. It tasted old, burned and watered down. After purchasing a donut here, go down the street to Starbucks or something.

Special: The selection of donut holes was AMAZING! They had: glaze, chocolate, powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar, and even blue berry! I’ve never before seen so many choices of donut holes. I was very impressed… and they tasted good.