Clean, very kind and friendly, good parking (about 30-40 spots in a strip mall), easy driving access, offer a variety of food and drinks, and even have three 2-person tables. However, only non-dairy creamer.
They do charge 50¢ for credit transactions, but as a small business with transactions that are typically under $10, we customers should be understanding because they get charged a surcharge plus a percentage for every transaction. (Example: Clover charges 2.968% to 2.9968% plus 25¢ per transaction. So, on a $10.00 transaction, that would be 51¢-55¢, which would cause them to lose money. And the smaller the transaction, the higher percentage of money they lose on the transaction.) So, their surcharge is very generous.
I arrived at 4:30 AM on a Wednesday, and the food items I ordered were already cold/room temperature, so that was disappointing. Then again, I've just come back from holiday in London, UK, where we were able to get freshly baked goods every morning, so maybe my expectations have become a little skewed.
I ordered a bacon, egg, and cheese croissant that must've been cold because they put it in the microwave. I really don't liked microwaved food, but I also didn't want it cold, so I just let them do their thing without protesting. I ended up regretting it.
Thankfully, the microwave didn't make the bacon go limp, which I absolutely cannot stand. The bacon was still crispy, so that was great.
The croissant looked like it was originally fluffy and had many layers, but the microwave removed all the air between the layers and mushed them together with steam from the other heated food items in the dish (egg, bacon, and cheese).
I am not sure what kind of cheese they used on it. I think it was supposed to be Swiss. It was some kind of white cheese, but I'm really not sure. It did not have much flavor, just a bit of a tasteless melted cheese texture. Not gross at all, but also not at all not noticeable--extra calories without any flavor benefit.
This dish ended up being very bland and pretty much flavorless, and that's saying a whole lot because I **really** like bland food!!
The bacon was pretty darn good, though: it stayed crispy despite the microwave.
Maybe they didn't use real butter on the croissant when they made the sandwich. That would make sense since they don't offer real creamer, and that would explain the lack of flavor.
I do not patronize stores/shops/restaurants that are too cheap to offer real dairy products. I do understand it's a cost issue, and since I've never owned or managed a restaurant or donut shop, I do not understand all the pressures of it nor the thin profit margin they probably run on.
However, I would much rather pay more and get real flavor from real dairy products. Again, I don't know whether they use real butter or not, but it didn't taste like it-- or if they did, it was not very much.
The maple bar was OK. It was not as sweet and flavorful as I had expected it would be. I don't know why that is. Also, it was room temperature/cool/cold.
Seeing that I started eating it at about 4:30 in the morning, I couldn't understand why it was so cold. Maybe they have a lot of drafts in their kitchen or, more likely, I just don't understand what goes into running a donut shop and why the donuts would be that cold at only 4:30 in the morning, but again, it was very disappointing.
The coffee tasted pretty good. It was smooth until almost the last drop. They do offer hazelnut, vanilla, and plain non-dairy creamer. I used the hazelnut creamer, which covers a multitude of sins in coffee, but again the coffee was fine, even good, to me. But I won't be coming back here based on the coffee alone, especially since they do not offer real dairy creamer.
While I was here for about 45 minutes, numerous people came in and patronized the shop. Everybody was polite to one another, and the shop owners treated everyone with kindness and respect. That certainly means a lot! As you know, some shop owners do not treat people with respect. These owners are very kind!
Bottom line: this donut shop is probably a great place to stop on your way to work for a daily or occasional donut stop.
However, I came here to give myself a special treat, and, honestly, I was rather disappointed.
However, based on the numerous people who patronized the donut shop while I was here, I am clearly in the minority. And I am glad about this because the shop owners are so nice.
So why did I give them three stars if I did not really care for the food? They are kind, clean, in a safe location with lots of parking, and offer a wide variety of food and drink plus you can use credit here. read more