Posted by Michael Stern on February 15, 2008
Allie’s is Rhode Island's premier donut stop, so popular that it has three doors, funneling into two lines of people to wait at two separate counters to place their orders. The waiting area is fairly small, but the open kitchen behind it is an immense workspace where powerful mixers whir and deep-fryers bubble.
The variety of donuts available is huge, but we’d be happy if the only thing we ever ate were honey-dipped and glazed crullers, with maybe a few raised jelly sticks on the side. Other popular sorts of sinkers range from plain cake donuts well-suited for dunking to frosted ones elaborately decorated with multi-colored jimmies. None are fancy-pants pastries; these are big, sweet, pretty things to eat.
Regular customers love them so much that it is common to see people buy a dozen in a box (to take to the office), plus a bag of two or three to eat in the car – or in the parking lot on the way to the car – before the dozen is opened.
Overall: Worth planning a day around
20 out of 20 people found the review helpful. Was it helpful to you?
Reviewers "Must Eats" List
Raised Jelly Stick
($2.00)
Honey Dipped Donut
($1.00)
Cruller
($1.00)
"Colorful though they may be, it's the taste and crunch of Allie's donuts that make them great."
Michael Stern
"Powdered, sugared, plain, and jelly-filled: all eminently dunkable!"
Michael Stern
"At the far left is an old-fashioned glazed cruller. In the center, from top, are a sugar-dusted honey-dipped, a coconut frosted, and a whoopie pie. At the right is a powder-sugar-topped jelly stick. The jelly stick is a meal by itself."
Michael Stern
"Yet-to-be-frosted cake donuts in the foreground; future cinnamon stix are bubbling in the background oil."
Michael Stern
"Note the garbage can in front of the third door at the right of the photo. That's the door that is no longer used. Also note the picnic table at the far right. There is no seating whatsoever inside Allie's. Only a few picnic tables outside and, of course, plenty of car dashboards in the parking lot."
Michael Stern
