Voodoo Donuts - Portland, OR

Posted By Michael Stern on September 1, 2008 9:25 PM

Being a serious coffee city, it makes sense that Portland is also home to many excellent breakfast pastries. You'll find some of the best, and most unusual at Voodoo Donuts. We were tipped off to this place by Roadfood.com user Mr. Chips, who described it as a "great place to view Portland's strong Goth culture as well as sample tasty donuts." There is a strong counter-culture ambience to this bakery that looks a little like an after-hours club; whether or not it's Goth, we cannot say. But we can tell you with certainty that the donuts are dandy.

There are beautiful old-fashioned cake donuts with crunchy crust and creamy insides, puffy raised donuts, one glazed behemoth as big as a pizza labeled a Tex-Ass donut (and costing $3.95), and donuts topped with powdered sugar, multicolored jimmies, and all sorts of flavored glazes. The menu listed many mysteries that we'd love to return to find out about, including a no-name donut, a dirt donut, a cock & balls donut, a dirty snowball, and a diablos rex. The most curious item on the menu above the counter was "non existing fritter," its cost null.

The pastry I recommend the most is one to which Mr. Chips alerted us: a bacon-maple bar. It is a substantial buttermilk long john frosted with maple glaze and festooned with strips of bacon that somehow, magically, retains a welcome crunch. What a great all-in-one breakfast!

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Posted By James Hilton on February 4, 2012 10:02 AM

Just a word about some changes. The downtown Voodoo Donuts has moved to a slightly different location next door to its old. the newbuilding is brightly lit with more space and frankly it is not as dingy as before. the donuts are as delicious as ever , parking is still a little difficult but the place is still worth visit if you are in downtown Portland. it is also only a block from the road food icon Dan and Louie's Oyster Bar so it is often a good idea for visiting roadfooders to visit both places in a single visit.

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Posted By Bob Koreis on January 18, 2012 11:41 PM

As mentioned earlier, overrated. They serve doughnuts. Good doughnuts, but still, doughnuts. They dip them in cereal or put bacon on the maple bars, but it's all a schtick. Been there a couple of times and wouldn't make an effort to go again.

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Donut

Maple Bacon Bar

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Posted By Norman L Clanney on October 4, 2011 1:56 AM

We'd heard of this place and had to see and taste it for ourselves. What a delicious combination of the maple icing with two slices of bacon perched on top, just like the one pictured on the website. It really has a delicious and unique taste all its own. My son had an Ol' Dirty Bastard which he scarfed down in no time. A must try if one is ever in Portland.

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Donut

Maple Bacon Bar

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Posted By Barry Levine on October 27, 2010 12:00 PM

Avoid it. Way way way too hyped up. Was all excited to visit when I planned my vacation and this turned out to be one of the biggest disappointments of our trip. We waited a long time for rude service and bad donuts. Out of a lot of the choices although we did get a dozen to bring back to our hotel. They were stale and I highly doubt they went stale in the 15 minutes from when we left Voodoo to when we got to our room. Don't waste your time.

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Donut

Maple Bacon Bar

Vegan Donut

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Posted By Deborah Pastor on July 27, 2010 11:59 AM

The best advice I can give to donut lovers is: GO EARLY. At 8:30 on a weekday morning, the line was ten minutes. An hour later the line was outside the store and every other time I passed by, the line was around the block. I liked Voodoo donuts but not enough to wait an hour for them. The best of the lot were the cruellers. They were light, airy and intensely flavorful - meaning that I could eat twice as many as regular donuts. The apple fritter is huge and yummy. It could have used a bit more apple, but that didn't stop us for eating it on the way out the store. The buttermilk bar was too donutty for me, a bit too dense. The classic donut was just right. As you can tell, I don't like speciality donuts with numerous toppings. But whether you like simple donuts or the speciality kinds, you'll find what you want at Voodoo donuts. Final advice - visit the website before visiting the store. There are so many kinds of donuts that you will want to peruse the menu carefully. The menu in the store is short on explanation and with the long lines you will not be able to ask a lot of questions at the counter. If only I had known about the lemon chiffon crueller....

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Posted By Dave Picray on June 25, 2009 8:03 PM

Don't waste your time! Very disappointed; very overrated. Huge hassle to find nearby parking and then, after waiting in line in a tiny, cramped lobby, they were out of their namesake menu item (the Voodoo), and out of so many others that I finally had to ignore the menu and ask: "What do you have?"

They did have the maple bar with bacon, but it was no big deal. It was smaller than the ones at the supermarket, and nothing you couldn't make at home by topping a standard maple bar with your own crisp bacon.

The prices are almost twice those listed here and on their online menu which I had checked just a few days before visiting. I paid $7.95 for one apple fritter and three donuts!

I will not go back, and am sorry I went at all. My experience with this place causes me to question the credibility of those who have touted it here and on cable TV. Without the hype, they might not still be in business.

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Donut

Maple Bacon Bar

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