Sue S.
Yelp
Generally speaking, I don't review chains as a rule. But I'm making an exception here given the fanfare that accompanied the opening of this first Dunkin in the Twin Cities market (at least in quite some time, from what I can gather). So let's get the business portion of this review out of the way: I grew up outside of Philadelphia, where coffee is a food group and trips to Dunkin and/or Wawa are pretty much a staple of life. It is very common for folks where I grew up to go to Dunkin multiple times a day. I know my Dunkin and I live on it when I'm at home.
This location leaves a few things to be desired, but I'm going to attribute that to starting out bumps and hope like hell that they get smoothed out over time. I will say, though, that so far, I have not had a visit that really made me feel like they nailed the Dunkin experience or the food. I sure hope that day comes soon. A few key points:
-Supply and demand: From the start, this location has been ridiculously busy. The first weekend, I drove up there and the line to get into the parking lot was backed up down the street! The madness has slowed down a bit now but I still get the impression they are having some trouble keeping up with demand. I have yet to go here when they had a fully stocked wall of donuts. The first time, all they had was apple fritters and boston kreme. This last time, they had maybe half a dozen choices total, with many of them being down to the end of the rack. I hope that over time, this location is able to calibrate demand with supply. I dream of the day when I go there and it is exactly like it is back home, with a wall of 20 different varieties to choose from. But right now, going here is more like foraging and hoping that by some miracle they have one or two donuts that you want to buy. I have yet to go there at any time of day when they seemed to be amply stocked with donuts. It also takes forever to get served, either in line or the drive through. Employees are not nearly as fast as they are at home.
-"Correctness:" I will say that the donuts here are about 80 percent right. They have that lovely deep fried crunchy bite to the outside of the yeast donuts, perfectly golden and delicious. The cake donuts are the right density, and the chocolate donuts are the perfect level of sweet. The frosting and icing are generally the right consistency and flavor. But they definitely have not mastered the frosting procedure yet. We've had several donuts where the icing seemed like it was swiped on with a knife or spatula by a six year old -- uneven, not thick enough, kind of gloppy and not very attractive honestly. They kind of look like someone tried to imitate real Dunkin donuts. They at least taste ok.
-Can I get some sprinkles? My favorite all time donut is the chocolate iced sprinkle donut. As I have yet to go there when sprinkle donuts were available, I cannot comment on the sprinkle situation.
-The filling machine must be a bastard. There have also been cases with creme-filled donuts where the filling has been uneven, not enough, only in one side of the donut, etc. The first donut I ever got from this location was a boston kreme where all of the custard literally fell out of the bottom of the donut. Never had that happen before at any Dunkin! I definitely get the impression that the staff here is trying to learn how to make true Dunkin donuts, and they have not mastered it yet.
-For the love of God, can I get some cream cheese on my bagel?? We've also ordered a few bagels from this location. The bagels themselves are correct but the staff here acts like cream cheese is an endangered species. Please, for the love of god, check out some instagram photos or something of the way the bagels are served on the East Coast. There should be about three times the amount of cream cheese. All of the bagels we've received have been so lacking on the cream cheese front that they were actually super dry. The first time, I actually took the thing home and added cream cheese from my fridge.
-The lingo. Like many restaurants like it, Dunkin has its own lingo. I'll give the customers a pass for not knowing the difference between a double chocolate and a chocolate iced yet. After all, if you are from here and not used to eating at Dunkin, you need some time to get up to speed. But the staff seems equally confused. They have trouble explaining the differences in the types of donuts (one girl told the lady in front of me that creme filled is the same type of creme as a boston kreme, which it is definitely not).
I have hope. I really do. But so far, this location is mediocre by East Coast standards. Crossing my fingers the kinks get worked out sooner than later. Really looking forward to updating this review!