Federal Donuts & Chicken Center City

Best donuts in Philly and in my top 3 overall- my usual go-to is the hot cinnamon brown sugar donut, it’s amazing and a must try. They have revolving “fancy” flavors, this time I had tres leches which tasted so yum. We also had the fried chicken sandwich, it’s definitely crispy. It had a unique flavor similar to an onion ring which was interesting- however, it was a bit too salty and needed more sauce. The fries were good, nothing special although they were not the zatar fries. The interior is nice & modern with a colorful splash.

Nice clean location, pretty crowded when I went on a weekend morning, but the food, donuts and coffee were well worth the wait.

Best donuts ever!!! I bought two pieces of donuts in the late afternoon and it was still fresh!!

Stopped by here before the Super Bowl parade for some donuts and coffee. Everything was tasty. Service was good.

I walked by this place and thought that I definitely had to try it. They seem to be supportive of Pride too which is great. They do classic cake donuts, which usually aren’t my favorites, but these were so good. I had the cherry one, and that was top notch. Their latte is also very good.

Donuts were awesome! Freshly cooked and delicious! We ordered classic sugar cinnamon and strawberry lavender donuts. The sugar cinnamon donut is pretty delicious. But, strawberry lavender donut was so so.. I couldn’t taste the lavender at all. I am not big cake base donut. The staffs were super friendly and nice. The service was pretty fast and the place is pretty clean.

Went on a Sunday morning around 11am and the line was long but it moved quickly. The donuts were very creative flavors and the strawberry lavender flavor was delicious freshly made and the chicken sandwich was also good. I was also surprised at the reasonable prices in the city. The coffee, however, was terrible - so bad that it spoiled an otherwise 5-star experience.

Best cake donuts I've had. The chocolate glazed is very chocolatey but not too sweet. Cherry cheesecake has a nice moist tangy yet fruity taste. Highly recommend these domuts

Must try Federal Donuts when you're in Philly. I tried the cereal glaze, which is a spiced cake donut with cereal milk glaze topped with fruity cereal. I also got the chocolate orange, which is a chocolate cake donut with sweet orange glaze and milk chocolate glaze drizzle. They were both made perfect. The choco orange definitely looked the best, but I'd give the flavor award to the cereal glaze. The donuts are the right size, right sweet (not overly) and at a decent price point, especially for speciality donuts.

I have gotten Federal Donuts' doughnuts a bunch of times from various locations around the city, but this past Saturday was my first time trying the chicken. We brought some out-of-town visiting friends to Federal Donuts at the tail end of lunch time. There were other patrons, but it wasn't super busy and there was no line to order. We placed our orders pretty quickly and grabbed a table. We immediately noticed that though one of our party members ordered a cereal milk doughnut, he instead received the carrot cake doughnut, which he did not enjoy. Since other people in our dining party did like it, we decided to move past the mistake. But then, when our sandwiches arrived, I realized when I got to the midway point that my sandwich was not cooked all the way through. It was pink and a little bloody. I showed it to the cashier, who told me she'd put in an order for a new one. She apparently didn't, because I waited for a while and finally made eye contact with the fry cook, who noticed I was waiting for an order even though he had no active orders on his screen. He came out and asked me what I was waiting for, and I let him know. He then made me another sandwich in a hurry, which unfortunately meant that the second sandwich was ALSO undercooked and everyone agreed it was noticeably pink in the center (though at least it was not bloody). I got unlucky twice - everyone else also ordered various chicken items and their orders were fully cooked through. At that point, everyone had been done with their meals for a while. The cashier was nowhere in sight, I frankly felt queasy from having bitten into two undercooked pieces of chicken, and I didn't want to wait around even longer to ask for a refund. From wrong orders to undercooked poultry to having to wait a long time just for more undercooked poultry, it was disappointing experience.

First time in Philly in almost 20 years and this place has been on my list for the longest time. Once you have artisanal donuts, you really can't go back! We ordered the pumpkin and the biscoff. Both were very tasty. I want to go back and try the chicken!

Never knew Federal Donuts had Viet Coffee! If you want a Viet coffee fix and don't have any Viet restaurants around, stop by Federal Donuts. It was a good strong coffee. The whole place looked clean and organized.

I came here today to try some donuts after hearing all the hype. This establishment has a wide variety of flavors, which I really appreciate. The donuts themselves are a combination of yeast and cake donuts. I also tried a chicken sandwich and was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. Overall the food here was really good. I would definitely come back.

Federal donuts are always great. The service is always welcoming and since they moved into the new space there's so much room to enjoy your donuts. I'm a sucker for a good theme and limited flavor.

I came near the end of the day, so the donut case was pretty empty, but I ordered the peanut butter donut to go. It was really tasty, and not too rich for what it was. There was a good amount of seating inside if you were to eat there. The employee behind the counter was not particularly nice, but nothing to complain too much about. I'd love to come back and try another donut flavor!

I felt highly discriminated against as a teenager by one of the enployees working. She was rude and intentionally made us wait longer than everyone else.

As someone who generally doesn't enjoy cake donuts, Federal Donuts' are among the best I've had. We ordered a FIG MASCARPONE donut ($3), which is one of the specialty "fancy" donuts, and a COOKIES N CREAM ($2) donut, which is one of the simpler spiced donuts that are made to order. Both were good -- the fig mascarpone had an excellent, thick mascarpone glaze that made up for the traditional denseness of the cake donut itself, while the fresh donut was plainer in flavor but lighter and satisfyingly warm. In fact, we enjoyed the flavor of the fig donut so much that we also snagged a Too Good to Go order, which for $5 consisted of six donuts remaining around 6 PM. This was an excellent deal, as the donuts were from that same day and the store staff checked with us about allergies and restrictions before assembling the box with all of the other fancy donuts we hadn't tried yet. Among those, I most enjoyed the BUTTERSCOTCH BLONDIE (with a caramel glaze and butterscotch chips) and BAKLAVA (honey walnut glaze and crunchy cinnamon brown sugar katafi), especially when reheated at home. I was probably most excited about the BANANA STAND (banana cake donut with dark chocolate glaze), but found it fairly underwhelming. Overall, definitely recommend stopping by here if you like donuts, but I suggest warming the fancy donuts up a bit so that they're less dry and dense.

The chicken strips were horribly overcooked. The chicken on the chicken sandwich, also overcooked and chewy. Very disappointing. The only reason I didn't give one star was the donuts. They were delicious! The hot and fresh were especially good!

I usually do not like cake donuts at all but these donuts changed my mind entirely. I tried a big variety of them but my top two faves were the Carrot Cake & Key Lime Pie Donuts. They were very clearly made fresh daily. Super moist and warm! They do not last long once they're on the shelf so, try to get there in the morning or early/mid afternoon in order to have access to the wide variety that they offer. I also got a chicken sandwich & my little brother got the chicken tenders which were both pretty good! They also, evidently, make those fresh. The only reason I didn't give 5 stars is due to them charging $8 for 1 order of some basic fries. I'm sure the specially seasoned fries they offer are worth the $8 but the regular fries were just fries. I'

This is a nice spacious location with friendly staff. Much nicer than the previous store a couple of blocks away. I wish the seats were a bit more comfortable, but the location is still impressive. I always get the chicken sandwich and some donuts when I go to federal Donuts. The chicken sandwich was the usual level of deliciousness I have come to expect from Federal Donuts. A thick perfectly fried piece of chicken with pickles and sauce in a bun. The ratio of chicken to bun isn't always perfect and I think that a slightly thicker and higher quality bun would really take the sandwich over the top. I generally get the hot fresh cinnamon donuts, as they are made fresh and are cheaper than the other donuts. I try to just eat one, but sometimes I have to get 2. They are so good. The best version I've ever had of a cinnamon donut. The more expensive fancy donuts are tasty too, but not worth the extra cost in my mind. By far my favorite fancy donut is the pumpkin spiced latte, but they only sell it on rare occasions. I haven't been able to get one for years at this point. Why they don't sell their best donut every day is beyond my comprehension. This Federal Donuts location will be a permanent part of my lunch rotation. You can't go wrong with their chicken and donuts.

Picked up breakfast on our way to University Penn for a quick drive-by tour. I'm a little picky about donuts - they have to be light and airy, not gummy with a chew. These are the perfect soft, mouth feel. Add all the creative favors, they now are my fav donuts surpassing my old stand by (sold only in the Shenandoah) - sadly I don't live in Philly.

Everyone talks about federal donuts so we had to give them a try when in Philly. Pros - very cute shop that wasn't too busy. The staff were really nice and helpful. They have lattes and coffee drinks with oat milk which was a nice surprise. The chicken was crispy and tasty! Cons - unfortunately we weren't all that impressed with the donuts. They're all cake donuts and when warm are good, but none were that amazing. We got a half dozen to try different ones and overall felt they were pretty dry and just okay. I don't think we need to eat them again. Pretty disappointing!

tl;dr Philly's renowned fried chicken-and-donut company continues to churn out simple, yet high-quality eats from a swank new flagship store Federal Donuts has been slinging fried chicken and premium cake donuts for over a decade, and its red-and-white chicken logo has since become ubiquitous across Philadelphia. After the demolition of the Sansom block that used to be home to its Rittenhouse outpost, FedNuts relocated to a posh new storefront closer to the park. The flagship store is modern and clean. Garage door windows and high ceilings feel roomy, and funky incandescent-bulb chandeliers hang from a golden recess. The space sports a red-white-and-blue color palette with a long communal bartop and schoolhouse desk single-seat booths. A brightly lit donut display case greets you immediately upon entering, and a wide window running along the back wall gives you a glimpse into the kitchen. Merch, a red-and-blue neon "Federal Donuts" sign, and custom chicken-donut-and-coffee wallpaper deck one wall, while a colorfully absurdist mural against whitewashed brick is painted onto the other. Modern, offbeat music resonates around the room. I first visited this new location back in the spring, looking to nab one of the limited-release Pastelito donuts -- spiced cake with cream cheese glaze and a guava ring. The donut was small but surprisingly dense and heavy, sporting a tasty and unmistakably guava cream. More recently, I took advantage of FedNuts' donut deals, running the gamut of all available specialty donuts: Rocky Road (chocolate cake with marshmallow glaze, chocolate chips, and almonds); Blueberry Shortstack (blueberry cake with buttermilk glaze and maple crumbs), Pumpkin Cream (spiced cake with pumpkin glaze, pie crumble, and vanilla cream cheese drizzle); Lemon Ginger (spiced cake with honey ginger glaze and a lemon ring); and Amaretto Affogato (spiced cake with coffee glaze and amaretto drizzle). My favorites were the blueberry (channeling the ideal, blueberry fritter-esque balance of richness and sweetness) and the lemon ginger (packing a ginger-forward, pleasantly tart punch). Conversely, I couldn't stand the rocky road, with its clashing and overly bitter flavor combination. I haven't yet tried the reimagined fried chicken (strips), but soon I hope to see how they match to FedNuts' old bone-in recipe. The donuts are undoubtedly high quality, yet they still feel slightly pricey against their $3 charge. The expense is partially mitigated by some of FedNuts' donut deals -- half-priced "Donut Happy Hour" after 5PM, or the $5 pick-six Too Good To Go. While they may never attain status as my Philly donut top dog (an honor reserved for Beiler's), FedNuts remains a must-try establishment sure to deliver reliably fresh and vibrant donuts.

I love donuts, and was super happy that I found this place! Not only was I happy that I was able to get it after dinner as a dessert I was very surprised at the different kinds of donut flavor selections they had. Not only did they have standard flavors they had some fancy flavors as well. I grabbed 2 different ones. I got Raspberry Linzer and the Pralines & Cream. Both of them were full of flavor. Also, the dough used wasn't like others I usually get. I don't know how to explain it, but it was softer and chewier without falling apart easily when bit into.

First time here recommend by my old son , buy hot donuts and fry chicken to try , very yummy ! The restaurant is very clean and designed well service is very nice too! Recommend!

I saw this place on a food show years ago and have wanted to try ever since. Visited someone in Philly for the day and swung by this place around 5pm on a Sunday. Zero line, but all the specialty flavored doughnuts were sold out (which I had anticipated). I ordered all three flavors of the Hot Fresh Donuts. The key is so eat them while they're actually hot and fresh! Honestly, the actual flavors weren't anything spectacular, but having them served hot really set them apart from other doughnut places where they're served room temp. -Cinnamon Brown Sugar: this was the best flavor. -Cookies and Cream: doesn't taste like that at all, but still tastes good. -Strawberry Lavender: didn't like. I normally like fruity doughnuts, but this tasted a little too fake and perfume-like. -3 Piece Fried Chicken with Buttermilk Seasoning: OMG. This was soooo good. Next time I'll get the wings set because the larger piece of chicken that it comes with is on the dry side. But the drumstick and wing I ate were heavenly. The skin was soooo crispy, chicken sooo juicy, and the buttermilk seasoning was super flavorful.

I'm not big on donuts but the fried chicken sandwich is the best !!! The restaurant itself is very clean and the staff was great. They have some fun wall art and it has a fun vibe.

Fresh donut and hot coffee - what more could you ask for?! It seems they have a few hot options and then a few fancy options. I chose pumpkin spice latte, blueberry vanilla bean, and caramel apple. Next time I will try the fried chicken!

It took me a while to try this place out. Since I work downtown Philadelphia now Im like I might as well see whats up with them. I ordered wings, donuts and the lavender lemonade. The wings were fire. But it was only like 6 of em. The donuts were nice and moist. Very tasty. Unlike dunkin donuts where their donuts be harder than a brick. But the lavender lemonade wasnt that good too me. I know not to get that again lol.

First stop of the day. Fresh donuts!! Warm heavy without being too dense. Crispy crunchy potato chips on top made a mouthful of amazing sweet and saltiness.

Newest outpost of the donut shop after the previous location had to close (seems like that entire building was demolished). Unassuming from the outside as it's a basement-level establishment, but very spacious inside. Between three people, ordered the Cinnamon Sugar Donut ($1.75), Cookies & Cream Donut ($1.75), 3-Piece Chicken ($10), a Lavender Lemonade ($3), and an Iced Coffee ($3.50). As usual the hot & fresh donuts melt in your mouth, as you avoid trying to make too much of a mess with the sprinkled sugar. Chicken is fried well, and I chose the Buttermilk Ranch dry rub to go on top. This may have been a mistake, as the ranch is oddly sweet, which did not pair well with my sweet donuts. Chicken is cooked well but saltier than I remember it usually being. Coffee is strong and lemonade is nice by itself. Service is solid and it still seems like people are not aware of this location. Have to try a different version of the chicken next time.

Good donuts! I've yet to try their chicken sandwiches, but that's next on my list. Food: I had a box of 6 donuts, each one a different flavor, and I really liked their unique flavor combinations. I was especially a fan of their more citrusy flavors. However, their donuts are more cake-y as opposed to the yeasted, fluffy donuts that I prefer. I wish they made a few options that were in the style of the latter. Service: their store is self-service where you order from a counter and grab a table yourself. Our cashier was very polite, no complaints! Ambience: there's a good amount of seating and I liked how brightly lit the store is. Great for hanging out with a few friends.

Always a great place for donuts. The cake ones in the display case are delicious and unique but more cakes in texture. My personal favorite are the hot sugar coated donuts made to order. These are a must try! So delicious and melt in your month. Also you can't beat the fried chicken sandwich here. Always delicious. I will definitely be back to try the donut latte!

I've always loved Federal Donuts and love their new flagship store - just 3 blocks west of the original one - even more! It's spacious and clean, offering up the same yummy donuts, coffee and fried chicken. Today I enjoyed sampling the lemon ricotta, chili mango lime, sticky toffee banana, and peanut butter buckeye donuts. The za'atar fries are delicious paired with the fried chicken sandwich or the chili garlic chicken.

Ordered 6 wings and paid 11.88. Got 6 tiny Buffalo type wings not whole wings. Maybe the donuts are good, but definitely not the fried chicken. Not worth the money for the tiniest of wings. And the girl who packed my order threw my bag on the counter. How nice right? Don't waste your money here.

Def a must try.. from unique flavors to w some lattes. If you are in the neighborhood I would recommend to swing by.

Federal Donuts is a must stop when I visit Philadelphia, and this new location was right near my hotel. They out do Popeyes on the chicken sandwich. Federal's is just magical! I'm not normally a cake donut fan, but I really like the chocolate toffee donut. Yum! I also liked the lemon blueberry, but not so much the marshmallow peach. The service is top notch, the young man who waited on us was great!

Okay RUN as fast as you can and grab a strawberry lavender donut! They are made to order, warm, flaky, thick and out of this world!!! This has to be my absolute favorite donut spot and the service was great!

When in Philly, this spot is a must. I love the vibe of this location. Very old school diner feel. The staff is super friendly. Great service. Flavors change but they never disappoint. The donuts are flavorful and super fresh. Favorites: blueberry and cinnamon down sugar. Get them all and enjoy!

I passed by for lunch one day and decided to stop by for some fried chicken. The last time I had fried chicken from Federal Donuts was when there was only a single store on 2nd street and people were lining up in the morning to get chicken orders in before they ran out! Now they have about 10 stores all over philadelphia. This store had some booths and counter space for sitting. Staff were very friendly. I ordered the Chicken wings with Zataar seasoning and my order was ready in 5-10 minutes. The wings were crispy and the moist, but there was a lack of seasoning and they were a little bland. The hot donuts are really good since they're made fresh. The honey donut that comes with the meal is very moist, but mine had a fairly strong Zataar taste on it which I thought was a little strange.

Good cake donuts. We were pretty split on the warm vs fancy (not warm) ones. We tried strawberry lavender as our warm cake donut, and I really like how fluffy the interior was and crisp the exterior. Was a bit on the sweeter side. These are made to order We also tried a lemon ginger which was a seasonal/fancy one and glazed. I felt this was a bit too sweet and could've used more ginger but the flavors were there Not really a comparison to doughnut plant but a decent option in the area and if you are in the mood for a freshly fried donut!

This was our first Federal Donuts experience, which we were hoping would be an epic one, but it fell flat. There's no longer an original location, and we thought that this was the new flagship spot, but the lack of reviews on here doesn't make sense. Either way, if this is a flagship: yikes. We met some friends here on Tuesday morning and ordered ALL the donuts. Literally. Twelve of them: the three "fresh" ones and the nine other ones (btw, the terminology used here is very apt since the ones sitting in the case seemed like they had been there for a while). We wanted to try a small bite of each one, and while there are too many to go through, these were some of the winners: peach melba, strawberry tart, blueberry short stack, and all the standard glazed ones. The hot fresh donuts were actually our least favorites since we weren't big fans of the any of the spice blends. Had the "fancy" ones not been out for so long, we would probably be raving about the donuts. On to the chicken. We ordered the sandwich and 12 wings, half with za'atar and half with ranch seasoning. The za'atar was completely missing from that batch as well as from the misnomer'ed "za'atar fries." The buffalo ranch was better, and overall the chicken was cooked well, but the ratio of batter to chicken seemed way off. We liked the buffalo and rooster dips, but the garlic chili one was way too sweet. The sandwich was hooooo-huuuuum! BORING. Perhaps this thing used to be a celebrated masterpiece, but when you create an Empire of Donuts, then each location is just going to slap together something like McDonalds, and that's exactly what this felt and tasted like... just on a fancier bun. Service. It wasn't bad, per se, but there was a lack of professionalism here in that they were not ready for customers. They had no tomatoes. They had no Vietnamese coffee; they provided excuses, so yeah yeah, but at the end of the day, it signals a lack of care. We did enjoy the black & tan coffee, and the lavender lemonade could quite possibly be the best thing that you order here. All said and done: a disappointment. This is what happens when you get greedy and overexpand and franchise out! Quality sinks. We might try a different location the next time that we're in Philadelphia, but expectations are low.

If you haven't tried federal donuts then you have been missing out! I loved the warm cinnamon and sugar ones! Pros: heavenly bites of goodness! Cons: expensive ($2 for warm donuts and $25 for a dozen of mixed donuts). I was also not pleased to look towards the fryer and see the staff member touch her face and then not wash her hands as she was making the donuts. Luckily she used tools to handle the donuts, but it was still distressing.

UPDATE: I will add that a manager contacted me, refunded my purchase and sent me a 25 dollar gift card stating that the situation would be addressed and they were very sorry this happened. This place went downhill, used to be the best fried chicken in the area. The past 2 visits I made over 2 weeks now, the food was absolutely gross and borderline inedible. The fries were burnt, luke warm, over salted and had chunks of black crispy chicken and other matter. The chicken sandwich was similar, but the meat was even grosser like it had been sitting for hours or days. It was a pinkish color, stringy and so salty I couldn't even taste chicken. It also had black burn spots of some kind of liquid matter spackled on it. I will NEVER order here again. Nor should you if you value your health.

My girlfriend and I are Federal Donut Fanatics. We ordered a birthday lunch for her today via DoorDash and mentioned it was my girlfriend's birthday. My only ask was that they could consider certain flavors for our half dozen order. Not only did they do just that, the representative(s) sent a happy birthday post it along with a few extra birthday donuts. I called the place to say thank you and spoke to the individual who prepared the order. They were just as happy as I was. I think both our days were made! It's still hard times for many, small gestures like this can really go a long way. It's reasons like this why I will always be a Federal Donuts fan and customer. Their product is so good that they don't need to have exceptional customer service, but they always do anyway. Oh, and the chicken and donuts were delicious as usual. Thank you to the staff that worked during lunch on Wednesday, April 13th for making my loved one smile during her birthday. I owe ya one!

did a bit of a donut crawl in philly and federal donuts did not disappoint. Federal donuts definitely has the most Instagram worthy donuts and the most creative flavors. They also make a great cup of coffee!!! I got the choco cereal, s'mores and pumpkin. All three were delicious! They were a tad bit sweet for me personally but paired with the coffee it was great!