Lee's Donuts Gastown

4 Stars – Great Location, Friendly Staff This spot couldn’t be in a better location—right in the heart of Gastown, directly across from the famous Steam Clock. It makes for a perfect stop whether you’re exploring the area or just passing through. You can grab a donut, sit at one of the little outdoor tables, and enjoy not only the taste but also the sights and sounds of one of Vancouver’s most iconic attractions. The donut I tried was fresh and tasty, the kind of treat that pairs perfectly with a stroll through Gastown. Inside, the shop was clean and welcoming, and the staff were cheerful and genuinely friendly, which added to the experience. Overall, it’s a great place to pause, indulge in a delicious donut, and soak in a bit of local charm. Definitely worth a stop if you’re in the neighborhood.

My family, friends, and I stopped here for a quick coffee and donut before heading out for a day of sightseeing around town. The donuts were hot and fresh - we really appreciated the variety of flavours offered. The bakery was well maintained, cheery, and welcoming and the smells were out of this world! When you are in Vancouver, make sure to stop by for a donut!

Freshly baked everyday ! Staff is really friendly and patient because it’s sooo hard to choose from so mang variety of donuts ! LOL I got 1 dozen of donuts! Store is pretty clean as well. A must try !

Overrated like Vancouver it’s. Nearly four bucks a donut and thirty-five for a dozen. What a joke! Service is slow. For that price they should have enough staff to keep you from waiting but anyway the donuts are good just not worth the money.

Surprised to find a Lee’s here! I last tried it at Granville Island and it was so good. This time didn’t disappoint either. The lemon flavor has a nice balance of sweet and sour, and the pastry’s fluffiness is just right. The staff are friendly too.

It's a very busy place and rightly so! These doughnuts are delicious. There dense cake-like treats are great! I recommend coconut and honey-glazed.

Listen, I’ve had my fair share of donuts in this city and let me tell you these are the real deal. You haven't lived until you've tried one of their decadent, cloud-like donuts that just melt in your mouth. Surely the line snakes out the door but trust me, it’s a Vancouver rite of passage and absolutely worth the wait. It’s great they’ve opened more spots around town now; getting your fix is a little easier now. It’s a must-try staple and the crew behind the counter is always so friendly.

Tried the blueberry jelly and Cookie Monster donuts. Relatively good. No places to sit which is disappointing.

Date of visit: July 15, 2025 It's not necessarily much to look at it, but they spend the money where it counts: the donuts! We had some time to kill waiting for our room to be ready so we went up to Gastown to look around and check out the famous Gastown Clock. And what is in the background as you look east? Lee's Donuts, of course. Staff was very friendly and they have a ridiculous variety of donuts to choose from--really the only downfall here is that there are just so many to choose from that you feel bad holding up the line debating which delectable treat you are going to select. All four of us loved what we had, and I would highly recommend this to anyone in the area.

It's a donut shop. What's not to love? Seth Rogan and David Chang love Lee's donuts and that's why we went to find it. Was pretty underwhelming spot, service lacked enthusiasm and care to serve a customer. Maybe it was early? I'm not sure. It's a donut shop, it's supposed to be early. Foods good, service lacking. Quality and cleanliness of location was superb.

Wanted a lemon donut and this hit the spot. Made fresh daily and the curd was perfectly tart. Appreciated that it was refined sugar on the exterior vs powdered sugar. Worth stopping in for. Service was polite and friendly. Would go back.

So fresh, fluffy and yummy. In my top five donuts lifetime! These restore your faith in donuts!

My friend heard that this is a very famous Donut chain and so we all had to try it for ourselves! We selected the coconut , Ube, Sugar and chocolate. We liked all of them! The donut was doughy and flavor was just right. Super delicious that paired well with tea and coffee. Definitely would get these donuts again on our next visit!

Very good donuts! Nice risen dough & very good cake as well. Only sugar coated filled, filling could have more flavor (for me) but husband loved his enough for both of us! Nice guy helped us & it was fast!

Nice people working here! The London fog cake donut was pretty good. No dine in and carry out only

Yummy donuts close by the famous Gastown steam clock. All donuts are priced the same at $3.25 and definitely cheaper by the dozen at $30. Seems like a sweet idea to take out a dozen cool donuts for group gatherings. And yes, there are an abundance of flavors to choose from - from traditional donut flavors with powdered sugar to donuts with fruit jelly fillings plus more unique flavors for the Ube and matcha and chocolate lovers. I enjoyed the Earl grey flavor, perfect for pairing with coffee or tea. I'd love to return and order a dozen for the summer bbq parties. Cute donut food for thought: how would one find joys in eating sweet donuts and yummy foods if one can't be kind? So please be kind and don't be a donut grinch... no mean donut lovers allowed, hahaha :) :) :) Indulge in some sweetness here when visiting Gastown and "Donut" forget to be kind @}-- \\^_^//

This location of Lee's Donuts was right next to the Steam Clock in Gas Town. We were here in late morning but once again minimal lines. This was a much bigger location compared to Granville Island. There was indoor seating all along the windows. Here too was a large selection of flavors and donut types. There were so many that they overflowed onto racks behind the counter. I guess they must do very high volumes here. This time we tried the ube topped donut. Ube flavor was lacking and needed to be stronger but the cake donut was not dense and much lighter than expected. One of the best cake donuts so far on our travels.

Looks like the famed Granville Island donut shop now has a Gastown location. Parking is pretty awful around here. Not sure what to say. The place is actually pretty bare bones. The only seating is really just a bench along one side of the building. No tables. Best to grab the doughnuts and go. As of the time of writing, they have a coffee and doughnut combo for a few bucks. Pricing is competitive. I guess my only complaint was that the selection was really limited. However I was there about 1h before closing. Guess I'll try to pop by earlier next time.

We actually stumbled upon Lee's Donuts while biking around the city during our long weekend in Vancouver. Everyone at our hotel had ranted and raved about it, but we really had no intention of stopping to get donuts. Fortunately for us, fate intervened. We decided to go in and see what types of donuts they had to offer and were pleasantly surprised by the massive selection and variety. Originally intending only to get one donut each, they are great sales people, and we ended up walking out with a box of half a dozen. The three flavors I chose were blueberry, honey glazed cake, and a raspberry filled jelly donut. My husband chose a Bavarian cream, coffee glazed, and double chocolate. Enjoying them over the course of the weekend, I will say that my favorite was the raspberry filled. I was slightly disappointed that the blueberry donut did not have actual blueberries in the donut itself, but was simply a blueberry flavored frosting on top. All in all, if the donut craving strikes and you find yourself in downtown Vancouver, come check out Lee's Donuts. As a bonus, it is located right next to the infamous steam clock in Gastown.

Who doesn't like donuts? Walking through Gastown after dinner we noticed the donut shop. It's partly dressed in neon yellow. There were a good crowd inside. It turns out that near closing time you can get 12 donuts for $20 CAD. We didn't want a dozen as we're boarding a cruise ship tomorrow. We bought three - butter crunch, chocolate crunch, and powder sugar. Ate them today. Still a slight crunch but the cake portion still very good. Glad we had a chance to try them. And credit card only. Okay by us as the US dollar is stronger.

I was really looking forward to this but it was a disappointment. I tried the blueberry filled and honey dip donuts and they weren't great. I'm not sure why, because I also had the honey dip from the Granville Island location in the same week and it was so much better.

Known as an institution in Vancouver, we had to stop by and try it. They carry both cakey and fluffy donuts. We tried a matcha donut which was light and airy although had no matcha taste and the filling could have used more quantity wise. Staff was pleasant.

Great spot, delicious donuts and super friendly staff. No seating and quite small inside so be prepared to grab and go, but overall a great spot! They had TONS of flavors and everything was fresh and flavorful.

Came to see the famous steam clock in Gastown and took a break from the rain inside Lee's Donuts. Saw their merch and fell in love with their t-shirts. The employee was very patient as I debated between sizes while my friend got the mango jelly filled donut I was eyeing. Had a bite and it wasn't too sweet and went perfectly with the sugar donut!

We we're still quite full from breakfast, but we wanted to sit and listen for the clock to chime. They have lovely outdoor seating! So many different options and flavors we went classic/traditional with a glazed chocolate. You can even peek through the window to watch them glaze and decorate. We would definitely stop in when in town again!

Lee's Donuts is on an expansion move to dominant in the 'Donut War.' Sadly, Cartems donuts downtown location on West Pender is closing. Lee's Donuts has been going strong since 1979. Locals & tourists swarm the original location at fabulous Granville Island all summer long. See my reviews on both - Lee's Donuts & Granville Island. This new location on tourist Water St, is right across from the Steam Clock. BTW I don't get the fascination over this clock ... it ain't Big Ben. When it comes to Lee's Donuts, my fav is the very simple - Honey Glazed. The Powder Donut is fluffy & quite good as well but it's a hot mess so wear a large bib when you're chomping on this donut. The Jelly donuts are also very good. Please do try a variety when you pop in here. Now back to Cartems for a comparison - Lee's Donuts are to me the Yin without the Yang & Cartems are the Yin & the Yang. Allow me to explain - so I do have a sweet tooth & love me my sugar but it has to go together with the rest of whatever I'm eating. I'm not one of those that puts a sugar cube between their teeth & gets excited. Nope! The sugar has to complement the donut & make magic in my mouth otherwise it's just - sadness. Like at times when I've had lousy pizza, I've also had sad tasting donuts. Thankfully the latter times have been fewer than I can remember. So when I want a more 'gourmet' type of donut, I go to Cartems & when I want an ol skool no frills experience - then it's off to Lee's Donuts I go. This is an interesting location for a donut shop. Water St is a busy tourist mecca in the summer not so much in the winter. It is beyond my grade 5 education as to why businesses open in one spot & not another. But I'll leave it to those that make those big decisions. I wish Lee's Donuts major success in Gastown. The Downtown Eastside is one tuff nut to crack.

After seeing a monstrously large line at the Granville Island market location while visiting Vancouver, we figured Lee's Donuts must be good. Unwilling to waiting in the line there, we held off on going until we were in Gastown. There was virtually no line midday on a weekday at the Gastown location, so we ventured in. It was a fairly basic donut shop in terms of decor. It was clean which I appreciated. We ordered 2 each of the raspberry cake donuts and the honey glazed donut. The raspberry donut was quite literally the best donut I've ever eaten...perfect texture, delightful flavor, unique. So good! The honey glazed donut was also good, but more typical in flavor to other donuts I'd eaten before. Seriously, I think I dreamed about the raspberry donut for the next two days...it was that good!

New location located Literally right across from the Gastown steam clock, no need to head over to Granville Island anymore! Lee's Donuts are sort of an OG place to get a delicious selection of cake and yeast donuts, they've been around for a long time. I liked the Cookie Monster (blue vanilla w/ Oreo) and lemon icing donut! No room to sit, take-out only. Dozen Donuts ($27) Single Donuts ($2.75)

Good Donuts. But didn't understood the hype though. Give it a try when you are in Vancouver BC

Donuts near the "steam-powered" clock? How many fun experiences can you combine into one location! This Lee's donuts location was the last stop on a morning donut tour we were on. We were definitely a bit donut-ed out at this point but not enough so that we weren't able to enjoy what they offered - creative flavors, a bit of an elevated perfect donut in both look and taste, and bettter than most donut offerings we have at all the regular donut shops where we live. This is well worth a stop. Donuts are always the right answer. Lee's Donuts is doubly the right answer...Lots of cake, yeast and filled donuts to try. I don't know how you choose...I don't know how we chose. We're just happy we did.

Got the matcha and earl grey donuts here and it was a bit disappointing. The matcha donut tasted super dry and didn't really have that much flavor and personally I love matcha . The earl grey flavor was better and I enjoyed it however it was also a bit on the dry side

Such a tourist trap and local trap. Does anyone actually think the donuts here taste good:( I tried them first in Granville island and it was so bad I doubted myself since there was a huge line up, I came to a different location and tried more flavors all of them are bad. Will not come back.

Very good donuts lots of flavors to choose from my personal favorite is raspberry jelly filled. 10/10 donuts they also have drinks like coffee very good. Service is very good nice workers 10/10. Not too loud in the store very calm, seating is not the best but still great place, 10/10.

this location is close by the steam clock. went here on a Friday afternoon and it was not super crowded. the donuts were delicious. friendly staff.

OMG....that Raspberry Donut. It's like they put fancy raspberry jam into a donut. Amazing. Funny thing is everything else was mediocre at its absolute best. Tons of cake options (not my thing) and the glazed/dipped lacked in flavor. Stick with the Raspberry and you'll be really happy.

(Written by my 13 year old) Whats cooking preppies??! On today's big bag food hunt, me and my fam went on a Vancouver doughnut tour! Our last stop was Lees, and I can say it is for sure not the least. The cake doughnuts are thicc, and scrumdiddly yum yum, they were actually so good though. There are over 30 options, and I would personally recommend the strawberry sprinkle (I frfr LOVE sprinkles). It was a nice place, and the service was SPEEDY!! Once again.. I can say the vibe was vibing and that this place gets the official stamp of slay! Periodddddd!!!

Donuts were good. Service was adequate for being so busy. It's small inside, and gets crowded. Be mindful of the line because we had people cut us off. Speak up.