Christine L.
Yelp
THE place for your fancy donut needs and for presents when you don't know what else to get people. Because...fancy donuts. 8D Also: puns and some very appealing morbid humor.
Psycho Donuts has two locations, and I'm only really familiar with this Campbell one. Not so much their El Camino Real store, though I'd certainly like to go visit at some point. While I work very close to that part of El Camino Real, their Campbell location is a very short walking distance from Campbell Downtown and I'm just THERE more. Sometimes when my friends and I go to the farmer's market or Stacks' for weekend brunch and (while waiting for them to get through the waitlist if we're at Stacks') we walk over to Psycho to pick up some donuts. It's just that convenient. They share a small, limited parking lot in front as well as spaces around and behind the building with the other building establishments (as well as the comics store in the neighboring building). They do pretty good in try to keep the parking specifically for their customers, but if they're out of space, you can park along Sanford Ave (the street directly behind the building and adjacent to Winchester). If you're willing to walk a bit, you can also park a bit further down Winchester Blvd.
They are super colorful, kind of going for a playful feel, and shamelessly niche-y. I like to look around at what else they have because they're into selling unusual but cute knick-knacks and some cool local art. Overall, it's pretty small place with counters and stools along the windows that is suitable for parties of 1 to 3. Just be aware that this seating is limited, although most people seem to tend to get their drinks and donuts to go. There's nowhere outside to sit down and eat, but (again) Campbell downtown is down the street and they DO have outdoor benches.
But of course, the whole reason you would come here is to buy DONUTS. They have a whole variety of fancy, unusual, and/or specialty doughnuts. Each one is designed to have some kind of fun and unique element to it, ranging from the kind of batter (ex. gingerbread, cake, terrapin, etc.) to toppings (ex. pocky, coconut, raspberry dust, etc.) to decorations. Even their plain donut ("This One") is just made to look vaguely like a flower while beloved, traditional flavor combinations like chocolate donuts with raspberry or vanilla filling will have a powdered sugar portrait of Jason or a skull. Additionally, they have vegan donuts, though a coworker said she found the vegan donuts to be a lot simpler than a lot of their other ones. And what donut shop would be complete without selling coffee (and various kinds of specialty sodas)! XD My favorite things about them is their themed donuts and how there is always something you haven't tried yet or something new. Of course, they usually keep around a variety of the usuals, of which my favorite is the Feng Shui (matcha and chocolate one). But donuts like "Grandma's Revenge" (made to look like a dead reindeer with pocky for antlers) or any of their Halloween ones are just wonderful.
And, again, so SO convenient. Seriously, whenever I don't know what to get a group of people (coworkers, a friend's family, cousin's family, etc., a vegan friend and her family, etc.), I come here. And when they open the box, there's always this look of wonder at all the colors and individually unique donuts pops out at them. However, if you're doing this, I would advise bringing a notecard to take down the names and descriptions to stick into the box. Usually, the people who are given the donuts want a way to reference it themselves or for later on.
Overall, I love their humor, their unusual and fun donuts, and their drive to do new things. One of my favorite times visiting them was actually during Fanime where they had set up a stand. In addition to their regular donuts, they also sold SPECIAL of "(mini) donut sushi" with pocky as chopsticks. It was so cute, and I love that they do things like participate in local events on top of being very generally supportive of the community (see, the paintings they display that are up for sell).
You're doing great, guys! Thank you so much for everything! X3