This review was based on three places on Capitol Hill that sell donuts. The shops that I will be reviewing are Dough Joy, Mighty-O Donuts, and General Porpoise. The review will be based on the donut’s taste, texture, weight and rated on a scale of 1 to 5.

Dough Joy

On East Pike Street, a colorful store has a sweet variety of beautiful vegan donuts. Dough Joy offers a clean minimal environment with a pink doodle-art mural, hot pink neon lights with the words “Don’t Worry Be Happy” and gorgeously fluffy, vegan donuts. After browsing for a few minutes, we landed on a chocolate-covered donut and salted chocolate, both shaped like hearts. Each was around $4.99, the average price for a sweet treat around these places.

The first chocolate-covered donut tasted sweet and airy, but was thick and had a good weight to it. There was no filling in it and it was easy to enjoy. There was nothing special about the donut other than it being vegan, but if you are vegan and want a sweet that is reliable I would recommend this place. The salted chocolate donut was better than the first one. The chocolate was sweet but not too sweet. The salt in the donut balanced the flavors to make the chocolate taste more authentic. After tasting both donuts, the only thing to say was that the regular donut without the salt tasted a little too similar to a caramel-glazed donut and not like a chocolate-glazed one. 

On a scale of 1 to 5, Dough Joy donuts were a 4. The price is solid for what you get. The taste of both donuts was sweet and balanced, especially the salted chocolate one. The texture was airy and not too dense, which signifies that the donuts are baked with care. The weight was also really good and didn’t feel too light or unusually heavy. Would recommend the donuts and the pretty atmosphere.

Mighty-O Donuts

On the corner of 12th and Madison, another vegan donut shop is open for us to try. This cold and lonely donut shop offers a larger variety of donuts a few cents cheaper, but at what cost? Mighty-O has a gray aesthetic and a cold atmosphere. After inspecting the place and looking at the donuts, Jordie, a staff photographer at The Spectator, and I decided to try the chocolate cake-based donuts that have a chocolate glaze for around $4.50.

The first impression of the donut was that it was dry-looking and heavy. Not looking good. After the first bite, it was obvious that the donut was vegan because it tasted flat, unlike Dough Joy it lacked flavor, beautiful shape and perfect texture. The donut tasted chocolatey but a little muted, and the texture was dense. I had to chew and chew and chew to swallow such a mammoth of a dry, vegan donut.

I would rate Mighty-O Donuts a 2 out of 5. The donuts had a good weight to them, but maybe a little too heavy. The texture was dense and chewy, so maybe not so great. The taste just was not there. The chocolate was too flat and not sweet enough to pick up on the notes of cacao. If you like unsweet vegan donuts around $4 a piece, then this is your shop. Hey, there was nobody there, so maybe it can be a great place to study.

General Porpoise

The final destination of this review was General Porpoise. After walking in, it was evident that this place was bougie. The place smelled ultra clean and almost like a kitchen Martha Stewart would work in; it just smelled wealthy and tasty. It had a minimalistic, white aesthetic with several seating areas for customers to sit and open up a book or work on their computers.

There wasn’t a large variety of donuts to choose from, with only four different donuts to get, but we decided to go with a chocolate-filled donut. The price was around $6. The donut itself was heavy and meh-looking. Just by the looks of it, I would not say it was worth $6 or going to taste good, but boy was I wrong. The donut was rich in flavor and not too doughy or cakey, a little dough that was airy and moist and the rest was rich chocolate filling. 

On a scale of 1 to 5, General Porpoise is a SOLID 5. Honestly, it is worth the $6 because after one donut you will feel full. The weight is heavy but not too much, and this is not a light donut. The texture is not dense or airy, but moist and smooth, unlike any other donut we rated on this review. The taste was HEAVEN, hands down delicious where it was the right amount of sweet coming from both the donut and the chocolate filling. 

Out of the three places we visited, I would recommend Dough Joy or General Porpoise because the donuts tasted great, had a solid price and their store environments were inviting for customers.