Glory Hole Doughnuts

We happened to find ourselves in the area on a recent Sunday morning, so we figured why not grab a donut for a treat later on in the afternoon?

They've got a bunch of really tasty-looking donuts, but we figured let's keep it simple and opted for the Vanilla Sprinkle.

First of all, this is an enormous donut. I was a little surprised by the high price point, but once I looked at it (and eventually tasted it) I was completely on board.

It's just a really tasty, perfectly-balanced concoction. The super fresh donut itself is among the best I've ever had, while the irresistible yet not-too-sweet frosting complements it perfectly. Honestly, I could've eaten about half a dozen of these things.

I'm definitely excited to try some of Glory Hole's more elaborate donuts, because if this is any indication, they must really be something special.

Hubby & I visited this doughnut shop during the mid-afternoon & by the time we arrived half of their flavors were sold out. We snatched up a couple of their birthday cake & lemon ricotta lil' glories & 1 lime coconut cream pie doughnut (yeast based), plus we each had an iced vanilla latte (I selected oat milk for mine). The attendant was very friendly & customer service was 5 stars. The flavor and quality of our donuts was satisfactory but there was nothing in particular that stood out for either of us with what we ordered. The lattes were really tasty

Great donuts, nice and fluffy, not too sweet, a variety of flavours, and really fresh.

The donuts here have a heavy or very heavy crumb - Singapore Chinese bakery heavy or heavier - but some have a good flavour. Many are rather sweet (I have a sweet tooth). The flavors are quite creative & they change their selection each season. They get 3.5 stars.

Chai latte pistachio was good, with a flavourful glaze. The pistachio flavour was light (I usually find pistachio too heavy so I liked this version).

Milk and cookies was decent, with actual cookie chunks on top.

Vanilla sprinkles came off as especially too sweet because there was little to cut or complicate the sugar. Coffee cake had no distinct flavour - the streusel on top added texture, I guess.

Apple pie was good. Bannofee was good too, though a bit sweeter than most of the rest.

Hole in the wall establishment.

There was a line up. And they do run out of doughnuts mid day. Come early.

Only one person allowed at any given time to order and pay then to receive their order.

Individual for $4.25+tax
Half dozen for $24
Dozen for $46

Sugar Pie. 3/5. Standard doughnut.
Vanilla Sprinkle. 3/5. Standard doughnut.
Ferrero Rocher. 4/5. Slightly better than the above.
Toast and Butter. 2/5. Subpar doughnut.
London Fog. 1/5. I didn't enjoy this at all.
Tiramisu. 4/5. One of the better flavours.

Size wise, they're big doughnuts, no doubt. Could barely fit in their respective boxes, resulting in crushed edges upon opening, which was disappointing from a presentation POV.

Price point, overpriced for the entirety. Only the Ferrero Rocher and Tiramisu would be worth it, subject to my taste preference - others have liked what I disliked.

Glory Hole is a doughnut place in the Parkdale neighborhood. It is a hole in the wall literally; due to covid, customers stand outside on the street, and are served through a window on the door.

Their motto is "Where creams are made of" and offer an interesting selection of flavors that change seasonally. And it is awesome that they have vegan options. I ordered a box of 6 in assorted flavors. Surprisingly, my favorite one was the simplicity of Cinnamon Sugar, where the goodness of the doughnut comes through, without the need of tons of toppings to make it yummy. I also liked the chocolate one, where you could feel the heat and spice subtly infused in it. The Ferrero Rocher was good, but not as good as I was expecting. The quality is certainly far superior compared to Timmys, but they are priced accordingly.

Service was fine. Street parking available. The area is served by TTC line 501. At the time of the writing of this review, Queen and Roncesvalles is closed for TTC streetcar track maintenance.

TLDR; good doughnuts with interesting variety of flavors, a bit pricey

Let me just say right off the bat that I am fully sold on Glory Hole. Wow! NOW Toronto named them the #1 Best Donut 2018 and blogTO has them as #1 Best Donuts... And both of these things make complete sense to me.

Are these the best donuts that I've ever eaten?

You'll find their original location in Parkdale although they do have a second location now. I ducked in fairly early on a Saturday and was fully prepared for the impending donut feast to count as my breakfast. (The best part about being an adult? No one stops you when you decide to eat donuts for breakfast.) The shop is small but there's a large communal table that is very useful in aiding the consumption of your donuts right now. The vibe is clean, laid-back, and cool. Skateboard decks decorate the walls and in fact, the menu is even printed on them. There's also a beautiful, bight pink floral feature on the wall that easily catches the eye. First stop: The glass case. Get yourself ready to gaze lovingly over some donuts.

Every single one of them looked amazing but I was easily drawn to the Ferrero Rocher and the Toast & Butter. These are probably the two that I'd heard the most hype about. We also grabbed a Raspberry Pistachio for good measure. The friendly staff happily boxed them up. Yeast donuts are $4.25 each. (They also make cake donuts, of which I am not a fan. Although maybe trying their's would change my mind.) We sat ourselves down at the table and fully intended to crush all of these donuts in one sitting.

Let's begin with the Ferrero Rocher (Yeast raised doughnut with Nutella, roasted hazelnuts, and feuilletine). This was my overall favourite and it completely blew me away. So decadent and gooey, I loved the crunch from the hazelnuts, and not one drop of Nutella was held back. (I typically find that treats using Nutella are overrated.) The real thing that made this donut special and better than any other that I've tried is the dough. This was, easily, the freshest, lightest, not-too-sweet, most pillowy-soft yeast donut dough that I've ever experienced. It is absolutely perfect and unmatched. It makes other donuts look stupid. None of their flavours can be wrong on a base like that.

Next I tried the Toast & Butter (Whipped brown butter frosting topped with sweet breadcrumbs and cinnamon). Most donut shops tend to have a "wild card" flavour and this seems to be Glory Hole's effort. Again, I loved this. It really did taste like buttered toast, but in the most amazing way. The buttery frosting totally worked and somehow didn't make me feel like I was "eating butter," but at the same time it totally tasted like a warm brown butter situation. This one is truly unique.

Lastly, the Raspberry Pistachio (Raspberry glazed doughnut topped with toasted pistachio pieces). This one wouldn't have been a go-to choice for me, but I really enjoyed it. The raspberry was tangy and bright, while the crunchy pistachio really stood out and offered a beautiful sweet and nutty flavour.

They serve drinks as well; coffee and tea for the most part. I wanted my visit to be well-rounded and so I also ordered a London Fog ($4.25). Unfortunately, this beverage did not hit the mark for me. It mostly just tasted like a cup of warm milk. The tea didn't seem to ever really steep through, no matter how long I let it sit. The vanilla flavour seemed to be MIA altogether.

We loved the donuts so much that we took our empty box back up to the counter and had them fill our box again. We got another Ferrero Rocher and Toast & Butter but this time added in the Rice Krispie Treat and the Strawberry Rhubarb Cheesecake. We decided to bring these to a party that we were attending later in the evening. (No, we didn't sit down and devour them as well. We're monsters, but we do have some restraint.)

All of the donuts at Glory Hole are hand-made fresh every day by real genuine humans and it shows. They use fresh, local, and organic ingredients whenever possible and it shows. They offer vegan donuts as well.

I would love to try their Birthday Cake (cake donut) and Hibiscus Glaze. But that Ferrero Rocher seriously has my heart.

I am completely converted. All other donuts are dead to me.

There weren't too many flavours available when I went. I wanted to try some unique ones but of course, those ones were probably snatched up already.

I ended up getting the Cinnabun, which of course tasted like a cinnamon bun. It tasted okay. Too much cinnamon and not much glaze.

Caramelita was the other flavour and it kind of reminded me of funnel cake for some reason. Not really sure if that's what the flavour is but it was good.

The donuts are soft, fluffy and HUGE! However, I wish they had a bigger selection at the time. Doesn't hurt to try it if you like donuts!

Best doughnuts in Toronto and some of the best I have had anywhere. Staff is friendly. Location is a bit annoying depending on where you are in the city but it's worth the trip and easily accessible by public transit. I personally love their London Fog doughnuts and the lemon ricotta doughnut holes, but everything is always good -- can't go wrong. Highly recommend!

Although we live not to far , first time trying them , someone in the family brought them over... we're not much of donut people but they pick them up at the end of the day , the donuts were fresh and delicious ... a few unique flavours even our picky boys enjoyed them...