It's on every 'must-visit Portland' list in the country, there's usually a 45-minute wait, and locals roll their eyes. But some Portlanders still defend it fiercely. Is Voodoo Doughnut genuinely great or the city's most successful con?
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Add your commentBlue Star exists. That's my entire argument. Blue Star exists and Voodoo Doughnut exists and one of them has a line of tourists in matching shirts and one of them just makes better donuts.
My question for the people defending it: when is the last time you actually went without being forced to take a visitor? I'm guessing 2016 at the latest. I rest my case.
unpopular opinion but the donuts are genuinely mediocre. the branding is a masterpiece. they sold Portland's weirdness as a product before Portland knew it was a product. respect the hustle, do not eat the donut.
Someone in this thread is going to bring up Annie's Donuts and they will be correct to do so. Annie's has been there since 1976 and makes a perfect old-fashioned and gets zero tourist coverage.
It opened in 2003. I was 19. I remember when it was just a funky little spot on Burnside that had weird donuts and sold bouquets of them for grad presents. The nostalgia is real even if the line isn't worth it anymore.
Came here from Minneapolis 3 years ago. Went once. Thought it was cute. Moved on with my life. Can we please have the same energy about Powell's Books where I will actually wait an hour without complaining?
I took my cousin from Ohio there in 2019 and she waited 40 minutes and cried happy tears eating a Cock-N-Balls. Was it worth it? For HER it was. That's kind of the whole point of the experience, right?
The real scandal nobody mentions is that Voodoo Too on NE Davis has like half the wait and the exact same menu. If you MUST go, go there. Basic logistics people.
Hot take: the Tex-Ass donut (big donut, smaller hole, served with a tiny Texas flag) is the most Portland thing ever created and I mean that as the highest possible compliment.
Any donut you can get married in is automatically a civic institution and deserves protection as a historic site. That's a hill I will absolutely die on.
Every city has a Version of This Place. Seattle has Pike Place. New Orleans has Café Du Monde. Chicago has Giordano's. Tourists go, locals complain, the place keeps making money. It's just how cities work.
i worked near the NW 22nd location and I used to go on weekday mornings when there was no line and honestly? genuinely fun donuts. the experience without the line is a completely different thing.
The Voodoo Doll donut is not just a donut it is PERFORMANCE ART and if you don't appreciate that you're missing the whole point entirely
It's fine. It's just donuts. Portland's weird donut place is fine. We can all move on.
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