Kevin Rosenthal and Elise Yang

Strange Donuts, a unique and enchanting donut shop, is sure to captivate the attention of any sweet tooth. The name alone will make anybody wonder what makes the donuts so uncanny. The flavors of donuts are special, varying from Strange Bacon to Campfire to Cookie Crumble.

Located in Maplewood, Strange Donuts is quaint with an inviting interior, and fun and playful decor. Customers are greeted with the aroma of freshly baked donuts, made everyday from scratch. When we first arrived at the shop, it was nearly empty due to bad weather, but once the sky brightened, the line was out the door. Although the store is compact, there is no shortage of donuts, and the workers warmly welcomed us.

On the food front, we thoroughly enjoyed the Gooey Butter Donut from the New Creations category. The donut had a unique taste, embodying St. Louis’ signature cake flavor with its own twist. The donut was rich and decadent, and fulfilled our desire to take a chance on a strange donut.

We were not able to try donuts from the “Strangers” category because they are only available at night. Donuts in this category include the Chicken and Waffle donut and the Pizza donut, in collaboration with renowned St. Louis establishments such as Pastaria and Pi Pizzeria.

Other donut options included the “Original Classics,” which are typical donuts that one could find at any standard donut shop. We tried the glazed donut and the rainbow sprinkled donut. They were mediocre, at best, lacking both taste and texture. The glazed donut was rather grainy, and did not meet the high expectations we had in light of the clever concept of the store. The rainbow sprinkle donut was essentially the glazed donut with frosting and sprinkles, which enhanced the taste, but still did not measure up to our hopes.

The “Strange Donut Brew,” made in collaboration with Kuva Coffee, was better than most of the common St. Louis coffees, as the flavor was not too bland or too bitter.

The price of a classic donut was reasonably priced at one dollar. But the price of the New Creations was disproportionate, considering that the size of these donuts was the same as the classic donuts, but double the price. “Strangers” cost a whopping five dollars.

Overall, we were impressed by the creativity of the store, and we enjoyed the unique creations. We were not too amazed, however, by the classic donuts, which were lackluster and rather unfresh. Nonetheless, Strange Donuts is worth a try, as long as you order the more unique creations, which would fit the store’s tagline, “Stay Strange.”