Propaganda Doughnuts

Disappointed. All the donut bases are the same but with different toppings. Ok, I can deal with that but the bases are flavorless. Been living in Chicago the last 4yrs and was hoping to find a great donut place in Grand Rapids like the many there are in Chicago i.e. Stans Donuts. Propaganda doesn’t even come close.

This little gem has some of the best doughnuts that I had ever eaten! They make their own batter which is a cake base. Usually a lot of cake doughnuts are heavy and leave a waxy feeling in your mouth– these doughnuts a perfectly density and has a perfect sweetness. Very balance. Not to sweet… just perfect.

I usually like soft doughnuts with hardly any crisp, just-​fried ‘crust,’ but these are pretty good. I will be back! Fun flavors for something new, though I would actually steer clear of the ones with cookie/​candy toppings– they don’t stick well & aren’t worth the price. I tried the absinthe/​pecan special, coffee maple bacon, pistachio, vanilla glaze with Oreo special (they either forgot the Reese’s or ran out, I didn’t notice until I left. Was bummed), and a cheap sprinkled one, which was the best. $ 1/​doughnut isn’t bad, especially for how delicious they are, but the ‘extra’ flavors, however enticing, aren’t really necessary.

How very sad. The once magnificent Propaganda Doughnuts has fallen low indeed. They were founded on their ability to make a proper french doughnut with a light interior and a perfect crust — from that basis the flew their wild and wonderful flavors. The unexpected flavors initially sparked from the coming together of the creative genius of Tory O’hair and the creative madness of Matt Russell.
Now the creative founders are gone and it shows. The quality of the underlying doughnuts was absent yesterfday — they had too much oil absorbed, they fell apart in your hand, the cinnamon&sugar had so much egg it tasted like french toast.
Saddest was the gluten free offering — they used to have these lovely gluten-​free financiers — wonderfully light and luscious — yesterday they sold us some dense and sodden «brioche squares» — which we could not finish.
They retain a 2 point rating from me because they still make some wild flavors — though it is now more in Matt’s Wednesday-​Evening-​Cookie style of super sweet card loaders than Tory’s more finely imagined creations.
Sorry to have to give such a bad review — maybe that were just having a very bad day. Sigh.

Propaganda’s finally managed to create a great tasting gluten-​free donut!
When I arrived shortly after opening, their GF donuts weren’t ready yet. No problem, it’s a nice morning I’ll just walk around and come back.
Glad I did. At the time of my return, the donuts were just coming out of the oven and were still hot. On their recommendation, I chose the raspberry glazed donut. $ 2.65 with tax and I’ve got a fresh donut and a view of the morning sunrise over Division Ave. Please don’t ruin it first bite! Moist light cake with a sticky, flavorful raspberry glaze greeted my taste buds. Just what I’d hoped for, delicious!

This was an outstanding doughnut! We tried the vanilla glaze and coffee glaze with Heath crumble. Nice crisp outside and moist center. And the prospectors cold brew coffee was the perfect compliment.
Would be nice if there was outdoor seating on a gorgeous day, but overall very nice.

We can’t get enough of their donuts. Do yourself a favor and go in and try a variety of their selection for the day. You won’t be disappointed with anything you try.

Tons of potential, went there at 8:40am, but when finding a place to park takes 10 minutes, then you walk 3 blocks to get in, then the staff ignores you for the first 3 minutes, then acts irritated when you ask what flavors the only FOUR options available are, then when you pay $ 12 to get 6 of them, then they are a little greasy and dense…
(I would love to see this magical «case» I read of it was missing on our visit)

I’d been pretty interested in checking this place out after a co worker had generously shared with me a delicious donut from Propaganda. Finally made it in last night around 9pm (business hours are 7 – 12) and was extremely disappointed with how we were treated upon arrival. Upon entering, nobody greeted us or acknowledged we were there for a good 5 minutes, then a man from the back comes up to the register and simply says «We don’t have any donuts right now, try back in 30 minutes». I know the product is tasty, but if you can’t even have enough stock prepared to serve two customers three hours before closing time there is something wrong. Eventually I’ll give this place another try, but for all the effort it took to park downtown and find the obscure location, it was not worth the unfriendly service and (lack of) donuts.

Fun flavor combinations at decent price for their artistry. Odd hours and challenging parking detract a star.

Went there once, very unimpressed.
Donuts were dry, and the dough itself was tasteless.

I have only been here once — stopped in to bring a treat to a coworker.
They only had about 4 or 5 different doughnuts which is a lot less than most doughnut places but the 2 I got — powdered and chocolate frosted — we really good. Kind of reminded me of the homemade doughnuts my Dad made when I was a kid.
Stop in, get a doughnut. Good Stuff.

Objectively speaking, Propaganda Donuts has both pros and cons.
Let’s start with the pros. The business is unique and has a neat theme. All donuts are made entirely organic. Obviously an independent and local business; these pros make a visit to Propaganda worth while.
On the ‘cons’ side… the donuts were not as good as I’d hope. Their donuts taste a bit greasy. Also, it almost taste like their dough has absorbed some of the musty/​dank odors of their South Division storefront. The layout of the storefront is unlike any bakery I have seen. I can only imagine how difficult it would be to pick your donuts and place your order if they were busy/​crowded. Service was a little rough. The male employee who took our order wasn’t rude but he certainly wasn’t friendly. I expected better service from a local business that is charging a hefty premium on their product.
Donuts range from $ 1.50 to $ 2.00 each. My favorite was the Salted Carmel.
I doubt I will be back but I would still encourage others to try Propaganda. Who knows… my visit may have been on an ‘off day.’ Plus no two people will have the same experience.

I thought I was going to love this place, but I’m not a fan. All the doughnuts are exactly the same. The various flavors are just different toppings and icing. Or in the case of the PB&J, filling. (It’s still a basic doughnut, not a filled doughnut, which is sliced in half & spread with the PB&J icing.) The only one with an identifiable flavor was the PB&J. The others were all sweet and one was fruity and one had chocolate, but they didn’t taste like they were supposed to.
Depsite being unimpressive, these doughnuts are also the most expensive I’ve ever seen. If you wanted enough to bring to work or something, it would cost at least $ 60 & there’s not much variety.
Van’s and Marge’s still rule this city’s doughnut scene.

Easily the best doughnuts I have ever had! It’s a small little place that would be easy to pass if you weren’t lookin for it. We walked in were greeted by a super nice chick who was so helpful and immediately started telling us about all the available doughnuts they had that day. On the weekends only they make these ginormous cinnamon rolls that look incredible (and were easily the size of a small child’s head).
It was a hard decision because everything sounded (and looked) mouth watering, but I went with the Aztec — a spicy & sweet chocolate doughnut. Seriously heaven! My friend opted for the Breakfast in Bed — described perfectly by the chick as «everything you love about breakfast.» It has hints of coffee, bacon, maple syrup… insane! My one doughnut cost $ 2.75 but well worth it! I cannot wait to make the trip back and try every flavor they have to offer!

I liked everything except the price– which I say to take with a grain of salt, as these are essentially «craft» doughnuts. You pay more for craft beer, so I suppose this is the same. They claim to be the only truly homemade doughnuts in the area (as in, they make everything from scratch and don’t use a mix). We went in before I got a haircut at Douglas J and tried 2 of the specialty doughnuts– an American apple pie and a hawaiian. The apple pie one had an aple glaze and broiled cheddar cheese. The hawaiian had a pineapple glaze and candied ham crumbles. Both were very good to me, but my partner found them to be too sweet for his taste. Nice cakey texture but not too heavy. I felt like I could taste the real vanilla, and the apple and pineapple flavors were very fresh, not fake tasting. With the doughnuts ($ 2.50 each for specialty, I think «regulars» were 1.50) and his fancy bottled iced coffee and my regular hot coffee, our total was about $ 13. I understand the handcrafted doughtnuts, local bottled cold brew coffee, and fair trade fancy pants coffee… but $ 13 for 2 coffees and 2 doughtnuts is a bit much. Sorry!
Great for a treat once in a while, a special occasion, or to impress someone from out of town, but not a weekly (daily, ha!) stop for me.

I read about Propaganda in the MLive list of best doughnuts in Michigan. Being a huge doughnut junky and knowing I was headed to GR that weekend I made a mental note to check it out but thanks to a crazy week I honestly forgot about it until we made our usual stop at Vertigo records. As we were looking for parking I somehow noticed the small storefront and got REALLY excited and remembered my mission. My excitement was deflated, however, when I looked at the hours. It was around 4pm but they were only open from 8 – 12. DRAT! But wait! I noticed on the hours that it was both 8 – 12 AM AND PM. Hot damn! I told my fella that that was where we were doing dessert after dinner. A big doughnut fan as well, he did not argue.
We came back that night around 10pm and found a quiet store with one employee. I actually thought it was closed! But luckily it wasn’t. If there’s a wait or a line in the morning a Saturday evening was chill so go for that if you’re able. We went inside and while I expected to see cases of doughnuts or racks up against a wall. Instead, I only saw one small display case on the counter that housed all of the doughnuts they had that night as a teaser. The rest of the doughnuts were tucked in the back. I also discovered that at each 4 hour opening they had a different spread of doughnuts. So the morning hours had different flavors than the evening and vice versa, except for the standard plain, cinnamon and sugar, and powdered sugar varieties that they always carry. Then they tack on a few other flavors that rotate from session to session.
The night we were there? In addition to the three standard flavors they had a dark chocolate sandalwood with hazelnuts, a vegan lemon glaze with basil sugar, mango passionfruit coconut, and a bourbon whiskey.
These donuts are cake doughnuts so they’re denser than your yeast doughnuts but also moist and fluffy in their own way. The flavor comes not in the doughnut itself but the topping. So the dark chocolate sandalwood was a ganache on the plain cake doughnut topped with chopped hazelnuts. SO SO good and not over the top.
The doughnuts are not cheap. Half a dozen ran me around $ 12 I think but for the uniqueness and the quality I didn’t mind the price.
The next day as we were heading out of town we lamented that they weren’t open to get some to take back to my mom as thanks for puppy sitting for us for the weekend. Things like that make the hours a little annoying. But we DID discover that the Love’s ice cream booth at the downtown market does carry at least 3 – 4 flavors of doughnuts a day so we zipped over there and picked up honey roasted beet, vanilla bean buttermilk with chocolate and raspberry, and bourbon caramel with pineapple, mango, passion fruit, and toasted coconut. All outstanding and an easy go around if you’re jonesing outside of business hours.

Totally adorable spy-​themed donut shop. We went on a Sunday morning and there was a bit of a line (maybe 4 people ahead of us). Word is getting out. 6 donuts cost us $ 9.50.
They are well-​fried cakey donuts mainly – which is the kind I like. About 6 flavors each day, depending on when you get there.
The packaging is a large folder style bag – which really is not great for taking them home.
No place to sit.
Fun place. A little more coolness factor in downtown GR.

Been waiting to try this place all week and it does not disappoint for those who love fresh doughnuts. Fresh and artisan made quality, a great place downtown for a sweet snack. Follow them on Facebook for daily updates as they make different doughnuts… it’s not a Dunkin Donuts where you have your «traditional» flavors all day long and who knows when they were actually made.
Today they had Nutella, Key Lime, and Cinnamon among others. Tomorrow morning they’ll have different flavors until they sell out. Then they’ll close for a few hours and open up again at 8pm with some different flavors again until they sell out or midnight… whichever comes first.
I really love that they are open at night too! I will be going back to try different flavors. So happy to have them downtown GR.

Mission: get hot, fresh donuts from shop to office without eating them in the car.
Mission Accomplished. Barely.
Inside a nondescript Division Street building, lies Propaganda donuts. Tasked with creating artisan donuts, this crew delivered the goods on my visit. I picked up the Mr X Breakfast Donut (maple syrup icing with bits of bacon on top) and the Pina Colada donut. Both donuts were handmade, dense but light with a good l balance of flavors.
Since both donuts were so different — the breakfast donut was on the savory side and the Pina Colada one was on the sweet side– you will have to kill me before I tell you my favorite.
A another reviewed said something about them offering healthy donut options… If either of these were indeed healthy, then they have the super-​secret recipe for the perfect donut!
Make sure you get here early; In talking to the crew, I learned that they typically sell out around 11:30-noon and then close for the day.