KD Donuts, Ramona

Most of us don’t head up into the mountains all that often, but today I had a chance to make a donut run to Ramona before meeting my buddy Sir Isaac for our 14-mile long run. My home isn’t too far from Ramona (relatively speaking), and I needed to cross their donut shop (for the town has just one, sadly, unless I’m mistaken) off my list of places to visit.

KD Donuts off Route 67 (Main Street) has an interesting facade. Note the sign on the front overhang, and note the sign above it. An editor with a keen eye would certainly get a good kick out of seeing this establishment! 

How do you spell it?

 KD’s has a very good selection, with several varieties of raised donuts as well as old-fashioneds, cakes, buttermilk bars, fritters, twists, cinnamon rolls, jelly- and crème-filled donuts, and a few pastries. Sadly, there were zero crullers on hand, which was a true disappointment for Sir Isaac. However, I have been hankering for a maple-glazed buttermilk bar lately, as I haven’t had one of those for quite some time. Happily, KD’s had those on display. The sprinkles on the raised donut were also rather colorful, so I grabbed that one, knowing that Sir Isaac’s daughter Lil’ C would want it.

Big blob of buttermilk bliss!

Sir Isaac and I split up an apple fritter, although I must say that Sir Isaac has a warped idea of what “half” means. Perhaps he used some complicated mathematical formula to determine that his huge portion was, indeed, half of the fritter. Whatever. The fritter wasn’t great anyway, as there were z-e-r-o apple chunks in it, so it must have been made using applesauce instead of real apple chunks. Bah! At least its crunchiness was a redeeming quality. 

Pink and blue sprinkles are delicious.

Sir Isaac was also disappointed with his Boston crème, which he said did not have enough crème in it. Nor was Mrs. Newton all that thrilled with her cake donut, which she called “skimpy on the icing,” or the chocolate old-fashioned, which had an “overwhelming” amount of icing. Lil’ C, however, devoured every bit of her chocolate raised donut (rather than just the top as she usually does), but shook her head vigorously when asked if it was better than Peterson’s. That a-girl!

Overall, this place’s donuts were just average as far as taste goes. Their wide variety is a plus, but when your biggest competitor is the grocery store across the street, I guess there isn’t much incentive to churn out extraordinary morsels. KD’s Donut Meter score is 66.0, which does not put them in the top ten, and barely avoids last place. So if you’re on your way up to the mountains for a hiking or camping trip and want to grab some donuts along the way, I’d recommend stopping somewhere else before you go too far.

Updated Donut Meter Scores:

1. Peterson’s Donut Corner, Escondido — 94.0

2. Donut Haven, Hillcrest — 82.7

3. Super Donuts, Carlsbad — 82.0

4. Danny’s Donuts, Vista — 81.0

5. OB Donuts — 78.7

6. K-Donuts, Oceanside — 78.0

6. Heavenly Donuts, Del Cerro —78.0

6. Plaza Donuts, National City — 78.0

9. Donut Touch, Mira Mesa — 76.8

10. Linda’s Donuts, Pacific Beach — 76.0

11. Marte’s Donuts, Escondido — 70.0

12. Foster’s Family Donuts, San Marcos — 68.0

13. Pam’s Donuts and Chinese Food, Temecula — 66.0

13. KD’s Donuts, Ramona — 66.0

14. Leucadia Donut Shoppe — 62.5