Plaza Donuts, National City

If I were a high-school kid hanging out with my buddies late at night, Plaza Donuts in National City is the place where I’d be. It’s on Highland Avenue, just off I-805 at the Plaza Boulevard exit. I’m not sure if the road was named after the donut shop, or the donut shop after the road, but perhaps one of my readers who lives near that neighborhood can shed some light on the issue.

Inside Plaza Donuts, there’s a nice, big seating area, great for groups and very clean. An ice-cream counter is to be found next to the donut counter, although it was closed when I came in early in the morning, which is understandable. I wanted donuts, not ice cream, and the nice lady working at Plaza Donuts was kind enough to let me take a few moments to peruse the offerings and even take a picture of the racks.

I was surprised to see that there were almost no cake donuts on hand—just a few plain ones on a rack in the back, waiting to be glazed. Even though cake donuts aren’t my favorites, plenty of people like them, so that’s one strike against Plaza in the variety category. Strike two was the absence of crullers, and strike three came when I couldn’t spot any jelly donuts or Boston crèmes. Still, I managed to get a decent haul of raised donuts and an old-fashioned. The racks held large and small apple fritters, and since I’m watching my waistline, I opted for the small one.

Moose, who will rarely try anything other than a raised donut with chocolate glaze, was bubbling with accolades over his chocolate-glazed twist. “Soooooo light,” he said, “and not greasy at all!” These raised donuts are indeed super-light, and there was practically no grease on the bottom of the box, which is always nice. My own maple old-fashioned had a great flavor to it, as did the fritter, although it could have used some more apple chunks.

None of the varieties at Plaza Donuts can be considered innovative—and since none of our selections today were anything unusual, I didn’t even bother taking pictures of the individual donuts. As you can see from the photo of the display case above, there are a lot of plain and sugar donuts, which is perhaps a reflection of National City’s attitude: a straightforward, working-class neighborhood that doesn’t go out of its way to flaunt itself to the rest of San Diego. There’s nothing wrong with that, though—but I happen to like a little spunk in my life.

This establishment scored high on taste and customer experience, but very low on variety and innovation. After Moose and I put our heads and calculators together, Plaza Donuts scored 78.0 on the D-Meter, putting it right in the middle of the pack.

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. OB Donuts — 78.7

5. Heavenly Donuts, Del Cerro —78.0

5. Plaza Donuts, National City — 78.0

7. Donut Touch, Mira Mesa — 76.8

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

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

10. Leucadia Donut Shoppe — 62.5