Alvin DO-Nut & Ice Cream Shop

No ice cream or yogurt anymore. Not impressed, $ 1.50 for average looking fritter. We left, not something I need or have to try.

Visited about a month ago. As I stood at the cash register paying for my donut, I noticed a mouse trap exposed in a corner, near the donut case. I walked out with my donut, tossed it in the garbage outside and have no intentions of returning to this establishment. Huge thumbs down.

Oh man. I really hope this didn’t happen but I fear there is new ownership here. The donuts are not the same — really greasy. If there are, in fact, new owners and they are reading this, take my advice in order to save your business. Go get the man who you bought the donut shop from and pay him whatever he wants to show you how to make good donuts. Yours are not worth coming back for.
By chance, has the donut Jedi-​ninja master opened a new place anywhere? Anyone?

THis place used to be GREAT! It used to be really yummy. A few months ago (mid 2014) it changed. They said the owner was on «vacation». Since then the quality has gone down hill faster than an old fashion rolling down beside it. I’m assuming it changed ownership. Makes since to me. Everytime I find a new place to enjoy what ever goodness they concoct… it all ends! Out goes the owner as well as the recipes. I’m sure Alvin donuts is the same story. Plus the «new guy» said they no longer make my favorite… buttermilk bars. NOOOO! Those sour bricks are what sold me in the first place and kept me coming back. I’ve also noticed most if not all, the donuts have changed. Alright, moving on. So I got my last 2 donuts. I will not be going back anymore. Once again I guess I’ll be crawling back to Kristy’s and Winchells. Hope they’ll take me back… again haha. So as a last request, I baught my last 2 donuts at Alvins. An apple fritter (tiny) and a jelly donut. Their fritters are definitely smaller than before. Took one bite. This thing was cold and not very good. Definitely a day old. So I saved it for the microwave, hoping a little radiation might revive it… NOPE! But I ate the empty calories anyway. Figured the apple in it was atleast good for me. Hoping the jelly donut would leave a nice taste in mouth I took a bite of it… nope…wrong again. Day old again and the jelly had a chemical taste to it. And a slightly different texture. But atleast the microwave rewired its DNA and it made just a little better. Bummer. 2 donuts, 2 very bad donuts. Just like the old sang «all good things come to an end»

Donuts aren’t bad! Coffee is not that great. It’s almost never busy when I stop by early in the AM :)

I hate to do this and lower the rating. .. but my favorite donut shop just isn’t the same anymore.
I’ve been donut free for the past few months since I’ve been trying to eat healthy. My coworker who introduced me to this spot talked me into eating a piece of a donut just so I could taste the difference, I thought he was kidding. But, after a bite I could sadly say their donuts are not as moist and doesn’t have the same taste as the donuts we loved before. .. the donut was then tossed in the trash. He said its been this way for the past few months.
From what I hear, either the bakers have changed or there was a change of owner or management. Whatever it is, I’m hoping they get the original recipes back!

I have never been a fan of doughnuts until I came to this place. My favorite is their sugar doughnut. They are definitely not like your typical doughnuts since they’re super light, fluffy, always fresh, and cheap! Today I bought half a dozen for $ 3 ($ 1 less than the usual cup of coffee I get)! This is the only place I’ll ever get doughnuts from.

I use to live walking distance from here for 15 years now I live about 6 miles away still worth the drive, all taste fresh, service is great and very inexpensive. I would easily pay twice as much for what they ask

Trying a new donut place brought us here today. They didn’t have a big selection but it was in the afternoon so they were probably sold out. They did have my favorite apple fritter so we had to try them. Are they as good as the Missing Hole? No, but they were still good in their own right. They are a little bigger and more bready and the apples looked fresh, could use a little more cinnamon. Also tried their cinnamon roll with crumbs, it was huge. That was pretty good but for my tastes could still use a little more cinnamon. Overall pretty good, we’ll come back to try their frozen yogurt. The owners were very nice.

Delicious and very inexpensive. The cashier even gave me an extra doughnut!
FYI it’s cash only.

First off let me say that I travel a lot and look for donut shops that make awesome donuts. This place makes greasy, fresh donuts. They lost there numiness within 2 bites, the pink box was tossed mostly full…

I don’t always do donuts, but when I do, I wait ’til I hit Salinas! Alvin is the man. Small batch, crisp/​tasty sweet fried friends, come hither. If you go at a more popular time like Sat. mornings they are fresh as can be. I went one weekday at 5am and they were possibly yesterday’s batch. I think he felt bad but I don’t knock him for waiting until peak rush to get the fryer crackin’. Alvin hooks it up on donut holes too. Support local donuts!

A former coworker of mine told me about this place, and I’ve been a regular ever since (on my «cheat days» at least!). A well-​kept secret of Salinas (for now), Alvin’s Donuts is a fantastic place to spoil your taste buds.
They don’t have the widest slection of donuts, but they have all I need, and it is DELICIOUS. The workers there are exceptionally nice, they like chit-​chatting and make your feel a lot better about your upcoming donut feast, heck they’ll throw on some donut holes free of charge, much to my delight!
I’ve yet to try their Ice Cream, but the reviews look good so far (not surprising). The owners here have truly mastered the art of donut-​making and taste bud-​spoiling. You will not be dissapointed.

My kids and i love this place. The doughnuts are so fresh in the morning that sometimes they are still warm. Great service also. They now have frozen yougurt for like $ 2.50 you get a large filled cup. only drawback is that is only one flavor

Let me start by saying the donuts are really good & very reasonably priced. I am giving Alvin’s one star b/​c as I was ordering my donuts, a little girl that I assume belonged to the person helping me, was at the frozen yogurt dispenser using her hand to dig out frozen yogurt, licking it off & then repeating. For an icecream shop, you would think they would offer more, but all they had was chocolate frozen yogurt & after that display, I won’t be going back.

This family-​run place is great. While hanging out for 20 min in the morning, 3 out of 4 customers were greeted by name, and many didn’t even have to place their order, since it was anticipated by the amazingingly attentive and multi-​tasking owner.
My cinnamon roll was hot and fresh. And coffee wasn’t bad either.
When I went back in the afternoon later during the week, I received an extra donut with my order.

No more Winchell’s donuts for me, this place is great, their donuts are big, service is good, location always clean and I get some free stuff once in a while. go during closing time and a dozen is $ 4.99 and i got some free donuts holes, i don’t know if they do this every day during closing time, but the 2 times i been there it was $ 4.99 but there wasn’t a big selection of donuts than if you go earlier.
Try this place out located next to Sakura Buffet

who needs dunkin donuts when you a local family owned donut store?! Although it’s CASH ONLY, this place had YUMazing GLAZED DONUTS!!! They are huge and i wanted to sink my teeth into a second one after i gobbled up my first… soooooo delish!
we went in the morning and all of the donuts we ordered were light, fluffy, and finger lickin good! i’m glad i finally found a donut place in salinas!

BEST DONUTS IN SALINAS!
I was shocked on how soft they were and realized this is how FRESH! out the oven donuts taste like! how?! if heaven was a donut it would be these. Don’t believe me? try it yourself then you can thank me by getting a dozen donuts haha
FYI: CASH ONLY! why? it’s small business (banks charge businesses for people using their credit card so small businesses cannot afford that) still worth it though and really kind people

«Ice Cream»
This place is fine. Cute and simple with good ice cream. Clean, small, friendly, a nice shop. Enjoy!