Horseshoe Donuts

"What's sad about this place, especially after reading the reviews, is that there are enough positive reviews to keep them going, just as they are. The average person will see that 4 1/2 stars, stumble in, feel proud supporting a local business and then taste their $16 dollar experiment...and then they'll think "Why didn't we go to Dunkin?" It'll create in their temporary customers, or further enforce, that feeling of small businesses are so hit and miss, why even bother? There are a lot of places like this, of course, all across the country. Here is no exception. First, we have a review inflation issue, made worse by the owner(s), who seem to selectively comment on only positive or hyper-positive reviews; creating a positive feedback loop. None of that fun drama you can sometimes find when you get a comment disputing with those complaining. Nope. Just affirmations and gratitude to and from loyalists. All of this really equals one thing: nothing will change. Yes, the donuts are as bad as all the one and two star reviews are saying. Burnt outsides (almost tasting like they fried the fritter with the glaze on prior), uncooked insides, old fryer oil taste (my old fashioned literally smelled bad) and they are way too big and way to overpriced. My bag of three donuts must've weighed 4 pounds! You're paying for a gimmick: A "burger" donut, a donut with literal dyed, white chocolate bulldogs on top from a mold (the cashier confirmed were made from a mold found on Amazon). I was glad to hear that, as it affirmed the gimmicky nature of this place. I suppose the first clue is that it's a themed donut shop based on the owners love of horses. Made evident by their attempt at Western decor, which seems to begin and end on the outside of the store. I suppose having a dog in the store is apart of that, although, a british bulldog doesn't quite give off that Western feel, cute as he may be. Another name for the aesthetic of having a dog in the kitchen is called "health code violation", I believe. On their websites 'About Us', we get so much detail about their love of horses. We get their bone fides in the form of a divorce lawyer, muffin maker (which is evident by their donut shape and their cake donuts), cake decorator (evident by all the extra stuff that goes on their speciality donuts) and even an MBA in there for good measure. What's missing is in this lengthy CV is any reference to their actual love of, or taste for, donuts. Certainly, with all of this background, it's an easy conclusion when they go to a place like VooDoo and think "Yeah, we could do this...but better!" Putting aside the hubris and delusion of such a sentiment, the idea that donuts, as opposed to divorce, make people happy, I'd say, is false. What makes people happy are good experiences and good connections. Upon further reading, I can't deny this establishment has fostered some amazing local connections. There is a local spirit with their ingredients and relationships in selling their glazed, overly decorated briquettes to other establishments that is wonderful to see. But the good experience side of it speaks to their experience rather than that of their customers. What we have is a love, but a love of horses, gimmicky business tactics and a yearning to do something "better than" a nationally recognized themed brand with what feels like "why the hell not?" attitude. But somewhere along the way, like so, so many of their local contemporaries, they stop once they're in the black and/or have enough good will to rest on laurels. As long as orders are filled and you keep showing up in a community, that's enough. But will it remain enough? Only time will tell. Taste is the only difference between a place becoming an institution to the community or another "For Rent" sign in a strip mall. If you're a lover of donuts, this isn't the place for you. I say that also feeling that VooDoo themselves have ironically succumb to the same trap of brand over product. But here, it feels like it began with the idea, not the taste, and settled along the way."

"Need to bribe a coworker? Want to bring the most popular dish to brunch? Have you done a really good job and deserve a treat? Horseshoe Donuts has you covered. I'm not big on doughnuts, myself, but I bring these to work and to social gatherings regularly. I give them as gifts and have piled them into a cake shape to serve at a birthday party. Every doughnut lover I know raves about Horseshoe's doughnuts, about how delicious they are. I appreciate that the unicorns and the Saturday doughnuts are adorable and all the doughnuts are enormous. They're more expensive than the grocery store but also very much worth every penny."

"Wow! Biggest donuts I've ever encountered! Opted for the apple fritters, and a chocolate and blueberry cake donuts. Delicious!"

"I don’t know if this is the norm for their donuts but it was my first time here - they were either overcooked or something was off because I look at the other pictures and don’t see similar donuts to what I got. And I couldn’t even eat the bottom of the blueberry donut because it was hard like it had been out a couple days. The apple fritter was burnt in some spots. For these two donuts & 2 milks I paid $16 which I thought was odd but I thought because they were huge sizes the price was okay. I pulled the apple fritter apart to take off the burnt pieces and the middle was raw dough. So I got a half burnt - half raw donut which is odd. Overall it sucked because I drove 20 minutes to get them and then come home and was extremely disappointed and couldn’t even eat them. Plus I wasted $16."

"Amazing donuts! They are unique and delicious. We have found donuts in CO to be very dry. We even went to Krispy Kreme as they are amazing in the south. They weren't very good. They have a unique selection and the staff is friendly. Definitely recommend! Best donuts in CO. Support local businesses!"