Best Donuts in New Orleans: Garden District Food Tour Review

When searching for a New Orleans food walking tour for our stay in the Garden District, I was excited to find the Underground Donut Tour’s Historic Beignet and Donut Tour. 

Read on for our New Orleans Garden District donut tour review to learn what the experience is like on this delicious walking tour of Magazine Street.

About Underground Donut Tours

Underground Donut Tours is a company that specializes in guided food tours all about … you guessed it: doughnuts.

They have tours in major cities across North America and Europe. 

Our guide in New Orleans, who was also the local manager, has lived in the Big Easy for over a decade and was very passionate about beignets.

The famous donut in New Orleans is the beignet, so this was the focus of the New Orleans tour. We made four stops, and three of them featured different takes on beignets. One stop had the classic circular doughnuts.

Disclosure: We were provided complimentary donut tour experiences by Underground Donut Tours. All opinions in this review are our own. We recommend this tour and provide the option to use our affiliate links in this post. That means if you make a purchase through one of our links, we may receive a commission at no additional cost to you.

New Orleans Historic Beignet & Donut Tour Review

We received communications from Underground Donut Tours in advance of our scheduled tour, which included email reminders and a text message that went like this:

“Hi Michelle! We are so excited to host you on [date / time] at our New Orleans Historic Donut & Beignet Tour! Please plan to arrive 10 minutes before the start of your tour. Dress for the weather, wear comfortable shoes, and come hungry! Your guide will meet you at PJ’s Coffee at 2140 Magazine Street (corner of Magazine and Jackson). We will see you soon! In the meantime, here is our New Orleans City Guide.”

Our group was 15 people, including 2 kids, who were mostly visiting New Orleans for the first time.

Our guide Bobbie’s wit and enthusiasm was immediately apparent as we listened to the run down of what to expect. Decked out in donut leggings, donut hat, and donut backpack, Bobbie set the tone for a quirky and enjoyable day.

Despite the tour reminders, one group of participants arrived to the wrong PJ’s. And turns out, another walking tour was also starting at the same location and time. Nevertheless, our guide gave us fair warning that today might be a bit “chaotic” and, of course, fun. 

We were also told that due to various circumstances, we might go a bit over the usual 2 hour tour duration.

While waiting for the tour to start, we could help ourselves to drip coffee with milk and sugar. A.k.a. cafe au lait, this is the classic New Orleans coffee drink. We were given cute little buttons to identify us as tour participants.

Check out price and availability of the New Orleans donut tour >

PJ’s Coffee Beignets

Our guide explained a bit about each local business, the building history, and their technique for making doughnuts.

In the case of PJ’s, it’s actually a local franchise chain, which makes its presence on the tour somewhat controversial. In fact, most locals don’t realize that PJ’s even serves beignets – which we found to be true among our New Orleans family.

But we soon saw why this stop is included on the tour!

Everyone was instructed to hold their breath when taking a bite because otherwise the powdered sugar on top of the beignet will blow off. Bobbie also warned that we will certainly get powdered sugar on ourselves and the floor, which may feel like a crime but not to worry.

Wow. We were immediately impressed by PJ’s beignets!

Growing up and visiting family in New Orleans, we always went to the famous Cafe du Monde for beignets. But this one was even better. 

The soft pillowy, doughy texture inside also had flaky pockets, almost like a croissant.

What’s different about PJ’s is that there’s not enough space for a deep fryer, so they use a smaller machine more like an air fryer. We learned that not all PJs locations have beignets, but those that do will use the same recipe.

The first stop on this New Orleans donut walking tour was the highlight. We told our New Orleans relatives they must try it and even brought our nieces and nephews to the same location a few days later.

District Donuts New Orleans

We didn’t have to go far for our next doughnut stop. We crossed the street to District and sat in their back patio while Bobbie prepared samples.

At District, everything is made in house (even the sprinkles). There are four locations across the U.S. They take measures to reduce food waste and source and roast their own coffee brand, the proceeds from which contribute to supporting a children’s charity.

We each were able to choose two samples of the specialty doughnuts to try: sopapilla, carrot cake, Boston cream pie, and raspberry cheesecake donuts.

Bobbie shared that somewhere around 75% of the country’s coffee actually comes through port of New Orleans. So coffee has long been an important product in the city and has traditionally been paired with beignets. Whereas the modern “donut boom” didn’t really begin until 2013.

While I thought the flavors at District Donuts were good, I’m not especially fond of filled doughnuts. Perhaps next time I would try their cinnamon roll instead.

Before departing, we were invited to get water or use the bathroom, as we’d be walking about 1/2 mile with a stop to hear about some Garden District history. 

Garden District History Stop

One of my favorite things to do in New Orleans is just walking the streets, looking at the houses and buildings. 

Bobbie had us pause about half-way to our next food stop to learn about some of the history, good and bad, of the Garden District.

I thought this was a well-summarized, brief accounting of events that didn’t skip over indigenous settlers or ugly racial issues. With Bobbie’s flare for witty sarcasm, we could acknowledge the darker side of history without getting bogged down in it.

There’s a fair amount of traffic on Magazine Street, so it was sometimes difficult for me to hear. The walk was partially shaded, and when the sun got hot, we only had about 3 minutes of walking left to our next stop.

Another Broken Yoke biscuit beignet

Our guide warned us multiple times that this next donut would made with biscuit dough, so be emotionally prepared that it’s not a traditional beignet.

Our group settled at covered picnic tables in the courtyard and sampled the small biscuit beignets from Another Broken Yoke. These were indeed much more dry and crunchy, rather than soft and doughy. To counteract the dryness, it’s served with a honey sauce.

We thought this doughnut was tasty. It was interesting to try another variation, though it confirmed that we do prefer the traditional beignet dough.

Once again, we had a chance to use the restaurant bathroom, but the next and final stop of the New Orleans donut tour was just three short blocks away.

The Vintage beignets

The Vintage is a Parisian-style cafe on Magazine Street that feels more like a bar inside. We made our way to the back patio, which was partially shaded and had a giant fan blowing.

Here, we were able to sample our choice of the specialty beignet flavors. They had matcha cream, which was described as not very matcha-y (not earthy like the tea), s’mores (very choclate-y), a seasonal option (pumpkin pie), traditional with powdered sugar, or with cinnamon and sugar.

Each specialty beignet each came with a fork and knife, since the fillings often ooze out, as well as ice water.

The cafe also offers beignet flights and smaller-sized beignet bites, if you want to order for yourself. 

Once we tried our final beignets, some folks had to take off for a swamp tour or other activity. We got little donut stickers and were able to leave a tip for the guide via Venmo.

We received follow up emails and a text message from Underground Donut Tours afterward, inviting us to leave a review or reach out with suggestions.

Visit the Jumping Jedd Gallery

Is the New Orleans Donut Tour right for you?

All in all, we were very pleased with this walking food tour. Here are some things to keep in mind:

• It really is a niche tour. You only eat donuts and it only covers a small section of Magazine Street in the Garden District. If you’re looking for more of an overview of New Orleans or its food, consider other New Orleans walking tours.
• They can accommodate many food allergies, or at least advise you of what to avoid. Generally, a donut tour is not a great option if you’re gluten-intolerant.
• The walking portion of the tour is pretty minimal, no more than 1.5 miles, and you have plenty of time to sit down. Even so, New Orleans can get hot and humid, so don’t be surprised if you get sweaty by the end.
• Some food tours will over-feed you. Fortunately, that’s not the case on this donut tour. The portions were enough to satisfy but didn’t leave us feeling sick. While I would have appreciated some savory protein mid-way through, to contrast with the sweet, the tour is about donuts and that’s what we got.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Best Donuts in New Orleans: Our Conclusion

When it comes to New Orleans doughnuts, it’s still all about the famous French beignets. Though we’ve been going to Cafe du Monde for years – and still love that experience – we have to admit that PJ’s Coffee takes the cake, so the speak.

Cafe du Monde is still a classic. Go for the experience. My favorite locations are on Decatur in the French Quarter and in City Park.

However, for the best flavor and texture, the beignets at PJ’s are definitely our favorite now. And we never would have known if not for the New Orleans donut tour!

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